I'm headed home on leave in a couple weeks and I was planning on picking up my 66 riviera while I'm home. The car is located in CT and I was planning on driving it back to NC. I want to install a modern stereo for the trip and I have somewhat of a rough idea of how I want to do it. I was planning on buying a add-on fuse block from painless wiring (3 constant hot, 1 switched) and putting the head unit in the ashtray. I plan on running all new speaker wire. Now, I've only seen pictures of the car and I was wondering if grills on the front kick pannels under the dash are in fact speakers. I was hoping I could put 6.5" speakers there. Could anyone let me know the size of that opening, and if it is a speaker grill?
I suggest that you save the install for home and focus on the trip. There can e lots of other issues to deal with and adding another like this is ill advised.
The non-A/C cars had vents in the kick panels so thats likely what the grilles are. No room for speakers there. You have a factory speaker grille in the top center of dash and between the rear seats. Other than that you will be cutting them into the doors and or the rear package deck.
Thats the answer I was looking for. I don't expect it to be an easy task, but I'm not too worried about it being difficult. 600 miles is a long way to go without a stereo. I'll do some brainstorming when I pick up the car and see what I can come up with.
Concur, although 600 miles is a long way on AM radio alone. Maybe concentrate on road worthiness - in particular brakes and engine cooling. Replace your belts and hoses, water pump, and if you can swing it, the radiator. Bring a spare fuel pump. BTW I replaced my speakers and had the AM/FM radio reworked on my '69. Got Pioneers that would fit respectively the front and rear mounting positions, and to me it sounds great, and I didn't have to cut anything or run any new electrical for it. Not the skull crushing, glass-breaking, ticket-getting theater quality surround sound, but it gets the job done. Just sayin'...:bglasses: There are also after-market form & fit conversions where they gut the original and give you MP3 / Aux jack / CD changer control again without cutting the dash, door panels, or package shelf.
For the convertible I use an iPod and ear buds; - buy the charger that plugs into the cigarette lighter and you'll have tunes all the way.
I greatly appreciate all the concern, and trust me, I wont overlook the road-worthiness of the car, thats actually my first priority. Believe it or not, after spending 8 months out here living in the sand and rocks and finally able to take my two weeks of leave, I'm excited about the headaches that installing the system will bring. Believe me, its a walk in the park compaired to the work I do out here.
We really appreciate the service to our country.... The rubber items are the most likely to fail.... and leave you and your vintage car stuck on the side of the road.... dont forget heater hoses and by pass hoses....
Welcome back, Thats why I have a boombox, so I dont have to cut up spots you may regret later, cause some install shops dont care what they damage just to get the install done. my .02
Just my .02 worth ,but like some of the others said get a portable to listen to. Do the PMCS work ( I know you know what that means!!):bla: fix the important stuff ,carry a few self help items IE: 100 tape ,fix a flat (SLIME IS THE BETTER ONE) extra antifreeze ,oil stuff like that. Believe me your 2 weeks will fly by (mine did 15july-29july from Bagram Air Field) and why waste the little time you have fighting with a rushed install !!:spank: Spend it with the ones that are important to you.:laugh: Please enjoy your leave:beers2: SFC Rock (Rocky)
i drove my 66 RivGS from Oregon to Colorado two years ago. Nothing but the beautiful hum of the 425 and alone-time to think for 22 hours. didn't even turn on the AM/FM radio to see if it worked. not long ago i relied heavily on music to pass the time on a long RT, but now i enjoy wind, RPM's, thinking, silence. substantial prep time prior to trip to get it road worthy. enjoy your leave from the stan!
Thanks for all the help! I'm currently back at Camp Leatherneck, leave did go by entirely too fast. Luckly (if the purests want to call it that) someone down the line had already installed speakers in the door panels and the package tray. I just took the old speakers out, ran new wiring, and installed the new speakers. I wasn't able to finish the whole project, because I ran into a stopping point when it came time to install the cd player. I couldn't figure out how others put their cd players in the ash tray without hitting either the old radio above, or the air hose (to the vents) behind it. Luckly the guy I bought it from included a TON of extra parts, so if I ever want to bring it back to stock, I have everything I need. The car itself is runs great, the 425 was rebuilt along with the st400. The interior is nearly perfect. The only major problem that I came across is that lots of the wiring was butchered and the headlights, horn, some of the guages, and the windshield wipers dont work. Some of the problem may be with fuses, blown bulbs, ect, but I'm not too worried about getting it all fixed.
BD,,,, the underdash wiring harness is a sub assembly,,,,if you are good at soldering, I would not think twice about taking it out and rebuilding it.... because the companies that sell the replacements get outrageous prices.... i rebuilt mine.... use the old one as a pattern and add a couple of inches length to the wires as you trace them out and solder the end fixtures on ... making sure to use shrink tubing at the solder joints.......just be sure to use electrical flux and the same size wires or one size bigger... and good electrical tape.... if a electrical dummy like me can do it any body can.... :Brow: :laugh:
Glad your trip turned out ok. When I flew up to chicago to get my Riv (only seen pics) The guy thought I was crazy driving it to florida.It had been stored 20+ yrs. But drive it we did. No heat(in Jan) one radio station working and a very loud leaky exaust. My son and I enjoyed the trip to the fullest. After leaving the sellers house we went to a quick lube place and had all the fluids changed and new wiper blades installed,It was snowing, then to a brake place to have the shoes adjusted out and hit the road south. A trip to remember.Oh LOL I had no tags to put on the car either and didnt get stoped untill we were an hour from the house.Ga drug task force.
