I picked up a 'new' AM radio on eBay this week and I was looking to install it this weekend. According to the Service Manual, it's drop the ash tray and the old radio will fall in my lap. However, on the way out this morning, I took a look at it, and it'll be a little more involved than that. I have factory air, and there is no way the old radio is going to drop straight down. There's a crosscar AC duct running directly behind the radio. How hard of a job is my radio swap going to be? Can I go in through the glove box and take the radio out that way? Any suggestions? o No:
I am doing my 67 now. I took out the glove box liner, ash tray and AC duct. It was very easy and you will have lots of room to move your elbows and wrenches around. The AC duct is only 2 screws. The top is held in with a lip. - Bill
Agree with Bill - removal of the duct work and ash tray allows for a lot of working space. My glove box was already out but I'm not sure it is really necessary to remove it for radio replacement. Good luck.
Thanks for the info. I'll have to take a look at the AC duct, I assumed that there would be a bunch of hidden fasteners. That's the way things usually go with me. Thanks again.
Apparently the radio I scored is for a full size Buick. Different faceplate than what is on my GS. I thought I could swap out the faceplates, but there are three wires that run alongside the radio that lead to the tuner, that are hardwired in. I coulda cut and spliced the wires, but they aren't color coded very well, and I did not want to have two non working radios on my hands. Mark- Sounds interesting, I'll keep you in mind. I need to figure out what I want to do with my 'new' radio. I need to figure out what it does fit, I'll probably try and flip it. Here's a PIC. Thanks.
I recently put one nice radio together out of three. One had the working guts, another the knobs and the third had the best faceplate. In order to swap the face out, I just marked the 3 wires and heated up the old solder and then resoldered the wires to the new faceplte. Did have to take out the AC. Good luck!
That was the other option I was considering. If I change out the faceplate, I will need to change out the dial and indicator behind it also. It's a different style than what is on my 'new' radio. As you know, the radio in a 67 GS tips back approx 30*, and the faceplate/dial is designed to accommodate that. My 'new' radio is designed to be used square to the world. And I do not know how involved changing out the dial and indicator will be. I'll take another look at it when I have more time. I did not have a lot of time this past weekend, so I did not want get that deep into this project. There's a car show this coming weekend that I want to go to, and I did not want a gaping hole in my dash for the festivities. Thanks for the help.
It looks like the radio you got is for a 69 Skylark, 68 would have a white face. Definately won't work because of the dash tilt in the 67. I put in a correct AM radio and now might hide a modern system in the glovebox. A 66 radio should work in the 67 dash also. Lots of fun!!!
The difference between the 66 Skylark radio and the 67 Skylark radio is the pushbuttons, they do interchange but the front of the pushbuttons are different.
Re: 67 GS Radio Install-renewd I know this is an old thread but I am planing the same thing, i.e. exchanging the radio. @Mike: did it work the way described? Removal of ashtray, glove box and A/C cover gave enough space to work properly? Additionally: where did you install the speakers without ruining the interior? Front? My Special has only one central oval hole in the hatrack? Drilling a whole in the hatrack doesn't seem a nice job to me.... o No:
Re: 67 GS Radio Install-renewd Not sure what a hat rack is, but I found a way to put two round speakers in the dash of my 67 with no cutting: I used Pioneer Ts-G1041R 4" 2 way speakers. The speaker holes are the same width as the orginal speaker mounting holes in the grill in the dash. I made an angled bracket to attach them together at an angle such that the outer holes mated up with the dash grille. They sound good and give me "stereo" in the front. I use a powered woofer in the rear to fill in the bottom end and the combination is pretty good. - Bill
Re: 67 GS Radio Install-renewd Thx Bill, especially to the picture. I'll try the same. Did you put a box around it or what about the "acoustic short circuit"? Not sure if this translation is correct. Basically it refers to the fact that the speakers sends out waves that are partially compensated because there is no separation between front and rear of speakers membrane. "Hatrack" was the translation I found for the metal board between your rear bench and the rear window where some cars have additional speakers. What do you call it? Patrick
Re: 67 GS Radio Install-renewd package tray - yup. No, I did not try to box them in. In my opinion, enclosures help the lower frequencies which 4" speakers have very little. Correctly designed enclosures would help with sound wave cancellation if that was your only source for bass and there was no road noise...and that is why I added the powered sub-woofer. Also, with the speakers so close together there is little point in seperating the L and R channels. Like I said, not the best but very good for a low cost no cutting installation. - Bill
update: Found some better pictures of the speakers and the mounting for the front speakers in the stock location in the dash. Note the angle bracket holding the L & R speakers together. I lined up the holes with the old speaker so there was no fussing around working under the dash. Use a lock nut so they don't lossen. (Wow, those bolts rusted quick!) - Bill
Thx everyone for input. Here is what I did. Additionally to a Retrosound Radio I bought a "Compo" system composing of separate high-tone and medium-tone speakers incl. frequency separating filter (Audison Voce AV K6). I installed the high-tone speaker in the air exhausts left and right in the dash. This is a perfect place so you can point directly at the passengers. The larger medium-tone (13cm in diameter) I placed one in the compartment behind the left kick panel and one in the brownish plastic tunnel underneath the dashboard. (see pics attached) Now that is real stereo sound and I am very happy with. Bass to come next season.
Cool - it looks good and I'm sure it's an improvement in sound. When you're ready to do the bass let me know. I have had some experience doing the '67. Brian
