I have designed a set of replacement kick panels for '68-72 GM A-body cars. These are much better than the "other" brand kick panels that are available. These panels are built for a component set, meaning a mid and separate tweeter, you can still use the e-brake (depending on your car's tolerances, it may have to be tweaked slightly) AND these panel have sound competition-quality imaging and staging. I have been designing factory replacement kick panels for years, and I finally was able to build a set for the A-body. I will have some pics up tomorrow of the prototypes. These fit right it, work with both AC and non-AC cars and come in black .180" plastic (easily paintable to match your interior). They are very rigid, which is what you want. They fit a 6.5" woofer and up to a 2" tweeter. I designed these for a company who has scaled back their new products budget, so I may have to manufacture these myself. Anybody interested? They run $200 a set.
I may be interested as I will be adding adding kickpanel speakers to my 72 Skylark convertible after doing my 8-track/cd player conversion. What type of speakers do you use?
The beauty of these panels is they allow you to use whatever speakers you want. I will gt those pics up this afternoon. :TU: :kodak:
Here are a couple of pics. These are not studio shots mind you, just shots of the first prototypes in the car for listening tests.
I also have a non-ac car and it really needs the vents for air movement. Do you know if there is room to use the original vents in your panels? Might be worth looking into as I would buy a set if I can get the vents and it sounds like others would also be interested.
I don't have a set of non-ac panels for comparison, but there should be plenty of room to modify them for the vents. Drilling some 1\8"-1\4" holes in the driver panel would allow for plenty of air flow. The passenger side would just get the AC bulge trimmed away. :TU:
Hmm, I don't think some little holes drilled would be much of a subsitute for an actual vent. These vents are really needed for non-air cars, for hwy driving in the heat. jmho
isn't the vent itself in the steel, I thought the kick vent was just a cover.o No: send me some pics.
Yeah, I think if you looked at them side by side, you will see the vents on the non ac panels are huge.
Sorry, no pics and my car is not accessible now. And my photographic memory isn't quite so photographic anymore. :laugh:
I have attached some pictures of my '68. While they are not directly of the kick panels, I think you can see them well enough to get an idea. I would really like a set that had speakers but I would want the vents.
the driver side does not look like it would be an issue, should clear the speaker pod. The passenger side would be a little different. You would have to cut the AC bulge, and bolt the vent directly to the car body. The vent air would flow past the plastic. Looks like it should work without much issue if you really needed the passenger side vent. Otherwise, if you left the plastic intact, the air would flow around the panel, letting the air still come in, just not directly. :TU:
If you have non AC the speakers will get ruined quick as the vents always have cool moist air supplied to that area. That is why there is all that monkey goo pressed into where the kick panel attaches to the vent.
