Does anyone know where I can get a dash kit to convert the radio from the post style to the current CD diameter hole?? The bracket in question has to support the heater controls also. Id give it the roto zip treatment but Im just not sure that after the cut it could support the weight of the radio and the heater controls?? can anyone point me in the right direction?

 

Dunno offhand... the previous owner of mine did a fairly decent job of dremel-tooling the CD player into the dashboard, enough so that you don't even notice it. He'd put in a length of plumbers' tape (metal strap) in to support the back. I'll throw a closer eyeball at it when I get home and see if I can't give up a better description of how he pulled it off.

/P

 

Basically you gotta do a cut and fit job man. And NORMALLY when people do this, it gets out of hand and winds up looking like a mess. But i did mine a week ago, and was actually impressed with the outcome. What i did was take the dash plastic off, and got my half bracket off the cd player, and started measuring and centering it over the exsisting radio hole. once i had it all strait and square, i scribed the cuts id have to make inside the half bracket, and thats where the dremel came in handy. I cut out the marks, leaving a touch of extra just incase. then you have to trim up the opening a bit with a knife, and maybe even pretty it up with a file. and also remove that part you will have left sticking out on the top and bottom of the previous post radio hole... i think it had chrome on it and stuck out about 1/8" from the face of the dash. So once you do all this, and you can nicely fit that half bracket into it, you've just done the hard part. Then i took out my metal braket holding the heater controls, and did my best to line it up behind the hole i made in the plastic part of the dash and traced and cut...its really not nearly as important and doing the front part though. What you SHOULD have when done, is you have cut out the whole left side of that metal bracket, and have a little bit of metal left on the right. then mount that metal bracket back in the truck, put the plastic dash piece back in place, and if you guessed, and measured, and cut all perfect, your half bracket will snuggly slide into that opening you cleared! I was stoked that i got mine just right. then once you put the deck in, and put the trim face piece back on, DONE, and enjoy the new tunes. Kind of a little added bonus, is the factory radio had a back strap on it built in, be sure to use that on the new deck you put in, it will help eliminate some excess bouncing and stress on the unit. Good luck man.
Brian

 

Personally I would go to the local junkyrad and pick up a couple of extras to use rather than the original, that way you have a couple trys if you dont get it right the first time.
-Chris

 

All you need to do is to get a extra radio plate just in case, and you just cut out from the in side out of the plate so the base of the stero can fit init, I did it on my 77 F-100.

 

Only get an extra plate if you mess up yours. Leave the parts in the junk yard for somebody else that might need it. Of course if the truck is going to the scrapper tomorrow grab all the parts you can.

There is a code of etiquette in a junkyard:
-Don't clip wires, unplug them. If you must clip wires leave enough for someone else to connect to. They don't make wiring for these anymore.
-Don't break parts to get at the one you need.
-Take only what you need.
-Pick the parts you pulled to get at something up off the ground and place them somewhere safe or put them back on.
-etc.

I am sure the guys here can expand on this if necessary. Please be considerate of others. Most of these parts are not in production anymore and somewhere down the road YOU might need one...

 

Just finished putting in a stereo, cleaning up the mess left by the last owner, who mounted the stereo ONTO the instrument panel trim plate...

Here's what I did. I got a couple of a/c-radio brackets (just in case) from salvage, and sure enough, tore up the first one trying to cut a hole that would accommodate a DIN stereo. There is not going to be much metal left on the sides, if you try to use the lower section of that bracket. So I cut two brackets in half, and replaced the lower portion with an inverted a/c-heater bracket section. Perfect! Plenty of room to fit a DIN stereo, and a couple of diamond-cutter Dremel cuts allowed me to center the stereo both horizontally and vertically in the new hole I cut in the trim plate. Just attach the two a/c-heater brackets with a couple of short screws (in the back, long end of the bolts facing DOWN or you hit the trim plate on re-installation), make sure it fits into place in the dash, and make your cuts at that point. It is best if you actually have THREE brackets, two for cutting in half and "splicing," plus one for comparisons to be sure you have the right shape. They're 5 bucks a pop at salvage. It wasn't hard, but it was kind of time-consuming. But the finished product is extremely solid, there is no wiggling at all going on with this stereo, and I think it looks great. I'll post some pictures of the process in my gallery.

Update: Pictures posted.

 

Topping this thread before it is hopelessly buried, so folks can see my new and improved stereo bracket idea/photos.

 

Ranger Joel, I like the way that you did your bracket. I've been looking for a regular **** type radio for my truck, but have come up empty handed. I have a good pioneer stereo but couldn't figure out how to get it in my truck. Out of curiosity, which bone yard around waco do you go to?
Mike

 

Wouldn't it be easier just to grab some 20GA sheet metal and fab a bracket? Bend flanges on all four sides to stiffen it and cut a DIN opening in it.

 

To my way of thinking, getting all the bends right to clear the plastic trim piece and still holding the heater controls in the correct location by fabricating your own would probably be a real challenge. I had a couple of brackets that came off of some old parts trucks that I have, that had been mutilated. One of which fell in to 3 pieces when I unscrewed it from the dash. By using Ranger Joels method, I combined the 2 to make 1, and it is great. It actualy only took about a half hour to put it together, and it's very simple.
Ranger Joel, I couldn't make my plastic trim piece clear the screw heads that go between the heater and the radio. It gave me the perfect excuse to buy a rivet gun, which coincidently, I needed any way for that glove box idea that's in the tech articles.
Thanks again for the idea. It is great.
Where in Waco is a good place to get sheet metal? I need it to finish my stereo instalation, and for the glove box.
Mike

 

You can get small pieces at the Home Box store.

I like to fabricate and I have a number of the tools required to fab sheet metal so making a bracket then match drilling holes is easy for me.

 

Torque, I'm not sure what the home box store is. I'm going to assume it's like home depot. Just a great big hardware store.
I like to fabricate also. However, my fabricating is usualy in wood. I'd be almost lost with sheet metal.
If you have the right tools, you have a huge part of the battle already won. In my opinion, having the right tool for a job makes or breaks your project.
Thank you for the tip on the sheet metal.
Mike

 

Around the forums we use the term "Home Box store" to mean any one of the Home Depot, Loews(sp?), etc stores. You can also find it in regular hardware stores also. Kinda pricey but you aren't buying a lot. Metalworking tools are usually expensive but I avoid woodworking like the plague...

 

Thge previous owner of my 77 cut the radio mount portion off completly. It looked good and the heater controls still mounted securly. He fabricated the backside mount out of some sheet metal to support it. It looks good and works well