Dash Rehab for a Radio

[scrap--metal]

Previous owner had a GIGANTIC hole cut in my dash. This weekend I made it workable with a section cut out of a donor truck. That truck was sold to the scrap yard a couple weeks ago, but piece of it lives on.

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After taking this picture, I added three rivets to better support the back/repair panel.

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After taking this picture, I cleaned up the extra wires and put the panel back under the steering column.

 

[Randy and Easton]

Beautiful…. Ours almost looks the same.. it’s on the list because a 16 year old HAS to have a stereo!

 

[scrap--metal]

Beautiful…. Ours almost looks the same.. it’s on the list because a 16 year old HAS to have a stereo!

Of course every 16 year old NEEDS a stereo! That's part of having a sweet ride. Hopefully his taste in music is as good as his taste in trucks. Be sure to give speaker fitment some good thought before ordering.

Good luck with your dash repair. I know you're redoing pretty much EVERYTHING on your truck, so perhaps yours will receive a better fix than mine. I couldn't justify the time to do any welding on my dash (fully assembled interior and wiring) but maybe you will.

At least the hack job on your dash will be entirely hidden behind the gauge bezel, whether you weld it up or do something like I did. The hole in my dash was so big that it was/is visible beyond the lower right corner of the bezel.

I thought about trying to use my donor panel on the outside, but figured the long vertical seam (or any other place I could cut/create the seam) would be more noticeable than the the butchered edge peaking out from behind the bezel.

I took the path of least resistance.

 

[Rickf]

I can't figure out why people don't mount them under the seat and use a remote controlled system?????

 

[Randy and Easton]

Some of the stereos he’s looking at are so small and lightweight a 18gauge steel panel will hold them just fine behind the bezel. We will see where it goes when that part of the project starts. Thanks for the great input!

Randy and E

 

[Dead_North]

I can't figure out why people don't mount them under the seat and use a remote controlled system?????

You have any pictures of what you did?

 

[Rickf]

I was commenting on not hacking up a dash for a DIN installation.

 

[chuck13]

One of the PO's of my truck installed a single DIN,just cut and folded the metal back.
I was going to install a shaft type init and straightened out the metal and welded it
back up.
Now it looks like I'm gonna be using a single DIN Sony head unit I have and cutting
the dash again.Sigh.

 

[Catbox]

One of the PO's of my truck installed a single DIN,just cut and folded the metal back.
I was going to install a shaft type init and straightened out the metal and welded it
back up.
Now it looks like I'm gonna be using a single DIN Sony head unit I have and cutting
the dash again.Sigh.

That is what they did to my truck.
I was never going to use a shaft radio though.
So we are just going to make the hack job much better before we put the new headunit in the dash.

 

[FireTruck1984]

You guys are killin‘ me… There should be a law against cutting/hacking up a dash for a radio !
But I understand that previous owners sometimes did the damage.

There are many options of new Stereos that fit the original dash and many different type patch kits to do the job right.

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[chuck13]

Yeah i got the Metra kit-the 'metal' plate is actually plastic.
And I already have a Sony headunit with front rear and
sub RCA jacks.and dual USB connectors.It's single DIN
so there goes my repair.
I had found a GM cassette out of a Suburban,but of course
it has the typical blown output.

 

[Fastduramax]

My solution and no dash hacking! Genius

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invention!

 

[CalSgt]

I installed a DIN head unit in a late 80’s K5 for a friends kid. The previous owner must have put a double DIN in it because the hole was huge. I just screwed a flat piece of thin gauge over the hole with some sheet metal screws. I used a piece of Kydex plastic to hide the gaping hole in the plastic bezel. The kydex was held on by the trim ring of the head unit