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It's my first post here. I picked up a 1987 C4 last weekend, and I'm quite smitten with it.
The stereo in my car "works" in the clinical sense of turning the **** and noise comes out of the speakers, but the fidelity is simply awful. I'm planning to scrap the Delco-Bose system entirely, and start from scratch. As you are probably all aware, the head unit is a non-standard 1.5 din size. There are very few options available in 1.5 din, they are expensive relative to the features, and the features are pretty limited. I *HATE* the look of the single din units with the adapter plate-- the aesthetics are simply atrocious (my apologies to those of you who have gone that route!).
That leads me to double din. Some folks say it will fit, some say it won't. This company sells a dash kit that they suggest will allow the use of a double din unit in a C4 (http://www.carid.com/1987-chevy-corv...-25739728.html). There's another company that sells a replacement bezel (or modifies your original to double din) (http://shop.doubledmods.com/C4-Corve...kages_c607.htm). If any of you have used either of these companies, please chime in! I'm particularly interested in what the doubledmods guys do to modify an original bezel... is it simply a matter of opening up the hole in the bezel to accommodate the slightly larger double din radio?
As far as the features I'm looking for in a stereo, if there's a 1.5 din that offers all of the following, I can't find it!:
Touchscreen
AM/FM/CD
Jack for IPod
Bluetooth
GPS
Back up camera (optional, but preferred).
It seems that the GPS is the killer... there simply aren't very many single din units and no 1.5 din units that I can find that offer GPS. Not sure why that is...
So, who has successfully completed a double din installation in a c4 and is willing to post pictures?
Thank you! I'll X-post the thread there. I failed to see that subforum previously.
just bought an '88 and the rear speakers were blown and cassette not working. I had a stereo shop install a Pioneer DEHX6700BS, (2) Jl audio 6x9 speakers, (2) JL audio 4" coaxials, and an Alpine MRV-F300 amp that fit right into one of the rear storage compartments. cost was $1,035 tax included and the sound is soooo awesome!
just bought an '88 and the rear speakers were blown and cassette not working. I had a stereo shop install a Pioneer DEHX6700BS, (2) Jl audio 6x9 speakers, (2) JL audio 4" coaxials, and an Alpine MRV-F300 amp that fit right into one of the rear storage compartments. cost was $1,035 tax included and the sound is soooo awesome!
That's a single din though. That means no GPS... which is in some ways more important to me than the audio functions.
Crutchfield has a lot of double DIN receivers with GPS to choose from. They're not inexpensive though!...
Also, your 87 Vette, will still require minor modifications to fit any double DIN receivers.
I don't mind spending the money if I'm getting the features I want.
What I can't seem to find anywhere is what modifications need to be done to allow a double DIN to fit. Is it simply a matter of enlarging the hole in the bezel? If so, I can simply buy a radio with its own bezel, and take a dremel to the opening in the factory bezel to make it fit.
If the install is more sophisticated than that, I need a sense of exactly what I'm getting myself into.
The modifications are mostly to the bezel and mounting bracket. It's not terribly difficult. I just had it done to mine. The installer had to fabricate a bracket for the head unit, and modify the existing bracket adapter to accept the new bracket, and screwing it all in. Here's my final product, which I'm extremely happy with:
The modifications are mostly to the bezel and mounting bracket. It's not terribly difficult. I just had it done to mine. The installer had to fabricate a bracket for the head unit, and modify the existing bracket adapter to accept the new bracket, and screwing it all in. Here's my final product, which I'm extremely happy with:
Yes you can add a double din to early C4's. Pre-cut bezels are available to purchase but I cut my own. As previously mentioned you have to do some trimming inside the dash and then fabricate a bracket. Definitely do-able as you can see, but its not a simple one hour job either.
Yes you can add a double din to early C4's. Pre-cut bezels are available to purchase but I cut my own. As previously mentioned you have to do some trimming inside the dash and then fabricate a bracket. Definitely do-able as you can see, but its not a simple one hour job either.
That looks fantastic!
Originally Posted by HAD2HAV2
look at onlinestereo.com. they have single and double din radios.
Any experience with them? They have great prices, but I've never heard of them before.
Originally Posted by black_89_vette
Kenwood DNX690HD.
That's one of the ones on my list. It's been discontinued, but Crutchfield has refurbs available for $550 or so.
I spent some time today visiting the local car stereo places. The "best" one in town was closed today so I'll need to pay them a visit later this week... but all of the others turned me down, so I may be on my own with this one. I'm totally comfortable with the wiring aspects of this... it's only the clearances and the bezel that have me intimidated.
Let's talk about speakers for a moment... From what I'm reading, there's pretty good consensus that if you remove the plastic enclosures for the original Bose speakers, 6X9 speakers will drop right into the holes. I'm less clear on what will fit into the door... I see threads where people have used everything from 4 inch round, to 5 1/4 inch round, to 4x6's. It also appears that removing the plastic speaker boxes from the door is a total PITA, so I may very well just try to snake new speaker wires through and put new 4 inch speakers into the existing enclosures. Not ideal, but I'll make it work if I have to.
Those of you who have done this mod-- what, if any, installation kit did you use? Neither Metra nor Scoche make a kit specifically for this application.
11-10-2014, 09:05 AM
Let's talk about stereos
