Today I will be replacing this 15W x 4 Kenwood stereo and old dash speakers



With this KHE-300 (50W x 4 with IPod front jack) and Pioneer speakers.





The car is wired for four speakers but for today it will be just the dash. Later comes the kick panels.

Any tips? I have the Willcox paper on upper dash removal but my concern relates to wiring. These aftermarket head units tend not to mimic GM wiring. On the other hand the old Kenwood "might" be similar to the new KHE-300 although some of these custom units have proprietary connectors. You just never know until things are apart. But I would certainly appreciate any comments/tips from people who have taken on this job before.

Here is the wiring diagram.

 

Paul, do you have a new bezel ready to go in? The head unit that is in the car right now requires the bezel to be cut for the single DIN size of the radio and the cage. That plate covers the contours of the old bezel around the ****, and the cuts. Once you remove them you'll find the big hole, and the ***** of the new head unit won't have a place to mount because they were cut out.

 

Good point!! I've missed the obvious. No I don't have a new bezel. That will certainly be a showstopper. Looks like the project is off for now until I get a new bezel.

 

Don't you love these projects? Halfway to a heater core install.



I wasn't getting good sound with the Kenwood 15W x 4, particularly on the left side. OK, might be the circa 1974 10-ohm speaker on that side....Unknown unit on the right. I don't understand why people do these things! Original tranformer was there and wires cut. I removed it. Any NCRS types out there?



The bezel was not DINed, it was butchered for the Kenwood. The plastic cover hid the mess. I thought of a few tacky options to re-use the bezel but....



But some progress. The new Pioneers are installed.



Bonus! The upper dash pad went out and in without cracking. I have ordered a new gauge bezel and work has stopped pending its arrival. In the meantime, the while-you're-at-it in me whispers heater core (mine is leaking and bypassed).



And don't you give thanks to the Corvette Gods when you just have to hit the birdcage with a little Krylon to clean it up?



*Edit* - BTW, my thanks to Willcox for the Upper Dash Panel Removal paper on their site. The operation was a success...and the patient lived!

 

I just added that exact stereo with 4 speakers and replaced a leaking heater core on my 68 convertible. I got Infinity's for the rear and Alpines for the kick panels, principally because they have 4 ohm impedance. Not sure, but I think Pioneers are 8 ohm impedance, which doesn't match the stereo you bought. Fortunately the previous stereo did not require much mangling of the bezel (only the circular holes) so I didn't need to replace it. The ***** cover up the slightly enlarged hole and the washers are large enough to get it tight. Too bad it looks like the previous install enlarged the retangular hole.

You can forget about the old wiring, the old connector won't fit into the new unit. You'll have to re-do all the connectors. I had trouble with the placement of the vehicle wiring harness (as opposed to the stereo harness). The new unit extends just about all the way to the carpet, so you may have to move the harness forward (preferrably) or aft so the stereo isn't resting on the harness. Mine is touching, so I added some extra cushion so the vibration doesn't cut or wear the harness. I completely re-wired all speakers and auto antenna. The speaker was corroded and 20 gauge. I replaced with 16 gauge to handle the extra power. You may be disappoint to find that the headphone output on an I-pod doesn't put out much power so getting volume is difficult with the I-pod and stereo cranked and the top down.

The heater core wasn't really that bad of a job except the bottom two firewall bolts were rusted tight. One I twisted off and pushed the stud through, the other bubba had buried the nut in the external blower housing ( and rounded the nut for good measure) and I couldn't get a socket or wrech on it . So I drilled through the center of the stud in the inside until it came apart. I used a hex bolt and washers to replace the stud until I can find a new stud. The biggest issue was cleaning out the heater duct and resealing it. I used a high density foam to reseal to the firewall and on the heater door, and a high temp silicon to seal the interior of the duct.

The right dashboard panel comes off easier than it goes back on, so you're not out of the woods yet with cracking.

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks Kevin. Very much appreciate your reply and advice. The wiring of the KHE-300 is almost a duplicate of the Kenwood. In fact I believe but cannot confirm that Ken Harrison Enterprises uses Kenwood units. So re-wiring may need new connections (in the same places) but I am pretty good at that for a clean install. Of course I will use the new bulk connector shown in the pic as a base.

I have a KHE-200 with AUX Ipod connection on my 1967. So I understand what you mean about volume. It's a balance between the IPod and and the head unit. And it has to be done each time you start the car. But I can live with that.

The old Kenwood unit was near the carpet as well. I might need some shimming to get the KHE-300 off. There's a heat sink in back that worries me.

As to the Pioneer speakers, they are 4-ohm (see pic). The TS-A4672Rs are for the kick panels (next step). The TS-G4642Rs are up top now.

Thanks again for the reply.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...eakers-001.jpg

 

Didn't mean to imply that the # of wires weren't the same or have reciprocal applications (the old Kenwood that was in mine had that), just that the connector probably wouldn't plug right into the back of the new unit...tell me more about getting the volume right on an I-pod with KHE.

 

The KHE-300 connector will be used for the head unit so no problem. The others will be done from that main connector to battery, ignition, speakers, etc. as per the Kenwood setup. It is virtually identical on the far ends. Just refreshed with new peripheral connections.

On the IPod volume, I may have mislead you. I used a Shuffle with my 1967. I now have a Nano. With the Shuffle you have to crank it up to full volume to get decent sound out of the head unit. Thus the Shuffle volume operates independently of the head volume. Perhaps old technology now.