Hello,

I have most of my dashboard out right now, but the dash pad is still in (I'm rebuilding my heater/headlight vacuum system). I have the original speakers in the dash with an early 80's aftermarket alpine head unit, which was in the car when I got it. The system doesnt sound good and I would like to change out the speakers if possible. Can the speakers be removed without removing the dash pad? I see some screws holding some frame around them in, but I dont know If that would allow them to be removed.

Also, would any 4x6 car speaker work in the hole without any mods (I dont care about cutting the speaker, but I dont want to cut up the car)? And are there any suggested models for fairly cheap that would sound good?

Thanks,
Will

 

the plastic covers on the dash pull up .then there are 4 screws that hold the speakers down .they are 4x6.you can use most brands on the passenger side but on the driver side if the speaker is to deep it will hit the dash.lots of speakers to choose from.

 

To remove the top dash you first have to remove the inside trim


Then you can remove the top pad


You have to pull the pad to get to the drivers side speaker, but be careful, it is old and can crack.

 

Well, there are no covers on my car, the '74 has just the dash pad no speaker covers. Would I need to remove the dash pad? Do you know what the max dimensions a speaker could be to fit the driver side?

Thanks,
Will

 

Hmmm thanks....so I do need to remove the dash pad to access the speakers?

Would these speakers work?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cerwin-Vega-...item3cc0d04fbe

I like my Cerwin Vegas and thats a real good price, but they may be too deep for the drivers side.

Thanks,
Will

 

In the "Vette" magazine article about installing a new stereo system, and by what it looks like on my car, I swear it doesnt seem like you need to remove the dash pad, it looks like you just unscrew the speaker "cage" and unbolt the speaker, then put a new one in.

Will

 

Good thing about having the aftermarket Alpine head unit, is likely compatible with most common car audio 4 ohm speakers, where as the factory head unit's aren't. Places like Parts Express carry the resonable Pyle speaker line, that should be fine, but not sure of the mentioned depth. Friend of mine used the 4x6 coax's in his 79', no problem. Surely the guy's in the forums audio section can be of more help. If looking to step up a bit, happen to have an Alpine 5 channel power amp laying around.

 

The Wilcox web site has lots of tutorials about our cars. One of them details how to remove the dash pad. Follow the directions and it comes out real easy.

John

 

You can change the speakers without removing the dash...completely. Start by removing the passenger dash panel (door sill, kickpanel, then dash panel). Now, you can see how the speaker is mounted. There is a speaker 'support' frame that holds the speaker in place; and there are four nuts holding that frame to the dash pad. So, remove the 4 nuts, remove the support/speaker assembly, then remove the speaker from the support. BTW, if you decide to 'ditch' the speaker supports and just mount them directly to the dash...they will likely tear out holes in the dash pad when you go over the next big bump. Not good. While you are in there, remove the upper dash pad mounting screw from its bracket so that you can later loosen the upper dash pad.

Now, you can go to the driver's side. Remove door sill, kick panel, and remove the screws to the driver dash panel. Remove the lower steering column trim panel (under the column), remove the 2 screws for the headlight override vacuum switch plate, and remove the bolts (or nuts) holding the steering column up. You may also need to loosen the bolts/nuts at the firewall flange at the base of the column, so that the column can drop an inch or two. Pull out the top edge of the drivers dash panel and pull out as far as you can without forcing anything (couple of inches, max). Now, grab the upper dash pad and pull it rearward (straight back...don't tilt the pad). This will pull it off the holding clips around the windshield area.

You can now lift the upper pad just enough so that you can get one hand in that area to remove the speaker support nuts and pull the assembly out. (Yes. I've done it this way and didn't crack/damage the dash pad.)

My suggestion to you is to buy a couple of 25-50W speakers of decent quality. If you want to keep the Alpine (or other modern head unit), get 4 ohm speakers. Wire them the same way on both sides (proper phasing); if you don't, the sound will be weak and horrid .

I will also suggest that you might want to add some speakers in the kickpanel areas. Mid-range/woofers (2-way or 3-way designs) of 4"x10" (what the '68/69 cars had), 5"x7", 5-1/4" round or other size that you can fit in there and mount to the sub-structure of the car. Put as large as you can get in there; but width and depth are an issue. Get 40-100W speakers of 4 ohms. Then wire them in parallel with the dash speakers (to get 2 ohm total impedence on each side) or in series (to get 8 ohm impedence for the pair) as you need to match the output impedence of the amp unit.

Also, put some fiberglass insulation behind the kickpanel speakers to keep the car body from resonating (buzzing) with speaker frequencies.

I can assure you that adding the kickpanel speakers (but keeping the dash speakers, too) is the best way to get reasonably good sound out of the front portion of the passenger compartment. The kickpanels speakers provide the lows and mids to the sound; the dash speakers reflect their sound off the windshield to the passengers for the high frequencies.

If you just want to 'hear the music', just stay with the dash speakers. But, if you want to 'enjoy the music', go with 4 speakers.

 

I replaced both speakers in my 74' about 18 months ago. I would definitely pull the dash pad out - the amount that I had to flex it was minimal and I did not damage to the dash pad. Reason: You may find that you need to epoxy repair the screw holes that hold the speaker mounting plate to the dash pad. Also I found that I had to enlarge the holes in the replacement speaker somewhat to get the speaker to fit over the studs on the mounting plate. As has been said there is no room for a deeper speaker on the drivers side so be very careful that whatever speaker you buy is not deeper than the one that you remove.

 

SORRY .after checking i seen where you have a 74 vette .i seen the 82 on the end .the info i gave you is for a 82.

 

The mounting depth of these is 2".....you will only run into problems on the driver side if you go over 2 1/2"

 

Ok, thanks....how much would you want for the amp?

Will

 

Ok so what matters is the mounting depth, not the unit height? That clears things up.

Thanks,
Will

 

Haha yeah that's what I was thinking....If only it was that easy!

Will

 

Wow that is a ton of great info! I'm not really rebuilding the system at this point, when I do the Interior I will rebuild and replace the whole stereo system. For now I'm just going to do the dash speakers and I'll do the kick panel speakers in the future. I'm pretty much doing this just because I have the whole dash assembly out and since my radio currently is unlistenable because its so bad, I figure why not. I mainly listen to sidepipe music when I drive!

When you say speaker phasing, you essentially mean positive to positive and negative to negative right (aka wiring it correctly), is that right?

Thanks again,
Will

Ok cool, I'll follow that info too....I'm picking up some epoxy today for various things so I'll check that out.

Thanks,
Will

 

I just finished installing a new stereo system in both, my 77 and my sons 75. We installed Infinity Kappa 462.9 CFP 4 x 6's in the dash and the kick panels and wired them in paralell, so we could power them from one amp. I would suggest you remove your dash pad for this installation. Just as others have stated, I think you will be lucky if you don't have to drill out the holes a little in your replacement speakers to get them to fit the studs on the speaker brackets on your dash pad. Taking out the dash pad will make this install much easier for you. Removing the dash pad really wasn't that big of a deal. On my 77 and sons 75, once we removed the screws in the front, there is a bracket on the passenger side that was attached to the dash pad and one screw attaching it to the fire wall. Once we removed the firewall screw, the only other thing holding the dash pad are clips along the windshield edge. We had to remove the piller covers on the sides of the windshield to allow for more clearance for removal, but once we had those out, the dash just had to be flexed a little to get it out. As mentioned by others, be very careful not to pick a speaker that is too deep because there is not much clearance on the drivers side between the dash pad and the speedometer and tach bezels. I was dreading that part of the stereo install but was pleasantly surprised that it really wasn't as bad as I had expected. Good luck

 

Good Stuff. Do you like those speakers? I'm going to attempt removal of the dash pad now...wish me luck!

Will

 

Hi Will,

Yes, the Infinity Kappa's are some fine speakers. The 4X6's won't handle a ton of bass (but you will find that no 4x6's will regardless of brand), but with some adjustments to the head unit and amp, it is surprising how much volume these speakers will put out. We switched the JL amp that is powering them to the high pass filter, then tweaked the gain **** until we were able to play the stereo with wide open volume with no distortion. These 4x6's will deliver a good crisp quality sound. To compliment them, we have a set of Pioneer 6x9's behind the seats and a 10" Rockford P3 sub which are both being driven by seperate amps. It sounds unbelievably awesome. Back to the Infinity Kappa's, I would recommend them. They make some quality stuff. You can find them on Ebay or places like Techtronics for pretty cheap ($40 to $60 a pair).

Regarding the dash removal, I think you will find as we did that it is not as bad as you think it will be. Just take your time and enjoy the project :-)

 

You don't need to re-drill the dash pad at all for new speakers. The speakers mount in the [removable] support frame. So, you mount the new speakers to that frame, then just install the assembly to the bottom of the dash pad via the 4 studs/nuts.

If the hole pattern in the new speakers will not match up with the speaker support, just use a pencil type soldering iron to burn new holes in the [plastic] speaker frame so that they will mount up OK.