I am installing a CD head unit and speakers in my car, and have a few questions.

First of all, about the bezel. I ordered a new guage bezel to cut up and make room for the new cd player. I just got home from work where I have been working on it. I used a cutting wheel and a round sandpaper with my dremel tool to cut out room for the new deck. Things got a little sideways and I accidentally scratched part of the visible surface of the bezel. I tried to clean it up with acetone, which smoothed out the surface of the scratch. Now, the area around the scratch is shiny. Is there a paint that I can use to make the bezel look new again? Krylon flat black by any chance?

Second, how do you remove the clock setting ****? I have pulled, pulled and twisted, twisted, pushed, etc, and can't figure out how to do it without tearing it up. Is there something I am missing here?

Third, is the constant +12V line seperate from the other wiring in the radio wiring harness? (Hope I didn't buy the wrong harness)

Finally, is the black felt on top of the old factory speakers there for a reason? Should I put felt on my new speakers?

I know its a lot of questions... any info is greatly appreciated.

 

THERE IS A SMALL SCREW ON THE FACE OF THE **** YOU PULL TO SET THE CLOCK!

 

for the second two quesiotns, felt isnt needed dont worrya bout it and the third lead on my car was isntalled after market so it wasnt there i dont htink, im good with new cars/stereos but i havent had my vette apart to know if its the same as modern day. you should only need two power wires one being yellow and red on modern day aftermarket stereso ones the backup and ones the power lead that turns it on when the key is turned. the only other pwoer lead i know of would be a remote lead for an amp or power antennae. hope that helps- Bob
edit: sorry i read it wrong i thought you said there was three leads but you said third, you might need to install one of em? sorry about that


[Modified by corvtt1969, 10:59 PM 1/21/2004]

 

any semi-gloss black usually matches pretty good...I touched up mine with satin black paint from the auto store...worked out pretty good!

 

Well crap I feel dumb now. :lolg: :lolg: :lolg: :lolg:


[Modified by Stoge, 10:00 PM 1/21/2004]

 

Have you tried buffing the scratch out? I think you will need to run a new power wire from the battery to hook up to the yellow wire that is probably on the deck.

 

satin black. gotcha, thanks!

 

I wonder if I can splice into the cigarette lighter lead...

 

In my new harness that I have spliced to my new deck's wiring, the yellow wire is seperate from the rest of the wiring in the harness. I was just wondering if this is normal, or if I bought the wrong harness. Either way, I'll find out tomorrow when I pull the 8-track out and take a look.

 

I seem to recall during my CD install, there was a separated harness radio lead power wire that I needed to use-forget though if it was always HOT or key HOT.

No need to splice into the CIG power as everyting you need is from the radios old wiring. The adapter kits work great for connecting your new CD into the factory harness. Piece of cake.

Getting BASS out of your new install is a problem though. I put 260W Sony Explod 6x9s into the custom daigonal speaker box design that has floated around the forum. but lost bass due to these not being sealed.

My 86 IROC and my old 78 camaro had way more bass with the same set-up. I am thinking about Kenwoods smaller powered sub which I would mount on the back wall in between the 6x9s. This would still allow room to store the T-Tops.

Brent...

 

I have an Alphasonic 4 channel amp and a Kicker Comp 10" sub I can install if I feel frisky enough. When I had that set-up in my old Ranger, I had the 2 front channels running in stereo to my 5X8's in the doors and the rear 2 channels bridged mono into the sub. It sounded very clean and very loud.

I could have kick-azz sound in my 'vette, but I just don't want to give up space for the t-tops in the rear storage area.

 

That is what I wanted... I put a sub in the jack compartment. And the amp on the back wall. It worked great.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=546676

As for the wiring in the front for the deck... I am trying to remember how I did it. If you are still stumped tonight drop me a IM and I can take a picture of the wiring in my car. I ended up connecting everything to the stock wires. I didn't have to run anything (except to my amp).

chris.

 

Lucky me, mine fell off and is now sitting in my ash tray :rolleyes:
I think everyone said it before, but you should only need three wires to connect your radio to power: black-ground, yellow-ignition, red-hot. Also, before you start fiddling with wires be sure to disconnect battery, I didn't and almost shocked the bejezus out of my instruments.

 

Well, I originally was thinking the same thing. I tore into it tonight and didn't have much luck finding where to put the yellow (tagged "battery") wire. The other 12 wires were fine as the vette's harnesses for speakers, remote, switched +, ground, and illumination all plug into the aftermarket harness I purchased at the electronics store. The part that is messing me up is that the yellow wire on the purchased harness is constructed in a way that it should plug into something under there. Problem is, there is nowhere to plug it in. This is where I am thinking the cigarette lighter (orange) wire comes into play. I am thinking about splicing it and running a new wire from the splice to the yellow wire on my harness. Otherwise, I will have no clock, memory, disc naming, etc.

Since my car had the factory 8 track, it did not have a need for a constant +12v lead. This is why I am thinking there is nowhere in the car to plug in the yellow wire. I did find an unused harness that looks like it is for the rear defroster, but my car did not have the rear defroster.

I know I can run a wire from the alternator through the firewall down under the ductworking and then to the radio, but I'm not sure I have the patience to be upside down in my driver's side footwell another minute.

I am going to finish up the installation tomorrow evening and will take pics of what I figured out. This thing is going to look sweet, as my old bezes and lens were really beaten up. All I will need in the interior now is carpet and new seat covers.

Thats like the first thing I did. I've seen how expensive that printed circuit is in the catalogs and didn't want to buy another one. Aside from that I was worried about starting a fire and burning the house down. Bad luck follows me around sometimes, and I have to do a lot of things to prevent it from taking over! :lol:

I think things would be a lot better if I could just find my voltmeter. :crazy:

 

I ran the yellow wire to the cig lighter on my previous install with no problems. Now I have a dedicated circuit box in the battery comp. to run amps and stuff.

 

Hey Brent,

I probably sound like a broken record with this but I have the small powered Kenwood WooX sub in my '80 and love it. It gives the Vette exactly whay it needs for just the right amount of punch. I still have room for T-tops to boot. My 6x9s totally lacked bottom end and now that you mentioned the sealed box deal, I wonder if I am suffering from that as well. No matter anymore with the sub.