Anyone think this has a chance to work? I put a washer in this knob hole and wondered if I could get it to stay and hold a stereo with whatever the strongest epoxy is that I could find, or marine 5200 adhesive which is supposed to be very strong stuff. Just not sure if it's a good idea or if I need to be concerned about the exact placement of the washer. It's not as far back is it should be. I'm guessing it's about 1/8 of an inch off.
radio knob hole fix. should I bother?
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1969 Chevelle 2 Door Sport Coupe Malibu SS 396 clone
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Sure, do it, what do you have to lose? Harbor Freight sells a tool called a plastic welder, that might work better than glueing. Hobby shops sell plastic sheet that you can cut into the shape you need and then weld the cut plastic to your dash.Both of my holes were hacked up, and even the middle rectangle slot. That Kraco that I bought came with a plastic surround that covers the area around the factory holes and can't be seen, the nuts on the shaft tighten against this plate, and with the rear support I think it will be fine...I didn't bother fixing the holes. I'm in the process of repairing/restoring my dash and so far it's coming out great. It's removed from the car right now, I'll need to reinstall it soon. It will be great to have a nice looking dash.
That’s good to know. It would be great if I didn’t even have to do anything to fix it. Good luck with the dash. I did mine a few years ago. Stripped it all down to the plastic with oven cleaner and painted it. It was definitely worth the effort since it’s what you stare at the whole time you’re driving. A decent amount of work, but glad I did it. That’s why I would really like to put the radio IN the dash as opposed to under it. I want to fill that hole and make it look normal. Thanks again for pointing me in the direction of that radio.
Sorry I haven't even powered it up yet so I can't say plus I need to figure out what to do in the way of speakers. My orig. dash speakers are toast.
Same here, and I tried finding someone that could re-cone them, but had no luck. I also found a set on ebay that were redone, but they were expensive. I just ordered Ken Harrison speakers from OPGI for $55/pair. They’re arriving today, so I can let you know if they fit as expected. They also sell a pair of Kenwoods for about $112. I’m sure they’re better than the Ken Harrisons, but not hooking them up to an amp right now, I’m sure I’ll be happy with the cheaper ones. Ground Up has a pair for $50. Custom Autosound, I think.
Thanks for the heads up on the speakers, let me know how those Ken Harrisons work out for you. I have quite a few speakers of various sizes lying around, I used to be into the whole car audio thing a few years ago. If I have some that will fit, I think I can figure out a way to make them work.
I looked on the Custom Autosound website and they have the basic replacement speakers for $35, and the Kenwoods for $75. Looks like it's cheaper buying straight from them...also I found a site www.turnswitch.com that has original looking speakers, with original style brackets included for $75 pr...don't know about quality but they appear to be decent as decent as you can get out of a small speaker anyways...
The speakers aren’t bad. They get distorted on just a low watt Pioneer, but I’m not sure that’s unusual for such a small speaker at near full volume. I haven’t run speakers directly off a radio in so long that I forget now. Eventually I’ll get an amp and if they still distort with lows filtered, I’ll go for higher quality. I imagine the Custom Autosound speakers being similar and for $35, they’re sufficient. They fit well in the dash, though. Bolt right in.
Thanks for the update, yeah it's tough to get good sound quality out of a little speaker even with an amp installed. So no problems with the mounting brackets? They look kind of generic in the pics I've seen. Those speakers on that website turnswitch.com looks exactly like the original 4x6's and have the same mounting brackets as the originals. They say the speakers have a 5yr warranty not sure if that justifies the cost though. $80pr plus shipping?
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Here's a previous post about the the radio knob hole repair: http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=265389&highlight=radio+hole+dash+repair .
A TC member, Andrew Filkins, was making the repair cups. See entry #15 it lists his cell phone number
Erich
A TC member, Andrew Filkins, was making the repair cups. See entry #15 it lists his cell phone number
Erich
Hey Jim, thanks for the offer, but I think I'll be fine. I need to take a picture of what I have so far. I think it looks pretty good so far...I need to clean up my instrument panel and reinstall it. I think I'll have to buy the gauge overlays, I was wiping off the speedo and noticed the white numbering/lettering coming off....
No problem at all with the brackets. they bolted right on. If I had to do it again I think I would look at turnswitch.com more. The only thing with those is the magnet is so small. Does that affect it's ability to be a good speaker?
cool, thanks a lot, Erich!
Well, according to their site the magnet is made different than most standard magnets and provide the same magnetic field in a smaller package. As I suspected I called and talked to one of the guys at Turnswitch and he said because the speaker is so slim that there is not alot of room for cone movement...duh! So, if anyone expects to get great sound out of a small speaker they will be disappointed. while you may get decent volume out of them, mids and lows will be distorted if turned up too high. Also, he stated that they can rebuild your factory radio and upgrade them with newer insides, including rca outputs, Ipod/mp3 player inputs etc....not sure what that costs, though?
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