radio install

[chevy68388]

how hard is it to put a cd player in a 86 gmc and can i put 6 1/2s in my door with out hiting the glassalso how do u get the speakers out of the dash is it eazyer if i cut a hole in the dash and just put my 6 1/2s there with grills on them and what size are the factory speakers i think there 4in in the dash and 4x6 in the rear

[J-Spec C10]

WOW! how'd you manage to write so much in one sentence?

Well, lets see if I can help. The CD player thing should be easy, I think the hole in the steel part of the dash is already rectangular in '86.
If you get shallow 6 1/2's and mount them on 3/4" MDF wood plates (reduces vibration) then they can be mounted in the door, but you'll need to get a sheetmetal nibbler or cutoff wheel.

the factory speakers will come out from underneath the dash, but you need skinny arms and a lot of patience. I think they're 4" in diameter but I can't remember for sure.

Lastly, don't bother trying to fit the bigger speakers in the dash, I don't think they fit at all. Also, personally I think it looks kinda cheesy.

[87 STEPPER]

Installing a cd player in your truck is'nt hard to do if you have a dremal tool to cut the dash to fit a din style hole for the radio to fit in. I did it in my '87 you will also have to trim the plastic dash bazel at the bottom.

I dont know if 6.5 will fit in the door i haven't tried that and dont plan on it.

The dash speakers are 4" round and you have to remove them from the under side of the dash it's not that hard to do i don't recommend cutting the dash from the top side and i don't belive 6.5's will fit there plus it wont look very good.

And the rear speakers are 4x6

Good luck.

[1FaastC10]

yes, 6.5s will fit in the doors. CD player is easy to install, dremel, just like everyone says. the dash speakers however, in my experiences are a different story. you have to remove teh dash pad, and the screws are right there.

[J-Spec C10]

I didn't remove the dash pad, I went from underneath. It took me about 1 hour to change both fronts.

[scarface-87]

Originally posted by J-Spec C10
WOW! how'd you manage to write so much in one sentence?

hahaha

[Slonaker]

The rear speakers in the pickups are 4X10 if they are factory installed in the cab corners.

Slonaker

[navybear70]

installing the CD player has been covered, but why hasn't anyone mentioned enclosed truck-box speakers behind the seat? I picked up a ready made box with two 6"(about) already installed in it at Wal-mart for $17. (on sale of course) All I had to do was hook up the wires in the back just like house speakers. My '80 has been modified, and I have no door, dash, or doorframe speakers, so the box is all I have.

[87gmc]

K here goes, i have many run-ins with these truck, my own and many at the car audio shop that i work part-time. Cd player is pretty straight forward if your putting it right below your heater control. you will have to cut the dash and bezel. Another place to put it is if you dont have A/C you can put it in the trim where the A/C opening would go very easy to do and most of its done for you already because the holes for the a/c are already in the dash pad and dash. As for the speakers the original speakers up front are 3 1/2's but 4's will work perfectly fine. Depending on the speaker though the left front may hit your gauge cluster. Yes 6.5's do fit in your door without a spacer as long as YOU DONT have PW if you do your better of with kick panels. either way i would go with kick panels. As for the rear there 4X10's and they make mounting plates that accomadate 6X9's but there cheap plastic i would either buy a set of nice 4X10's (eclipse makes nice ones.) Or go with 6X9' in boxes behind the seat.

[chevy68388]

ok so how i see it its going to be eazy to put my radio in just cut my hole wire it up im going to change all my speakers at one time so i need to know how do i jet the dash pad off so i can get to my dash speakers o and why i asked about the 6 1/2s is that they came with my blaupnkt auston

[pkbinplano]

I put a remote controlled am/fm cd player under driver side of seat. Left the dash oem. Aftermarket tri ax 4 x 10's in each rear corner, 4 " round co ax's in center Iron Horse brand console bolted to hump. Kicks A**. Sounds good . Have pics if interested.

[chevy68388]

well i do want to see pics but i think im going to make the hole in my dash . cause it has a broke ass jvc tape deck in it.

[PHOENIX]

Heres a few pictures of my CD in the stock location.

[r0lf-]

I put my CD player where the left vent for the AC would go, since I dont have any. Right in the middle of the dash where you can get to it easily. I was going to put it in the factory location, but I really just didnt want to hassle with the poor location for loading CDs. I have 6 1/2's in the doors and they sound fine. I also have a 10" Sub behind the bench /w 200 Watts going to it. Its plenty loud for me. My amp is bolted to the floor under the bench. Its a pretty good setup for now, until I get greedy >

[1FaastC10]

Eddie, with you guages mounted that way, are any of them hard to see? i think i remember hearing someone mention that they had a hard time seeing their when the ywere mounted a certain way.

[chevy68388]

man i realy like them gauges hmm maybe ill put new ones in when i put the radio in. i have a take that i still have to put inwell maybe later.do u have a problem hitting your radio with it beeing so close to your knee.

[navybear70]

Bro! You have got to tell me where you got those killer white-face gauges!!! How much were they? Do you have any more pics of your interior? Mine is pretty plain, but I'll post one soon for ya anyway. (couldn't get to it today.)

[orionwy2002]

I had an 82 K10 tha i put components in the dash.C an't remember what brand, but most have different sizes for the mids. I put the tweeters in the pillars and the mids under the dash in the stock location w/o much work.I also had 6x9s in the cab corners mounted in boxes i made out of 3/4 mdf. I've put 6.5s in the doors before with the spacers mentioned by(?) i thought they looked a little klunky.

Kickpanels would be the way to go if you can get them to match the interior color.

Does anyone know, will kickpanels interfere w/ the E-brake?

goodluck with the stereo
----Orion
79K10scottsdale
97 blazer

[orionwy2002]

What?

[PHOENIX]

1FASTC10:
Its kinda hard to see the top of the speedo and tach, but with a factory size steering wheel I dont see it as an issue.

Chevy68388:
Actually sometimes I rest my hand on my knee and operate the sterio that way. I personally like the stock sterio location. The CD player I have has a remote. Kinda funny to have one for such a short distance, but once you have a remote you will never wont to go without one again.

Navybear70:
They are AutoMeter Pro-Comp Ultra-Lite gauges, they are silver face with silver bezel. They can be bought in a ton of places, like Jegs or Summit Racing. For that setup it will run you around $425 to $450 for the guages alone. They are much better then stock and I would do it again in a heart beat. I love the guages! Heres a link to some ictures of my truck and the AZ Auto Show, plus a couple bonus videos http://www.73-87.com/~phoenix

Orionwy2002:
It depends on the brand of kick panel. Some interefere and some dont. I hear that the Q-Logic panels do not interfere at all. And you can get them to match your color. Heres a good link for more info on them: http://www.thezeb.com/caraudio/q-logic_q-forms.html

[gchemist]

Check out my CD player installation.
I have 12" thumpers, 6X9 in the corners and 3"s in the dash with a bass bypass. Sounds great. I hope to make a Dallas meet sometime so y'all can hear it. Austin meet coming in March!!

[newage]

first it is fairly easy to put the stereo in but always remember this. It's not size or quanity, it's QUALITY. I do stereo comps and I'd suggest for the speakers polk audio's two way in the front and three ways in the rear with a small four channell amp under the seat for no distortion from the head unit. wire it with a stinger 4ga. amp wiring kit. you will sound great.

[chevy68388]

omg newage did u say polk please tell me u didnt not to be mean polk sucks ass juice . im a fosgate man my self and blaupnkt and autotek

[newage]

polk does not suck. I like fosgate but not bluajunk. I speak this from triel and error. i'm really more of a kenwood, kicker, and infinity man. but right now I'm running kenwood head unit, polk mids and highs, 2 kicker comp vr subs (without dual voice coils) and kenwood amp, in a 97 gmc jimmy. never place behind third by hitting a 147.8 db. thats real good ask anybody.

[chevy68388]

well in my old mini van i ran a pioneer deh 11 head unit a autotek 300 watt amp bridged to a flea market sub called rockwood and im hiting 129.9 on one slip and 132.? on the other thats with one sub and factory others ive never had any luck with polk but now kicker on the other had great subs love the L7s great sub and infinity wow wonderful speakers but i still say eww to polk sorry