First of all, to all the guys on the forum who helped me out with their advice… Thank You. This forum is really great.
Finally, after putting in about 20 hours of work into the project, over the past four or five weekends, the aftermarket stereo install in my 1991 Coupe is done!! I took the car out for a cruise this past weekend and it sounds sweet and looks great. No more fuzzy, staticky FM reception…no more CD skipping on every bump in the road…and a great sounding stereo, for a modest price.
Just to recap for anyone who’s interested. I pulled out all the old "Blose" stereo components (including the CDM which was a bitch – the GM engineer who decided to put it in the dash on these cars ought to be shot). It took me two hours to get everything loosened up and to extricate the CDM from inside the dash. It was one of the most aggravating car repair experiences I’ve ever had. The cuts on my hands are still healing.
Anyway, I digress….for my new stereo I purchased the Alpine CDE-9843 head unit, a pair of Alpine SPS-13C2 (5 ¼ coaxials) for the front kick panels and a pair of Alpine SPS-17C2 (6 ½” coaxials) for the rear…total cost about $350. I decided not to install a separate amplifier.
I made some custom speaker enclosures for the front and rear using ½”and ¼” plywood, which I finished off with custom mounting plates made out of the same plywood, covered in black felt. This way I was able to use the stock locations, show off the speakers and make use of the cool looking speaker covers that came with them. I have pictures of my installation, that I would be glad to share with you guys, but I don’t have the appropriate security level on the forum to post them. If anyone is really interested I can e-mail them.
Anyway, for those of you interested in doing this, it was a lot of work, but for me, well worth it.
Corvette Store
Finally Finished My Aftermarket Stereo Install
