80TexasC3

Question for anyone that has mounted a new stereo in their C3. I have purchased a new rectangular Alpine and now need to modify my center from the old two **** face. How did you do this and how did you secure the new unit in the housing? It looks like the old two **** unit was supported by the *****.

Hop's-vette

I had an Alpine put in mine by a custom sound shop. They told me it would require cutting the dash panel to fit it in and basically were asking my permission. Since they are a reputable shop I trusted them and it came out fine. You may want to re-consider doing it yourself and have it professionally installed.

A C

I have a 69 and put in the DIN style. On the older C3's we needed to cut the cast metal bezels and install a cover plate, but I believe your bezel is flat around the stereo. Your new stereo should have a galvanized sheetmetal chassis that it sits in. I would take this out and trace it's shape on your bezel (centered and squared of course) and trim out the outline of the chassis using a Dremel tool of something else suitable. There are bendable metal tabs on the chassis that actually support the stereo. After you slide the chassis in, you bend the tabs over tightly against the bezel and that keeps the unit in position. Then you just wire the stereo and slide it into the chassis.

80TexasC3

Thanks for the quick replies... Where can I get the metal chassis?

lostpatrolman

There are a few things you need. You need to cut a rectangular area out of your bezel. You also need to buy a faceplate. The area where the radio goes is curved, a faceplate will make it flat. There should be an outer sleeve that goes onto radio and clips to it. That cover goes through the faceplate and that goes through the bezel. There are tabs on the sleeve that you bend outward. These will secure the pieces all together. Once you put the bezel back on, you only need to slide the radio into the modified bezel. Here is a thread on an install. http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=808211

lostpatrolman

Wow, you all are very quick. The metal chassis should come with the stereo.

SAMMAN

The metal chassis comes with any DIN style radio you buy.

griffths

I did not find it as dificult at I was expecting to cut the bezel. The top and bottom horizontal cuts are easy and the left and right cuts are not too bad if you turn the bezel over and cut them from the back. The cutout does not have to be perfect since the DIN adapter will cover the hole anyway.

Here are a few pictures of my installation.





Jay

Stoge

*edit* wow, shoulda read to the bottom of the post. :p:


[Modified by Stoge, 11:21 PM 6/29/2004]

A C

That is an older style bezel, like mine. Looks like you did a good job. The poster's bezel does not look like ours at all and should be a lot easier to deal with. That picture is very good though, for showing the variety of tabs you can bend over behind the bezel face to make the stereo chassis fit tight against the bezel.


[Modified by A C, 11:22 PM 6/29/2004]

80TexasC3

Thanks for all of the advise... I negotiated with the audio shop to cut the console and mount the insert for $20. Too good of a deal to take on myself and risk this new-bee screwing it up.

Should be ready at 4 today.

Corz