Tampa Hurricane

iTrader: (2)

I have a 1992 Trans Am vert that I want to keep looking stock. When I purchased the vehicle, it had a pos Sony radio in it. I removed the Sony and replaced it with a tape deck that came as original factory equipment on my car. Needless to say, the stereo sounds like crap. I want to keep the car looking original, but would love to have a stereo that sounds great.

I was thinking about going to a car audio customization place and seeing about instead of having the spare tire in the side panel in my truck about having a second radio installed in there. Has anyone had this done to their f-body? I have seen other custom cars at shows that had this done and thought it might be a great idea. If anyone has had this done, is it possible to have it done where the original radio still works, but when it is turned on, the "spare tire" radio plays through the replaced speakers in the factory location?

Al Hasse

There are kits available to relocate the original head units to the trunk to maintain the vehicle functions that go through the radio. That is the reverse direction of what you're asking, I know. What you may consider if you want to maintain a factory head unit is to use a line level converter, but you can sacrifice some sound quality by doing so. What it does is converts the speaker outputs from your deck to a pre-amp RCA that an amplifier can use. Available at most car audio stores.

online170

If you search this, im not sure which words might be useful;

Maybe "second radio" "stereo" "auxilary" etc...

It has been covered before, and i think its asking to much to have both radios operating at the same time. It would get too complicated to operate the speakers that way.

However, i think someone mentioned that it is possible to have JUST the clock working. Again the idea was to keep it looking original.

I would bet someone sells original looking stereos for high output, but not sure about out cars.

As for spare tire location, i did my best to hide all amp wiring, i routed it through the fender, and under body panels etc... All my speakers are new, with factory covers on top, so you cant tell. My amp is located over the spare tire, it even gets adequate cooling.

The only giveaway are the huge subs i have in the back seat, but im working on that.

I would recommend placingthe new stereo in the glove box location, much less crowded, and have it remote operated. Or even under the seat.