I've always hated the look of the old Pioneer tape deck radio that was in my '85 camaro and I don't have any tapes anyway. I wanted a radio that looked better, and would support aux inputs. Choices are limited to single din (looks like crap in 1.5 din opening), or double din (it can be done, but it's a hack job). Well, I had several Chrysler RBK radios, and set out to make it work. It fits in the car real nice, but I had to create a custom bezel. The following pictures are of a proof of concept bezel made of balsa wood and craft plywood, then sprayed with truck bed liner. this was my first attempt at making a bezel, but I don't think it turned out too bad, it looks a lot better than the single din Pioneer that was there.

I'm going to play with the fitment of it a little more and then maybe use it to make a mold for fiberglass or carbon fiber.

with this setup, I have several radios I can use in the future. Everything from RB1 or RB4 GPS heads to 6 disk changers (RBQ)

 

That looks really good! Did it mount the same as factory?

 

That Looks Pretty Good

 

I had to shave a little off the bottom "ears" on the radio, and knock off two pegs, drill four new wholes.... it all took about 5 mins. It also needed a antenna adaptor ($15.00)... all in all, fitting the radio in was a "piece of cake"... it was the bezel that took time.

 

Awesome, may have to try it one day!

 

IMPORTANT! ensure you chassis ground the radio, the radio will work fine without it, however volume control and panal lights are somewhat unreliable

 

Here is the wiring for the plug. You only need speakers pins 7,8,9,10,18,19,20,21 and pin 1 (power), pin 2 (ACC), pin 3 (panel), pin 22 (ground), you can ignore all others.

The little connector is for the CD changer and is a good place to hook up AUX IN, I've got a little after market thing I picked up years ago that plugs in here and gives me two AUX inputs.

 

With that setup, you could do one of the Chinese GPS units from autodvdgps.com. I've got one in my '03 Ram, and it's not too bad. I got mine off eBay for less than $400.

 

I don't have much use for GPS in the Camaro, It's not a DD, I just use it on nice days with the top down (It's a Matrix3 coach convertible) and pretty much know where I'm going. But, Yes, there is a lot of directions you can go with a somewhat modern head unit, Chrysler made a lot of differnt round face models....BTW: it sounds outstanding, I always thought the speakers were crap, it turns out the speakers are fine, it was the Pioneer POS head unit.

When using a Chrysler radio, just make sure you don't have a "CAN Bus" radio... it won't turn on without a CAN Bus signal from the ECM. From what I can tell, the round face radio's are all non-CAN Bus.

 

Have seen a few of these in the classifieds lately. Anyone know how close the dimensions are to our 1.5 din? Like that it looks stockish and has the aux input.

Thanks bedbed

 

you don't want to use that one... it requires a can-bus signal to even turn on. You gotta' be real careful with newer factory radios, most are year/model specific

 

This one on Ebay has been modified with aux input.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/190648617532...84.m1423.l2649

 

this looks like the mustang radio, like 08 i think.

 

It's a Chrysler REF radio

 

Pretty cool mod and these Chrysler decks sound good. However they made these in a flush-mount style. Its nearly the exact same deck. There was a guy on here that installed one.



It will sit flush and look stock in place of a 3rdgen radio. I do like your idea of taking the newer rounded out deck and modifying it to look stock. A little more refinement and it will look really good.

You can find these in late mid to late 90s/ early 2000s Chrysler cars, dodge dakotas and rams ,etc.

 

ewwwwwww good job but i dont like it.

 

It looks and sounds better than what was in there, and it's easy to change back if I ever get a decent stock style unit.

 

Nice install, but putting something round in a mostly square interior doesn't look good IMO.

 

You did a nice job! It looks a lot better than a single din radio. My daughter has the same radio in a mini-van, and it sounds pretty good.

I wonder if the same type of conversion could be done with a 1.5 din Ford radio. They are square faced with a little shorter depth then an OE Delco radios. The Audiophile CD6 is Sat ready, plays MP3 format, and has a built in 80 watt amplifier.

http://replacementradios.com/product...roducts_id=822

There are some really cool Delco units that will fit in our cars with out much modification, usually just wiring adaptors.

http://replacementradios.com/product...products_id=76

 

I used this radio, only because I have a bunch of them sitting around the garage, and it has all the functions I was looking for (better looking than the Pioneer tape player that was in there, CD, and AUX inputs). I would not have gone out of my way to purchase one of these, just to stuff into my third gen.

You have to be careful with "modern" OEM radios because many of them require a signal from the ecm/pcm to even turn on (it seems around '04/'05 the manufacures started doing this)(research any OEM radio before you purchase one).

I will more than likely end up putting in a GM 1.5 din form factor, modified with an AUX input.... but for now this works just fine for me.

 

It makes sense. You used what you already have, and made it look good without cutting up your car.

 

The bezel looks like it was made from black playdoh

you should have had a 3rd or 4th gen GM radio converted to a aux input. I picked up one super cheap on ebay

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/car-...ry-radios.html

 

Well.. Like I said, I will at some point in time replace it witha GM raidio, but nothing is as cheap as what you "already have laying around doin' nothin'"".

Beside that, your ugly and your mother dresses you funny!

 

It looks good and those Chrysler decks are pretty good pieces, I hooked a sub to mine in a sebring and it sounded great. I might have to think about this.

 

I wouldn’t go out and buy one for this purpose, but if you’ve got one laying around, gathering dust, you might as well put it to use. It sounds great. The more I use it, the more I think it’ll stay for a while.

I’m going to redo the bezel at some point. This one I just knocked out using balsa wood, wood filler, and truck bed liner paint. It was a rush job for more of a proof of concept than a final product.

 

well I want something to replace what's in there but I absolutely hate those cheaper aftermarket decks


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