KMK454

My car came optioned with UL5 radio delete and U79 speakers, dual front, dual extended rear. The speakers are still factory, but along the way a previous owner pulled the radio delete panel and plopped in an aftermarket Kenwood system.

It wasn't the most spectacular sounding system, but what bothered me is how out of place it looked in the car. The radio stuck about 1-2 inches out from the dash and was a sea of green and white LCD lights. It just didn't look right.

Here it is starting; it doesn't look obnoxious but this picture doesn't highlight the stereo:


I removed the AC/Radio plate. Getting that top left screw out was kind of a pain... I did it without removing the lower dash, though; you can pop the connecter out just enough to fit a screwdriver through the crack and unscrew the torx screw.

I was a little surprised by the surface rust on the metal plates to hold the radio unit in place. I wiped some off but it didn't improve much. It only happened on the surface of the thin, somewhat cheap feeling aluminum used to just hold the components in. I'll have to remove them at some point and polish them up some... everything else back there was immaculate, so those rusting metal pieces are kind of a drag. Structurally they're fine, but that powdery surface rust... blah.


I picked up a NOS radio delete panel from Perrypam/Modern Muscle NOS parts. It bolted right in nicely and looks the part. It fits about as flush as you can expect 1991 GM plastic interior parts to fit, so I'm pleased. Here is the after picture, and it looks much better:


If anybody is wondering what that red light is, I really don't know... a previous owner must have put it in there. A red/black line was run off it but not connected to anything as if an alarm was meant to go in but never quite made it. Maybe I'll just call it a super-special B4C police light switch or something...

As for the speaker and antenna hook-up, I'm undecided on what route to take. I left them right under the ashtray for easy access. What I would like to do is simply connect into the speaker plug and have my iPod play music over the speakers. I could then hide this cable and run it into the console storage bin so it is hidden and retains a true "stock" appearance. Does anybody know of an off the shelf hookup for this? As for the antenna, I'll probably just leave it be.


And here's the system yanked from the car:


Now the only non-factory items are a tint, small mudflaps, and floormats.

And here's the ride out enjoying it's new delete panel and weight savings (ha!):

Drew

iTrader: (58)

Aluminum doesn't rust. All the structural reinforcement is steel, and it's normal for it to look rusty since it wasn't coated from the factory. The humidity in the air will cause them to oxidize, short of painting them or filling the car with desiccant packets and sealing it in a plastic bubble you'll have that.

The top Torx screw is a fake. Look at the panel and you'll see it has a clip on the back that hooks into the console. Many of the Torx screws in the dash are for show only, some of them are even molded into the plastic.

The radio plug is an aftermarket plug that goes with the Kenwood deck you removed. If they used an adapter to connect it to the factory harness it's further back in the harness. You probably can adapt something else to the factory harness, but you'll need at least an amplifier and wiring it to the CD player's plug would make it needlessly complicated.

KMK454

Well, fake or not, the thing wouldn't come out until I unscrewed the top Torx. You can't really see back up in there anyways. There was a clip of sorts on the back of the panel and the 4th torx screw was shorter than the rest.

Yeah, the plug is a typical Kenwood 16-pin. I'm exploring hidden options to see if I can rig something up like secret audio to keep that factory look. The amplifier/CD thing on the Kenwood is a massive brick that didn't fit in the dash.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

Normally, you just remove the other three screws, and lift the panel out while sliding it to the right. The fourth screw doesn't screw into anything.

Keep the plug with the CD player. If it's hardwired into the harness, the wires have already been cut. If not, separate the Kenwood harness from the adapter and wire the adapter into whatever system you want to install.

Odd that the car had speakers. The stereo delete cars i've seen didn't even have the rear panels cut for 6x9's.

Dialed_In

iTrader: (3)

I'm not up to speed on the radio delete option. Why on earth with no radio would the car have a speaker option (U79)?

KMK454

Well, from looking at it, the RPOs are UL5 for the delete and U79 for four speakers and my car has both. The speakers are small and not very powerful; when the stereo was in it was loud enough to be heard but not loud enough to overcome both windows down at 60 MPH.

The wiring coming into the console is front and rear speakers, power, and the antenna. Pretty basic stuff, I'm searching to find the tiniest setup I can to hide in there.

KMK454

I don't know... but I have no RPOs for rear defrost, radio, or floormats, yet I have an option for 4 speakers so... somebody at the Chevy dealership was having fun.

Looks like all I need is a 2 or 4 channel mini amplifier run off of the car's power. Sound quality won't be the best but it never was and I'd use it mainly for podcasts on longer trips.

KMK454

Installed a Digital Audio Amplifier... plugs into the factory harness. Bought the amp from a car stereo shop so I'd have to get the PN from them. Run an RCA to audio AUX input. System powers on with the ignition, but nothing happens until you plug in an ipod and play a song. All volume is controlled by the ipod and the amp drives the 4x speakers with plenty of power.

I ordered a used ashtray insert and will drill a hole in it to tuck the wire away when not in use.

Here are the pics:


See the wire coming out of the ashtray:


Here's what it looks like all closed up - stock and clean: