1978 chevy need ideas for where to put stereo
 

Hey guys, I have my original am radio in place for the clean original look and now I am trying to come up with ideas on where to install my nice new modern CD stereo. I have absolutely NO IDEA where to put this thing and anyone who has a 78 or similar dash set up in other years should clearly be able to understand why it is so hard to find a place to put a stereo in this thing. I like the idea of a glove box install but even that seems difficult/impossible because the glove box on these things are built in to the glovebox door not actually in dash type box and it is LOW on the dash making it at a steep angle downward. Plus I have the AC thing in the way on the RIGHT SIDE which I dont think is the original set up and was added because the original is supposed to be on the left side. I think you can probably understand what I am saying and why it is difficult. That said, does anyone have any ideas and more importantly any PICTURES of where and how you installed your stereo on this truck which I think are all the same from 74 to 82? Mine is a 78, beautiful truck all cherried out and restored and just about perfect but I have no sound system and it really takes away from the enjoyment of the truck.


I am not willing to cut the dash so that option is out and the original AM needs to stay, one option is that I guess LMC truck sells a modern CD player that fits in to the old AM slot but I am already heavily invested in my system and dont want to buy a new one, would rather try and figure out a place to put the one I have but I dont want any L brackets hanging here or there or something crude, I am looking for clean professional and nice looking install and mostly just where the heck I can make that happen because as creative as I am capable of being I am just not "seein it."

Any help very much appreciated!

Re: 1978 chevy need ideas for where to put stereo
 

I'd make or buy a box to mount it up in the headliner between the sun visors. I have a cb mounted there and I forget its there half the time. There are also some decent older shaft style units (pioneer, kenwood etc)out there with cd changer control and preouts if you search ebay, last gasp of the shaft style kinda thing. Its seems like most of the new shaft style stuff they have with mp3/ipod inputs etc are pretty low quality if you're after a serious system.

Re: 1978 chevy need ideas for where to put stereo
 

i'd think mounting a cd player anywhere but the dash would look odd
for a clean professional and dice looking install of a cd player cut your dash, buy an extra dash bezel if you ever want to revert back to AM
your going to need kick panel speakers at a minimum, you can install those and store the original kicks with your stock dash bezel


there are options if you chose not to use the cd player, cd players are on their way out
you can install an amp under the seat and use any mp3 player to power it
if your cd player is also an mp3 player you could put it under the seat, it would revert to the last played mp3 but volume control would be an issue

Re: 1978 chevy need ideas for where to put stereo
 

I'm with Ogre. When I did the stereo in my '74, I ran an ipod to rca adaptor, through a gain control knob, then split that with 1 onto 2 rcs's, and run that to a 4 channel amp. No holes cut into the dash, and the only thing showing was a small cable run through the seat cushion. Hopefully that made sense.