County98's Start to Finish LM Stereo Install

[County98]

Howdy campers!

Like I mentioned in my build thread, I did a ton of searching on some stereo install stuff. While I did find a lot of great things and some REALLY nice work scattered about, it was hidden in bits and pieces in build threads, replies to others questions, etc. I figured I would just put mine all in one thread and maybe it will help out some other folks down the line.

This will NOT be a multi-thousand dollar competition stereo, and I have no skill whatsoever with fiberglassing enclosures and whatnot. Really wish I did. I've done a few installs though and think I can cover the basics that most average Joe's can do.

Also, while there aren't many, there ARE options when it comes to head unit placement, speaker placement & type, etc. I've decided that this way will be working the best for me. There are MANY possible configs as well, but I'll be using some gear that I already had, plus some I bought new for this car. Mix and match to fit your needs, but this one is just the way I'M going to roll.

This will be childs play for some and way above and beyond for others. That's what makes it fun, no? Please chime in if you have good constructive criticism or pointers along the way. Also, please let me know if I'm way off base on anything...

Alrightly then!

First step is to always start with a plan.

Kenwood Single DIN head unit: I already have this, so no point spending money for something more modern. Bluetooth, IR, and a built in hard drive would be nice, but I'll settle for a CD player and being able to plug in a USB drive. Sound quality and tailoring is really good, plus has 6 ch preamp outputs.

4 Channel amp: Got this from a good friend of ours, so already have it. It's a super cool semi-classic 4 ch that does good clean power. All I need for now. If I was buying new, I'd get a digital 5 channel amp, but no need for me.

Front Components: IMHO, I believe component speakers in the front are the way to go. This is going to be the bulk of where your sound stage is going to be at and you want some separation and be able to focus your tweeters some. i.e.-point them at your face. I'm also of the opinion you can't really get any decent midbass from anything under 6 1/2".

Rear Coaxials: My rear speakers are going to be just for fill and to round out the front speakers. Went with 6 1/2" coaxials of the same make/line/brand as my fronts.

SUB: I already have a nice JL Audio 10" 10w1v3. I'm using it.

Also picked up an all in one type amp wiring kit with RCA's and speaker wire since it was half off with my speakers. I'm a big fan of Crutchfield and Sonic Electronix, btw. I find Sonic to be somewhat cheaper, so order mainly from them. I'm trying their new house brand of speakers, NVX. They have great reviews and might be a good bang for the buck setup.

Also, I'm not going to be pushing 1.21 gigawatts of power. My amp is a good (and probably underrated) 65w RMS at 4 ohms, and 160w RMS bridged.

My plan is to use 2 of the amps 4 channels for my front components. I will bridge the other 2 channels to the sub. My rear speakers are going to be driven by the head unit power only since they are only for fill and to round out the sound.

Lastly, (and I know this is going on forever lol...) I will be posting in chunks as I get things done. It won't be all at once, but only as I get the funds/energy/car where I need it for the next chunk. Sound good? (Get it? I made a joke there since we're talking about stereos!)

[County98]

Phase 1, head unit install and wiring.

Since I'm using a single DIN chassis head unit, we're only going to talk about that. There's some options for mounting. In dash, under dash, and hidden.

While I thought long and hard about the under dash mount, my stock radio was a pockmarked rusty mess. Didn't want to leave it in there, and I wasn't fond of having the radio hole, then having another radio mounted underneath. This may be an option for you if you don't mind the look or have a nice radio delete plate to hide the original opening.

I also don't have an IR remote that can beam through the glovebox door and wanted to keep my glovebox anyway. Went for the in dash option.

Kind of bulky, but it'll work. I REALLY like the DIN radio adapter plates that were made awhile back by Bucketboss, but sadly they're really tough to find. Maybe someone with a 3D printer will start tooling them up again? Please, lol?

2 concerns with the dash mounting. First is the radio knob thingy's in the stock radio hole and the other is the inverse slope of the dash.

You do NOT need to cut up your dash to install a single DIN receiver. By carefully bending the tabs back, and I mean ALL the way back, you can JUST scrape the mounting sleeve in the factory cut out. I did.

To address the second issue, you'll have to get a little creative. I went and bought a Scosche install kit for a newer Jeep. The only thing I needed out of it was one of the trim plates. It's just wide enough to cover the factory hole on the sides, and is a clean oval, so smooths out the finish a little.

The other piece of the puzzle is the slope. I dug through all my old leftovers and found an angled mount ring that worked. It's not perfect, there's still a little down slope to the stereo, but it's much better and perfectly usable.

Wiring wasn't too bad either. Sticking to my plan, I knew I needed to hook up 12v constant power (for memory), 12v switched power, amp remote power out, ground for head unit, the rear speaker wires since I'm not amping those (right now), and 4 of the 6 channels RCA lines to the amp.

My amp wiring kit. Good stuff, pleased with the quality.

Includes a 4ch RCA cable and a small 18gauge remote wire to the amp.

Installed the RCA lines and marked the other ends with tape before I slid the deck in. Much easier, but make sure you take some tape and mark the other ends of your wiring so you don't forget later!

Amp remote line and speaker wiring is self explanatory and just left all that hanging for now. Only note is to make sure you make good connections. I generally use splices as a middle ground, but some folks use twist/electrical tape method or on the high end is a full solder/heat shrink jobber.

That leaves the 3 you actually have to wire...switched power, constant power, and ground.

The factory radio has 3 wires, 2 to the speaker and one yellow one. The yellow one is switched power that is only on if the key is in there. I'm using the factory yellow wire as my switched power, so need a simple splice onto my red wire because that's what color it happens to be on the Kenwood pigtail.

Constant power is where I put a simple slide connector on the end and plugged it straight into the fuse box. Don't get confused by my wire colors, it just happens to be what my radio pigtail has.

***Caveat! I don't have a battery in my car yet, so not sure if this will be a constant hot or not. If not, I'll find a different spot. ***

Lastly the ground. There's some options, but I just used one of the glove compartment bottom screws. Easy to get to and unobtrusive. IMPORTANT! There's only going to be 2 grounds in this system. Head unit and amp. Make sure they're good! I always dremel off all paint and rust, then used a star washer with the little teeth that will bite into the metal of the eyelet and metal.

The order from in to out is, metal of the car/star washer/eyelet of ground wire/dash surround/screw. Important part is the star washer is biting into the ground wire and the real deal metal.

Thats it for this chunk! After I get a battery in, I can Ops check my power and actually turn it on. Hopefully it will actually work, lol!

[toytron]

Looks real nice! I wish the previous owner of my corsa would have just bent the ears back and not hacked up the dash. Well that is why I have a parts car for I guess.

Ed Stevenson

[SyntheticBlnkerFluid]

Great install, I have yet to even decide on a radio, but it's good to know that the tabs can be bent out of the way because if there is one thing I hate, it's a gutted radio hole.

The only thing in hate about the single DIN install in the late model, is that the radio kind of faces downward because of the curve in the dash, but there's not too many options, so we're kind of stuck with that.


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[County98]

Yup. Unless you can find or make a sloped mounting ring. Actually, any trim ring you find that at least 1/2" or more thick could probably be trimmed down more on one side to make an angled mount and straighten her right up.

There's always the Custom Autosound head units as well. They're $250-$350, but have all the modern niceties and look more stockish. Honestly, I can't remember the last time I bought a CD. I'm just using what I have because I know it sounds good and has the preamp outs.

[SyntheticBlnkerFluid]

Yeah I've looked at the RetroSound radios and they are more what I want, but yeah, they are expensive.

Also, what are your plan for speakers? I already have a plan for my parcel tray, but I do not want to gut the front doors, so I'm thinking up some panels that fit under the dash on each side that I can Mount speakers to so they are facing down towards the footwell. People say it wouldn't sound good and I beg to differ. I had a Toyota Corolla wagon that the factory speakers pointed down toward your legs and when I replaced the speakers with ones that didn't suck with an aftermarket radio, it actually had really good sound.



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[County98]

Not entirely sure yet. I'd have to build out the doors and run hinge wiring, OR block off the vents, OR do the flat panels under dash.

I'm about 70% sure I'm going to mod the fresh air vents. I like the under dash plates, but driver side has no room to close them in.

Still kicking it around. For rear will be the package tray box for sub and rears.

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[SyntheticBlnkerFluid]

Yeah I have 3 12" subs hanging around, so one of them will most likely end up in the parcel tray with a couple 6x9s or 6" rounds.

I just don't want to cut holes in the doors. I've done it for customers on both EMs and LMs and absolutely hated doing it. I'm not too entirely worried about closing in the front speakers, though I will play around with it.

That being said, it's a ways off yet. I still have to get the car to be able to stop. [emoji1]


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[County98]

Put a battery in the car today and ran a quick chassis ground. Success! Stereo turns on and off with the key and holds memory. [emoji1]



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[SyntheticBlnkerFluid]

Nice [emoji1303]


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[CorvairCon65]

Looking good. My stereo hole has been butchered, such a shame. Think I'll try to find a plastic ring like yours to hid the overcut.

[County98]

Chunk 2: Sound deadener.

I remember this being a lot more fun as a kid. My shoulder hates me and my thumbs aren't going to be my friends again for a few days.

Plus, I ran out before I could finish it, lol. Arg...[emoji35]

Roof isn't too hard, but hell on your shoulders, lol.



Got the back, roof, and front done, but not the middle.







Came out pretty good, I'm happy.

Only tackled this because we had a freakishly hot 88 degree day today in southern OK, so laid out all the sheets in the sun to let them soften up and get tacky.

Okay, sound deadener... Like SyntheticBlinkerFluid pointed out, this always seems to be a debate.[emoji20]

Dynamat was kind of the first kid to get a major name and ran with it, but Dynamat, Fatmat, NVX, and all the name brands are pretty much the same in my book.



Also, these aren't really sound blockers per se, they're vibration dampeners. You're only "supposed" to use them to cover 30-40% of flat sheet metal areas to cut down resonance. After that they'll be able to sell you a bunch more products like thermal barriers, underlayment, and open cell foam.

None of it is wrong, but my world doesn't include $600 worth of sound deadening.

What I do is a fairly solid coat of the foil sticky stuff (which WILL cut down on heat, noise, and resonance), then I'll use some open cell stuff under the package tray box I'll build. Even house insulation will work for this. The pad you put under the carpet (and then the carpet itself) will take care of the rest.

I'll be doing the sides under the door panels later on also.

Important to note that even a small hole can let in a lot of sound. If you crack open a window in your house, it lets in almost all the outside noise, even if it's still 90% closed. Know what I'm saying?

This is what I'VE always had good results with FOR ME. Your mileage may vary...[emoji12] [emoji1] [emoji1]

Lastly, the Home Depot roof flashing. I've never used it, but that doesn't make it bad. My OPINION on it is that as long as it was butyl based and NOT asphalt, I might even be tempted to give it a shot on my floors. I PERSONALLY won't use it on any vertical surfaces and especially not the roof.

There are a few horror stories around of it giving up the ghost after a couple years or extreme weather and turning to black goo. Those may be the asphalt based ones though. [emoji15]

Like I said, never personally used them, so don't have an educated opinion on this. I do know that the name brand stuff, intended for this purpose, has never let me down.

See you next time buddies! [emoji85] [emoji86] [emoji87] [emoji106]

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[viewmaster]

Hey Country98,
Nice post, i am in the middle of updating my daily, and doing the single DIN stereo in the stock hole myself. This post helps me make decisions. Much appreciated. I just may have a guy here, who can come up with a 3D printed faceplate for us. Ill bring him my stock plate, and set him loose on the project. Ill be sure to post what i find out.

-m

[County98]

That would be awesome. Put me down for one if you need a beta tester, lol. Seriously, if they look good you could probably sell 50 of them without even trying.

Actually, if anything comes of it, start a new thread to solicit inputs. Might get good feedback on tweaks, finishes, etc. Carbon fiber, chrome look, raw, etc.

[bbodie52]

With the likely demand for a well-designed DIN faceplate adaptor for LM Corvairs, it is surprising that Clark's Corvair Parts — with all their contacts, design experience, and knowledge of reproduction and fabrication — never came up with such a kit.

Here are some LM faceplate images I found on the Internet...


http://corvaircenter.com/phorum/read.ph ... 164,page=2

LM Faceplate Adaptor (1).jpg (57.65 KiB) Viewed 1512 times

LM Faceplate Adaptor (2).jpg (60.59 KiB) Viewed 1512 times

Date: November 19, 2009 06:21PM

Here's mine. Used a standard front plate. Fabbed the inset to straighten the face and attached with JB Weld. The DIN insert holds the plate tight to the dash, along with the radio's rear support bracket.

[County98]

Holy crap, just realized it's been YEARS since I posted an update on here. Oh well, I get busy...and lazy.

Took a break from doing real car stuff and decided to work on something a little more fun for me and do some stereo stuff. Thought I would spend the day building a quick package tray/ sub box, but it turned out more involved than I thought. This will be a multi day project, and not in a row. Just whenever I get my Amazon orders in and some free time.

First an update. As ridiculously slow as I go, the plan has changed as things evolve. First, I used my vintage amp in a C10 project, along with the sub I originally planned. I went and picked up a 5 channel digital amp for this one, and am using a JL Audio 10" W3 subwoofer. That will handle the wattage from the new amp better.

Secondly, I found a guy who 3D Printed me a Single DIN faceplate adapter, so switched out what I had for the new one. It DID require a small bit of trimming to the corners of the radio hole, but nothing too major.

In the time since last post, I finished up the dynamat on the floors, but haven't done the doors or side panels yet.

On to the package tray...