LM Front Speaker Replacement options?

[chris]

Thanks for the tip Seth. I've been weighing on the options for the under dash mount speaker.

[sethracer]

When I pulled the radio out of the 67 Convertible, followed by the dash speaker, I noticed the death of the speaker cone over the several years of storage. I have had them rebuilt before, with varying results. Although I am still months away from regular use of the car, I decided to work out the speaker issue in advance. The stock 6 x 9 speaker, at a 10 Ohm rating is no longer available in a true ‘Bolt-in” configuration. The late front speaker uses a cantilever bracket to mate with the back of the speaker coil and push the speaker up against the defroster louvers in the dash. I am not a fan of added-on speakers, or cutting holes in the doors for aftermarket speakers, or even the factory/dealer units. I will probably end up with some type of drop-in Bluetooth unit, but for now, I wanted to install a stock-type speaker in the stock location. About this time, I received an email from OER – A supplier of parts for vintage cars. They even have some Corvair pieces. They do not offer a bolt-in 10 Ohm speaker in a 6” x 9” for the Corvair. But they come close. They offer a 4 x 10 speaker in 10 Ohms that presents the same rear coil position as the Corvair. This allows the Corvair cantilever bracket to engage the back of the speaker and push it up into place - - ALMOST. The complete 4” x 10” speaker is about ½” shorter in height than the original Corvair. Of course, it is a little different in shape as well. Well, that was a challenge. Challenge accepted. After I received the 4” x 10” speaker, and did the measurements, I looked around for a spacer that would properly locate the 4” x 10” speaker, and retain it into the correct location.
I had a couple of pieces of one-half inch thick plywood on hand. I fitted up the old speaker, marked the outline and saber sawed it out. Then I laid out the 4x10” speaker on top, located the inside opening to match the speaker and cut out the inside, too. I mounted the speaker on the spacer, added 4 screws, removed and re-soldered the original harness connections and there you go. Ten minutes later the speaker was mounted up in the car, mounted by the factory cantilever bracket. Uh, and 40 minutes later I went back out and removed the speaker to do the photos! DOH! But it was easily re-installed. See the photos. Since it is a convertible, I don’t expect great sound. But we shall see. The OER part number is OER 7307181.
As an alternative, you might be able to modify the retaining bracket. OER makes a 6 x 9 speaker with the coil oriented 90 degrees from the Corvair location. Or you can adapt-in something else. This is just one way. It worked for me.

[66vairguy]

I had a hard time putting any speaker into my 66 front with AC. There is NO ROOM!

Agreed --- Both of my 66's have factory style A/C and to get the AM radio out you have to unscrew the heater/defost ducts to slide them around pull the ash tray, ignition switch, cigarette lighter and then it took me some time to get the radio to wiggle out!!!!

I gave up on converting the stock radio to use modern internals and put in a smaller Retro-Sound unit recommended by Gbulman.