Replacing stereo for 78 280z

[Frankensteinz2]

Yeah i agree with the head, you can always get an external eq. It just depends how big you wanna go. If you want sub, you will have to place both an external amp and a sub in there. Always some cuttin and drillin to place them. Hope i didn't blast, you had a good point i thought the retro was more basic then that .

Frankie

[FastWoman]

FAIW, if you have a 1978, there's room under your hatch floor. Lift up the spare tire door, and you'll see it. You might be able to mount some of your equipment up under there, provided it doesn't require too much ventillation.

I also agree with 260zCaliCar. The retro unit wouldn't give you the CD, but it shouldn't sound too bad at 64x4. There are some OK speakers that will mount up in the original mounting locations. If you don't mind one very minor mod, you can mount a CD changer neatly behind the passenger seat. Another possibility is to forget the CD, and install a jack for an iPod or somesuch.

FAIW, I don't think the vintage car specialists NECESSARILY care more about your vintage car than anyone else. I've had very mixed luck with my '66 Mustang, for instance. One independent mechanic did some very beautiful retrofit work on my cooling and brake systems. I didn't ask him to be beautiful in his work. He simply cared enough not to slop up a very nice car. Another mechanic who fixed an electrical problem for me did some incredibly sloppy work and didn't even fix the problem correctly. I didn't complain, because I was simply "giving" him some work to do, so that he would house my car in a safe garage during a hurricane. The safe harbor was well worth the repair bill. Finally, a professional Vintage Air installer retrofitted the car with a 134a A/C system. Now this is someone who works on very nice antique cars all day long, every day, and my particular car has a VERY nice engine compartment. He installed the freon hoses so that they extended upwards in an awkward arch, bumping and rubbing the hood. The duct to the lefthand side vents under the dash was mashed closed over the vent housing and was therefore useless. The useless vent also covered the otherwise very useful access to my fuse panel, as well as the accessory fuse panel I had carefull installed beside it. By forcing the vent into place, he actually broke my accessory fuse panel, and I had to replace it to get my stereo working again. THAT was on a very nice car appraised at $14,000. So in all my experience, only one person besides myself really cared about my little Mustang, and it wasn't the vintage car specialist.

Edited September 28, 2009 by FastWoman

[260zCaliCar]

Fastwoman, I'm so sorry to hear about your experience(s). I've had the same thing happen to me. I've take my Z to "Z specialists" and they have done terrible work and charged me through the nose. I have now found a guy with a tiny little shop "down on the corner" who's sign just says "Import Car Repair". He likes me to come in at the end of the day so that we can work on the car into the evening without pressure while we talk Z's. HE does beautiful work. Oddly, he enjoys working on the car so much I feel guilty if I don't visit him. haha.

Frankensteinz2, no blast Thanks.

Regarding speakers, I installed the speaker box from MSA (see attached), and to be honest, it's loud enough, but i don't really like all the sound coming from the back. I prefer to feel more "surrounded". So I am constantly looking for really clean (basically invisible) solutions for a set of front speakers.

[FastWoman]

I had a Z mechanic like that once, CaliCar. Nice guy. He lived in the country and worked out of a shed. I wish I still had the mechanic who did the prettier work on my Mustang. He's in another state, though, and American cars were much more his thing.

The previous owner of my car mounted a pair of speakers in the doors. Of course there was cutting involved. He cut a couple of MDF rings, maybe 3/4 - 1" thick, that he used to offset the speakers, so that he could drop the magnets into the holes he cut. Finally, he covered the rings in black vinyl to match the inner door panel. The reason he used MDF, I suppose, was that he could easily sculpt it to fit the irregular contour of the door. I would think that would be possible with plywood too, using a belt sander to shape it. Anyway, it was a relatively neat and inconspicuous installation (inconspicuous because it's all black). I'll post a photo if you would like to see it.

[ZCurves]

I am considering the speaker in the door panel option. Could you sent pics? Please PM me in you need to.

Andrew

[CoastGuardZ]

Hey!

Car stereo instalation is easy... that's why there are so many hacks out there doing it at these box stores. YOU can do a better job in an hour or so in your own driveway... and learn some more about your car too.

A few years back I purchased a Clarion CD/MP3 player with built in flash memory... you can record music to the stereo... for about $100 brand new on ebay. The Pioneer installed by the PO was just old and tired... unfortuantely they hacked up the plastic trim that goes around the stereo and what was left was quite brittle. So in the attached photos the stereo isn't dressed up as pretty as it should be.

The PO had also hacked up the doors and door panels to install a couple of 4" pioneers. I also found a set of new Clarion 4" speakers on ebay for about $40. This set up is to hold me over until I do my full rebuild when I will go a little crazier... think single DIN GPS with XM and iPod controls and a couple 6x9's in the hatch.

Anyway my point is eBay. This was originally a $350 radio and the speakers originally retailed around $75. Deals can be had on new items just because the stuff is 1 or 2 model years old.

It's easy to do and there are plenty of us on here that can answer Q's.

[CoastGuardZ]

I am considering the speaker in the door panel option. Could you sent pics? Please PM me in you need to.

Andrew

If you're panels aren't cut then I would just install 6x9's in a box from MSA and call it good. Those doorpanles are $300 smackers each to replace... not worth it to me.

But if you would like I can take pics of mine... the Clarion grilles are simple and tasteful. They look much better than the old Pioneers they replaced.

[TomoHawk]

How did you get the display to read DATSUN?

[sblake01]

I had a Z mechanic like that once, CaliCar. Nice guy. He lived in the country and worked out of a shed.

One by one, those guys seem to be dissappering. The Z shop I would go to when I didn't feel like doing the work myself closed a couple of years ago. Small shop in a rural area. The radiator shop that I used for almost 40 years also closed a couple years ago. Old guy, smoked a cigar, was always honest wit you. My exhaust guy doesn't do exhsust anymore, he builds karts. Went to Junior High (I guess that would be middle school now) and High School with him. The only auto electric shop I really trusted closed about 10 years ago. Sign of the times, I guess.

[sblake01]

How did you get the display to read DATSUN?

Many modern units have a programmable message. Mine does that. (It reads "2005 Pontiac GTO")

[TomoHawk]

The only thing AFAIK that I can prpgram on mine is the station call letters, like WMMS.

O L...

[sblake01]

I don't think you actually can program that. You can program the station postiions. The call letters show because your unit has some type of radio station tag sofware built in.