Originality purists, close this thread now. You've been warned.

Regardless of how good these motors sounds, I NEED DECENT TUNES for long road trips. So....

Just finished a Retrosound install, and 4 speakers, into my 68 400 (clone) Convertible A/C power window car. This is obviously not good for you originality guys, but my car is a hacked up resto-mod/clone/build-out-of-a-catalog machine anyway. Before putting my seats back in (which are black power/leather from a 2003 Chrysler Sebring...I also need comfort when cruising to tunes) and before buttoning down my carpet fully, I snapped a few pics of what I did here, just in case there may be others fishing for a similar idea for their machine...we all know how incredibly challenging it is to fit a 4 speaker system into a first gen convertible with no parcel shelf...so this is how I did it.

Up front I was pleasantly surprised to coax a pair of full sized 6x9's into the kick panels. I had to trim a bit of steel out of the car to make them fit, but not a lot. I also had to add some port holes to the kick panel near the right speaker (see first pic) to reroute A/C blower intake air on that side. A little steel had to be cut out for re-route of air behind these holes also. And each speaker is installed with 3 screws instead of 4, because no drill or screwdriver will ever reach the upper front most location, and I wasn't about to pull my entire dash and A/C assembly just to put in a pair of speakers. With 3 screws, they're in there plenty solid and they don't vibrate or move. The parking brake pedal just BARELY brushes the metal grill on the left side if I cram it down. I don't use it much anyway, but it's functional if I ever need it, even if it scratches the grill a little over time.

For the rear speakers I put 5 1/4" rounds in the doors near the floor, by feet of rear seat passengers. Measure 8 times, cut once. If too far forward, the magnet interferes with power window regulator. Too far back, door won't close without crushing grille against quarter post. Too far down, door won't close without crushing grill against sill plate. Too far up, magnet interferes with regulator. You have about 1/2" of wiggle room in all directions, meaning NO room for a mis-cut of this speaker hole. But they DO fit if you locate them correctly.

The kick panel 6x9's are Kenwoods, they sell all over for about $40/pair brand new, nothing fancy. The 5 1/4" rounds are JL Audio, probably paid about $75-ish for the pair of those. I chose both specifically because they came with strong, steel, nearly plain black grilles that can take some kicking and abuse without damage, and I wanted the less intrusive look of plain black, rather than the big nasty colorful designer grilles that come on so many modern speakers these days.

This was a time consuming project. I probably have 40 to 50 hours in this speaker install. I'm not gonna say it was easy. But it's clearly possible. With patience and care, it can be done...and for reasonable cost.

RetroSound pics and info to follow shortly...

Retrosound...

This is a pretty cool unit. Quality seems quite high for the price. Install is certainly more challenging than a one-piece stereo, but not a big deal. You have to carefully set position of each knob at correct width, depth, etc, which takes some time and trial-error to figure out.

I think it looks pretty darn good, I think it sounds OK, and as a surprise bonus I learned I can set the screen to scroll the name/artist of what my radio is playing...(I was jamming Black Crowes during below "on" pic) with RDS, just like my 2011 daily driver does...and an I-pod can plug into the aux jack to play whatever you want. And it gives me a clock, which is always nice.

Crutchfield sold it to me on sale for $149 including shipping to my door, and including the trim plate and chrome knobs you see for my Bird (I have 67 walnut bezel in my 68) which matches color and grain not perfect, but surprisingly well.

Sound? It's OK. Not bad. Not great. It's PLENTY loud and powerful for my tastes, and while I'm parked for winter at the moment I'm certain I'll easily be able to hear it with the top down on the highway, over my Flowmaster 40 duals. But it's certainly not a "thumper", and I think the bass sounds kinda muddy, it could use more treble, and I just wish there was more adjustability in sound quality range (it just has bass/treble, nothing else). Surely the average sound is a combination of sub-par speaker placement, less-than-ideal shape and material of the speaker cavities, my relatively low-dollar choice in speakers, and the quality and power output of the Retro-sound unit itself. But it certainly sounds a HECK of a lot better than a one-speaker AM radio!!! And I'd say it's on par with your typical basic no-frills system that's found in today's modern cars. Bose Hi-fi it is NOT. BUT, now that the hard work is done, it can clearly be upgraded. Remember I did this on a budget, largely as an experiment to see if it was even possible. So now that it is confirmed, I can invest in higher quality speakers if I want some day and easily swap them in probably 20 minutes. The Retro-Sound has pre-amp inputs, and I can add a subwoofer somewhere (maybe a small one under passenger seat...someday...not now). So I am certain there is more potential here with more investment.

All told, considering this entire stereo system cost me about $265 for the head unit and 4 speakers, plus about $15 in wire and misc materials, I think it was money well spent...and it will greatly enhance my enjoyment of this car on long road trips, of which I hope there will be many. I'm also pleased with the appearance overall, which I know is subjective. But in my opinion I don't think the speakers and stereo overwhelm the interior by looking overly obvious and hacked...although I fully realize that purists will HATE everything what they see here. Just wait until I get the Sebring seats set in there and watch 'em squirm...LOL.

Over the past couple of years, as I have been involved in a daily car pool where we travel without the radio on and as I look at the task list for my Firebird including the expense for a complete stereo system...

...I have decided to purchase the Camaro block off plate for my center console. I am just going to enjoy the sounds of my exhaust.

I have also realized 2 other things: 1) I would have to hack up the interior of my Firebird in order to get anything like a modern sound system (in addition to the $$$) and 2) NOTHING I could do with the Firebird is going to make it sound like the factory designed and installed Shaker 500 system in my late model Mustang.

However, nice job!

You are absolutely correct on both accounts! And this is why purists hate me right now.

In my quest for tunes I completely destroyed two kick panels (original 1968...but scratched and buggered up from age anyway) and 2 door panels (reproduction circa 1998, no big loss/easy to replace), not to mention cutting some steel out of the kick panel area of my car and a big round circle out of each door shell (all of which can be put back in place by some fabricating and welding).

Hack up my interior I most certainly did! But it is all reversible, like everything is, with some time and money.

And your Mustang's sound system sounds MUCH better than my Firebird's does...no doubt!

And yet I don't have a single regret LOL...

I was a purist on the first car, will nearly be so on the second, after that whatever goes goes.

Forgot something else until now, and if you go looking for them after all the work you have done...

But I thought Rick's Camaro's sold special molded kick panel replacements that allowed the use of a pretty decent sized speaker.

Indeed I was well aware of prefab kick panels. Surprisingly, there are a lot of options in that realm...I researched the heck out of all I could find, and in the end I just decided to just cut up my own instead.

But since this thread is intended primarily as a brainstorm/research session for others, I'll share all the custom kick panels I found available on the market:

The Ricks setup comes with some unknown speaker of unknown quality/brand, it says 6.5", but in the pic it's oval so I don't know what obscure size it really is. Plus it's designed for Non-A/C cars only, and mine is an AC car:
http://www.rickscamaros.com/camaro-radio...-1967-1968.html

Ames sells some custom kick panels with speakers already installed...they don't offer pics, but I'm pretty sure they're Custom Autosound's offering, which I'm pretty sure is the same as what Ricks sells:
https://secure.amesperf.com/qilan/Search_Web;jsessionid=D0E7091B9911FCA554F7D99B382C8320
http://www.casmfg.com/Camaro_Kicks.htm

Camaro Central sells similar products, but they look different so I do not beleive they are Custom Autosound products. Pre-loaded with speakers or blank:
http://www.camarocentral.com/product_p/int-827a.htm
http://www.camarocentral.com/product_p/int-827.htm
http://www.camarocentral.com/product_p/int-826.htm

And then there is K & C Harrison's offering:
http://www.vintageautoradio.com/index.ph...t&Itemid=67

Also, for more $$ than I spent on my entire system, these very nice looking units are available to accept 6 1/2" rounds plus a separate tweeter...again for non-A/C cars only:
http://screaminperformance.com/camaro_kick_panels.htm

Since 100% of these would require me to purchase, and then immediately cut them up and mod anyway for my A/C situation, I just decided I had nothing to lose by cutting up my own...and with 6x9's I was able to cram in bigger speakers than any of above...plus it was entirely free, except for my time.

I would have done the same thing.

I have a 69 Convertible and I have kick panels with the fatory holes. I put in some rectangular polk audio speakers and used the factory aftermarket grill covers that fit pefectly with just slight modification

This was of course in the front. I have the reproduction stereo for a 69 that looks like the original from that Classi industries now sells but is also available on ebay (US manufactured)

I have not yet figured out what to do for the rear as of yet and i have deluxe interior but I cant bring myself to cut up the door panels. So i guess the rear paqssengers will have to suffer a little

The other thing is I have a factory 8 track and because of some voltage differneces i have not yet tied it in

"I put in some rectangular polk audio speakers "- do you have a link or part number. The ones here locally are not thin enough to fit in the kick panel

I'll double check the model number tonight, but I'm pretty sure these are the ones I used in the kick panels with stock grill covers. Fit perfect with the grill covers

Speakers:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-h1DnlVMxG7T/p_107DXI460P/Polk-Audio-DXi460p.html

Grills:
https://secure.amesperf.com/qilan/Detail...mp;web_access=Y

Back to crazecars original post. I consider myself a purist, but adding the Retrosound stereo requires no hacking, cutting drilling. My car had an AM only radio. I put in the Retrosound as well and other than the fact it is digital not analog it fits and looks natural.

With the Polk 4x6 kick panel speakers with original style grill covers even as a purist I had no reservations.

I even swapped out the mono dash speaker with a DVC from Retrosound. Same thing, no hacking, cutting or drilling.

Speakers:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-h1DnlVMxG7T/p_107DXI460P/Polk-Audio-DXi460p.html

Grills:
https://secure.amesperf.com/qilan/Detail...mp;web_access=Y

DVC speaker:
http://www.retrosoundusa.com/products/details/id/68

Stereo:
http://www.retrosoundusa.com/products/details/id/5

Close up of the stereo

Crazecars nice install, I like where you installed the kick panels speakers. The owner before me cut the front corner of the kick panels out installed 5-1/4" in my car and he cut the seat back panel out on the top for 5-1/4" there.

I do like how you did the doors real nice like they belong.
Gotta have tunes!!!

I will dig it up in the am and get the model code on the speakers

That stereo install looks great! Having a 69 I was very limited in what I could get radio wise without hacking up the dash

For a 69 Firebird, isn't the original radio "faceplate" the same as a 69 lemans/GTO, except the push buttons are a different length?
If this is true, would the 68-72 GTO Retro Classic Radio from Retrosound work??

You're better off asking them. Direct from Retrosound's website, regarding 69's:

"SPECIAL NOTE: PLEASE CHECK YOUR PONTIAC FIREBIRD/TRANS AM DASH OPENING, IT MAY HAVE A BAR DIVIDING THE PUSHBUTTONS OF YOUR ORIGINAL RADIO AND THE FACE, IF THIS IS THE CASE, NO RADIO WILL FIT UNLESS THE BAR IS REMOVED, OR YOU HIDE OUR RADIO IN THE GLOVE BOX AND LEAVE THE ORIGINAL. IF THE BAR HAS BEEN REMOVED, PLEASE EMAIL US WITH THOSE DIMENSIONS SO WE CAN SUGGEST A SOLUTION!"

http://www.retrosoundusa.com/products/details/id/131