Breathing Life Into a Neglected '75

Couple of things: do you think ‘74 dashes crack BECAUSE holes are cut for radios, thereby weakening the dash above somehow? Amazing you have the uncracked unicorn though.

So this is Henk’s box, and it’s metal. You added that wrinkle finish - what’s the process for that exactly?

The points I marked up - are those gaps that were there, you added, or aren’t gaps at all and just a trick of the light?

Lastly - have you ever found a radio manufacturer who separates the user-interface panel from the amps/rear connectors, etc, by way of a single wire? The faceplate in the Alpine in my ‘74 disconnects from the unit. Wouldn’t it be smart if THAT was all that mounted to anyone’s dash, and all the rubbish inside was mounted anywhere else, under dash, frunk, trunk, etc.
That‘s got to exist somewhere you’d think?

BC4683A7-95EB-4C12-994D-841F22E854BA.jpeg
 
The dashes crack because that's what 45 year old foam/vinyl construction does. It's common in all classics and not a Fiat only problem. The process is to paint with VHT wrinkle, wait 48 hours and bake at 200 degrees for 1 hour. The gaps are just how the box was designed. Like I said earlier, these enclosures are mediocre at best. Hidden systems are out there - this is only one of many:

www.classiccarstereos.com

Secretaudio Hidden Classic Car Radio System with Bluetooth

Check out the deal on Secretaudio Hidden Classic Car Radio System with Bluetooth at Classic Car Stereos
www.classiccarstereos.com www.classiccarstereos.com
 
jimmyx said:
The dashes crack because that's what 45 year old foam/vinyl construction does. It's common in all classics and not a Fiat only problem. The process is to paint with VHT wrinkle, wait 48 hours and bake at 200 degrees for 1 hour. The gaps are just how the box was designed. Like I said earlier, these enclosures are mediocre at best. Hidden systems are out there - this is only one of many:

www.classiccarstereos.com

Secretaudio Hidden Classic Car Radio System with Bluetooth

Check out the deal on Secretaudio Hidden Classic Car Radio System with Bluetooth at Classic Car Stereos
www.classiccarstereos.com www.classiccarstereos.com
Click to expand...
Odd dimensional arrangement. But it's a start. At least it exists somehow
 
jimmyx said:
The dashes crack because that's what 45 year old foam/vinyl construction does. It's common in all classics and not a Fiat only problem. The process is to paint with VHT wrinkle, wait 48 hours and bake at 200 degrees for 1 hour. The gaps are just how the box was designed. Like I said earlier, these enclosures are mediocre at best. Hidden systems are out there - this is only one of many:

www.classiccarstereos.com

Secretaudio Hidden Classic Car Radio System with Bluetooth

Check out the deal on Secretaudio Hidden Classic Car Radio System with Bluetooth at Classic Car Stereos
www.classiccarstereos.com www.classiccarstereos.com
Click to expand...
If you've got to mount a radio in the center of the dash, that enclosure you got looks better than any of the ones I've seen from the dealer installed kits.

When I bought my X, fortunately the dealer had not added the radio yet. I did not want to cut the dash or have one of those crappy antennas on the A pillar that came with those kits. I also wanted to have a dash mount AM/FM/cassette deck which had just started becoming available in 74. The few that were on the market were way too deep to mount them in the center of the dash. I removed the passenger side speaker grill and replaced it with a panel to mount the radio in. To get enough deep, I made 3 cuts in the firewall behind the radio: One horizontal cut along the bottom, and two vertical cuts on each side. I then folded the resulting metal "flap" up to form the roof of the extended area. I then fiberglassed the sides to seal it from the weather and painted the outside black so you can't notice it below the cowl grill. By the 90s, I upgraded to an AM/FM/cassette with a 12 disc CD changer in the frunk. When I got the car back on the road in 2019 after 20+ years of sitting, I added a Bluetooth receiver which comes in handy.

Today, I would take a much different approach, although it is fun to play old cassettes and CDs.
 
dllubin said:
If you've got to mount a radio in the center of the dash, that enclosure you got looks better than any of the ones I've seen from the dealer installed kits.

When I bought my X, fortunately the dealer had not added the radio yet. I did not want to cut the dash or have one of those crappy antennas on the A pillar that came with those kits. I also wanted to have a dash mount AM/FM/cassette deck which had just started becoming available in 74. The few that were on the market were way too deep to mount them in the center of the dash. I removed the passenger side speaker grill and replaced it with a panel to mount the radio in. To get enough deep, I made 3 cuts in the firewall behind the radio: One horizontal cut along the bottom, and two vertical cuts on each side. I then folded the resulting metal "flap" up to form the roof of the extended area. I then fiberglassed the sides to seal it from the weather and painted the outside black so you can't notice it below the cowl grill. By the 90s, I upgraded to an AM/FM/cassette with a 12 disc CD changer in the frunk. When I got the car back on the road in 2019 after 20+ years of sitting, I added a Bluetooth receiver which comes in handy.

Today, I would take a much different approach, although it is fun to play old cassettes and CDs.
Click to expand...
I actually had one '74 that had an aftermarket mount that replaced the Bertone speaker grille. Stuck out just like the ones in the center and the driver would have to set everything up while parked or have the passenger handle it. In a crash the passenger would have been wearing the radio.
 
One advantage of the X being so small is that I can easily operate the radio in front of the passenger from the driver's seat. It also has a remote if I get lazy.
 
I dislike those radio boxes on the early dash intensely! Luckily mine hasn't been cut for one. I’d rather use something like a Pure DAB car adapter and take the output and connect it to an LG XBOOM or similar tucked behind the passenger seat. Then again I hardly ever listen to the radio when driving so it would be a waste of time 😂
 
My first '74 has an uncut dash. I installed the radio inside the spare tire. 😀
I could still reach it from the driver's seat if I moved the passenger seat up just a bit. Plus, in my mind, it was less prone to theft. You know, if you can't see it... Too bad it didn't work. Some scumbag still stole it! 😣 At least he didn't tear up the (uncut - uncracked dash) when he took it. 😂
 
Finished up the speaker install and final wiring today so another thing off the checklist. Many thanks to @Rodger for sharing the R&D on installing the speakers in the kick panel. Always nice not to reinvent the wheel whenever possible! Cut looks a little ragged, but it's not the metal, just the remnants of undercoating on the other side of the panel. Speakers were installed with foam cups and sounds pretty good for a cheapo system. Now back to bodywork...........

IMG_3274.jpg


IMG_3276.jpg
 
tvmaster said:
Couple of things: do you think ‘74 dashes crack BECAUSE holes are cut for radios, thereby weakening the dash above somehow? Amazing you have the uncracked unicorn though.

So this is Henk’s box, and it’s metal. You added that wrinkle finish - what’s the process for that exactly?

The points I marked up - are those gaps that were there, you added, or aren’t gaps at all and just a trick of the light?

Lastly - have you ever found a radio manufacturer who separates the user-interface panel from the amps/rear connectors, etc, by way of a single wire? The faceplate in the Alpine in my ‘74 disconnects from the unit. Wouldn’t it be smart if THAT was all that mounted to anyone’s dash, and all the rubbish inside was mounted anywhere else, under dash, frunk, trunk, etc.
That‘s got to exist somewhere you’d think?

View attachment 43705
Click to expand...

Some Ferrari head units had displays that were separate from the guts of the radio. The first series 456 is one of them (maybe the only one). Here is a pic, it's a Sony system. The guts of the radio is in the left rear hatch area (if I remember right).

222T_13.jpg
 
Those are the items you need (and the arbor for the hole saw if you don't have one). Not hard to cut, but extremely tight space to work in on the drivers side due to the fuse box. Had to drop box down and bungee cord it out of the way. Do the left side first. The right side is a cakewalk.
 
jimmyx said:
Those are the items you need (and the arbor for the hole saw if you don't have one). Not hard to cut, but extremely tight space to work in on the drivers side due to the fuse box. Had to drop box down and bungee cord it out of the way. Do the left side first. The right side is a cakewalk.
Click to expand...
I find doing ANYTHING in the wells very difficult - contortion mania
 
Fitting a patch panel is usually easy. Screw the oversize patch to the replacement area and use a body saw to cut through both. Perfect fit and perfect MIG gap. Not so when you have to cut out a section at a time to get to damage that is hidden before you can figure out the final size of the patch that you need. That was the case with these lower front of the rear quarter repairs. The majority of time is spent with a flap disc trimming a hair at a time to try and get a decent fit. I used a R/S Eurosport (UK) panel. Their panels are full patches so I was able to get both sides cut from the same panel. Their body panels are spot on and beat spending hours trying to get curvatures and bends right. Once that was done on the right side, it was MIG'ed in place and the welds ground flush. Sealed the weld line with lead, ground that down and finished with a skim coat of filler. Some people can get all the little pinholes sanded out or refilled in the lead, but I doubt the massive effort to do it is worth the effort unless it is a body feature line or panel edge where filler is a poor choice and the lead needs to be perfect. The beauty on working on rockers, or lower quarters is that laser straight perfection is not required. Once the anti-chip coating is sprayed over the repair it will cover a multitude of sins. The repair still needs to be done properly, but agonizing over every undulation in the area is not required. To finish this up it will get the body seam sealer at the rocker joint line replaced, a coat of 2K primer, an application of anti-chip, and a final coat of 2K. I'm moving on to the left side first as mixing everything is a chore and it's easier to respray everything at once.

IMG_3282.jpg
IMG_3283.jpg
IMG_3285.jpg
IMG_3287.jpg
IMG_3289.jpg
 
Getting set for the dreaded pedal box R&R. Need to get that done and the electrical butchery under the column corrected before the new carpet goes in.

IMG_3314.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top