New Radio In My GP?

[averagewhiteboy]

Hey guys.

In my GP, I've got an older Alpine I threw in. I bought it from a kid at my work for like 20 bucks last year. It works fine. I also like it because it's an Alpine. So it sounds real good too. But I was considering getting a newer one to put in it's place.

I'm only considering it because of 2 situations leading up to this. 1, I put this Kenwood into my Cobalt, but the dash kit is black. My dash trim is silver, so it looks off. So I took it out and put the factroy one in until I painted the dash kit to match. And 2, because the GP has NO dash kit. lol. It's just lying there. So I wanted to get a dash kit for it anyway. So I figured, eh, maybe just throw the Kenwood into the GP. Plus, the Kenwood has an aux input anyway.

My only issue is the Kenwood face is pretty bright. The GP gauges aren't (old car). The Alpine matches the gauges more. I just don't want the radio to stick out more than a black shift in a closet of white ones.

Who else has a pretty new radio in theirs? I want some opinions. I had a new Pioneer in my old Cadillac and it was fine. I just want some input. Plus, my CB display is brighter...

Here's my Alpine in there right now.

Here's my Kenwood in the Cobalt.

 

[jerrycad472]

Have you tried to see if you can get an adapter so that you can mount the radio properly? Try Crutchfields. I put a new Sony in my Montecarlo. My car is an 81 so it had the old shaft style radio. I had to cut the face plate to make it fit. It turned out pretty well.

 

[averagewhiteboy]

Whenever I installed it, I was short on time, and since I bought the radio off somebody, I didn't know if I was missing any components. So I just threw it in there. That's my only worry about trying to throw it in there right, is I'd be missing something, then have the whole dash apart for days to get to the stupid radio. lol. I'm not sure what my stock one was, it was just a normal am/fm radio. No tape. I'm thinking about taking it to the shop and just paying them 20 bucks to figure it out. lol.

 

[illregal82]

prixs have a different radio opening it is wider . in my buddys we stuck the sleeve in, the metal bracket with the flaps and pushed it to the left then used a peice of plastic put switch in it and used that to fill the gap it turned out pretty nice . i have a indash dvd kenwood i was going to put in my car but my girlfreind will not stop whining she wants it since i have a standalone 7in monitor above my heater controls and a 13.3 flipdown. oh you know there is a illumination wire on your factory harness if your deck has one you can dim the deck like your gauges some decks you can have the display shut off until you touch a button

 

[illregal82]

you dont have the retarded dash like my freinds you can use a regular dash kit you see what i was talking about its a single din height but extra wide

 

[averagewhiteboy]

So even if I use the Kenwood and every piece is there and I buy a dash kit and everything, I'll still have to ghetto fab something up??

 

[Cutlassjim]

I'm %100 percent positve that you can install a single DIN radio in your 1.5 DIN slot in your GP. Metra makes an install kit for it, it's like $20 bucks. The kit even comes with like 3 center section pieces so you can choose how much the radio sticks out. PROOF!

EDIT I was just able to make sense of illregals posts (Try some puncuation and capitalization dude) and see that some openings are single DIN but extra wide? Well In the pic Whiteboy posted it looks to be the normal 1.5 DIN slot wherein the above said adapter will work.

 

[thebaron]

I just installed an older Pioneer DEH-P200 using the partial kit I got from a junkyard. Wired it up for the GP from newer GM style from my now-dead AIWA using crimps and electrical tape to organize the cabling. Now I have to buy a special cable to hook up my MP3 player, since the RCA jacks on the back are not proper AUX inputs!!!

 

[dougfather]

I believe the GP radio opening had 2 different sizes, depending on the year. My 84 has a shorter opening. I had some extra pieces leftover from a Chrysler/Ford radio kit. I used the Ford braket for the DIN opening, cut off the mount tabs, and then used some sheet metal and bent it up and drilled the holes. After that, I used some black vinyl fabric to hide the gaps.

Another possibility is to use the shaft radio bracket and use a dremel tool to cut it DIN size.

 

[averagewhiteboy]

So I just need the 20 dollar adaptor and I'm good to mount it? Howabout INSIDE the trim to actually physically mount the radio?