Subtle Audio Upgrades

[Neighborhood_OG]

I'm thinking about replacing the factory cd player in the 87 Cutlass but I don't want to destroy the factory appearance but if I have to then I'd like to keep it as subtle as possible. I just throwing this out there to see what kind of head unit setups you guys are running?

Also has anyone used the door panels with the speaker holes from gbodyparts? They look good on their site but how hard are they to install?

 

[clean8485]

Did GM offer a CD player option on the Cutlass in '87? To the best of my knowledge, in that model year, you could get a factory AM/FM with the cassette deck, and an equalizer, I believe. Was the Cutlass retrofitted with a later Delco unit that has a CD player in it?
Not to try to hijack your thread, but I'm curious to see if a newer GM Delco radio/CD player unit can be fitted into a 1980 Malibu.
As for the door mounted speaker panels, are you talking about the Concert II style lower trim panel speakers? If so, then you have to create a hole in the door shell, because the magnet part of the speaker actually sits inside the door shell on a mounting bracket.

 

[Neighborhood_OG]

excuse me I misspoke. I meant to say the factory radio and not the "factory" cd player.

 

[axisg]

Good friend of mine runs a gm cd player from a mid 90's truck in his 83 elco. He said it was a really tight fit but it looks factory and sounds pretty good. You obviously need to cut and trim the faceplate and he had to make a new mounting bracket to get it to fit and supported.

The ebay listing below states it should be a plug in and go setup for the 442 so it should fit your cutty and look factory ( depending if you have 1.5 din radio or the 2 knobs old style you may not even have to cut the faceplace )

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5335822911&icep_item=201495744240

Personally I run a kenwood x981. Highs in the vents, Ininifty Kappa's in the dash and rear, and a small box for some thump in the trunk.

 

[565bbchevy]

I just have a Kenwood CD player in mine but I wasn't really too worried about stock look but it's subtle in my opinion.
I considered the aftermarket door panels with one speaker but they would have hit my roll bar so I made new upper door panels and mounted my 6.5" component speaker there and the tweeters are where the factory upper dash speakers used to be.

 

[clean8485]

Nice looking interior. I like the console with the cup holders. Is that a custom console, or did it come out of a different vehicle?

 

[MrSony]

I got my OEM delco cassette unit from a 90s cutlass sierra for 25$ a few years ago at the local Wrench 'N Go here in Iowa. Worked 100%, sounded good even with bad tapes and OEM speakers in my regal. Had it hooked up in another G body with factory sized (3.5 in in front and 4x10 in back) with a 10 inch sub and it sounded awesome. Non EQ deck, AM/FM cassette with the green/blue backlight to match the dash light on my Regal Limited.

 

[clean8485]

MrSony, what year is your Regal? Did the car originally come with a 1.5 DIN style radio in it? If so, were you able to use the original radio mounting brackets and the original radio harness connectors on the Regal, to connect to the radio from the Ciera?. Just trying to figure some things out, thanks.

I got my OEM delco cassette unit from a 90s cutlass sierra for 25$ a few years ago at the local Wrench 'N Go here in Iowa. Worked 100%, sounded good even with bad tapes and OEM speakers in my regal. Had it hooked up in another G body with factory sized (3.5 in in front and 4x10 in back) with a 10 inch sub and it sounded awesome. Non EQ deck, AM/FM cassette with the green/blue backlight to match the dash light on my Regal Limited.

 

[MrSony]

MrSony, what year is your Regal? Did the car originally come with a 1.5 DIN style radio in it? If so, were you able to use the original radio mounting brackets and the original radio harness connectors on the Regal, to connect to the radio from the Ciera?. Just trying to figure some things out, thanks.

My Regal is a 1985 Limited (pictured) and the radio I got (also pictured) is the one from the cutlass. I had to reuse my original side brackets from my old radio. Just AM/FM radio with orange display, no cassette player. Everything hooked up, 100%. No cutting, or splicing. like I said only thing was swapping the brackets over from the old radio to the new radio. New one (cutlass) used top and bottom, while the old one (OEM regal) used side mounts. Also the speakers I tested the new radio on were factory sized Pioneers and a rockford fosgate amp, and 10 inch walmart sub. Sounded MINT. Still sounded way better than I expected on the factory speakers in my Regal.

 

[clean8485]

Thanks for your help MrSony. Just so I understand correctly, did your '85 Regal originally come with a 1.5 DIN radio? I thought that in 1985, GM was still using a single DIN radio in the G body cars. So the existing radio mounting brackets from your Regal were a direct fit to the radio from the Ciera? Were the Regal radio harness connectors also a direct fit to the Ciera radio? What kind of radio bezel did you use? Were you able to use the factory bezel from your Regal? Thanks again for your help.