So I’ve got some new parts here
To work on the interior of my 77 C10
And so I did order a brand new dash pad
New vinyl
Just kind of the basic black dash pad
Nothing real fancy to it
My truck when I bought it
Somebody had installed an 81-87 dash in there
So, I did order the correct 73-80
Dash to go into my, like I said, 77
I’ve got the hardware to install the dash
Got new antenna mounts
This snaps into the windshield
The antenna in the windshield
And then this goes from this piece
Down to the radio
And then lastly, I ordered up some new speakers
These are 3.5” in diameter
They’re made by a company called Sound Ordnance
I’m not familiar with this company
But, they were inexpensive, they were about $20
From Crutchfield
And there were quite a few very nice reviews of these speakers
So I’m not an audiophile
There were other speakers available
That were $200 a pair
That’s just not my style
I’m not going to put $200 speakers into this truck
So, plus I’ve got to put more
I do need some other speakers as well
But, these will be for the dash
I’ll have to custom make a mount for these
And I’ll show you that here in just a second
So this is the new parts
New dash pad, some new hardware, some new speakers
So let me show you the inside of the truck
And we’ll get started on this
So here’s the inside of the truck
I’ve got the new dash, the new gauge bezel installed
And I’ve got those Auto Meter Gauges
I do have a series of videos of how
I installed those Auto Meter Gauges behind
That factory bezel, and I’ll annotate a link to that
But pretty much everything else is about ready
It’s already installed including new windshield
And new weatherstripping here
The defrost vents are re-installed
Everything’s ready to go
So the first thing I’m actually going to start with
Is I’ve got to custom make a mount for these speakers
So I’ve got some sheetmetal to fab up
A quick mount for the 2 speakers
They’ll be side by side in that speaker hole
So let me get that sheetmetal and we’ll
Get started fabricating that mount
So here’s where I am so far with the speaker fabrication
I’m using 14 gauge steel to make my little bracket
Now that’s quite a bit thicker than what
I really need, but that’s what I have laying around
My next option is 1/8”
Which is way to thick for this
So, I’ve measured out the plate
That I’m going to cut out
10.25” long, 4.25” wide
And this will get fancied up
Once I cut this plate out
So, just like with most speaker kits
They always include
Or they usually include
A little speaker template
For the hole size that you need to cut out
So I’ve already cut that out
And I’ve draw that on to my bracket
And so I’m going to go ahead and leave this
I’m not going to cut out my bracket just yet
I’m going to cut these holes out first
I’ve mentioned this in several of my videos
I generally like to
When I’m making a smaller bracket
I generally like to leave the whole sheet
It gives me more area to clamp
The work piece doesn’t move around as much
Especially something like cutting holes
Where you’re pulling in all different directions
And I’m probably going to use
My little electric body saw to cut these out
So, I’m going to drill some holes in here
Drop my body saw in here
Cut out these holes and
Then I’ll go ahead and cut out my main bracket
So, we’re ready to go mount this plate
Under the dash of the truck
And I’ve drilled some very
Small little pilot holes
4 of them
And they’re not symmetrical
And they’re kind of like that for a reason
I mean… It’s pretty difficult to get the drill under there
So these are in places where it’s going
To be easiest for me to drill
Cause I’m going to have to
Go from underneath the dash
Because the windshield is going
To be slanting down like that
So I’m not going to be able
To get the drill going down into the dash from the top
So, let me go get this set in place
And we’ll go drill our holes under the dash
The final hole sizes are drilled in both
The speaker bracket and in the dash
So I’m just taking this time to kind
Of fancy it up a little bit
And round off these sharp corners
I’ve just got one more here
To cut and grind on
And then we’ll be ready to put the
Speakers in there and bolt it into the truck
Well, the bracket is finished
I threw a little bit of flat black paint on it
And I’ve got the speakers bolted into place
I’m just using #8 hardware
To hold those speakers in place
And I’m also going to be using
The #8 hardware to hold the speaker
Assembly to the dash of the truck
So, let’s go get started on that
Now, I can’t just put this speaker panel
Flat up against the bottom of the dash
And the reason is because the dash pad itself
It’s going to sit flush with this area right here
On both, on either side of the speaker
It’s not going to sit flat here
But it does sit flat against here
And with the speakers that I have
The tweeter dome is sticking up high
That I’m worried that it will be touching
The bottom of the dash pad
So what I have, I picked up these little nylon spacers
They’re 3/8” in height
And I’m going to use those
Between the dash and the speaker assembly
Underneath there, something like that
To drop the speakers just a little bit
So that I’m not going to have any interference
When I put my dash pad in place
So one of the main reasons I went with the allen head bolts
Instead of a phillips head screw or anything like that
Is I can’t get the screwdriver at a good angle
To tighten down these 2 screws
Especially the 2 that are closest to the windshield
But even these back here
That’s not a very good angle
That’s going to strip the head of the screw
So, I’ll just go with an allen head
And I can put the wrench in there just fine
And I’ve got tons of room there
So, just put that on there
Put the ratchet underneath
And start snugging these down
The speakers are completely bolted in place
And all we really need to do is take
A straight edge and put it on here
Even down low here, on the edge
Where the dash pad doesn’t rest
Putting a straight edge on there
I’ve got about an 1/8” of clearance
Between the top of the tweeters and my straight edge
And that’s not even exactly where
Like I said, where the dash pad rests
It actually rests up here
And up there, we’re, better than a 1/4”
So, we’re not going to have any interference issues at all
With our speakers
So this part
Aside from wiring them up
This part’s finished
I don’t have a stereo yet
So I can’t wire them up
So now we’re just ready to come in here
And put our new dash pad in place