Double Din into a Pre 85

Hey everyone,

Never posted here before. I bought my loaded '84 black F41 sedan new (no vinyl top). It was a no radio car and I've had my Mitsubishi component stereo in it since new (it was in my '78 Impala coupe previously, still miss that car).

I found that some 2002-2005 Buick's had RDS and XM radios that almost look period correct, but they are miserable class 2 serial bus communication units.

Here is the 'original' radio. On it's last leg, I've repaired it so many time in 32 years and 257K miles in this car.

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Here is the new radio with LED back lighting  (missing knobs in this picture;



The whole monstrosity ready to go in the car;



The final fit. The XM antenna is just sitting in the defrost opening at the moment. That is the aux input in the radio surround on the right;



I've got lots more pics and info if any one is interested. It sounds fantastic to me!

Welcome to the forum!! That is some excellent work right there. Nice looking interior for the high miles too!

solo79 wrote:Welcome to the forum!!  That is some excellent work right there.  Nice looking interior for the high miles too!

I appreciate the welcome and the compliments.

I realize most people (including me not all that long ago) may ask 'why' with OEM stereo equipment, but I was really impressed with this particular radio and its appearance. I only have $50 in all this stuff too! My time in research and testing is another story, but it's good to learn something new.

The XM module before I put it above the hush panel on the passenger's side;



The original dual shaft radio bracket got the radio shaft mounting bent 180 degrees from the original shape. The one towards the driver's side needs bent 10mm farther back to get rid of the offset for the original style Delco radio;



The offset can even be seen in the faceplate, if I haven't described it well. Had to throw the original radio delete plate in for fun;

A shameless bump of my own thread....

I finally got around to taking a picture of the fleur de lis 'Caprice' emblem / escutcheon plate I installed between the vents, where the clock originally was. I did have the blank / delete plate installed from an Impala, but that just didn't do it for me. This came from an '86. I was really surprised to find a nice one at my favorite U-Pull-It. I had to shorten the overall height, as the opening it snaps into was about 3/32" different from the '77-'84 dash. The dash mold was changed again and the escutcheon was made integral in '87 or later. Such a minor change to change the mold over the course of the '77 - '90 run.