521 Owners: What did you do for a cd player?

[dross93ranger]

Please post up pictures of how you mounted cd players in your 521 and any information on the install.

[DanielC]

Sorry, no pictures, and no CD player, CD's were not yet invented yet when I did this to my 521 pickups. We were still arguing about the advantages of 8 track vs. Cassette.

The first upgrade I did was an FM demodulator that converted the FM signal into a mono AM signal, that played through the stock AM radio. The demodulator was hung under the dash, in place of the cigarette lighter.

My next improvement was an under dash Sony cassette player, and a pair of 6 x 9 speakers in the door, low and far forward. This was independent of the radio, which was still in the dash.

Later, I got an all in one dash mounted AM, FM, Cassette player mounted in the dash, in the same location as the stock radio, still using the door mounted speakers.

 

My next 521 had the bench seat removed, and a plywood bench was made to fit above the driveline hump, and bucket seats were bolted to that carpeted bench. Again, it used 6 x 9 speakers, mounted in the bench, back outside corners. The head unit mounted in stock radio location, CB radio under the dash, in the cigarette lighter location.

 

Sometime later, I built some small speaker boxes with about 10 foot cords, that I could pull out, and set on top of the cab for those jamming late night parties in open fields we would drive to. I think some people even showed up with "barley pop" to drink, at these outdoor gatherings.

 

This all is 1970's. and 1980's audio technology.

 

After having windows broken, and dashboards can openered, I kind of soured on putting a killer audio system in the truck.

 

I did do a head unit install with a removeable head unit in a slide out bracket for the last install, after the break in.

 

A 521 truck kind of limits where you can put speakers. In the doors, or under seats. I would suggest some sound deadening in the doors, if you use them. If your door panels are unmolested, build new ones, and keep yours in good shape.

 

Your head unit mounting depends on your head unit. If you get a smaller one. it will mount in the stock radio location.

 

There are wires just under the ash tray in the top of the dash that are power, ign switched power, ground, and light switched power. For a higher powered head unit, you might want to use a relay controlled by Ign switched power, and heavier fused wire for the main power lead. The stock 521 wiring is OK for a stock truck, when it was new. The 40 year old wiring may need some attention now.

 

You may as well plan now for an auxiliary (IPOD) audio input if you are doing this work. One solution is if your head unit has a cassette player, just get the adapter cassette, with the 1/8 stereo mini plug on it. This will also work with a Discman CD player, but is kind of a "getto" solution.

Your head unit will probably have a CD player in it. Some also have an auxiliary input on the back that you can wire an IPOD into. Some cassette players also have this input on the back, and are set up for a remote CD changer.

 

Another idea is to build a center console, in front of the shifter, back of the heater, and mount the head unit in that. You need to keep the hot air from the heater, from blowing on the electronics.

 

You really do not need a lot of audio power for the cab of a 521. It is small. and a little power goes a long way.

Hope this helps.

[dross93ranger]

That helps alot actually. We aren't looking for a "system." We just want some music while we are driving to shows or to work. Also our door panels look like hell, so we pulled them and are going to buy some particle board and foam and make new ones! We will post up pictures when we get some more work done.

[Jebus2000sl]

That helps alot actually. We aren't looking for a "system." We just want some music while we are driving to shows or to work. Also our door panels look like hell, so we pulled them and are going to buy some particle board and foam and make new ones! We will post up pictures when we get some more work done.

 

 

If you already need to replace the door panels make some nice speaker slots in them.

[DanielC]

If you remove the kick panels in front of the door, you get access to the bolts for the door hinges. You can run the speaker wires down from the dashboard, behind these kick panels, and into a hole already there and than inside the door pillar. Then drill a hole between the two door hinges, and push a loop of wire forward into this area. Dropping the speaker wire into the door pillar until you get lucky, you can catch the speaker wire, and by pulling the loop of wire out, with the speaker wire inside it, you can fish the speaker wire out, and back into each door. them hook up your door mounted speakers.

[sdsurf]

That helps alot actually. We aren't looking for a "system." We just want some music while we are driving to shows or to work. Also our door panels look like hell, so we pulled them and are going to buy some particle board and foam and make new ones! We will post up pictures when we get some more work done.

If you can handle the seat forward a bit you can also build a box behind the seat... Me, I'm way to tall

[521 Dropsun]

I used this beautiful little gizmo call a sawzall and widened the radio spot in the dash. I then fit an Alpine 9886 in there and hardwired it to the battery. I love that when I turn off the truck the radio is still playing. I then used the gizmo to cut holes in the doors and fit alpine type s 5 1/4 in there. Took some work to get them from away from the window roller mecanism but i got it figured out. Then put an alpine 1000 watt amp behind the drivers seat and a 12 inch JL sub behind the passenger. I couldn't be happier with my little sound booth. Only cost me like $800. Course I installed myself so that saved me some cash. I'll post up some pictures.

 

 

Here you go.

 

 

 

 

Let me know what you do. Im always looking for a way to improve.