Butchered dash frame radio opening
 

I am in the process of re-assembling parts of my interior and dash, and have a butchered up radio opening. My question is do I need to repair that opening in the metal frame if I want to install a stock type radio? Will the dash bezel, which I have a very nice replacement, be ok for mounting the radio? I don't remember how it was, cause my brother and I hacked it up 25 years ago to install a pull out stereo! (remember them?) I don't think it would be too hard to fix, but I was curious was some others have done. Surely, there are many that have had hack job stereo installs as well. Thanks.

Forgot to add picture. This is what I am working with now.

Here's my take...
The metal dash is what the radio mounts to for a solid fitment and the lock nuts on the radio shafts tighten against the opening. There is a rear brace that attaches to radio then dash to hold weight of rear of radio also.

Were it me, I'd find a way to repair that opening before installing the bezel and any original radio. You might be able to locate an original radio dash section, then cut/weld to return to original. Just thoughts. Not knowing your timeline and desired effort/end results, I can but opine.

good luck!

What if I used the dash bezel as a template to make a replacement patch for the metal frame? Are they mirror images of each other?

Heres a photo of the 68 radio opening.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...4&d=1578187051

It really looks like you will need a doner piece to graph back in.

I did something similar but was working with a flat piece.

https://i1305.photobucket.com/albums...ps3ed88528.jpg

The recess is the only hard part .... come to think of it ...strange that no repop company makes a patch for that ... would be very simple for a manufacturer to make it.

That said .... it would be tedious, but you could work up a patch with the recesses for mounting ... forget making them round since that would not be seen. Would require some welding, beating, bending ... but a small piece.

Tell Ames to get on this :) ... Would be a simple repop project.

Agree with Dataway… seems a patch is an opportunity for somebody as this is a very common issue.

When I cleaned up my dash, I had a similar hack and wanted to mount an original radio.

It was not hard to tack on some sheet metal and create enough structure to secure the radio. The holes in your bezel can locate both the hole centers and the depth (bezel is clamped to the sheet metal by the radio screws).

As Dataway said, doesn't have to be pretty nor accurate. Here's my quick and dirty solution that worked out fine:

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...1&d=1578244979

Awesome, Gonna come up with a homemade patch. Seems like there is definitely a market for this piece. Found a dash frame on eBay,for way to much money to just cut the radio section out of it. Post pics of what I come up with.

My bezel is hacked apart and a good portion of that mount area is visible. If I can assist with any measurements just let me know. Maybe I could even get you a tracing of it to use as a template.

Dennis

Just did a search on custom metal stamping, tons of companies doing it.

Every time I see a thread like this makes me think about attempting a run of parts. This one would be so simple and would probably work for any A body 68-72.

Wonder what they need for source files. I've never designed any stamped parts, always machined stuff .... but, I have some software that might do the trick and give me an estimate. Might mess around with it in the next few weeks.

The add-on brackets on the back side certainly look like they would work ... and it would just take a very small sheet brake to make them real neat.

Man this is classic!
I did the exact same thing in high school, 1985.
Cut up the perfect dash on my Dad's original owner 68 in order to fit in a Kenwood pull-out. What a joke...
Not to mention drilling the grill inserts for fog lights...
Still paying the price for this today, ditched the Kenwood long ago.
I put a radio delete plate on for the time being; will be following this thread as I still have the factory AM unit.

I swear 1/2 of the work I've done on my car is undoing the sins of my youth. Fortunately I never cut the radio mount! I installed my pull out stereo in the glovebox :D

Hehehe ... ain't it true. I guess we should consider ourselves lucky we still have the cars. I've "undone" my solid body mounts, disk brakes, "pro-stock" dash board, AC removal, QJet, intake, exhaust, wheels, not to mention all the things I lost over the years.

I had the exact same problem. I found a donor dash uncut radio section. The upper part of the dash was junk due to the windshield leaking badly. I was able to cut and splice it in. I was able to metal finish it without body work.

I agree, would actually think there is a pretty good demand for this across all the A bodies, not to mention the hacked rear speaker/package tray area!

I've got to get a hold of a radio first, so I can get this figured out. Thanks for the replies!

64-68 could probably use the same patch pieces on those.

69-72 would be a separate animal.
They have a lot more depth on the mounting recesses.
Notice Shiny's 70-72 dash fix - compared to OG68's dash picture.

Shiny kept it simple and easy. Good Job !

I used to cut those metal sections out of trashy dashes 30-35 years ago and could sell them quicker than i could source them for 69-72.

Then at one point one of the vendors did sell a repair section.
Must have been a one-run deal because they didn't seem available anymore after a few years in the catalogs.

Any Pontiac Car of same vintage could be a donor for those mounting sections. If you still have any access to any old cars.

Shiny's example could be improvised for any of them i would imagine.

I looked around and saw that they do make radio patch panels for various chevy trucks ... not sure why it's just trucks.