<VV> Corvair car stereo

[Edelstein and Payne]

Charles,

     My son and I just did this last week in a 65 Monza.  He picked out a JVC stereo/CD unit from Crutchfield that he liked (20 watts RMS power per channel I believe).  We already had some 3-way speakers in boxes that fit perfectly on the rear shelf and he bought the 80 watt stereo speakers from Clark's that mount up under the dash where the stock speakers go.  As folk have said, we had to cut stuff.  We spent the better part of a day carefully cutting small pieces out of the metal face plate that was on the stock radio, and then carefully filing the hole so that it was just the right size.  
     You have to make sure that you get a stereo that comes with a metal "sleeve" that goes in the dash (I believe that it is "size E" in Crutchfield's nomenclature --- call one of their service advisors, they'll know for sure).  We made the hole in the face plate just big enough such that the "sleeve" was  a real close fit.  Once we had the face plate right, we then cut out some of the hole in the dash, and again filed it so that the face plate with the sleeve was a close fit.  Before we installed everything, we wire-brushed and then re-painted the face plate black, as it had gotten a little scratched in the process.  We secured the face plate with four stainless, countersunk screws (size 6 I think), put the sleeve in, then inserted the stereo and put the the trim frame around it.  As the dash slopes down toward the front of the car pretty good where the stereo goes, you have to "bevel" the hole so that the bottom of the sleeve and the stereo can stick out while the top is flush, such that the face of the stereo is about perpindicular.  We secured the stereo in the correct position by fashioning a bracket out of some scrap metal strap that we attached to the back of the stereo (it came with the screw for this), and then to the bracket above that supports the in-dash speaker.  It is rock solid, and looks "way cool".
     For power, we ran a separate 10 guage wire from the battery to a new 6 terminal junction block with modern spade-type fuses that I picked up at Advance Auto, and then connected the stereo power lead to that (there is another lead from the stereo that you also connect to a switched source of power so it will shut down when the key is off).
     As long as you are very patient and work slow, it is not too hard.  It was actually easier than doing a similar installation about two years ago on my '55 Nomad.  There ALL the cutting was in the dash, with no face plate to cover screw ups ---- a pretty tense process!!
     Doran (my son) also bought a self-powered Pioneer 150 watt small sub-woofer that we are getting ready to install under the driver's seat.  Then the system will really sound great!  I did that in the Nomad and it adds a lot.  We are putting in custom seats, so we'll set up the brackets for the seats such that there is enough room --- maybe 3" ---- for the sub woofer.  The stereo unit came with dedicated outputs for the subwoofer, and we'll mount a separate control on the dash to the left of the steering wheel, so you can turn it down or crank it up, as you desire while you're driving.

     If you like having music, and quality sounds while you're cruising, I say it's well worth the effort.

                                  Travis Payne,  65 Monza coupe