Showing posts with label 8 track install. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 8 track install. Show all posts

Sunday, January 06, 2019

some of you readers have been very generous to make me feel that you're interested in my R/T and the 8 track installation. Well, it's still not finished, so, here's a little update


here's the installed Channel Master Deluxe (yahoo!) 


as it ought to appear... with a cool 8 track cartridge in it. It's an unused 8 track player someone was selling on ebay, and I got lucky to get it for about 45 dollars. Necessary? No. Waste of money? Not quite, everyone seems to get a kick out of the fact that I bought it and am installing it in the car.

 A nice guy named Rudy was biking down the alley my garage was in, and stopped to chat, and we laughed about it, and we talked about the cars we liked in the 70s, and cars we've had, and fixed up.

 Then he mentioned that he just learned last week he was told by his doctor that he has liver cancer, and isn't bummed out, cause he still gets a joy out of life, like biking around and finding cool old cars and dudes like me to shoot the shit with.

Made my day, and made his. Over an 8 track. Fuck. That just hits me in the feels.


made to appear a bit nicer with a long view. not perfectly centered, but the factory carb cold air cable handle takes priority. It's purpose is to open and close the hood scoops cold air flow to the carbs when it's really cols outside, and instead pull hot air off the exhaust area so the engine heats up faster


I just noticed this, it's a coincidence that the 8 track holder that I bought at the swap meet darn near matches the center console of my car! That's pretty cool



and here are the 8 tracks I bought at the swap meet. They probably are too worn out to enjoy, and I'm a bit worried that the soft foamy bits in the 8 track cartidges will fall apart and then mess up the player. But, hey, it's simple to take apart and clean, and 8 tracks are cheap to buy at the swap meets. 1 or 2 dollars apiece.


and while I was there, I figured this was a good time to feature a little fun thing I've done, making the ashtray as close to what you ought to expect from a 1969 Dodge as possible... so here are the things I put in it:


I raided my small coin collection, as I've come to believe that a coin collection was something our parents generation hoped would be worth a surprising amount of money. Turns out, they were wrong, and the price of silver has only held it's own vs inflation. The coins never were the right few that are worth ridiculous money, and the whole thing was a waste of storage space. Stamps too. Hell, the local coin shop went out of business. That's a key indication that unless your family was rich, and collected gold coins, you're not going to get rich from the coins they found and held onto
  Anyway, I grabbed mostly late 60s coins, and a 50 cent piece, and a dollar, and think... that's a good representation of what you would expect to find in an ashtray of a 1969 muscle car


and a cool old matchbook, that's a good find, and period correct - if you'll notice the phone number


here is my radio, just for kicks. I think it's nice, and I'm lucky that the car came with an AM FM. Not that I've used it, I listen to the exhaust instead

Wednesday, January 02, 2019

50 years after it was built, my 69 R/T has gotten a pair of 6x9s and an 8 track installed


Step one, take out the back seats, which was the easiest part of the entire job. That spare may not be this cars original spare, but, it's really damn old and pretty close. Good enough for giving people the thrill of seeing a really old tire that MIGHT be original to the car.


luckily, they are in good shape, and haven't been attacked by mice/ I've never seen or noticed the seat belt holders before, none of my previous Mopars (Barracuda, Challenger, Demon, Super Bee) had these, but, maybe these are an R/T standard item. After all, the R/T was the most expensive trim level for a reason


step two, take out the two screws and retainer pieces that hold in the rear deck cover, and there you have it, rust free sheet metal! Yay!


notice the strange variation in the shape of the speaker holes. 


using the speaker box as a template piece, I took a marker and traced out the two holes, showing the difference in the holes, easily compared on the cardboard. Does anyone know why they had different sized speaker holes, but drilled for mounting 6x9s?


I used those to cut out some gaskets from thin styrofoam so the speakers are sealed to the bottom of the deck, keeping the noise of the trunk out, and the speakers from getting rubbed against the deck


I got these to help the sound get reflected into the cab, and prevent noise from the trunk from echoing the speakers, etc. They turned out to be a bit oversized, but still worked fine. I'd make them a nit smaller, but, personal preference etc.


bottom of the back seat


inside of the center console drivers side carpet covered kick panel... that date is 12/16/1968

Maybe the "C" body and "B" body are the same part number, or maybe previous owners replaced the original with this one from a junkyard car.


a Channel Master AE 6803, Deluxe Stereo


theres the 8 track mounted, but not wired in, and the center console not completely put back together, but it was getting dark, and I wanted a photo before it was too dark. Using a flash always results in too much light


and this is what my R/T looks like, in case you were curious. Up close there are a lot of scratches and scrapes that don't show up in the photo, 16 years of being in a garage getting things dropped on it have taken their toll. Better in a garage than on the street though, it's at least stayed out of the rain... 100 a month for the rent on the garage... pretty good! And only 3 minutes from where I live now