Anyone care to "share" their hidden CD Players????

[Mfr426]

Hello all! I am working on the dash on my 69 charger. Funny but this is the second time I've done this for the restoration. I did quite a few things backwards over the years.

Anyway, one of the things that I've decided to do it to put in a CD player (or MP3??) so I can have tunes for road trips to car shows, etc. Sure I have an AM 8-track stereo but as "cool" as I think it would be to ONLY have that to listen too, I think I'd end up loosing my mind listening to Neil Young Harvest for 200 miles (and I LOVE Neil Young). So, I put in rear 6x9's that are hidden fairly well and I want to put in a mid-level CD player. I was thinking about putting it in the glove box since the inserts are so cheap if I wanted to remove it and replace the insert I'd only be out about $20. Looks like I could fabricate a bracket pretty easily as well for this placement.

Does anyone have any thoughts, pictures, suggestions, etc for upgrading the radio situation. I dont think I want to put money into having the stock radio converted either. I like gadgets and a CD player with remote would be the trick. I am guessing that they make t-fittings for the antenna so that it can share nicely with the stock radio when I want to use that???

Any thoughts, comments or pics would be excellent! I want to keep this car looking stock but have the option to blast a good CD as I cruise as well.

Thanks all!

Mike R in Reading PA
'69 Charger SE 383

[Troy]

Have you thought about a portable satellite radio player? You can hide the base unit (radio/CD player) just about anywhere that the remote can transmit to and you don't have to worry about being able to access the CD while driving. I was inspecting an old Ford pickup last week that used this setup and it was totally hidden. I think he was transmitting through one of the grills in the dash though so maybe you'd have to open the glove box to make it work. We've had discussions in the past about wiring in an iPod directly to an amplifier and things like that but I haven't seen it done yet. I'll try to dig around some.

Troy

[runningman]

I am fooling around with trying to install a kenwood faceplate into an old am radio.  I am probably about half done with it now, one thing that I tried that seemed to work pretty good was to use a fiber optic cable to send the IR signal to whatever you are going to use.  I had one about 3 ft long and it worked perfectly.  They are pretty small and you could pretty much stick it anywhere.............well almost

[Mfr426]

Hey Guys, thanks for the comments. Trou, I subcribe to XM for my daily driver too. Not a bad thought....

Let me know if you find aanything...

Thanks!

Mike R

[jaak]

I got that new book by Larry Lyles, Project Charger, in it he took the front of an old am thumbwheel radio and mounted it to a faceplate,
then put velco on the back, so it looks like he has a factory radio, then you remove the face plate/false radio front off, to expose the CD player.  Pretty neat Idea I thought.

[Mfr426]

Jaak, I have that book! He's Chevy guy but I wont hold that against him. 

I saw the shot of the CD player in the dash. The rest of the car looks great but I dont think that radio is up to par. The little woodgrain trim pieces dont fit right. If there was a good way to do it I would do what he did. I dont even have the bezel anyway so I could fabricate something.

How do you think it looks?

[jaak]

yeah I noticed that too, I was just thinking, there is a better way to do it, with some more thinking and planning, you know get a little creative with it. I just liked the concept, I know the one in the photo looks like they spent a whole 5 minutes making it.

Later, Jason

[Mfr426]

There has to be a better way to do it. Yep, it did look like he rushed that part of the work.

I'm still looking for someone here who has already done it. I dont mind copying...

[moparjohn]

Mike I have a AM/FM CD player in my glove compartment. I have a unit with a remote control- only problem is it doesn't work with the glove box door closed (the remote)

[runningman]

Mike I have a AM/FM CD player in my glove compartment. I have a unit with a remote control- only problem is it doesn't work with the glove box door closed (the remote)

Try the fiber optic cable........

[Mfr426]

runningman, you lost me on the fiber cable? Are you using that to attach the remote to the radio???

Not sure I understand...

MoparJohn, can you post a pic of your radio???

Thanks!

Mike R

[runningman]

The fiber optic cable is just used as a "highway" for the signal the remote is sending out.  I tried it with my tv and it worked.  Basically I had the remote pointed at one end of the cable and had the other pointed at the IR receiver on the tv and I was standing around the corner.  The cable just routes the signal to the receiver.  The thicker the cable seemed to give you more of a window to point the remote but I used one that was around 1/16" and it worked very well.  You could mount one end of the cable under the dash or probably even run it through your stock radio and have it sitting in the button area or whatever.  Than you would route the cable to your aftermarket radio and figure some way to mount it so it was pointing at the IR receiver.  I hope I cleared this up a little bit.

[Mfr426]

OK Matt, I'm with you on the theory. How does the fiber capture the signal? Do you need to put ends on it like SC or ST, etc?

[Troy]

My only problem with the cable and remote thing is that you can't see the display. That's why I like the idea of a portable satellite receiver or an iPod with a hidden plug because I can read the display to see what's going on. I could poke buttons on the remote all day but I think I'd be frustrated and driving down the road is a bad time to be annoyed.

Troy

[runningman]

Yeah I thought about that too, actually the one I am doing in the am radio will have the display available.......if it works .  But you could still do both.  After using the remote to control the radio in my daily driver I really don't need to look at the display, although all I am doing is switching between preset stations.   

[phat69charger]

They sell Radio's on ebay that have 1/8" AUX. inputs on the front, a USB port and a SD slot, and it would be easy to use a ipod like Troy said, this radio on ebay reads a SD card up to 512MB and has the two other options  http://cgi.ebay.ca/USB-300-IN-DASH-AM-FM-CAR-CD-MP3-PLAYER-W-USB-SD-SLOT_W0QQitemZ8030954808QQcategoryZ43947QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Not Bad for under $130.00

[The Ghoul]

take that radio face plate idea but the next step ferther. find your self an old cb gut it hinge the face and transplant the cd player into the innards. If your not sure about that see if there is a model of player that will fit into your center consule, the face plate might be tough to see but youd have your tunes for the road and your stock radio for regular listening. ...

[Johnny SixPack]

They sell Radio's on ebay that have 1/8" AUX. inputs on the front, a USB port and a SD slot, and it would be easy to use a ipod like Troy said, this radio on ebay reads a SD card up to 512MB and has the two other options  http://cgi.ebay.ca/USB-300-IN-DASH-AM-FM-CAR-CD-MP3-PLAYER-W-USB-SD-SLOT_W0QQitemZ8030954808QQcategoryZ43947QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Not Bad for under $130.00

That's pretty sweet.

Thanks for the link.