Get ready, King Of Trucks is coming...

Ken,

I got rid of my ipod. I just never fell in love with them like everybody else seems to. I burn data cd's instead. I can put 200 songs on one cd. Keep three or four of those in the truck and have music for days. I can have one cd full of Hank, one for 80's hair, one for bluegrass, etc.. My Pioneer head unit also has a USB port and an ipod jack. But I just find the cd's more conveniant for me.

Kevin

 

Suitcase sounds neat. Can you post some details/pics?

 

i'll dig it out and shoot a few tomorrow. i still need to finish a coupla things. i've just got it hard wired for now but the last one i did for a buddy i put i cig lighter jack power port in the case and made a long power cord with parts from radio shack. since it was again in a vw we put a power port in the back kick panel by the battery. throw it in the back seat plug the power cord in both ports and done. i made the cord long so at shows or whatever he could actually pull the whole thing out and sit it on the roofrack. people love it. the speakers are mounted on the large flat surface and the headunit is mounted in the side of the suitcase. when not in use you just flip it up and it just looks like you've got an old suitcase back there...ken...

 

Nice truck I can see it. Hey are you crazy too? What meds you on? Ha hell yes brother I'm looking forward to the next pics!

 

here's a thread from another site about them.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/vi...s=0&postorder=asc&highlight=suitcase&start=20
the tweed one about half way down on page 2 is similar to how i build mine. i've got a matched set that i want to build a full system out of. sub in the middle size, midrange midrange in the smaller, headunit in the make-up case, and leave the large one free to actually use haha. i know some folks here don't care for the content of the site above but the suitcase stereo is fairly common among the vw folks...ken....

 

That brown tweed one is killer! That's a great idea for an easily removable/portable system. How about vintage coolers? Any of the veedub guys do that? I think that would be cool as well.

 

only problem with vintage coolers is you'd have to insulate it to keep it from sounding "tinnie" and basis aren't getting any cheaper to come by now a days. theres a local shop where i buy full matched sets of vintage lugage for $20-30. unless you get lucky most vintage coolers are gonna run alot more than that. deals are out there. the vintage pleasure chest cooler i have i bought 10 years ago at a hole in the wall antique store for $5. on the flip side theres a mint Double Cola cooler i've been sweatin' over for a month or so for $160. i'd say if you found a cheap cooler it's be worth it just to try...ken....

 

I like it !

I miss mine I had it when I was 17-19 and had a very bad accident.
Mine had an olds rocket 350 and a th400. I had to modify the driver exhaust manifold to clear the stering box.
I hadn't got around to rebuilding the dry sticky kingpins and one night a little liquored up she hydroplaned and I couldn't keep up with the fishtail action and spun out into the wall on the I-480 missouri river bridge at about 60.

 

torch, those pics make me sad.

 

I got the speaker panel built today along with installing and wiring the 6x9s. I had this same head unit and 6x9s in my '63 chevy truck, mounted in very crude home made center console. It sounded really good though. With the same head unit and the same 6x9s in the '55 only mounted behind the seat and pointed up, the difference is phenominal!

The bass is 100 times better. While I gained a lot of bass response, I lost a little clarity. It is a tiny bit muffled going through the back of the seat, if that makes sense. I think the kick panel speakers will do a lot to help that. The bass is so nice now that I don't think I'll need a sub and amp at all. Maybe I'll do the 4 1/2s in the kick panels and a couple of nice tweets on the dash somewhere.

I was just so happy to be driving it again. Now that I've got my music back too, I'm ecstatic. I love all kinds of music and that's part of what I love about driving, listening to music with the windows down. For me, music and driving go hand in hand. I feel like life is finally back to normal again after having sold my '63 Chevy truck daily driver back in November.

Next up on the to do list is to check out my heater core. The heater hoses are disconnected from the water pump, I assume because the core leaked. The water pump outlets have a single short hose going from one to the other. It's kind of crimped and not allowing good flow. This is something I feel like I need to take care of soon.

 

Post some pix of your stereo install...

I need to do the core in my heater, too. I struck out finding a re-pop to put in there, so I'll be taking it over to the radiator shop for a re-coring.

- Joe

 

Forgot the pics, lol.

I also want to say thanks again to bobkatrods for the speaker mounting inspiration. I know the head unit looks shitty in the dash, it's only temporary. The one thing I hate is a period perfect kick ass interior with a modern stereo right in the middle of the dash. And now I'm guilty of that. Well, I don't have a period perfect kick ass interior yet, but you get my point.

I've got some odds and ends to tie up and then I'll start fixing up the dash in preperation for paint. Besides the cut up radio hole, I've got a big hole by the headlight switch that used to house a switch panel with five toggle switches with wires to nowhere.

 

I'm having trouble uploading pics. I got tired of waiting for the attachments to load. I went to photobucket so here's a couple more...











You may be wondering how the panel is attached. It's not. The top is resting on the lip created by the indentions on the back of the cab and the bottom is on the floor held in place by the seat back. The panel can't move at all.

 

I had a 58 ford f350. I can't find the pics right now.
It was a farm truck with 17.5" tires 6:8? gears, a 6 cylinder and a top speed of 40 mph.
I installed an 8 lug dana 60 rear axle and used front hubs and brakes from a 66 f350 dually on my front spindles. I had to re drill the backing plates to fit but I ended up with 16.5" tires and 4:11 gears and it'd do 65 after that.
It reminded me alot of my old 55 chevy.
I replaced the kingpins, spring bolts and bushings, tie rod ends and the drag link. I adjusted the steering box.
I ran 9:50-16.5 bias plys and
After doing that front end work you could easily flat palm the wheel around the corner one handed with very little effort and no cheater knob. It was smooth as power steering.

What I did for seats was slick.
I had a pair of seats from a 73 firebird. I took some heavy gauge metal studs to make 2 bent and welded U shaped seat brackets.
I bolted the seat brackets to the floor and bolted the firebird seats to the brackets. 3-1/2 inches off the floor was perfect to put the bottom of the window at my shoulder height.
A little taller and the u brackets could have been used to mount speakers. I liked being able to pile more tools into the cab between the seats.

 

heres mine i wanted to sell it but its to fun to drive i'm going to put a 4 speed in it. billy

 

4.5s in the kicks will bring the highs back that you lost. if you really want to get good clarity look for 4.5 components. i know sony used to have a decently priced 4.5 component set. you'd be suprised at what a difference the tweeter being mounted seperate from the mid makes. well and the component set will come with it's own crossover. most people don't realize for a normal every day listening system 6x9s will provide plenty of bass....ken...

 

Would it be OK to hide the 4.5s just under the dash instead of in the kicks? I'm planning a similar install, but I want the entire setup hidden.

thanks
- Joe

 

Thanks again for the advice Ken. You saved me some money! I was very surprised at the bass from just the two 6x9s. I think it has a lot to do with where they're mounted and which direction they point. So, I think I'll do the 4 1/2 components in the kick panels and a pair of tweets around the dash somwhere semi-stealthy.

Any tips for the best tweeter placement? Is one place better than another? And thanks again.

Joe,

How about stuffing some speakers in a nice chrome stock speaker cover that was mounted above the rear view mirror? I'm not sure exactly how big that is, I've only seen pics, never seen one in person. You can buy repop covers from the truckandcarshop.

That said, I think you could still use the kick panels with the speakers in them if you just cover the panels and speakers with some clever uphostering/vintage looking speaker cover.

 

you could hide to small speakers hidden under the dash but you still aren't gonna get the best sound possible. for "imageing" you want the speakers "firing" towards the drivers head as much as possible. bass doesn't matter to much as it is unidirectional. terd's setup probably sounds good because it is firing from behind the driver but NOT firing into and being muffeled by the seat. i've never seen the kicks for these trucks but most are designed so that when a speaker is mounted in it they are firing in the direction of the drivers head. it's been years and i forget what the factory speaker spot terd mentions is like but i have actually built a "center channel" set up and put in stock locations on several old cars and that combined with a set of mid-bass/woofer mounted behind the driver has always worked out really well. i told delton i was gonna roll over for "shop night" one wednesday maybe i can pull it off soon and actually look at terd's truck and refresh my memory. but i'd say if the kicks are angled towards the driver i would try to mount a nice small component sytem in the kick and call it done. you could cover the whole thing in grilled cloth and hide it pretty well.

most stereo shops will over sell you like crazy. like i said my factory sponsored car had 5 speakers and 1 amp. we tuned the system to the car and spent the money most would spend on speakers and shit on high end eq's and hand built crossovers. the car was a 94 civic. it was kind of funny because we had another 94 factory car that belonged to one of the sales guys that had 8 8" woofers in the trunk, the same 8" mid bass in the doors i had, same tweeters i had in the same factory spot, and a nice center channel setup, running from 2 small amps. if memory serves his set up put out like 10-15db more than mine did and they were on a VERY close par sound quality wise. so craming a bunch of stuff in only lets people say " i've got 10 8"s or bla bla. it really means nothing....ken...

 

I can't believe that a couple pages worth of thread is devoted to the stereo. I feel like it's 1996 all over again... How about 2 JL audio 10's in a bandpass box with one of pull out CD players as a theft deterrent ahahahaha!!!!

Just kidding Terd. Keep making progress, it's more then I can say these days.

 

What is the purpose of the bottom panel? Just to clean it up?

 

I LOVE music. All kinds. I really love listening to music while driving. I can't believe I've made it this long without any tunes and driving. And you better get busy on yours, that youngern is gonna be here before you know it! You'll be a little busy for a while after that.

 

Yes, to clean it up and to add support. The bottom piece is the only way to hold up the top. I'm working on sides for the panel now. I will eventually cover it with tuck & roll. I think when I swap out seats for a more correct bench that you'll be able to see a little more of the panel and I'd like for it to look nice and not out of place.

 

Tunes are big with me too. I'm glad things are falling into place for you. It's the little problems that can piss you off to no end. I bought my 64 F100 as a driver. I found out when I got it home, that it was far from it. The wireing started to burn on my second run. That led to big problems. The guy I bought it from, installed a windsor in it. Just how much booze and crack dose it take to swap engines? O well, dont matter now. I'm just about finished with a 2 year refit of just about everything a 64 F100 is made of. Good luck, I know that even though you've had problems, you would'nt want to be doing anything else.

 

Thanks again Ken for the tips. I'll be at shop night this Wednesday, come check it out. I haven't been in a while since my truck has been giving me so much static. But I should be good from now on.

I know just what you're going through. Mine was supposed to be a driver too. It was, but it stopped being a driver soon after I got it. It took me from October to now to get it good and reliable again. And you're right, I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. Nothing else gives me quite the satisfaction of working on my truck.

 

Haven't you heard?? Jeremy is now driving around in a '26 roadster and I am the proud new owner of a black '52 Mercury!!! Needs a few things to be back on the road but I think I got the baby-mobile under control!!!

 

No I hadn't heard. Between my truck not running well and my rheumatism, I've been MIA lately. But I got my truck straightened out at least. That's cool though y'all swapped. I LOVE the dash in that merc with all the levers. Probably my favorite dash ever, very different in a cool way. Y'all pass around cars like doobies, lol.

 

I haven't gotten anything done in the last few days but I've been driving it a lot. It's been running great and started and warmed up great in below freezing weather. I also picked up a horn button today. I'll get that on and get the horn finally wired up and working.

I'm looking for a remoted mounted modern type oil filter adapter now. When I switch intakes, I will no longer be able to use the factory filter. I'm sure I could make it work, but I'd like something more convenient when buying filters. I want to find something that looks cool but doesn't break the bank.

I'm also looking into my heater. I found out the heater box in the truck is not stock. The heater hoses weren't hooked up, probably because it leaked. I want to get it going, it's still going to be cold here for a while. I'd like to find a cool heater switch too. I'm attaching a pic of the heater box, if you know what it is, let me know.

 

I think I got my heater problem solved. 333HalfEvil here on the hamb had a factory one in his barn. He hooked it up to power and tested it to make sure it works and is going to send it to me. So that's the end of that chapter. I'll have to get some defrost vents, some defrost hose, a switch to work the heater and the two heater hoses and hose clamps and I'll be in business (and warm).

I had an issue with the truck last night. My buddies Bloody Knuckles, Puerto Rican Petey and I were going to eat. They were in Ron's bad ass chopped Plymouth Kustom when we got there, Ron told me I had no brake lights. So today, I set out to find out why. I thought it was a ground problem as I never really cleaned the body good where the tail lamp brackets mount. That didn't do it. Then I thought it might be the brake switch. It wasn't. But while I was under there, I saw one of the brake switch wires had been smashed almost in two by the brake pedal arm that goes into the master cylinder. I fixed the damaged wire, but still no lights. Turns out when the wire got smashed, it shorted to ground and burned the circuit breaker in the headlight switch. I guess I'm lucky I didn't burn the whole truck down. I swapped out the repop headlight switch I had for my old factory one. That fixed the brake lights. The downside is I don't have dash lights for now. The dash lamp dimmer spring broke who knows how many years ago.

Why are repop parts so shitty nowadays? That's a rhetorical question, I know why. Because they're made in shithole countries with terrible QC and horrible materials. I would think there would be a certain market for quality repop parts, but I guess not enough of one to get somebody to make them. But this seals it, I will never buy another repop piece again. I had always tried to use good used factory pieces, but I couldn't find a headlight switch. I should've tried harder.

Since King Of Trucks could've been reduced to ashes, I figure I better do something to prevent that kind of thing from happening again. So my next little unexpected project is going to be a factory style fuse box. LMC and the other catalog places sell one for right around $30. It's probably just as shitty as that headlight switch though. I'll be on the lookout for a good used headlight switch and a good used fuse box. I'll call it insurance. That ought to help keep the smoke inside the wires where it belongs.

 

Ha! I messed with my headlight switch, and managed to get it so that the dash lights would NOT turn off. I'm going to be looking for a good used one, too - If I see 2, I'll grab one for you. The Big 3 swapmeet is next month.

- Joe