The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay The Radio Bench 55-59 FM, MP3, Bluetooth, etc

Just an FYI, I'll be working on an FM, MP3 and Bluetooth device to fit the 55-59 Chevy trucks, also. Work on it has been a little slow but I have made the mold for the backing plate and I'll be refining/finishing that and trying to come up with a mounting scheme as time allows. You can see what I've done below. The working part (the guts) will be the same as the AD model, but I don't expect I'll need the ability to play on 6 volts.

Hey, Jon, you're supposed to be coming up with one that fits the '54-'55.1 BEFORE you start on the '55-'59 model!

S2

Fair comment. I haven't been able to find a 54-55 blank-out plate. Also (and I'm operating strictly from memory) didn't the 54-55 sit on the outside of the dashboard? That might make it harder to fashion a silicone mold, but I'll have to wait until I get a blank-out plate.

On the 54 the blank out plate sits outside of the dash ,or overlaps the opening .The plate also covers the holes were the knobs go on either side of the opening but I think the knobs would only need plugs to fill the round holes.i think your basic unit will fit in the hole but will need a means of fastening it to the dash.if you need any measurements or pictures let me know will be happy to help.

Thanks very much Kevinski. Pictures, measurements...anything like that will help. You can email me at jon_goodman@yahoo.com

Jon G, I'm interested in your Task Force project and may purchase one from you. Now, back in the day the livestock report and Paul Harvey were on at noon on local AM stations, do I understand that your item is not capable of AM?

Tried e mail but a outgoing server error happened so I will put them on here

A few more pictures and just to note the measurement on the passenger side knob hole looks to be a little shorter than the drivers side don’t know why they are not the same .Also the cover plate view from the end shows it has a little taper ,I think that allows for the curve of the dash .

Thanks very much, Kevinski. Please let me study those. I will probably have some questions.

The device doesn't pick up AM radio, but in a moment I might be able to give you an alternative. This was built on a platform (to keep costs down) and using components already in place. The thing is I'm known in the Chinese electronics marketplace but I'm not even a small potato over there (volume-wise). I'm more like a poppy seed. The processor chip included FM, MP3, bluetooth and other things like memory (returns to the station or song or chapter where you were when the power was removed), both USB and micro SD card playing ability (which I was happy to get), the ability to play almost any recorded format of music or voice and other things...but I couldn't find a processor that included AM. At least one that was worthwhile. There was one but the sound was so tinny and feeble nobody would have wanted it. Sorry...I did try.

Now for those who want AM, I have been told there is an app (for a cell phone) that will allow you to pick up AM stations and then send them to your radio via bluetooth...but I haven't tried it, so I don't know if it works or not.

Thanks again Kevinski. It appears the overall length is 8 3/8 inch and I can't tell on the width of the piece. I'll need that measurement...either in inches or in mm. Plus I will need the thickness of the piece (at the thickest part and at the thinnest). And I will need the distance between the holes...center to center, preferably. And I need to know if the retaining bolts Chevy used were fixed in place or if they slid back/forth. What I suggest is making a plate to match this one in size with the attaching "bolts" cast in place so there is no sideways adjustment to it. Radio centered in it. The bolts will be less in diameter so there will be some give there but not a lot.

I see that taper. For a poured in place fiberglass resin or epoxy piece which is flat on the front that isn't always easy. The silicone mold I'll make will provide the best side on the bottom of the pour and the top will be self-leveling, so the taper is kind of tricky. While the top will be self-leveling it won't be smooth enough for painting and finishing. It doesn't look like much taper is there. Do you think we could get by with a piece that was flat on both sides?

I think a flat piece will be good because the blank has the rolled over edges to accommodate the clips.The bolts you see in the pictures are made up as mine were gone so the bolts were welded to a piece of sheet metal and there are slots in the back of the plate were you can slide them in .The plate does slide around on the clips and if you look closely you can see scratches were the plate was on the dash and the it was not on centre.

Okay and thanks again. Here is what I show:

Length overall: 8 3/8"
Width: 1 7/16"
Thickness: ? maybe 1/4" ???
Width between holes (holes in the dash): 7 1/2" if you measure from outside edge to outside edge of each hole
Holes: 1/2" in diameter

Does this match what you got when you measured? Also, I'll need to know about the thickness.

Best regards,
Jon

More pictures The holes for the knobs I put a 1/2 inch drill bit in and it fit loose but I don’t know if the next size would go through as I could not find one . They is a picture of the end of the plate and i roughly cut out some paper to show you the contour of the dash as it curves up .i will read over the measurements you would like me to check and get back to you .Kevin

I will double check the width but in the pictures it shows I 3/8

I forgot this one of the bottom . I measured this again with a ruler and it is 1/4 the face of it.the calliper when measured has made it measure bigger because it slopes down under the dash.

Thank you Jon for clarifying the AM/FM detail.

Thanks much, Kevinski. .44" of thickness is almost a half inch...which will be a good slug of fiberglass or epoxy. I think .25 inch will be just as good and definitely thick enough. Do you agree?

That is the measurement from the bottom part of the dash from the bottom of the opening to the bottom were the dash curls around. Nothing to do with thickness.

Found this on the net might help with your ideas. Going in the garage shortly will get the measurement between the radio holes.Took a few more measurements and from the centre of the hole to centre of hole looks to be 6 15/16.

Thanks Kevinski,
I'm out of town for a week. What I think will work the best is a plate to match the OEM plate in size, held in place by two screws cast in place, bolts/washers attached from the back side. Then I'll use the CNC machine to cut out a radio mounting hole and make a silicone mold for it. Since this blank-out plate appears to be more/less just a flat rectangle, I might be lucky enough to be able to make the first piece out of wood or maybe fiberboard. That would save me the effort of making two silicone molds (which are expensive to make and time consuming). Lacking the original OEM plate, I probably will not be able to make a tapered plate, however if the plate is thin enough maybe less than 1/4"...more like 3/16" or so I think it will look okay.

Since I have neither this nor the Task Force trucks to use, I am very limited in what I can do for a speaker mount gizmo, but I'm welcome to any/all suggestions, images, etc.

👍 the plate can be a thick or thin as it needs to be for strength .The only reason the delete plate is thick is because it is folded over for the clips to slide in to hold it in place . I will try to snap a picture from the underside as I seen some tabs by the grill on the back but I don’t know if they are origional as they look to be brazed but I figure the more pictures the better .

Thanks, Kevinski! Everything helps.

Here is a picture from the back as best I can get there are 3 tabs I think for the origional cloth or whatever they put behind. Two of the tabs you can see the third up top in the centre.

Thanks to everyone who has helped with the 55-59 work. This entire post here includes discussion on that as well as the 54 model, etc. This morning I'm going to just focus on an update on work related to the 55-59, however. Please remember...I don't own one of these nor do I have access to one so that has been a challenge for me.

The work on the mounting piece is done. There will be no room to attach the antenna plug on the mounting piece (as there was in the AD) so it will be epoxied to the circuit board as you see below. Not a problem as it works fine. Actually I'm listening to a radio station on one as I type this.

The second image shows where holes will be drilled to match the holes in the radio piece. (red dots)

The third image shows how this radio and the surround piece will be mounted. As you know the original blank out plate mounted with clips. Those clips are not practical for mounting the radio, so I've decided to use a toggle bolt/molly bolt gizmo to attach it.

The original on/off/volume and tuning knob holes (unless I find an alternative) will be covered using the same ones I made for the AD truck. The original block-off knobs for these holes when no radio was in the truck were slightly different. I've asked for these but I have not found any yet. There are reproductions out there, but they don't match original. If you have original covers, please contact me, we can work out getting them here (and back to you) and I'll make a silicone mold to cast them.

That's pretty much it up to this point. The fiberglass surround piece and the hole covers will need to be painted to match your dash (or any color you wish) just like in the AD and all other adaptations.

Please let me know if you have any questions.