Gary Lewis Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 I completely agree, but if I can share a rare piece of my knowledge, there's a company called Retrosound who specialize in classic car audio. They make one particular 6x9 speaker with inputs for both left and right audio - so you get a stereo mix out of one single speaker. So if someone had an otherwise-fine dash pad with a roached middle section, putting one of those speakers in the dash with a nice grille could be a good route to go. I have one in my DeSoto, and I plan on getting another one for whichever truck I end up driving. You don't actually get stereo out of a single speaker. With a dual voice coil you get a mono sound that is what is common between the two channels. And that is effectively a center channel. An old-school trick to get a center channel is to feed the positive terminal from one side and the negative terminal from the other to a single speaker. That does much the same as the dual voice coil speaker. In either case, it works. I've done it many times. In fact, I'm running the minus from one and positive from the other configuration in my shop and the center channel does neatly enhance the sound. I plan to do that in my trucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodsoup Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 You don't actually get stereo out of a single speaker. With a dual voice coil you get a mono sound that is what is common between the two channels. And that is effectively a center channel. An old-school trick to get a center channel is to feed the positive terminal from one side and the negative terminal from the other to a single speaker. That does much the same as the dual voice coil speaker. In either case, it works. I've done it many times. In fact, I'm running the minus from one and positive from the other configuration in my shop and the center channel does neatly enhance the sound. I plan to do that in my trucks. I stand corrected. You learn something new every day eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1986F150Six Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 I stand corrected. You learn something new every day eh? Here is another used one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-F150-Bronco-Gray-Dash-Pad-OEM-Pickup-Truck-Dashboard-TURBO-Diesel-1980-1986/174196867757?hash=item288ef142ad:g:E90AAOSw8LNeTffL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old55pete Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 Here is another used one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-F150-Bronco-Gray-Dash-Pad-OEM-Pickup-Truck-Dashboard-TURBO-Diesel-1980-1986/174196867757?hash=item288ef142ad:g:E90AAOSw8LNeTffL No offence Dave, did you see what they wanted for shipping? That dash cover aint perfect by any means, but it is better then mine. $95.00 for shipping is a little much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 No offence Dave, did you see what they wanted for shipping? That dash cover aint perfect by any means, but it is better then mine. $95.00 for shipping is a little much I hadn't noticed that. Those things are long and need to be protected, but that's a bit much. Total cost is ~$250 and you are getting a used dash pad that may break by the time you get it. I think it was Shaun that years ago found a perfect dash pad at the salvage, bought it and stored it blocked up to be level and not in a bind. And it cracked just sitting there. If I'm going to pay more than ~$150, which gets you a new dash cover, I'll go whole hog and pay $450 for a new dash pad. I'm not going to risk half of that on a used one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzFace2 Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 I hadn't noticed that. Those things are long and need to be protected, but that's a bit much. Total cost is ~$250 and you are getting a used dash pad that may break by the time you get it. I think it was Shaun that years ago found a perfect dash pad at the salvage, bought it and stored it blocked up to be level and not in a bind. And it cracked just sitting there. If I'm going to pay more than ~$150, which gets you a new dash cover, I'll go whole hog and pay $450 for a new dash pad. I'm not going to risk half of that on a used one. Being we are on dash pads and I at one time looked into repairing the worst one of the 2 I had. First try was a failure and 2nd try was not much better. I was fitting a plastic dash pad cover to it, out of truck, and felt at the time to start to remove some of the padding for a better fit .... failure #3 as the cover did not fit as well as I had hoped. So the cover went on the better of the 2 I had and to tell you unless you really look and know what to look for I don't think you can tell it has a cover and am happy with it. Now what to do with this other pad I have?? I also have a buddy I am helping with a flare side and he also has 2 pads, 1 worst than the other, that will need work before being installed. I am thinking of doing something like this I am thinking of only doing the blanket & rosin, maybe a little filler but no glass as the dash needs a little texture but need to see how that turns out. He got it all smooth with filler & 400 wet sanding then added the texture with the spray on bed liner, why? I dint know when I will get to this but it is a plan I have at this time. Dave ---- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustedJunk84 Posted March 23, 2020 Share Posted March 23, 2020 I don’t know if my idea is any better or not. But I kinda went at the cracks with a dremal tool and took out the real loose broken down foam. I then used gorilla glue to fill the crack. Gorilla glue foams up when it drys. I then shaved it down/sand it down to smooth it out. I also used some fiberglass bondo to smooth things out. The reason I did it this way is because I plan on covering it with upholstery. Another guy did almost the same way with bondo then low pressure sprayed primer over the dash to texture it. Then painted to match the truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted March 23, 2020 Share Posted March 23, 2020 I don’t know if my idea is any better or not. But I kinda went at the cracks with a dremal tool and took out the real loose broken down foam. I then used gorilla glue to fill the crack. Gorilla glue foams up when it drys. I then shaved it down/sand it down to smooth it out. I also used some fiberglass bondo to smooth things out. The reason I did it this way is because I plan on covering it with upholstery. Another guy did almost the same way with bondo then low pressure sprayed primer over the dash to texture it. Then painted to match the truck. I'm curious to see how it works, but my worry is the different expansion rates of the different materials. The dash gets REALLY hot, and my concern is that the different materials will expand/contract/expand/contract until they part from each other. But I guess I just worry a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1986F150Six Posted March 23, 2020 Share Posted March 23, 2020 I'm curious to see how it works, but my worry is the different expansion rates of the different materials. The dash gets REALLY hot, and my concern is that the different materials will expand/contract/expand/contract until they part from each other. But I guess I just worry a lot. Kind of like new wine in old wineskins? Or, a new patch on old clothes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted March 23, 2020 Share Posted March 23, 2020 I'm curious to see how it works, but my worry is the different expansion rates of the different materials. The dash gets REALLY hot, and my concern is that the different materials will expand/contract/expand/contract until they part from each other. But I guess I just worry a lot. Kind of like new wine in old wineskins? Or, a new patch on old clothes? Good analogy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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