Interior Restoration Help
 

Okay, couldnt find much on the search. What type of head unit adapter do i need for an aftermarket cd player, also what can i put in the hole in the dash from where the "joystick and equalizer" were? Also, is there a good way to clean the radio bezel or paint it.

What year is your 7 ? Sounds like '84-'85, but you'll need to say

I'll take a shot, though...

1. Din will fit.
2. Gauges or a new EQ
3. Clean, paint, or replace as needed

Sorry, I have an 83 GSL, had the "Premium Sound" with the little amplifier under the drivers seat, I disconnected it...but i cant find a harness that "works" for an Rx-7 it isnt listed on the backs of any of the packages. Also what are the speaker sizes front and rear...im too lazy to take the kick panels off again and measure them.

or you could do what i did.... and take the one ended harness that comes with the head unit and splice them yourself into the stock mazda wiring.... well actually i re-ran all the wires just because i like to do stuff right..... it can't hurt. twenty years of wear and tear. why not replace them all...

I think you have to cut the place where the stocker stereo is to fit a standard din in. At least, that's the way it is in my 81 GSL.

i have an 84 gs... there was no cutting needed...

It's 4.5" in the kicks. 5 1/4 to 6 1/2 in the rear. 6"x9" work well in the storage compartments. I put a sub in my spare well.

If I had to do it all over again, I think I'd go with separates ( woofer and horn mid ) in the storage compartments, directional piezo tweets in the kick panels, and a 10" sub in the sealed well. ( Yeah I like piezos and horns. Burnout proof ! IMO, Klipsch will always kick the shit out of Bose and the other round speaker guys. )

the panel with the joystick in it... Well I actually took myn out recently and filled the hole in it with bondo and sanded it flat, painted it and put it back in... Looks not bad but the spray I used didnt perfectly take to the bondo... left some inperfections

hey david.. do you have any pictues of the sub in the spare tire well?? i was thinking about doing the same thing.

Hold on a bit, I'll try to get a new one. The last one was too dark.

thanks.. appreciate it.

Find a base model and get the coin holder they had instead of the windows/joysticks...
I might have one...

I just did something like this its not quite finished but I am going to post pics when it is finished. I wanted a cup holder so I moved the power window switches, cruse controll and rear wiper switches to the location in the dash where the old equilizer was. I put my cup holder where the window switches were and put a plate over the old joustick hole. Watch for the picks looks pritty good.

Years ago I had a 12" Bazooka tube in one of my hatch cars.. It was a pretty decent set up at the time. Alpine head unit, separate amp driving a set of 6 Boston Acoustic speakers and a 'tube'.

Do they still make those tubes? I was thinking that if I ever swapped my stock radio out, I might do a similar set-up with a tube in the back, mounted along the back of the rear wall under the hatch glass area...

Here you go...
http://www.zippyimages.com/files/31154/P0016090.jpg
http://www.zippyimages.com/files/31151/P0016095.jpg
http://www.zippyimages.com/files/31152/P0016094.jpg

Only wires you can use behind the stock radio are the power, acc, and ground. The speaker wires will need to be ran by you. Reason being - The stock amp had the din plug ran to them and then speaker wires from the amp to the speakers. You could simply splice into the speaker wires after the amp, but most likely the wiring is old and crappy anyways. It is easy to run new wires as there is plenty of room under the carpet along the door and next to the storage bins. This is what I did in my 83. Also you need to cut the hole to fit the DIN size radios. Just trace the line that is there. It is the correct size.

Ground wire is black, ACC is yellow, and power is red.

4 inch in front and 6.5 in rear

I stand corrected. You are absolutely right: 4 inch speakers in the kick panels. Don't know where I got 4 1/2"

Very informative, thanks guys, appreciate it. Also while on the topic of interior resto...who has information regarding dashboards/dashcap and new seats?

Linkys no worky!

What all info are you needing? How to remove dash? I believe that there is a writeup somewhere on how to remove the 84/85 dash (other dashes are different but same basic concept). As far as buying one, I recommend Dan Atkins from Atkins rotary. He sold me a S2 dash top, black and in very good shape for a very reasonable price. Shipping has been on time and communication is always professional and courteous. I have ordered from Dan twice and am about to order again. Anyways, enough of the good guy/bad guy stuff.

As far as seats, you can either find some good used ones, recover old ones, or just buy aftermarket ones. Could also maybe find seats out of newer vehicle such as an eclipse and attach the seat rails to the different seat. Just some ideas for you.

Also, as far as interior goes - Alot of people (myself included) have used vinyl paint. I painted all the gray vinyl parts of my seats and also all the gray plastic pieces black. Looks good I think. It comes in 5 different colors I believe. Good luck with the project and hopefully I answered some of your questions.

-Ian

thx, keep the ideas rolling!

Sorry... I'll try again

http://www.zippyimages.com/31154.html
http://www.zippyimages.com/31151.html
http://www.zippyimages.com/31152.html

basically, what im asking; is it better to replace the entire dash or to buy one of those glue on dash caps, that look like the real thing, but only cover up the old dash...most people that i have asked about them have told me that its hard to tell the difference between a dash cap and the real thing.

Think of a dash cap as a really good toupe'. When people see it, they go "That toupe' looks marvelous". :rlaugh:

lol, nice
ok need to find a dash