Archives November 2024

Howdy folks, Ed here. Welcome back to Bullnose Garage. Do you ever feel like there’s a silent thief lurking in the bowels of your ride, stealing your performance, wrapping your precious horsepower up in endless red tape, and literally choking off the airflow that makes your engine come to life? Yeah, I’m talking about emissions, specifically catalytic converters. Power robbing, crime inspiring, and pocketbook draining cats are a double-edged sword of eco-responsibility and pain. But here’s the thing: you can do something to take back some of that power. Today, we’re talking about cat options, from keeping your ride stock all the way to cutting the cats out completely. Specifically, we’ll talk about high flow cats, how they work, what they can do for you, and I’ll check out the ones that just landed on my workbench, courtesy of Dinox. But don’t get too excited just yet. High flow cats can definitely give you back some of the horsepower that the EPA stole from your ride, but you might think twice when Johnny Law comes knocking. Dramatic? Maybe, but it’s definitely something you need to know. Stick around.

Hello! Now, before we dig into the nitty-gritty, I need to give a shout out to Dinox for sending me these high flow cats. They’re a great example of the kind of equipment I’ll be talking about. And if you want to grab a set for yourself, Dinox’s Black Friday sale kicks off on November 27th and runs through December 2nd, offering up to 50% off. So if you’re looking to nab some exhaust or intake parts, this is the time to strike. I’ll circle back with some more details.

Okay, so let’s kick things off with the basics. A catalytic converter is a component of your exhaust system responsible for cleaning up the exhaust gases before they exit the tailpipe. Inside, you’ll find metals like platinum, palladium, and rhodium, the MVPs of emissions control. These metals work like catalysts, starting up chemical reactions without burning out in the process. They’re also why some sketchy characters love to hack your cat off with a saw. Those metals are worth a boatload, even in the small quantities you find in a catalytic converter. Catalytic converters pull off a nifty bit of chemistry to break down pollutants. There are two stages to the job that they do. In the reduction stage, platinum and rhodium split nitrogen oxides into harmless nitrogen and oxygen, cutting down smog forming emissions. Next up is the oxidation stage, where platinum and palladium make carbon monoxide, a toxic gas, react with oxygen to become carbon dioxide. Any unburned hydrocarbons are also oxidized, turning into CO2 and water vapor. Think of it like a little high temp lab under your car, turning nasty exhaust into something a bit more eco-friendly.

OEM cats are all about compliance, standardization, and appealing to the mass market. That means hitting strict emissions targets, cutting costs, and keeping things quiet. Horsepower? Not a top priority. Because of that, they tend to choke your exhaust flow in order to meet their main objectives. High flow cats, though, are built for performance. They’re designed to let more exhaust pass through with less resistance. It’s kind of like trying to sip a thick milkshake through a tiny straw versus taking a big gulp through a wide straw. The benefit is less back pressure, and that means better exhaust scavenging, which translates into improved horsepower and torque. Now, for those running performance mods like aftermarket headers, camshafts, or stroker builds like my upcoming 408 stroker Windsor here, high flow cats can make a measurable difference.

High flow cats use more open cell substrates with strategically placed channels to keep exhaust flowing efficiently while still catalyzing those gases. Most high quality models, like this 3-inch unit from Dinox here, feature stainless steel construction for durability against heat and corrosion. The cells per square inch, or CPSI rating, in high flow cats is lower than in OEM units. Lower CPSI means fewer tiny channels for gases to navigate, reducing restriction. But don’t worry, these cats still do their job at cleaning emissions, though they may not be certified to do it. That certification can be a bit of a problem when it comes to federal or state compliance with emission laws. Here’s where things can get a bit controversial, especially with gear heads and shade tree mechanics. Most high flow cats, like these, are not federally compliant.

Okay, so let’s get into why compliance matters. CARB, or the California Resources Board, sets the gold standard for emissions regulations, which a few states use as a benchmark. If it isn’t CARB compliant, it doesn’t meet their rigorous standards. These non-compliant cats, like the Dinox cats I’ve got here, can’t legally be sold or used in states with CARB regulations. That’s California, New York, Maine, and Colorado. Why? Well, CARB compliant units have additional testing and require certification to meet stricter emission targets. So if you’re in or plan to sell your vehicle in one of those states, you got to keep that on your radar. It could mean the difference between passing emissions or failing. My state, New Mexico, doesn’t currently follow CARB, so I was able to get my hands on these. Also, keep in mind that modifying your exhaust or emission system, including adding high flow cats that aren’t EPA certified, constitutes tampering as far as the EPA and federal government are concerned. Tampering is a specific term, and that means installing these on your vehicle to replace your stock cats can be a bit problematic in terms of legality on a federal level, even if they’ll work as well as a certified unit and they’re legal in your state. I won’t tell if you won’t.

All right, so let’s take a look at these Dinox units themselves. Right out of the box, they look like they’re pretty high quality, made out of stainless steel, which is great when you’re dealing with temperatures up to 1200°F in your exhaust. So you definitely want something that’s nice and robust there. And you know, I haven’t put these on, obviously. I haven’t tested them yet, but they look good. I did a review of some Dinox headers a couple months ago, and they looked really good too. So, you know, the quality seems to be there. As I’m looking through, you can see where the high flow channels all are in there. You can see right through it. Looks really good. I don’t see any debris. I don’t see any broken bits. I don’t see anything in here that would indicate to me that it’s not high quality. So I am really looking forward to getting these on the vehicle and seeing how they sound and seeing how they work. So, yeah, I’m pretty impressed with these units I got from Dinox. So, shout out to those guys. We’ll see if they live up to the hype.

Installing a high flow cat is pretty straightforward if you’re handy with an angle grinder and a welder. Remember, positioning is key. You want it close enough to the engine to heat up quickly, but far enough down the line to avoid excessive back pressure. Always test fit your new cat, check clearances around your undercarriage, and, you know, make sure that it’s going to fit. A misstep here can lead to rattles, leaks, or even worse. High flow catalytic converters really come into their own when they’re used in a modified vehicle with higher than stock airflow requirements. If you’re rocking a turbo setup or even a naturally aspirated engine with some serious upgrades, that’s where high flow cats start paying dividends. If your car or truck is just a weekend grocery getter that’s more or less stock, high flow is going to be overkill. There’s a lot of other more effective, less controversial mods you should probably do first. But for anyone with a build designed to breathe freely and rev high, that’s a performance edge worth considering, especially if you’re rebuilding it anyway.

So let’s take a moment and talk about the possibility of running an exhaust setup without catalytic converters at all. It’s an option some performance enthusiasts choose because it completely eliminates exhaust restriction, which can result in even more horsepower. But here’s the trade-off: no cats mean more pollutants and potential much louder exhaust notes. And while it might be tempting to ditch the cats entirely for the sake of raw performance and more noise, it comes with its own set of challenges. Not only are catless builds illegal for street use in most places, but they can also trigger check engine lights and issues with your vehicle’s ECU. Even if it’s strictly on an older vehicle without those issues, it’s not a great environmental choice. That’s something you have to decide for yourself. That’s where high flow cats come in as a smarter middle ground. They allow you to maintain a respectable level of emission control, stay compliant in less restrictive areas, and still reap the benefits of better flow and power gains. Plus, they help avoid some of the complications that come with going fully catless, like failed inspections, binds, or ECU and check engine lights. So if you’re looking for a balance between power and practicality, high flow cats might just be the way to go. That’s why I’m choosing these for my build for those very reasons.

One other thing to keep in mind is that high flow cats can sometimes lose efficiency faster than their stock counterparts due to their more open design. Now, while you can’t exactly service a catalytic converter like other parts, there are a few preventive measures you can take to keep them functioning well. Regularly checking your exhaust leaks, ensuring the fuel mixture isn’t running too rich, which can clog the cat with unburned fuel, and keeping the engine in good tune will help prolong the life of your catalytic converter. High flow cats can be extra sensitive to contaminants, so using high quality fuel and avoiding oil burning is also a good thing to remember.

So before we wrap things up, just a reminder: Dinox’s Black Friday event starts November 27th and runs through December 2nd, up to 50% off. It is definitely worth checking out, especially if you’re considering an upgrade. Go check them out at dinoxparts.com, that’s dinoxparts.com. All the information will be down in the description below. A shout out to Dinox for sending me these cats. They’re not paying me for this review; they just sent these to me and asked me to put something up about them, and I thought that’d be a great opportunity to explain how high flow cats work and go through the whole thing. So thanks again, Dinox, for reaching out and supporting a small channel like myself. I really appreciate that.

So are high flow cats in your future, or are you more of an OEM purist? Or are you just going to ditch all that emissions garbage altogether and tell the EPA to go pound sand? Drop me a comment and let me know what you think. If you found this video helpful or interesting, or if you learned something, give me a like and a subscribe. That really helps me out. And like I said before, drop me a comment and let me know what you’re thinking. Also, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, gripes, internet ramblings, stick them below. You think I’m a shill for Dinox? Let me know. I’m never going to turn down free stuff. And if you think that I’m going to get in trouble with the EPA by installing high flow cats on my truck, let me know that too. Thanks again for watching, guys. We will see you next time, tinkering away, getting things to shine. Garage is considered divine. Thanks again for watching. We will see you next time.

Hi folks, Ed here. Welcome back to Bullnose Garage. Imagine an axle tough enough for rugged off-road action but light enough for everyday driving. One that is so versatile and reliable you’ll find it in front and rear setups alike, from trucks to sports cars, in both solid and independent configurations. It’s been around for over 70 years and still ranks among the top choices in the 4×4 world. Meet the Dana 44.

The Dana 44 isn’t just another axle; it’s a proven performer found in everything from classic Broncos to Jeep CJs and more. If you’re into Bullnose Fords, any classic trucks, or off-roading in general, chances are this axle rings a bell. If not, stick around because we’re covering everything you need to know. Even if you know this axle, there’s a good chance you’ll pick up something new. I’ll also clear up the differences between the solid and independent suspension versions, as well as the front and rear axle setups. There is a lot to cover, so get comfortable.

Hello! To start, let’s clarify the Dana 44 family tree. The Dana 44 name actually covers a whole series of axles by the Dana Corporation, dating back to the 1940s. It includes a solid front axle with an offset diff for 4×4 work, a solid rear axle with a center diff, and an independent front suspension using Ford’s twin traction beam setup. This axle has been a top choice for off-roaders and classic truck owners for decades because it’s tough, adaptable, and this is important, easier to work on than most.

The beauty of the Dana 44 is its adaptability across all kinds of vehicles. You’ll find it in both front and rear setups in everything from Ford trucks to Jeep CJs, some military vehicles, and high-performance cars with an independent suspension setup. We’re about to take a closer look at both the solid axle and twin traction beam, or TTB, versions, along with how each was used, especially in Ford’s lineup. For those of you looking to source parts to find a solid donor axle, I’ll share some charts later in the video showing which models and years came with the Dana 44.

First up, we’ll check out the solid axle version. Let’s start with what makes a solid Dana 44 such a popular choice. For one, this axle was commonly paired with leaf springs in Ford’s heavier duty setups, and it often uses a high pinion design. Now, when I say high pinion, it means the pinion gear sits higher up in the axle housing than in the standard setup. This design offers a few advantages, especially for off-roading. First, it improves ground clearance, lifting the drive shaft angle to keep it safely clear of rocks, logs, and other tall obstacles. On top of that, this high pinion setup uses reverse cut gears, which provide extra strength in the forward direction. That makes it ideal for front axles where the torque is applied as you pull the vehicle forward. With a high pinion Dana 44, you get added strength, improved clearance, and a smoother drive shaft angle, especially helpful if your truck is lifted.

The solid D44 is designed to handle a wide range of vehicle setups. It functions well as either a front or rear axle, giving it flexibility across different builds. In classic Fords, it’s typically found up front, but in duty setups, you’ll also see it used in the rear. Now, as a rear axle, it’s not quite as beefy as a Dana 60 or a Ford 9-inch, but it’s a solid choice and comparable to the 8.8 when you’re looking to keep weight down and agility up without compromising strength.

Now, Ford isn’t the only one to use the Dana 44. Its versatility attracted other manufacturers like Chevrolet, Dodge, Jeep, International, and even some imports, making it one of the most widely used axles around. If you’re curious about the range of models that came factory-equipped with the 44, here’s a chart with all the details. This is a great reference if you’re thinking of sourcing parts or finding a donor vehicle.

So, let’s talk specs. The solid Dana 44 typically comes with a 30 spline axle, striking a good middle ground for strength and flexibility. Earlier versions sometimes had 19 or 27 splines, but the 30 spline is by far the most common for moderate duty work. If you’re planning to go further off-road, then there are aftermarket options with 33 or even 35 splines. Just remember, if you go up in the spline count, you’ll likely need a compatible differential carrier to handle those shafts. The D44 has an 8 and 1/2 inch ring gear. Now, it’s not as large as what you’ll find in the 9-inch or the Dana 60, but it’s plenty strong for moderate off-roading and light towing.

The Dana 44’s gear ratios are also flexible, ranging from 3.07 to 1 to 4.56 to 1. Lower ratios like 4.10 and 4.56 are great for torque-heavy applications, while higher ratios like 3.55 are more fuel efficient for highway driving. The Dana 44 uses a carrier break around the 3.73 mark, so if you’re planning to switch from a high to a low ratio, you’ll need to change out the carrier. The gross axle weight rating for the Dana 44 ranges from 3,500 to 3,800 pounds, depending on the setup. While it doesn’t match the brute strength of the Dana 60, the 44 is more than capable for medium duty tasks in a 4×4 setup.

The solid Dana 44 axle typically measures about 65 to 68 inches wide from flange to flange, with axle tubes between 2.75 and 3 inches in diameter. This width provides a good balance, keeping the front end light for off-road use without compromising durability. The solid Dana 44 axle itself weighs in around 250 to 300 pounds, making it significantly lighter than the Dana 60. Most Boss AER trucks came equipped with ball joint knuckles on the Dana 44. Ball joints are easy to maintain and offer more precise steering, making them a solid choice for most setups. Some older versions feature kingpin knuckles for added durability, which off-roaders still appreciate.

Further strengths last here a quick note on fluid. The Dana 44 holds around 2 to 3 quarts of gear oil. Maintaining the oil level is crucial, especially for heavy off-roading, as it prevents the gears and bearings from overheating and wearing prematurely. If you’re looking to beef up your solid Dana 44, a whole range of upgrades can take it from a decent axle to a serious off-road contender. Stock shafts work okay for light to moderate off-roading, but if you’re planning to push further, chromoly shafts are a great upgrade. You can also go for a thicker spline count like 33 or even 35 splines if you’re aiming for that maximum strength. But like I said, keep in mind that a higher spline count often requires a compatible carrier, so plan accordingly.

If you’re going to head that route, a locker upgrade makes a big difference in off-road traction. Several types of lockers are available, but selectable lockers like those from ARB are popular because you can engage them only when needed. Keep in mind that adding a locker increases stress on the axle shafts and U-joint, so upgrading your shafts is a smart move here. If you’ve got manual locking hubs, upgrading to a heavy-duty set like Warn hubs makes for a worthwhile investment. Manual hubs are typically stronger than automatic ones, which matters if you’re running larger tires or adding extra load to the front end.

If you’re planning to take your truck over rougher trails, consider adding a truss or skid plate. A truss runs along the top of the axle, adding reinforcement to keep it from flexing under heavy use, and skid plates or reinforced diff covers give you a little bit of extra protection against rocks or trail debris.

And finally, let’s talk about ball joints and knuckles. Most Bullnose trucks with the Dana 44 come with ball joints, which work just fine for most setups. But if you’re planning on larger tires or adding weight to the front end, like a winch bumper, upgrading to a heavy-duty ball joint or even reinforced knuckle is worth considering. This upgrade adds durability and keeps your steering nice and precise.

So let’s switch gears to the twin traction beam, or TTB, Dana 44. It’s a unique setup introduced back in 1980. This version is entirely different from the solid axle, featuring an independent front suspension design rather than one continuous housing. TTB has two beams that pivot independently from a central point. This design aimed to give trucks a smoother, more car-like ride on pavement without sacrificing off-road capability. Ford primarily used the TTB Dana 44 in the F-150 and Bronco models. If you’re wondering which models came with the D44 TTB axle, here’s a quick reference chart. This should be especially useful if you’re seeking TTB-specific parts or looking for a donor vehicle.

Ford designed this axle for folks who wanted a truck that can handle trails while still running comfortably on the highway. While it’s not as rugged as the solid axle version, it offers a strong balance between off-road capability and on-road comfort, making it popular in lighter duty trucks. However, for serious off-roading, the TTB setup has its limitations. Its independent beams and pivot points wear faster under heavy use, and lifting the TTB can create challenging geometry issues.

The TTB Dana 44 usually comes with coil springs instead of leaf springs, which helps create that smoother ride. With two pivot points, one at each beam, it requires regular maintenance, especially for frequent off-road use. These beams are typically made from stamped steel, which is lighter but less durable than a solid axle under extreme off-road conditions. Like its solid axle brother, the TTB Dana 44 uses 30 spline shafts. However, since it’s not a single housing, each side includes a half shaft with U-joints that allow each beam to flex independently.

The TTB Dana 44 generally offers similar gear ratios to the solid axle, ranging from 3.07 to 1 to 4.56 to 1, so you can choose based on whether you need torque for off-road or a higher ratio for on-road fuel efficiency. Lifting a TTB axle is trickier, as the geometry can get thrown off even by modest lifts. This is one reason why some hardcore off-roaders eventually swap the TTB for a solid axle. The TTB’s main strength is ride comfort; its lighter front end provides a smoother ride on pavement, and a big advantage if your truck spends a lot of time on the road.

The TTB Dana 44 can be upgraded as well, although it has a unique set of options because of its independent design. First up, the heavy-duty U-joints and half shafts. Because the TTB relies on half shafts and U-joints for independent movement, a common upgrade here is stronger U-joints and heavy-duty half shafts. Stock parts work well under moderate use, but if you’re heading off-road with larger tires or more power, upgrading these components can prevent early wear or breakage.

Another key upgrade is bushings and pivot brackets. The TTB has a lot of moving parts, and one area that sees a lot of wear is the pivot points. Swapping in polyurethane bushings instead of the stock rubber ones and adding reinforced pivot brackets can make a big difference in stability. This helps reduce play and keeps everything lined up nicely.

Another useful upgrade for TTB setups is adding a truss. Yep, you can add a truss to the TTB beams too. Say that five times fast! TTB beams truss kits strengthen the beams to prevent flexing under load, especially useful if you’re running larger tires or taking the truck off-road regularly. A lot of TTB owners also go for extended radius arms. Stock length arms can sometimes cause binding when the suspension cycles over bumps, but extended arms let the suspension move more freely. They improve the suspension geometry if you’re lifting the truck, helping with handling and stability on rough terrain.

And speaking of lifts, lifting a TTB requires drop brackets to keep the pivot angles correct. TTB lift kits often include these drop brackets along with coil spring spacers or new coil springs altogether to keep the height right. Drop brackets are crucial for maintaining proper geometry; without them, lifting a TTB can cause uneven joint wear and affect handling.

Last but not least, just like with a solid axle, adding a locker can be a great upgrade if you’re planning to take the TTB off-road. Just remember, the TTB’s design is a little more complicated than a solid axle, so lockers can add some extra strain to the system.

And that’s the Dana 44 family in a nutshell. If you’re looking at the solid axle for off-road durability or the TTB for a smooth ride, the Dana 44 has you covered either way. With the right upgrades, regular maintenance, and a bit of know-how, these axles are ready for just about anything, whether it’s the trail, highway, or somewhere in between.

So here’s a little fun fact and something you might not expect right here at the end of the video: The Dana 44 wasn’t just for trucks. Dana also created an independent rear suspension version specifically for sports cars. The IRS D44 maintained the axle strength while being compact enough for performance-focused cars. This version appeared in some legendary rides, including the Chevy Corvette C3 from 1980 to 1982 and the C4 manuals from ’85 to ’96, the Dodge Viper, and even classic Jaguars like the E-Type and XJ. It’s a testament to the versatility of the Dana 44 platform.

There you go, guys. That’s everything that I know, or pretend to know, about the Dana 44 series of axles by the Dana Corporation. Now, this can be a very confusing topic, especially for somebody who’s new to axles or new to working on vehicles, because all these different vehicles are called Dana 44. And unless you know what you’re looking for, it can be hard to find the right information. So just remember, you’ve got a Dana 44 front axle that’s solid, a Dana 44 front axle that’s independent, and a Dana 44 rear axle, and they’re all different. On top of that, they came in all different kinds of vehicles: Fords and Dodges and Chevys, and we went over it, right? There’s a lot of different vehicles you can find them in.

So, hopefully this video gave you some good background information. It was just a real quick overview, but hopefully you learned something. If you did, guys, give me a like, give me a subscribe. I really appreciate that; it helps me out a lot. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, gripes, internet ramblings, if I got something wrong, drop me a comment and let me know. Guys, thanks again so much for watching, and we will see you next time.

She’s rough around the edges, but she’s doing fine. Tinker away, getting things to shine. Oh no, Gage, she’s sent divine. Thanks again for watching; we will see you next time. Thanks again for watching; we will see you next time.

Howdy folks, Ed here. Welcome back to Bullnose Garage, and this is my project for the weekend. This obviously is a brand new stereo system for the truck, and this is a $15 head unit from Amazon. You see it’s got the old retro look. It’s supposed to have Bluetooth and hands-free calling. We’re going to see if it actually works for $15. I don’t know, there’s not even a picture of it on the box. It is super crazy light, like there’s nothing to this thing. But for 15 bucks, you know, we’re going to see if it’s worth your time. So I’m going to put that in, see how it goes.

The other interesting thing as part of this project this weekend is this speaker right here. It is by far the most expensive thing on this entire table. You can get a 5×7 speaker from Amazon for like $10 or $15. This one here was about 80 or 90 bucks, but the reason is because it’s actually a dual voice coil speaker that has both left and right channels built in. It’s specifically made for old vehicles with a dash single dash speaker like my truck or older car. So we’re going to see if that’s worth the money once I get all this stuff put in. And these are obviously like just cheapo JVC 6 and a half inch speakers, the cheapest ones I can find on Amazon. So at some point in the future, I’m going to put a real stereo system in this truck that’s really nice with some subwoofers and amplifiers and the whole bit. For now, I just want to be able to listen to Pandora while I’m driving, so that’s the goal I’m trying to reach today. Let’s see if I can get there. Stick around.

Hello! All right, so the first thing is to get this door panel off. It’s pretty simple. There’s a screw here that holds this on, and then there’s a bunch of these little clips back behind the door here that go into the panel, and then the door clips onto these. If you’ve got an older truck like this, I highly recommend going out and getting you some of these clips. I’ll put the link in the description. Before you get these, these break pretty easy, and if they do break while you’re taking this off and you put it back on without using these clips, the door is going to flop around a little bit and rattle. It’s just going to add to the general cacophony these old trucks make. So, uh, get them secured, and they’re pretty cheap. They’re not very expensive, so make sure you do that. All right, let’s get this thing off.

All right, there we go. And here you can see where those clips just pop in here. Especially if you got an older door panel, you don’t want to be too rough with these. This is actually pretty nice plastic, so it doesn’t break real easy, but it’s possible. So you just want to be careful taking these off. Here is the speaker. These speakers as well are aftermarket. They’re Polk, and they don’t sound too bad, but since I’m doing the entire system, I’m just going to go ahead and replace some of the speakers that I know, so I know what the RMS and the wattage are of them. That way, I can match them to my head unit and not have to worry about them. But like I said, these are pretty good speakers, actually. They sound pretty good, so I’m going to save them, but I’m not going to use them for this.

If you’ve never done stereo installation before, it is really simple. All these speakers just have two wires, a positive and a negative. You just have to make sure that you wire the positive to the positive side, the negative to the negative side, and that’s pretty much it. It does get a little bit more complicated when you start talking about crossovers and amps and, you know, different capabilities of head units and RMS wattage and all that stuff. But for the most part, if you’re just swapping out some stock parts, it’s real simple. It’s got the two plugs here. Whoa! They’re pretty old. Come on, there we go. Yeah, busted that off. It’s okay, it’s just the mounting point. If I want to use it again, I could maybe super glue that. They’re pretty old, but otherwise that still works. It’s still connected to the speaker, so it would be okay.

So while I got the door open and off the panel off, I’m going to go ahead and pop that new speaker in. For those of you curious, this is a set that I got from Amazon. They are really cheap. They’re like 25 bucks, JVC CSJ 620. We’re going to see how they sound. They got pretty good reviews. They’re just a cheap speaker I can use until I get the real thing put in this truck, you know, once I’m done with the engine and everything else. So let’s see how they go. This one’s actually missing a couple of screws. I’ll go see if I can find some that’ll work. When you’re working on old vehicles like this, a lot of times you’ll find missing screws and stuff because this is behind a panel you’re never going to see it. I don’t really care that they’re different colors. I don’t really care that this one here is a little bit crooked. Like I said, you’re never going to see it, so it doesn’t really matter. But having the screw in there is a good idea because it’ll stop things from rattling around, and like I said before, in the cacophony of noise these old trucks make, anything that you can stop from rattling is always a bonus. They are loud enough as they are. Let’s get the old radio in, so I’m going to go check to see if it works.

Okay, it is possible it’s the speaker itself, but it may also be the wiring. So to verify whether it’s the wiring or the speaker, I am going to swap this speaker to the other side of the truck and see if it gives me the same problem. If it does not give you the same problem, that means it’s a problem with my wiring. So if it’s a problem with the wiring, it’s probably here in the door. It may actually be these connectors that are back behind here, just old and corroded and not giving a really good connection. If that’s the case, then I can swap the ends out and put new connectors on. I’ve got those. So, uh, but yeah, we’re going to go see on the other side if this is a speaker problem or a wiring problem.

Okay, so, uh, I can’t let you listen to this because YouTube will give you a copyright strike, but, uh, it’s coming through fine on this side of the truck. So I’m going to swap this back over to the other side, run it again, just verify that I think it’s probably the wiring, and then we’ll go through the troubleshooting steps over there to figure out why the wiring over there might be kind of janky. Yeah, so there is clearly a problem somewhere in this wiring. So the easiest thing to do is just cut these off, assume that these are the problem, cut these off and replace them, and we’ll see if that does it. Normally, I like to do solder connections for most of this stuff, but because this is just a really kind of cheap, almost temporary repair, temporary for a few years, I’ll just go ahead and crimp like, you know, everybody else does. They’re doing car audio.

Always nice when your first instinct is correct. That’s awesome. Here we go, classic hits 101 gold. Now for the rest of this, you got to pull apart the dash, and there’s several screws up underneath here that you got to use to take. You take the screws out, and then you can pop this top off, and then these dash panels will come out so you can get behind here and do what you got to do. That’s it to the top speaker here and also old trucks. All right, best get to the speaker up here and to get back behind the radio, obviously. So let’s go ahead and get started.

Interesting story, when I first bought this truck, I had a hell of a time trying to get it registered in New Mexico from Texas because I bought it in Texas. One of the problems was the VIN number, and for some reason, I’m not sure if all the ’85 or Bullnose trucks are like this. In this particular truck, you can’t see the VIN number and the dash plate through the windshield, and I suspect it’s because this is an aftermarket windshield, and it’s got this black border all the way around it. Now, maybe not, I’m not sure, but for whatever reason, you can’t see the VIN number from the outside. So I had to actually take this dash panel off, the top dash pad off, before I went to the DMV so that they could actually see the VIN by crawling into the truck and looking through the top.

So you don’t have to take all these screws out of here. I took a whole bunch of them out because I wasn’t sure which ones I had to take out, so just took a long, and that piece comes off real easy. And so there’s my radio, pretty rough. That’s actually going to be a problem. All righty then, uh, let’s see what we got here. Well, there’s a ground there. Ooh, is there no antenna adapter? There may not be an antenna adapter. I may have to go buy one of those. And here is the wiring harness, and that one there is cut. I’m not sure where that used to go to or what that does. Power, ground, and remote is here, and that’s what the harness is still there, but all of the speakers have been cut at some point, and I’m not sure if this center speaker is wired in. I’ll have to dig into that, open this up and take a look at it. And see, it also looks like I’m going to have to get a new mounting for this. If the original harness was back there, I could rewire it back in, but it’s not. He just cut this. Whatever the original harness was, he just cut it. Yeah, see, there’s four, these are the four speaker wires that went to the center speaker. He just cut them. He’s like, I need that, just cut them, which means I got to rewire them. He probably, he may even pulled them out. Who knows? Hell, he may have rewired this whole thing.

So first of all, I got to get the mount for this so this will go in here and mount correctly, and I got to wire these together. This has been rewired. Okay, guys, so let me talk briefly about the situation that I found here. When you’re working on an old vehicle like this, especially if you’re doing wiring, changing out the stereo is a prime example. You never know what you’re going to find. So the previous owner, at some point, whether it was the one before me or somebody even before him, looks like they wired this whole thing. So these speaker wires are not original to the truck. Looks like they’ve also disconnected this top speaker here completely, and here’s where you can see originally where it wired in, and they just cut them. They just cut those wires, and unfortunately, they didn’t leave me the old harness, so I don’t have a harness that I can plug into my harness piece that I bought from Amazon. Don’t do that, guys. Please, if you’re wiring a radio, don’t just cut the wires. Unplug the harness and leave the original harness. Go out and buy the correct harness adapter for your vehicle. They’re not expensive. They’re like 10 or $15 at the worst. That’ll save you so much time and energy, and anybody who comes behind you, it’s just a courtesy, you know?

Now this radio is probably changed 20 years ago, so who knows what they were thinking back then. But now what this means is not only do I have to rewire this top speaker completely, but I have to figure out what I’m going to do in terms of these speakers because do I just do like they did and just wire it directly into the speaker wires, or do I actually build a harness? In my case, I think I’m just going to wire it directly into the wires, and the reason is because I think when I upgrade the audio next time on this truck, which will be a serious upgrade, we’re talking amplifiers, crossovers, the whole bit, I will probably, excuse me, I will probably rewire all of these to be new wires. And so when I do that, I will build a harness when that happens. But for now, I just want to get this working, so I think I’m just going to go ahead and cut these and rewire them directly. The power and the ground and the remote are all still hooked up, so I’ve got the wiring harness for that that I can plug into the radio harness and do that on my bench.

In addition to the screws that you have on the front here, there’s also some screws back up in here in the air vent area. You got to be careful with these because you don’t want to drop them. This dash pad is slated for replacement too at some point, but that’s in the future. And then once you got all the screws, it just comes right out. Oh, yep, there are those wires you cut right there. Yeah, all right, we’ll get something in through there, and we can rewire this speaker. I want to save that because I might be able to use that. Is that this? Because if that’s this? Yeah, okay, all right, of course, here we go. Okay, is that this? It is this. All right, so that means that I can use this when I do my audio upgrade next time. I don’t have to worry about trying to find that harness somewhere. Let’s see how this works. Not bad. So this is clearly the original speaker. I can use this harness, so I’m going to use it. Interestingly, also, this is only a single voice coil speaker, so it’s never designed to have stereo. So no matter what I was going to do, I was going to have to rewire part of this. Well, it should sound way better. We’re going to find out.

So here’s the new one. It’s a D572 5×7 from Retro Sound. It’s dual voice coil, got left and right channels going into the same speaker. We’re going to see how it does. They are not paying me for this. I bought this with my own money. It’s the only one that I can find that was reasonably priced. I’m kind of excited to check it out. And there she is, my new center channel speaker. As you can see, it’s got a connection for both left and right, two separate tweeters there to do left and right channel. Now, obviously, you’re not going to get great stereo surround sound from this because it’s coming from the same location, but I’m hoping it’ll bounce off the window, the windshield, and give me a little bit of more full sound than what came from stock. So let’s see how it fits. Factory, pretty much. Now, obviously, I got to wire it, run new wires, and all that jazz. But yeah, as a matter of fact, it came with wires. I think I might just be able to use these. They may be long enough. Oh yeah, yeah, that’s what we’re doing. We’re using these. I just got to make sure that I mark them.

One nice thing about older vehicles is that the dash is way simpler than in new ones. Man, I know some of these newer trucks, you have to want to wire something from up top here down through the dash, you have to take half the dash apart, run it through the door panel, come back in. It’s not quite that bad, but there’s still, I got plenty of room back here, so I’m just going to keep this wire the same length. I’m not going to worry about cutting it. It’s just open all the way through here. There’s just nothing. Oh, 1980s, you were a fun time. All right, that’s good. Putting it back in was actually easier than taking it out, so cool, that’s in there. I am going to wire this. The front goes to the dash, and the rear goes to the doors, which is kind of odd, but I think in this truck, in this case, just the way I need to go.

All right, so real quick, guys, I’m going to go over the wiring. This is the radio that I bought, and this is the harness that I bought for the truck. And there’s only two wires that these two connect to. One is constant power, and one is switched power, and that’s it. So constant power is the yellow, switched power is the red. The black, the ground actually goes to a ground that’s inside the truck. It’s not part of the actual wiring harness that comes from the truck. You have to ground it to a wire that’s in the truck there, so I’ve got that plugged there. This is an antenna wire, which the ’85 doesn’t use, and also this is an antenna wire, and this is a dimmer wire, and the radio doesn’t use a dimmer. So all we got is just constant, switched, and ground, and I’m going to go into the truck and hook up the ground now.

So this is the ground that I was talking about that’s already in the truck. It’s just simply bolted to a chassis bolt back here. Well, not really chassis, but there’s some metal framing back in here, and that’s all it’s bolted to. And I know it works because it worked for the old radio. Most vehicles that I’ve worked on have a ground built into the wiring harness for the radio, but this one doesn’t.

All right, and with that, we should be ready to test it. Just for now, I got power. I got power. Try again. 29% financing for 60 months plus $1,000 bonus cash. Don’t miss the B-Tough sale. Oh, perfect. Okay, so I’m going to turn that down so you can hear me. So the screen is really dim. I don’t know if there’s a way to make it brighter or not. That’s just a thing. This screen is really kind of dim, so that is what it is. As far as sound goes, it actually sounds pretty good. Let me see if I can figure out how to pair a phone with it, and I will be right back.

There we go, BT on. Okay, does it work? My God, old school. She’s an ’85. Paint’s a little… um, yeah, that’s a preview of something that’s coming. Uh, yeah, hello? Hey, sorry, what’s up? Nothing, I’m just actually testing my hands-free calling in my truck, so how do I sound? Okay, yeah, you sound fine. Okay, cool. For she’s rated the radio.

All right, guys, so I figured something out. Got her all mounted up nice and tight into the bezel. Doesn’t move or rattle or nothing, and I don’t have to use a mounting plate that you would buy from Amazon or from O’Reilly’s or any of those auto part stores. This radio is light enough, this particular model is light enough that it will mount right into this without any problem. It’s still super light, right? And here’s how I did it, a little bit of down-home engineering. Okay, so the metal bracket that comes… Make sure you guys can see this. Yeah, you can. So the metal bracket that comes with the radio right here, right? If you, uh, it’s just slightly bigger than this. This bezel is just a little bit, but the radio front around here is also just slightly bigger. So what you can do is you can sandwich this in between this metal piece and the radio bezel itself right here. The problem is that this metal piece won’t move forward far enough to clip into here like it’s supposed to because this bezel here is too thick. So all I did was put a couple of screws in here on the top. Right now, you think, oh my God, don’t screw your radio. Well, the thing is that there’s so little electronics inside this thing that there’s plenty of room in here. These screws aren’t even touching any of the boards or electronics or anything inside the radio, and that holds the body of the radio from moving back and forth, right? It’s not going to move.

Okay, now here’s the other thing is that the radio is actually just a little bit too thin this way for this opening, so it slides up and down unless… uh, let me go get something real quick. I’ll be right back. Unless you put something in here to keep it from sliding up and down. So all I did was I put a piece of airline tubing that I use for my airbags in my other truck, slit it right in there. Okay, that goes up from down to up. Sorry, I got this in my mouth. See, it goes down and up and down, right? It moves. Well, take a piece of air hose, get it to the right size. It’s a little bit tight, which is what you want. You pop that in there, push it down, and now it’s black. It matches everything else, and this doesn’t move up or down at all. It is not going anywhere, and I can just pop that right back into the truck, and away we go. And this isn’t going to rattle on me or move, and when I go to push the button, that’s going to have nice solid feedback. Not to worry about it rattling or moving around on me. That is great. I had no idea it was going to turn out that way. I love when things like this happen.

So there you go, guys. If you happen to get this particular radio and you have this particular dash piece, you can do this the exact same way with just a couple of screws and some air tubing. The more you know.

All right, guys, here we are paired. Now you can see that the… you can’t really see it. It’s very, very dim right there. You can kind of see it. Let me turn it down a little bit. Okay, but that’s how it looks. I’m pretty happy with it. Obviously, you can’t hear it, but it sounds good, I think. So I’ve already used it to make a phone call, and according to the person on the other side, I sound pretty good. I’m imagining that this is the little microphone here. I have really no idea, but I would think so. Um, yeah, I mean, so the interface is not great. It’s got a lot of glare, and it’s really kind of hard to see, and the background illumination is nowhere near bright enough to see in the daytime. But for my purposes, I think it’s going to be fantastic for $15, and pretty simple installation is definitely worth the money and your time to do. I do think it looks nice. I love the look inside the truck. You know, I’m super happy with that. It’s so nice to have Bluetooth that I can listen to music on my phone now. I’ll probably never use the radio again, really, because the radio reception around here is not great anyway. So yeah, I’m super happy with that.

All right, guys, well there you go. Weekend project officially a success. Got everything put in. I’m really happy with it. I think for 15 bucks, you can’t go wrong. Yeah, it’s got a couple of issues, but man, it’s $15. It works pretty good. It installs super simple. It’s a huge upgrade for me. Bluetooth hands-free calling, yeah, definitely worth it. The front speakers that I put in, the JVCs, they’re pretty nice. They sound really good for $25. They can’t be beat. And then that dash speaker, you know, I’ll have to listen to that for a while and figure it out. Right now, it sounds really good, but I didn’t have one hooked up before, so anything I put in there is going to sound better than that. But yeah, I don’t know if it’s worth the 80 bucks I spent on it, but we’re going to find out. Regardless, it sounds way better in here. So, guys, hopefully you learned something today. I know it’s a simple radio installation, and a thousand guys do them. There’s probably videos all over YouTube, but this one’s mine. At least you get a chance to see one of those vintage radios in action, the really, really cheap ones from Amazon. Yeah, I think it’s probably worth it. So, uh, yeah, if you got any questions, comments, concerns, gripes, internet ramblings, stick them below. Thanks again for watching, guys, and we will see you next time. She’s rough around the edges, but she’s doing fine, tinkering away, getting things to shine. No G, she’s considered divine. Thanks again for watching. We will see you next time. Thanks again for watching. We will see you next next time.