I got a ways into this before I realized that I wanted to document the process. And now that I did, I might as well share it with the rest of the world. This is mostly concerned with installing a good stereo, and great sounding speakers that can handle it. 6 or 8" up front and I think the rear were 8x11"

I cant stress enough how helpful a GOOD set of wire strippers were. I couldnt beleive I paid like $20 for wire strippers, but after this they were welllll worth it!

A multimeter also makes life so much easier!

Be sure to have a diagram for the car AND unit.

It would be a good idea to read this all the way through FIRST before attempting anything.

So that being said, here is the victim:


This is how far I got before realizing I wanted to start taking pics. Removing all this is really straight forward enough.


Ok so with no speakers and the center console out, I realized that the speakers I bought were way too big to be using the stock locations. Thats alright, time to improvise. I bought some hard packed styrofoam to fill the gaps.

NOTE: I tried this before with your standard white styrofoam. Some advise: dont. Not only does it break off everywhere, but being that is much less dense than this type kind of hurts the sound quality.

I dont know about you, but I didnt want anyone sitting in my car seeing anything pink. The solution? Dynomat! First of all its not pink, and helps pack the foam even more.


I measured and cut leaving a uniform border aound each speaker.


Check fitting. I noticed using a really loooong razor blade works best for cutting out the speaker holes


So after its all cut right, I then wrapped them in dynomat. This looked tacky. What to do? My first thought was wrap the edges with electrica tape. Behold.


And here is all of them


I forget about this pic, I think that metal box was useless though, perhaps thats for the old balancer? OH! I had trouble finding the rear speaker wires from the front of the car, not sure if they were there.


Time to connect the speakers to the car.
Now this is an excellent idea if your wiring diagram is off like mine was. Using my discman, I plugged in a male-on-both-end-cord. A section of speaker wire, one on the base and one on the tip of the extension. And then touching those to each pair of wires, lets you figure out which speaker is which rather quickly!


After the speaker wiring was sorted out, I now needed a constant 12v to the memory wire of the unit. After looking at my diagram, the power mirror line seemed like prime cannidate! I just spliced into it.
NOTE: Be sure to insulate it VERY well if you intend to splice power from it like me, there is a LOT of ground in the area where it could touch if not careful.



Ok so the front left speaker was a very tight fit, but the fuse block has enough give, it works. Oh, I had to break off the hood release mount, later it will rest on some wires very much out of the way.


Next is figuring out all the non speaker wires for the unit. The multimeter helped immensely finding an ACC source.

 

I knew it would fit somehow (A lot of prying!) and with the speakers in place, I used some 2.5" - 3" screws through the speaker mounting brakets until they tapped themselves through the body. Do this on all speakers. A cordless drill is worth its weight in gold for this.
NOTE: APPLY VERY FIRM AND EVEN PRESSURE. IF THE DRILL SLIPS IT COULD GO THROUGH THE SPEAKER!


Also, some of the wires that are wayyy too short for comfort, I used speaker wire to extend them. Here Im wiring everything up. I forget if I had to trim the console itself or not to fit the unit...


Viola!


Can you beleive I didnt take pics of the rear speakers mounted? If I find some Ill post them later. However, I was going to trim velvet cloth around them, because it could be quite challenging to have the old speaker panels work in cunjunction..

Enjoy and good luck!

 

Ut oh.

 

nice work...lots of love right there!

 

Very nice work.

Were did you get those clear signal and side marker lights? I like the way they look. Thanks.

 

Atkin's Rotary

 

+1 on that

 

Nice job but some questions/comments...
Seems like those speakers are kind of damped with your mounting method - no air box? And if the speaker is mounted really tight to that dynamat - no way for air to get in... Like trying to squeeze a soda bottle with the top on versus off. The cone will be fighting to move...

Scott

 

how do you mount the radio in the dash? mine has stuff in the way

 

i agree with scott, you need more air man, other than that it looks nice

 

Thanks! So it would seem like not enough airflow, but I cut the holes so only the speaker brakets (built into the speaker) were the only thing in contact with foam. Sorry, I didnt think to take a pic of the under side. When I installed them to the car, I tried to cover the existing speaker holes through the body as much as possible. Sounds great considering no amp or boxes.

Let me see if I have any video...

Ill have to upload some..

And for mounting the radio in the dash, I just trimmed the console to a very tight fit, it went right in for me. What kind of stuff is in the way?

 

like what actually holds the radio in the dash?

 

Those would have to be the strangest speaker pods I've ever seen.

 

Actually I dont think I had anything holding it other than being press fit through the console. I remember it was a hair smller than the sleeve that goes over the unit. I had to squeeze that a little to fit it through. It then releases itself once its through and held very tightly. I then just slid the unit in the sleeve. Good as gold


So I found a sample of the sound. Not a high quality vid camera by any means more of a photo camera. Canon ps/2 . Here I was going about 130 through the Nevada desert, and realized Id want to see it again later lol. Considering hearing anything above the road noise at that speed, without an amp, is good in my book

Some Megadeth
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...deoid=44222569

 

you have got to be kidding me...

 

^^ I agree, not sure what the others are looking at.

With a little trimming you can fit 5 1/4's in the front and 6x9's in the rear.

 

Are you at least going to cover the pods in carpet? Not electrical tape and dynamat?

 

So what happens when you want to use your dead pedal or just put your left foot out of the way or brace against the area where the front left speaker is? Seems like you'll likely end up putting your foot thru it. Same with the front right.

That speaker looks a bit warped as its fastend in there, does that affect the sound much?

BTW the bare dynamat and electrical tape looks tacky at best. You should cover it or better yet, just modify the stock mounting holes and modify the kick panel accomodate the larger speakers. That way they'll be mostly out of the way.

Also it sounds like your radio is held in by friction alone. Thats not a good idea as it could come flying out accelerating or going up hill or being hit in the rear. You should somehow tether it to the frame of the console to be safe. Also it could move around and short soemthing big time and maybe start a fire under the dash.

 

It is also way too easy to run all new speaker wire. Even if you aren't running an amp it would sound better with new wire. I would also try and find a better constant power source or just run a small gauge wire directly to the battery. It also may be worth it to learn to solder the wires unless taping them is just temporary.

 

When I installed my clarion head unit I had to do a little bit of trimming on the heater control mount to clear the top corners of the deck.

BTW, 130 mph and running the camera? You either have ***** of steel or nothing to live for.