Re: [DML] speakers

[Jeremiah Montee <angelito03299@xxxxxxxxx>]

I'm going to go ahead and add my own two cents on this
one, as tomorrow will be exactly two weeks since I did
this.  I replaced all my Craig factory speakers and my
1986 KFC-2004 Kenwood cassette player with 3.5"
Blaupunkts in the dash and 4" Audiobahns in the side
panels with a Pioneer DEH-P4700MP  CD/MP3 player.  My
thing about doing something like this is I like things
to look factory, and I like to keep my car from being
a potential theft target as we all know how many times
our windshields/door windows get peered into.

The 3.5" Blaupunkts fit right in.  Someone here
already mentioned a couple "irritations" with this
installation.  Get one of those adjustable flashlights
that can be tilted to any position - I believe they
call them "snake" lights.  Or get a flashlight that
mounts with a strap around your head.  You'll thank
me.  At one point, I was getting my ratchet wrench
ready, and the 3.5" speaker itself fell out of ths
speaker mount and hit me right in the jaw; it hurt
like all get out.  For putting the 7mm mounting nuts
back in, you'll want to get some box tape (easily
tearable kind of tape), and put just a small piece on
a corner of the ratchet bit used.  The idea is to keep
the speaker magnet from yanking the nut right out of
the bit, and it will believe me.  Also, stuff the bit
with tape to the point that the nut sits "flush" in
the ratchet; you'll want the nut to be as flush as
possible with the bit - trust me.  The original dash
does NOT give you much room to work with, so any
advantage is worth taking.  Make sure you get
flush/flat speakers.  If you tighten your speakers up
too much and they have a tweeter that protrudes even
just a tiny bit, they can warp the speaker cutouts on
the dash and even - in a worst case scenario - cause
cracking to around the speaker holes.  NOT good.

For the sidewalls, I was lucky and someone had already
"royally screwed" my vinyl sidings up.  The Craig
4x10's were still in there, wtf did they cut the
sidewalls for..?  Sigh.  Anyhoo, The speaker
replacement itself is easy, but the sidepanels can be
tricky to get back on.  If you gently pull and it
doesn't come off - STOP.  Look around for hidden
bolts, do not force things to come off if they seem
bolted down still - they probably are.  I have heard
you can go up to even 5.25" round speakers in the
sidewalls, but I have not tried this.  For tweeters,
you could mount them directly next to the sidewall
speakers inside the sidewall panel.  I know of a
friend in town that has done this, and I was very
impressed with the installation.  He had to fabricate
his own mount, but it was well done.

UPGRADE the radio.  Don't do all this and use the
Craig; you're just tantalizing yourself.  Get
something nice and modern - like a MP3/CD player.  I
remember the difference between a CD and a CD/MP3
player was like $20 and I almost didn't pay it.  Two
weeks now, I'd have payed $50-$100 more if I had to. 
My Pioneer CD/MP3 player is probably the single best
purchase I've made to enjoy the drive more.  When DCS
2006 comes up, all I'll need is at most - 2 CDs of
mp3s.  So wonderful.

I re-wired everything.  I don't know about some of
you, but I wasn't trusting 25 year old wires to get
the job done.  I wanted fresh wiring that is probably
better built, more heat resistant, and carries the
current better.  I just yanked all the old wiring out,
and rerouted all my new wiring through the appropriate
areas underneath the "wooden planks" behind both the
driver and passenger, and then routed it down the
middle of the center console.  Give yourself plenty of
slack, do NOT make the wiring tight before
everything's back together.  A foot or two is well
worth saving yourself the hassle of having to do the
whole job over.  Now that I think about it, test to
make sure all 4 speakers work before you put
everything back together on them too.  you'll thank me
(again) =P.

Lastly, here are a couple links for all this stuff:

On Luke's DeLorean page, Luke's job is here:
http://tinyurl.com/qy995

On his page as well is Travis Graham's procedure is
here:http://tinyurl.com/pme3z

And then my own job is on these two links - first is
all the equipment I used including speaker model #'s
and my Pioneer CD/MP3 player model number all here:
http://tinyurl.com/pq2fe

And then the pictures of my installation from
beginning to end are here:
http://tinyurl.com/o8xe4

PLEASE NOTE, at the time of this writeup - Photobucket
is being weird.  The pictures normally do load, maybe
they're updating their website or something. 
Hopefully, the pictures will be again viewable soon. 
Take a look at the topics anyways, I did type out all
the model numbers for the speakers and headunit.  You
can always Google those...

For excellent pricing on any of these components or
any others, I highly recommend
http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/ .  I haven't even done
any business with them yet, but they have alot of
options, plenty of pictures, and user reviews.  Their
prices are very reasonable - my headunit there is $149
with free shipping, and it is worth every penny.  My
headunit at BestBuy/CircuitCity is easily $180+, and
its LAST year's model.

Oh, for my pages, you'll have to become a member of
the forum to access them.  If I remember correctly,
there isn't even a "confirmation" email, so just take
5 minutes, throw in some info, and check out the
pages.  If you're truly interested and want to learn,
5 minutes is a easy price to pay.


Ok, no more witing tonight, my novel is written =P.

Jeremiah

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