If anyone is thinking of a stereo upgrade, I thought I would share my experience. This was done last winter. It's been over a year since my last post and have just gotten around to signing up with an image host - so this is the first crack at links and images.

The car is an 82CE, and while I was torn about deviating form its originality, I did keep all the parts to restore to original. I bought a instrument cluster bezel in CE brown from Ecklers and cut the DIN opening so as to not cut the original bezel.

Deck is an Alpine 9835
Amp is an Audison SX3 65W/ch front speakers and 340W to the subs
Subs are 2 - JL Audio 8W3v2
Rear Spkrs are JL Audio TR690 (6x9) powered by the Alpine deck
Front Spkrs are JL Audio TR400 (4" round)

The rear storage space was reduced (no more golf clubs in the back) but the good part is both T-Tops in their vinyl covers lay angled over the face of the speaker box and believe it or not does not change the sound very much. The subs thump pretty stong and the fronts are loud and crisp. Here are some photos. Got carried away and replaced the storage/battery compartment cover with some oak.










Link to Gallery of 27 Photos

Hope someone can find this of help/interest if they are thinking of a stereo upgrade.

Gord

PS - I did this post in Netscape and found the link to the gallery did not work well with Netscape but was fine in Internet Explorer.

 

Looks Great and I love those CE's

 

Nice look

What did you use for the finish? I've been looking for a way to install my 10 sub and 2 6x9's that looks good, but was wary of wood because I thought it might split or fade.

 

VERY clean looking car. It looks new, the installs are not messy at all like mine are. Keep it up.

 

nice....


i have some jl stuff in my 77 with ppi amps..... check out my pics

http://photobucket.com/albums/b56/cryzko/

b

 

nice work! Looks awesome!

 

holy crap!

 

Thanks for the compliment. Used 3/4" MDF glued and screwed. Each speaker had its own cavity. Becasue the cavity volume for the subs was less than manufacutrers recommendations, used polifll (cushion stuffing) for absorption same as shown in the 6x9 opeinings in the picture. The carpeting was a 3'x5' area mat I picked up at Home Depot that matched the cars interior. It was cut to fit and contact cemented to the box. The front face is oak vaneer with a natural stain and polyurethaned. The back and bottom are unfinished and the speaker wires are terminated at lacks on the back of the box.

 

Looks nice except for the wood. JMO, but I would have used fiberglass and painted it silver to match.

Lestipheroni

 

1. That car looks like you bought it last month.

2. That set up looks top-notch.

3. Wont this take away from the collectability?

 

Looks Good

 

Jerry - its what many refer to as a 10 footer. If you stand back ten feet it looks great, but up close you can see the original paint is worn and the hood decaling is a mosaic. I have seen a few that have been restored to pristine condition, and while they look great I'm very content to try and keep it from deteriorating any further and enjoy it as is.

And yes the sound system mods will take away from collectability. Purists would'nt like it. As I mentioned, I was torn between originality versus desire. I love driving the car but for me part of the cruising fun is the sounds (which the original equipment comes up way short). I use the term original equipment a bit loosely because the front and rear speakers had been replaced with Pioneer and Sony's before I bought the car three years ago.

There was no cutting or drilling holes and eveything just fits firmly into place. All the original pieces are boxed up and I could restore the car "exactly" as it was in about 1-day. Hopefully 10-years from now I'll remember how, but I have no plan to part with it in the foreseeable future.

As far as the actual driving experience - the only thing different is the grin on my face listening to some good tunes instead of road noise.

 

What about the wood Bro?

 

I've seen plastic finished to look like wood but the cat is out of the bag now and can't claim that. Guess I'm just a "wood" kind of guy - some people like it and some don't. At least the fibreglass to wood ratio on the car is still pretty high. Perhaps one day I'll change it.

One other note: the battery/storage compartment frame and lids that were removed lay flush with the rear deck floor. To use the storage compartment as the host for the power amp required the power amp to be about 1/2" above the surface in order to fit. Plus it also needed to be vented to let any heat escape. The wood frame allowed for the necessary customization most readily for me.

 

Looks like excellent craftsmanship! I'm sure it sounds great.
Appearance wise, it beats the crap out my Kenwood self-powered sub rolling around in the back!

 

Nicely done.