Road Trip !!
It's time for an update on this saga. Since last summer I have driven the car a fair bit, with the only issue having lost the driveshaft on the way home from a car show one day. Oopsie! I guess the 50 year old U-joints can only be ignored for so long before they blow up. That was an easy fix and the car has been out for a bunch of around-town shake down time. No concerns so far.
The next project was the stereo. Or rather, the lack thereof. The car had a very nice AM radio that worked just fine and the speaker was good too. If it wasn't for the fact that AM radio programming is awful, I might have left it alone. However, that was not to be.
The radio is an oddball with both knobs to the left of the faceplate. I found a really slick repro radio that was a full modern unit but looked EXACTLY like the factory AM/FM unit. It was nice but I wound up returning it as it lacked some critical sound shaping capabilities. I then found another one that fit the bill, and also fit the dash.
Out with the old............
In with the new!
Next up was laying all the wiring to the back speakers and the sub.
The front speaker was a 4x10. I have used the dual-voice coil version before and they sound is pretty good. I wanted better for this car, so it was a pair of 3-1/2" Infinities in an adapter plate instead.
I'm still debating on the subwoofer. It's a Rockford 8" ported unit lying in the back foot well. Surprisingly for such a small driver, it puts out decent bass. More test driving will see if it is sufficient at cruising speed with the windows open. If not, there are bigger badder options out there. The wiring needs cleaned up when I get done fiddling with this.
The rears are a pair of Focal 6x9's in some boxes from Amazon. It's not ideal but it's good enough - I'm not cutting holes in this car. For sure, they would sound better in the package shelf of a sedan but they are quite good as is.
Overall I'm pretty happy with the upgrade. I have AM, FM, CD, BlueTooth, two AUX inputs, lots of power and best of all with the exception of the rear speakers it's pretty low key.
Next up is getting the 4-barrel conversion underway.
It's time for an update on this saga. Since last summer I have driven the car a fair bit, with the only issue having lost the driveshaft on the way home from a car show one day. Oopsie! I guess the 50 year old U-joints can only be ignored for so long before they blow up. That was an easy fix and the car has been out for a bunch of around-town shake down time. No concerns so far.
The next project was the stereo. Or rather, the lack thereof. The car had a very nice AM radio that worked just fine and the speaker was good too. If it wasn't for the fact that AM radio programming is awful, I might have left it alone. However, that was not to be.
The radio is an oddball with both knobs to the left of the faceplate. I found a really slick repro radio that was a full modern unit but looked EXACTLY like the factory AM/FM unit. It was nice but I wound up returning it as it lacked some critical sound shaping capabilities. I then found another one that fit the bill, and also fit the dash.
Out with the old............
In with the new!
Next up was laying all the wiring to the back speakers and the sub.
The front speaker was a 4x10. I have used the dual-voice coil version before and they sound is pretty good. I wanted better for this car, so it was a pair of 3-1/2" Infinities in an adapter plate instead.
I'm still debating on the subwoofer. It's a Rockford 8" ported unit lying in the back foot well. Surprisingly for such a small driver, it puts out decent bass. More test driving will see if it is sufficient at cruising speed with the windows open. If not, there are bigger badder options out there. The wiring needs cleaned up when I get done fiddling with this.
The rears are a pair of Focal 6x9's in some boxes from Amazon. It's not ideal but it's good enough - I'm not cutting holes in this car. For sure, they would sound better in the package shelf of a sedan but they are quite good as is.
Overall I'm pretty happy with the upgrade. I have AM, FM, CD, BlueTooth, two AUX inputs, lots of power and best of all with the exception of the rear speakers it's pretty low key.
Next up is getting the 4-barrel conversion underway.
