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I am working on the stereo in my '87 IROC. When I bought it the previous owner(s) had a complete hackjob of a stereo in it. Everything spliced everywhere: one channel of the amp hooked to all four speakers, everything routed to the fusebox rather than the battery.

When I bought it I just pulled everything out and left it, but now I've decided to go back and make it right.

For the amp I'm looking at the Elevation 300x4 that seems to be pretty popular on here. I also have a Panasonic deck that I've been using in my other car that I was hoping I could just swap over.

Right now the only thing left in the car is the old speakers: MA Audio Y2K's, 6x9 in the sail panels, and 4x6 in the dash. These need to go, but what should I look for to replace them with? The 6x9's would be providing all the bass, since I'm not planning on running a sub. The trunk is already pretty much full with tools, spare parts, and t-tops.

I know the front 4x6's are crap, but I doubt I have room for kick panels in the car. I've seen the panels that Chris has in his '84 Camaro and I know my foot wouldn't be able to fit between them and the clutch. Should I start looking at cutting into my doors, or is there a better option here?

Thanks, sorry about the long post...

Hey man, welcome over. I know you from Cascade Crew, you came over to get parts from me a couple of weeks ago.

I don't know what you look like behind the dash, you said it was hacked. For my red Camaro you saw, I have a late model GM Theft-Lock CD player which I had to acquire a 20 pin harness for, I happened to find one at Airport Wrecking in Bremerton, then spliced that into the car. If I want to go aftermarket now, all I have to do is buy the adapter for the head unit. If you want to make the wiring as close to original prior to installing a new head unit, this is the best way to go.

For the front, since you don't want to use kicks, the doors are the second best option, but from most of the guys here, you might have to play with tweeter locations to find the best placement. I have similar kicks to Chris' in my purple Camaro and am familiar with the loss of the "dead" pedal.

I forget how deep the sail panels are, but you can fit a significant sized speaker there. If you remove the plates the 6X9's are mounted on, there is a large area you can mount a board to, and if I am correct, you might even be able to fit a 10" driver in there (use the infinite baffle type) for a good amount of bass.

Al

I think headphones would be your best option. lol j/k


I'd see if you could somehow modify the dash where the 4x6's would be to fit something larger. (maybe take up some fiberglassing?) If not, then the doors may be your only option.

You sound good to go for everything else. I would jump on the Elevation deal right now. That is an unbeatable price (in that one thread). You could also consider replacing the 6x9's with something that is subwoofer-like (midbass) like Purple RS said.

Well I know you've got enough room in there to replace the 6x9"s with 8"... We did that on one a couple years ago for a guy that was in the same situation... He didn't want to lose what lil storage he had in the rear well either to a sub.

Look into some slim mount 8's or even the Tang Band 10's and make a very small sealed box for them :)

Ryan from Ohio wrote:Look into some slim mount 8's or even the Tang Band 10's and make a very small sealed box for them :)

Those look nice, I might even try something like that for my red RS when the time comes :happy055:

Cool Al, I didn't know you posted here too.

When I say hacked, I mean hacked. The speaker wires had been cut, and they had used splice in connectors (the type you use to splice off a preexisting line) like they were butt connectors to run the wires back to the amp. Then, for some reason the speaker leads were twisted onto another four feet of speaker wire which was thrown into the spare tire hold, and then run to the amp.


Not to much fun to find.

There's not much room in the dash, and the doors arent much better since I'm running power windows. Would it be a viable option to run plates instead of normal 4x6's in the dash? Or would that even make a difference?

As for the speakers, any ideas on brand? I'm not made of money, but I'm saving quite a bit not installing subs.

I would go around town and listen to different ones on the same amount of power as the amp you'd be getting. Do you want SQ or SPL? If you want a mix, then that would be more of your ears finding what they like.

Definetly quality. The exhaust on that car is loud enough.

BTW, cargodz, did you have to trim much to fit the 8 inchers in place of the 6x9's?

aaron_sk wrote:Definetly quality. The exhaust on that car is loud enough.

BTW, cargodz, did you have to trim much to fit the 8 inchers in place of the 6x9's?

You'll have to trim the plastic panel some, and then make a plate out of MDF or something, to mount the 8 too, and also plug up the 6x9 hole. You'll have to be careful not to make something so thick that it pushes on your speaker cover thingy.

I used to have 6.5's in the back of mine, and did something similar, but now I have removed the rear speakers all together.