Car Audio, DIY to a low cost dang fine system the relatively easy way! (other car stuff is welcome as well)

Sorry to keep you waiting, which I have to do a bit longer but basically for now, home audio drivers are the way to go, what I used mostly when deep into this and the only ones I use now. I have used them in car audio since at least the early 1980's.

Since you should be able to figure out what the originals were if using the stock amp then find ones that match them in size and electrical parameters. It has es been a very long time since I needed to pick any so my list would be a bit old most likely. That is where the members on DIYMA can really help you out better than I can right now.

If you can find an amp to fit you would likely be much better off as well, some really decent amps out there that are quite small.

To keep things more simple go with a pair of components up front and coax for rear doors, most likely.....

----------------

I was working on this last night and hit something and thought I lost it, was tired so went to bed, the above is where I left off, it showed up again.
I will post any changes I might of wanted to do before posting it though.

Seems I was doing OK, at least to me it that is🙂
---------------

HU, Pioneer makes so really nice ones that are reasonable in price and have great tuning ability and even decent power ratings so you might be able to get by without getting an amp. (many car audio systems have the processor built into the stock amp so you could try that, it might not be to bad a unit but you have to use the stock HU to contol them unless the right interface is made that works on your system). Easier to just get a good head unit and ditch the stock amp.

Amp, a tiny 4 plus a tiny sub amp or a 5 or 6 channel little amp that fits. Of course you can put the sub amp under a seat etc.....

Speakers...Tweeters or wideband in the dash, 5.6 midbass in the doors, seal up withe the second front door speaker is, you do not need a 3 way front.

Coax in rear doors.

Sub, strip out the old drivers and measure using water or permeculite, etc, and see how much volume the enclosure has, add a couple or more layers of good damping mat on the outside or even fiberglass it to make stiffen up. Find a pair of subs to replace the stock drivers, you might be getting some decent bass, enough for normal listening at least, not spend much, not take up any space.

Tune, flat response is not what we want in a car, especially at low listening levels, is is just to lifeless. I generally tune for a bit of rise at both ends of the spectrum, sorter an steeper rise on the sub, dropping down at a gentle curve up the range then a gradual climb up to 20khz. Once that is done tweak to your liking and or use build in EQ settings for different music or listening levels.

Wiring, likely have to so some and do look into interface devices needed to tie in anything you want to work with the vehicle.

Done right you can have a very nice system for not a lot of money.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Brijac
"Fun" car stuff, not much time for audio when putting in more raised bed gardens, remodeling, building a sweet little customized SFF computer and fixing a broken Fiesta ST. Just finished with a valve job and got the head back on, cams in, in the AM will be checking valve lash, pulling cams, installing the right spec tappets, cams back in, aligning them with TDC of the crank after installing the variable timing actuators, then reinstalling the very custom turbo system...These modern engines are one heck of a lot more work than good old push rods and a great deal more likely to make a mistake working on them.

That and dealing with health issues I am taking care of and will heal using food, herbs, super clean diet, etc....I have far to much fun in life to let some one pump me full of useless, more complications causing meds. (only around 5% of prescriptions help cure anything the rest only treat symptoms and cause more troubles)

There are amazing aspects of modern medicine and I gladly use them as needed, I just do not let big pharma dictate what kind of life I lead.

Just in the last month or so I have reduced my blood pressure to a great level, eliminated heart issues on both ends of the spectrum and now healing my kidneys. Instead of what I call the hypocritic oath I do what it is supposed to be based on, "let food be thy medicine". Not an easy path when most of what is sold as food in this country is not, in fact, food. Though my diet has been far better than most is has not been good enough, we are all massively complex biochemical beings and none of us are the same, I happen to have limits to how much I can mistreat my body as well as survival to me is just not really living. I have to learn and work around what I have to of become after 72 years of Epigentics effecting what I am in body and mind, right now.

And I am having a great time of it🙂

Rick
 
Last edited:
I never had a sound setup that I could hear in any of my early cars. You might at idle, but after that…

‘71 Alfa Berlina
‘75 Opel Manta
‘63 Austin Mini
‘75 Porsche 914
‘74 Opel Ascona
‘77 Lancia Scorpion (2)
‘68 Cortina GT
‘81 Fiat 124 Spider
‘73 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe

Finally picked up a ‘87 Fiero in a trade, and could hear a reasonable stereo. After that, the cars tended to be somewhat quieter.

I miss those cars.
 
Last edited:
I love hobbies, had so many not sure I can remember them all. Bicycles, have raced a bit, built up a few, last one was a full suspension cross country mountain bike that was 20% lighter than any other known bike in the world, much fun🙂 At the moment I am deep into totally remodeling our RV, organic gardening, PCs, just did the compression check on the rebuild head job on the 400+ HP Fiesta ST full built car and modding things that go pop really loudly. I need to get more remodeling done so I can start building speakers, etc, for the audio and video systems in the RV. I might even do a higher end but budget friendly car audio install again someday, I have done very far all out and many dang fine lower cost systems.

Rick
 
I was a pretty serious road biker in grad school - logged 15k miles/year. Rode up and down Grizzly Peak everyday - there are no flats to ride in Berkeley. Only hills. I still have my aluminum Vitus road bike with Mavic GL330 rims with race sewups and DuraAce/Campy setup. 18.0 lbs bike. It was built for hills. About a 1300 ft climb with an average grade of 7% and parts as steep as 22%.

Hobbies:

Surfing, road biking, mountain biking, back country telemark skiing, backpacking, rock climbing, stream fly fishing, and inland salt water fly fishing. Now it’s mostly audio, photography, running, swimming, indoor rock climbing, and now dabbling in chess (mostly hobbies I do with the kids). I am sure I am missing something.
 
Last edited:
Very cool, I loved climbing the best, lived at 2,500 ft, highest ride was 5,700 ft, all rolling hills and very few flats where I lived and I did not like them at all.

25 years ago my race bike was 20.4 lbs, broke my foot, put on some lighter tires, 19.4 lbs, tubed tires, lots of titanium, carbon spokes, etc and I could of taken another lb off but did not trust the parts to hold up to my legs, upper body was OK, legs, big and super strong though I only weighed 150 or so.

When I built that bike I lived in San Diego but went on high elevation rides in Utah, skiing as well at 10,000 ft, not a problem.

15k a year is serious riding indeed! I was limited by winters, etc but during good weather usually 450 miles a week though I wanted to do more.

I did not race often, I did not like most of the pretentious other racers, most had lots of money, fancy gear, not that fast, this was in the 70's.
 
I should of gone into Chess then, I might have money put away....instead of always broke even when I made a ton of money.....which never bothered me, it was just a means to and end, having fun, too much at times, might be part of why I was divorced twice....At least my wonderful lady of 15 years has seldom said a word about spending money on hobbies. I do on hers as well but that is a great deal less than mine cost and she likes cars, trucks, remodeling, guns, absolutely loves music and a great audio system....and to cook and dang good at it🙂

Like me she is not right or left wing, both of us are in the middle, what makes the most sense is what we should do in all things. We have always recycled, I have always made my cars run very clean, even my hot rod Fiesta ST, build with same power to weight ratio as a turbo Porsche 10 years ago, has an expensive race grade cat, recirc BOV and wastegate. It sounds really good for a 1.6L 4 banger, not loud though a 3" DIY very clean flowing exhaust...
 
IT RUNS!!! Just fired up my highly modded Fiesta ST for the first time in many years. As soon as the mail arrives I will get the fresh Castrol SRF brake fluid (the very best fluid) and Motul gear 300 so it will have all fresh fluids. Since I just did a valve job on it they are all cleaned up, get dirty being direct injected. Waiting to hear back from the tuner as to whether this same spec engine will need a retune or OK as it is. Also want to get a tune without water methanol injection so I do not have to use it all the time. I still am likely to sell the car but want to ensure it is 100% ready to go first.

I also pumped out all the old gas, added new fuel and then pumped more to ensure all flushed and new gas ready to fire it up before I started it.

It used to make around 425 WHP but swapped to a bit smaller turbo to help with a lag issue then sudden 400 ft lbs, not that fun in a 2600 lb FWD, huge grip, massive torque steer. 350 WHP is a nice number, much easier to drive in the twisties so actually faster.

Rick
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: xrk971
Thanks🙂

You can buy it for a reasonable price if you wish😉

I built it to fit into a 14 ft garage in a toyhauler, track days, TT events, not to any class just whatever I had to run it in. It turned out far quicker on track than expected. I would not mind a detuned version, S280 turbo which uses stock manifold(I ported one for the first setup, worth doing though a lot of work) and stock exhaust easy 300WHP with a much smaller intercooler that mine has. Stock eDiff instead of Quaife like I went with, 4 piston front brakes instead of DIY 6 front, 4 rear. 15x8 wheels under stock fenders instead of 15x9 rolled and pulled plus cut and weld camber change to rear axle. short shifter kit instead of 4 area very short and precise DIY setup, Stock suspension bushings instead of urethane, No water meth injection, etc......I do not even have a stock crash bar or core support. With those simpler and far less costly mods the car is still dang quick and fun to drive.

Mine is to much effort to make it simpler, many parts are one off, modded chassis a bit here and there...

I will likely sell it and buy something less time consuming to maintain, this is not that bad but the more complex builds just take more time and money to keep them setup well.

I did have a blast putting it together then seeing what I had done, very please with the results

I drove it around a few blocks today, running great but a small water leak, custom aluminum overflow tank level window tube leaking, just have to buy new fittings, only leak I have found so not to bad for being apart for years.


🙂

RIck