86WS6

iTrader: (1)

Finally getting around to upgrading the sound system in my 82WS7. The car is all original with 24K actual miles on it. The only thing that was not original was the HU. When the stock HU malfunctioned, the first owner swapped out the HU with an aftermarket one, however the speakers remained OE. it worked, but did not sound good. The first owner provided me with the parts that were removed from the car including the HU.

Wanting to keep the car as stock as possible, last spring I re-installed the OEM HU and trim. The HU was dead, and an inspection revealed that it probably was not repairable.

A very lucky break, I scored a brand new GM HU still sealed in the factory packaging off of E-Bay. That unit was installed in the dash and brought the factory look back to the inside of the car. Unfortunately the system sounded pretty bad, much worse than I remembered that these things sounded.

I installed a hidden 12 disc Pioneer CD player in the locking compartment in the left rear corner of the car. This system plays through an FM modulator so it can be used with any FM radio. This is not state of the art, and will not compete with a high-end aftermarket system, but is acceptable for a car that gets driven a couple hundred miles each year, and mostly lives for the shows. It would get treated to a high-end aftermarket system if it was a daily driver.

Working 80 hours every week at two busy hospitals, things get done slowly around here. Yesterday I removed the original GM 6x9 speakers from the sail panels. The paper cones in those 32 year-old speakers had dry-rotted and fell apart. After installing a new pair of Pioneer three way speakers, the system finally sounds decent, about like I remembered that they did. Now my task is to find a suitable set of 4x6 speakers for the dash, because they are probably rotted just as badly as the rear ones were.

mantaguy

iTrader: (5)

Charles,the OE 4x6 Speakers are still available from your local GM Dealer.


You can get them from http://search.yahoo.com/r/_ylt=A0oG7...artscheap.com/ for half the price.
Sorry Charles,but your speakers are a different P/N than mine,here's yours.82-84 are different then 85-89.
SPEAKER
Make: Pontiac | New Part#: 15173233List Price: $60.46
Your Price: $36.28

86WS6

iTrader: (1)

Thanks, I bought 4x6 Pioneers three ways that match the 6x9's I just installed in the sail panels. They fit nicely and sound decent.

86WS6

iTrader: (1)

The Pioneer 4 x 6 three way speakers arrived from Sonic Electronix last week. I installed them in the dash with aftermarket speaker wire adapters. The fit is perfect, just unscrew the old ones, plug and play, two screws and two tabs, and the new ones were installed. Just that simple. The dash pad fits perfectly.

The rear 6x9 Pioneer three way speakers are a direct fit also. Speaker wire adapters, swap the mounting screws to Phillips head, and it is a done deal. The factory hex head screws don't fit well or work correctly with these speakers. Sail panels fit right back in place and the stock look is retained.

Sound is decent considering that a 1980's GM UQ6 radio is driving the whole thing. With speakers that are rated for 120 watts each and a radio that generates probably 7-10 watts, there is no distortion even at full volume. Of course it sounds exactly like what it is. A stock HU driving entry level aftermarket speakers. Still not a bad upgrade for this car.

ASE doc

I went with the Pioneer Premier 6x9 three ways in the sail panels and matching two way units in the front. The Pioneer Premier two way are not an oval cone 5x3" with mid range and tweeter mounted centrally but rather a 3" mid range with a dome tweeter mounted beside it it a flat rectangular panel. They are not designed to reproduce bass, which is good as the dash doesn't like much bass, but rather to reproduce mid and high range very well. They were a direct bolt in as were the 6x9s. One thing I did to ensure no popping in the dash from too much bass was place a 400mF(I think that's the correct rating, don't take it as gospel) capacitor in the line of each front speaker as instructed by an audio professional. This works very well to filter out low frequencies with no affect on sound quality.

Something I'm curious about. What if you could have an electronics whiz build modern HU electronics into the case of the shot OE unit you have. It could cost a little bit but wouldn't it be cool? You could even just use the face of the OE HU as a flip up cover hiding a nice Pioneer or Kenwood CD head unit with USB input so you could have great sound and retain factory appearance. I can see it working.

86WS6

iTrader: (1)

Adapting modern electronics to a Delco head unit would be an interesting project.

There are a couple of people on this site who will install an aux input in a Delco radio and you can play sound from a remote source through the stock system. There are plenty of aftermarket line output adapters that allow a stock HU to be connected to aftermarket amps that work well. Plenty of options.

Since this car is mostly lives for the car shows, is shown in the stock class, and does not get driven very much, I am satisfied with how it is now. I also have one of those FM modulators that plug into the cigarette lighter. It allows one to play an I-Pod, MP3, or any sound source with a 3.5 MM earphone jack, as well as music recorded on an SD card or memory stick. I use the unit with my smart phone to play Pandora Internet Radio. It works decently, and again since the car only gets driven about 100 miles a year, that's OK.

ASE doc

Great. I'm so happy to hear of someone loving, appreciating and preserving one of the neat old cars for it's inherent beauty.

86WS6

iTrader: (1)

Thanks. This is the car.

ASE doc

Oh boy! That was my first third gen. An 82 Trans Am. It was a gorgeous red fuel injected beauty. I bought it new in September of 82. I love my 87 IROC Z28 with all of the great refinements I've made to it and I'll love it and keep it for the rest of my life, but that 82 TA will always hold a special place in my heart. Beautiful car!

86WS6

iTrader: (1)

Thanks. You're right about the 82's not being very refined. This one is a carb car and it is one cold natured beast. I can tell a huge difference between this car and my 86 with the TPI. On the 86 everything just fits better and works better. The 82 is probably the low point for the Firebird, however it opened the doors for everything Firebird or Camaro that has followed since. The 82 is also one of the most beautiful Trans AM's ever built. So few have been saved, that when I stumbled onto this car, I knew I wanted it, and wanted to keep it as original as possible. Did you notice the OE tires are still on the car?

Imagine what the 82 would have been with a high performance engine/running gear like say a high performance 350 SB, or maybe even a 389 Pontiac engine, or a 455 SD, and a build quality that matches the current 5th gen cars. That pipe dream would have made the 82 a top tier f body.

When I found this car, I was trying to replace my 83. This car is similar looking, but there are some major differences, such as the transmission. The 82 has the Turbo 200 C, and the 83 had the first year of the 700R4. Just that refinement makes a huge difference in how the car drives.

This is the 83 I was trying to duplicate. This one is my favorite one of all. It was pretty, and just a real good car.

visitor

I hope you dust it off before going to shows! (Don't feel bad, mines much dirtier)

86WS6

iTrader: (1)

If you are talking about the dust visible in the shot of the speedometer, that was taken the day I bought the car. The car was very dusty when I got it. The odometer reads 24,400 miles now, and yes it has been detailed several times.

The pic from the rear hatch was taken at the F-Body Gathering show Memorial Weekend 2013. You can see that there is no dust in that pic.