I love digging into old cars. Even the bubba-fied wiring and troubleshooting it to make everything work again. Closest I will ever get to archaeology. Given the age of these cars and the propensity they had for younger owners to modify, I was shocked when I pulled off the sail panel this evening to find an original, 6x9 speaker. Had been curious to the ohm-rating, which was why I decided to pull it out and check.

Even better, the sail panel is in perfect shape, with the foam grill in place and no water stains or tears in the particle board (?) backing. The ones I pulled off my parts car look like they have been in a battle. Torn, stained, you name it.



The sail covers on my 85. Can't believe the condition!


I am running a Grand Prix headunit to keep the radio looking somewhat factory, but thinking I will end up replacing the factory speakers with better aftermarket ones to improve the sound. Since I'm hobbled by the factory headunit, won't be expecting anything near perfection, but hopefully something a bit better.

Just a fun way to wrap up the day!

 

Wow. I haven't seen a factory speaker in that condition, since these cars were new. I was a car stereo and alarm installer in the 80's and early 90's.
DR.K.

 

lol - I had a pair of infinity 6x9's that I had bought for a different car back in the day. they were in speaker boxes. they were stored for 25 years, along with my Formula. The infinities were toast 25 years later, the AC Delco's still in perfect shape.

Its cool yours have the Pontiac on them. Mine didn't, but its a 90. guess they removed them to save some $$

 

I was honestly pretty jazzed to see them in such good shape. I might try some 6x9s that came out of the parts car to see if a bit better sound, but these originals will be going into a box for keepsakes.

 

Journaled my experience with this over here so you can see what you're up against in the front: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/elec...-speakers.html

Back in the day I thought it was pretty good for a factory system, and I knew what a good sounding system should sound like. Obviously it wasn't as good as aftermarket, but..... I gotta say, today, my almost factory system sounds pretty bad, even with new speakers. The head unit was refurbished with new caps. Probably didn't need to spend as much as I did on rear speakers. You can still get 10 ohms for the fronts, there is a whole thread on this. https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/car-...-speakers.html

 

My adapters for the GM speaker wiring arrived today, so I was pretty excited to try out the old aftermarket speakers I had on hand and test them against the factory originals. Didn't notice it the first time I pulled the speaker, but there appear to be factory baffles in place behind the 6x9 opening - and in great shape!

Factory baffle. Pretty much fills the cavity above and below, has a hole for porting (I'm guessing) on the rearward side.

Test fit the Polk Audio speakers, and wasn't surprised to find that it does not sit flush with the mounting flange, is making contact with the baffle. Decided since everything is working just fine, I'll keep the OEM speakers until I find a lower profile setup. The speakers I was going to install are Polk db6830 - not sure when they were released to the marketplace. Doing a google search found a post from 2003 on a car audio forum with someone referencing buying new. Certainly not worth tearing anything apart for!

 

I dropped these in. In my opinion, too pricey for a factory head unit tho, lower cost speaker would probably sound just as good. but they fit and still make them. if you search around here, you'll find some other options.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/elec...ml#post6329697

 

I bet those are great! As you said, overkill on my factory deck. Nice write-up on the choices you made for your system!