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History / OriginalityGot a question about 1982-1992 Camaro or Firebird history? Have a question about original parts, options, RPO codes, when something was available, or how to document your car? Those questions, answers, and much more!
Finally found a guy to restore my 25yr.old UQ7 sound system,it feels good putting something so original to the car back where it belongs,
Hope it last 25 more years
Which system was the UQ7? I know my firebird came with the factory subwoofer and "gain" controls, but ages ago the car was broken into and the original dash stereo was stolen. My father then replaced that factory AM/FM/Cassette/Auto Seek radio with an aftermarket removable AM/FM cassette...which was later replaced with a removable faceplate design, and then an aftermarket removable sony cd player. None of those systems would power the factory subwoofer, which i was always disappointed in.
That's the one,when your dad changed the radio he probably didn't use the the original plug for the stock radio.If he did, it could be the gain switch itself.I did replace mine years ago.Had a real hard time looking for someone to do these speakers for me,tried Delco,to replace them,discontinued,GM discontinued, and all the radio repair shops said they couldn't find the right cones.Finally found a guy that had some really old stock cones.
Awesome man, good luck. There's no going back for me as of now...i recently stripped the interior back down to redo, but i did a 4th gen dash/console/door swap years ago...so unless i go scrounging around for lots of really old parts again, i have a feeling i'll never see a 3rd gen dash in this car ever again...i'm only kinda sad about that.
Great ! I would love to ear the sound of this system as it was originally !
I'm doing something similar, all but the amplifier and the harness were gone in my car. Even the speakers boxes...
So I've found the original UU6 radio, added an auxiliary input to it, and I will replace the speakers with newer ones, but finding brand new 5" subwoofers is VERY difficult.
Do you know the output of the amplifier ?
No I don't,but it does sound pretty good.I really didn't restore them for the sound witch was a great sound for that time,I did it because that's what belongs there,
I am the original owner and it was always kept with original GM parts,but the parts are very hard to find now,so the only option is to restore what you have,if possible.
In case anyone is looking for a replacement 5" woofer, the Dayton Audio RS125-8 may be a good option. I measured the resistance of my factory sub (7.7Ω) and the Dayton speaker states that it measures 5.86Ω. This may be a close enough match to let the factory amp work with this speaker. Since I am using an aftermarket amp, I bought the 4Ω version of these speakers, but I have not installed them yet. I plan to add a 2 way crossover and have the 5" woofer play from 125 Hz to 500Hz and then a 4"x6" play anything higher than 500Hz.
The factory setup (as seen in my '84 Firebird service manual) has two 10Ω 5" woofers connected in parallel to the amplifier in the dash. The amplifier has a low-pass cutoff of 500 Hz. The factory woofer frame is 5" at the widest parts near the mounting holes and about 4.625" between the mounting holes. It has a cutout diameter of 4". The cone is 3.25" with 0.5" of foam all around. It has a mounting depth of about 2.25". I have no way of measuring the T/S parameters which are needed to find an optimum replacement.
Last edited by Jaime-TA-84; 07-05-2011 at 09:10 PM.
The Subwoofer can be hooked up with an aftermarket radio, but you might need to hook up a relay. I did it with my wifes car.
I did it last summer so its a bit foggy... IIRC The subwoofer amp is controlled similarly to how the power antenna is switched. There is a powered wire that comes out of many radios that you can hook into the factory harness to control the power antenna, if you use this wire to switch on the amp it should work. In the case of my wifes 87 I had to use a relay because the power out of the radio was not enough to actually allow the amp to stay on it would act erratically, so I used switched power that comes into the radio thru the relay to power the amp... I want to think that the sound is from the rear speakers... It was not bad to do once I figured it out, so it is not impossible...
Quote:" had to use a relay because the power out of the radio was not enough to actually allow the amp to stay on it would act erratically, so I used switched power that comes into the radio thru the relay to power the amp".
I know its been six years after you've done the job, but could I bother you to give a image of your wiring? my gta has the uq7 setup but the aftermarket deck doesnt trigger the amp.
Last edited by austin_1138; 08-07-2016 at 10:37 PM.
Reason: bad penmenship
I actually didn't remember doing this until I read this. More or less. on the back of the radio, connect a relay to the switched power from the radio, and then use a power connection from the car to run the amp. Typical Relay setup.
All you need is the 4 wires
1- goes to ground
1 - comes out of the radio to control the relay
1 - power from battery, I think I probably used power from the cigarette lighter or something similar
1 - power TO the amp.
If anyone sees this, as of 1/25/18 Someone on eBay is selling 4x4 10 ohm speakers that are the correct subs for the UQ7. Just bought 2 they have 6 left. $16 each.
What is the correct part number? I've been looking everywhere. My speakers were shot and not rebuildable. Bought some 4 ohm mids from parts direct, and they didn't work, impedance was too low.
From 85-88 The P/N was 16040892,84 had a different no.Those are all discontinued.I had mine rebuilt at a shop in Pennsauken,not too far from you.Their is a member here t/aws61985 he has a nice thread on rebuilding them.I have a spare set that needs rebuilding.
I had a friend with one of these systems new, and he said the factory system actually sounded really good in the day, then someone stole the car, took the radio and the speakers, and even as replacement parts were used from GM, as it was around 1988, it never sounded the same.
02-10-2011, 07:43 PM
