[Mat Klemp]

Several years ago I purchased the rear speaker enclosures for the convertible. I cannot figure out how they are installed. The instructions were a poor sketch from what looks like the assembly manual. Does anyone have any pictures of the installation, or better instructions?


Thanks.
Mat

[jrager]

Hopefully someone will chime in with a picture and more help but here are my two cents.

The speakers mount on the back of the rear seat metal backing, facing the trunk/rear bumper. There should be factory holes in the rear seat to mount the speaker bolts.
I the convertible well liner would then be cut so the speaker grill would be exposed in the well.

From what I have heard the sound will only be useful when the top is up.

I only had one factory rear speaker in my convertible and pulled it for aftermarket speakers and a better (not stock) mounting location.

[Mark C]

To do this job you need two cardboard speaker mounting boxes, 8 special bolts for mounting the boxes, two cheap 6 by 9 10 ohm(if your using a Delco radio)speakers, a pair of speaker covers, and the wiring. Tools are a drill, adjustible wrench, phillips head screw driver, chalk and a razor knife.

Do not try to install anything but generic OEM style 6 X 9 speakers in the stock cardboard frames. They won't fit, take my word for it.

The rear speakers in a convertible sit in cardboard frames mounted to the back of the rear seat support. The support that is closest to the trunk, not the one the seat actally attaches to. The cardboard frames are held to the support with four sheetmetal screws. Look real close at the back side of your seat support you will find four dimples in the support arranged in a square pattern about 10" apart horizontally 7" vertically . On the drivers side there are some additional dimples that I think are for the rear defroster mounting brackets. The speaker is held into the cardboard frames by these special hex head hollow bolts. The outside of the bolt has about 1/4" of machine threads, and there is a hole drilled thru the head that has female threads inside it. The hollow bolts thread into holes in the metal part of the speaker frame. The speaker frame is below the cardboard frame and the large hex on the special bolts is on the top side of the cardboard speaker frame.

Make sure you put your speaker inside the box before you put the last two screws in because they wont fit into the box after its installed. Then straighten out your well cover so it lays naturally in the well, go inside the car and with a peice of chalk push the cover down onto the cardboard box and mark its location. Do this for both boxes. Cut out two rectangular holes in the well cover about an inch smaller than the marks you just put on the cover (and definately smaller than the rectangular covers you have). CAUTION you only get one chance to do this right, screw it up and you looking at a new well cover.

Cut or poke holes in the well cover that coincide with the four screw holes in the speaker cover. Put the cover into the well and screw the cover into the special nuts holding the speaker into the cardboard frames with the retaining screws.

Note that these speakers are not grounded, and the factory harness does not provide a ground wire for them. You must ground the speakers in the trunk somewhere(factory used one of the 4 mounting screws that hold the cardboard support to the seat support).

This is a lot of work for speakers that don't do much when the top is down. But they do make the old hissing 8 track in my car sound much better when the top is up.

For the record only AM/FM multiplex cars, or cars with an 8 track player (doesn't matter what radio) had four speakers. You could order RPO U80 "auxilliary speaker and get a single rear speaker on the passenger side. U80 was available on AM, AM/FM mono and a car with either of these two radios and an 8 track. U80 was included with the 8 track, so that the mono radios could use the right rear speaker.

[ 11-25-2004, 06:56 PM: Message edited by: Mark C ]

[Mat Klemp]

Thanks I should be able to get them installed now.
TTFN
Mat

[Obxhokie]

Matt,

If you ever got those speakers installed I would love to see a picture of it, and hear your opinion on how they sound with top up and down.

Victor

[Steve W]

After a couple of years of experimenting, I finally just gave up and I have the speakers in boxes behind the front seats, and the front 2 in the kick panels. It sounds awesome with the top up or down...but not very comfortable for anyone sitting in the back. Of course I've only had a rear passenger one time for about 15 mins anyway.
I tried the speakers in the proper factory location, and used a big amp for power...but it was still muffled with the top down. And, here in L.A. the top is almost always down.
My primary use for the car is usually me going to and from work (7 minute commute!), or the Sunday drive with the wife, so its more like a roadster now...a 2 seater! But if I wanted to, I could simply unplug the speakers and put them in the trunk.
There wasnt enough room in the rear side panels, and I thought about the rear-most part of the door panel, but I've relocated the seat about 5 inches back, so that wouldn't be ideal for me anyway.
But for someone who left their seat in the factory location (i.e. normal-sized people), that might be an option...2 speakers in the front kick panels and 2 in the doors as far rearward as possible to get that surround sound effect.

[69-Z11Pacer]

Mark,

Could you post a picture of your rear speakers? Thanks!