How
To ... Fit a Car Stereo
I
recently fitted a new stereo to Bessie our convertible -
the old mono AM radio with no aerial just wasn't doing the
job! So, I went and bought a flash new CD/tuner from a dodgy-looking
guy in a white van at the local car-boot sale. Then I bought
and a set of 5" flush-mount speakers from the local
car accessories shop. I ended up with a JVC single CD head
unit, 4x35 watts per channel, and a pair of Kenwood 3-way
150w speakers. Not bad for £125 all inclusive.
Finding
a location for the speakers in your Minor is no problem.
If you have box speakers then your options are either on
the rear parcel shelf facing forward (if you have a saloon
and the speakers are narrow enough) or slung underneath
the dashboard where they block access to the parcel shelf.
Flush-mount speakers can go in the doors, the base of the
rear seat or in the footwell/parcel shelf side-panels. For
a quick & easy and tidy installation I prefer to use
5" flush-mount speakers fitted into the side-panels
at either end of the parcel shelf.
Although
the Minor doesn't have a dedicated place in the dashboard
for a stereo it is nevertheless not lacking in locations
where a head unit can be fitted. Under the dashboard, set
into the glovebox door or in a pod under the parcel shelf
for instance, but my favourite is hidden away inside the
passenger glovebox.
Choosing
Speakers
The
recess behind the side
panels could have been designed for speakers, although
I somehow doubt that Alec Issigonis' design skills went
quite as far as predicting the future of in-car entertainment.
The recess is deep enough to take most speaker cones and
is wide enough for very respectable speaker diameters. A
5" round speaker is ideal, and although I haven't tried
it myself, you should be able to get up to perhaps up to
a 7" speaker in there or even a 6"x9", providing
the cone depth is no more than about 45-50mm.
James Hallet wrote in to tell me that he tried several different sizes of speaker, here's what he had to say.
"I measured the depth of the space on my 1968 Traveller and
find it is 1.75" or about 45mm, and if you added to that the thickness of
scuttle panel, this bings the depth up to about 48mm. The Kenwood speakers
in the article are apparently 1.75" deep (from specs on their web site),
explaining why they fit so nicely. I started off trying to fit 6"x9"
speakers which were 2.5" deep, then tried 5"x7" at 2.3" deep - neither would
fit, beacause of the depth, but ALSO because the wider speakers push the
back of the magnet up too high where it hits the beveled top edge of the
recess. I have opted for 5.25" speakers, 2" deep and will make up the
difference by either mounting .25" plywood behind the scuttle panels or by
using an adapter ring to bring the speaker out on the scuttle panel.
Pheww! In summary, a shallow 5.25" speaker is probably all the parcel shelf scuttles can handle, although a very shallow 6" just might work as well."
Experience counts! Personally, I wouldn't bother
with anything smaller than a 5" speaker since due to
the less than optimum location there will be some loss of
sound quality - we're talking simple installation here -
no speaker pods allowed!.
Fitting
Speakers
Step 1
Remove the side panels. If you have a parcel shelf, don't
remove the entire thing, it's a pig to get back in! You
only need to remove the support bolt from each end and the
side panel can be slid out. Cars without parcel shelves
may have other methods of attachment but in any case it
should be a simple matter to remove the panel.
Step
2
Mark onto the side panels where the speaker is going to
go with a pencil or ballpoint pen. I used a
template supplied with the speakers to get everything
lined up in the right place. With a 5" speaker you
will need to leave about 30mm of panel from the top edge
and about 50mm of panel from the parcel shelf bolt hole.
This is to ensure that the speaker cone lines up with the
recess behind and allows enough space for the parcel shelf
bracket. If you don't have a template then simply make the
hole the same size as the widest part of the speaker cone
leaving enough panel for the screw holes.
Step
3
The side panels are made of thick card and can be cut with
a builders 'Stanley' knife but for accuracy I prefer to
use a saw of some sort. I used a modellers knife to start
the cut and then finished
off with an old hacksaw blade.
Step
4
Fit the speaker into the hole and line it up as required.
Mark the location of the mounting holes and remove the speaker.
Drill holes for the mounting screws. I used a wood drill
bit as a twist drill and made the holes by hand rather than
use a power drill. Refit the speaker to the hole and screw
it into place. You may have been provided with self
tapping screws and gripping washers - if not, screw-head
bolts and nuts will do. Connect speaker cables.
Step
5
Refit the side-panel, complete
with speaker, again taking care not to crease the panel.
This may require a bit more fiddling to get past the parcel
shelf. Re-attach the parcel shelf. Make sure that the speaker
cables are routed out from the back edge of the panel so
they can be routed up behind the dashboard. Run the cables
from the driver's side up above the horizontal panel under
the dashboard and then across to the passenger side going
behind the speedometer. For simplicity's sake I simply poked
the speaker cables down into the glovebox through the slit
in the top of the 'box.
Fitting
the Stereo
Step One
Disconnect the battery. Run a power wire (it should be red
but I only had a brown one...) from a
spare connector on the fuse box (from the side opposite
to the cable coming from the battery, this ensures the stereo
is protected by a fuse) through a convenient hole in the
bulkhead. Run the wire in behind the dashboard and into
the glovebox as per the speaker cables.
Step
2
The stereo I'm fitting earths itself through the casing
of the stereo so no earth wire is required since the brackets
I'm using bolt to both the stereo casing and the body of
the car (via the glovebox door hinges). When the stereo
does require an external earth strap then I usually end
up using one of the screws underneath the front edge of
the dashboard (used for the glovebox door hinges) and run
the wire through one of the holes in the flange. Run the
earth wire to the glovebox as per the others.
Step
3
If
you want to listen to the radio then you'll need a aerial.
There are several options to choose from - which one you
choose depends on your own preference and whether you're
willing to drill holes in your car. Roof/gutter-mounted
aerials usually clamp on to the guttering but leave the
wiring exposed and tend to look untidy. Guard-mounted aerials
require drilling a hole but do look a lot tidier. If you've
got the headlining of the car out already then a roof-mounted
stubby aerial can look very smart. Alternatively you could
opt for a wire coat hanger - bend the hook straight, poke
it into the aerial lead and tape it in place under the dashboard.
It's cheap and it works a treat!
Step
4
Most car stereos have pre-tapped screw holes in the side
of the casing to accept mounting screws. I found some L-shaped
mounting brackets, sold in pairs, at the same store I bought
the speakers from which I could screw to the side of the
stereo. For this installation I took the quick and easy
route of using a pair
of brackets on either side and simply screwing them
in place using the existing glovebox door hinge screws.
In the past I have made up wooden face plates for the stereo
to sit in which follow the shape of the inside of the glovebox.
Set back by about 2", the faceplate provides both support
and extra security. In this case the bracketss allow the
position of the stereo in the glovebox to be adjusted both
side-to-side and front to back - but I admit that it's not
pretty.
Step
5
So, with all the wires routed into the glovebox and the
stereo mounting brackets set up, connect the wires to the
appropriate connections on the stereo. Double-check that
the power wire is not exposed - you don't want a fry-up
under the dashboard! Screw/bolt the stereo in place and
reconnect the battery. All going well you should now have
a fully functioning
car stereo ready to blast the eardrums of your passengers.
:)