SP Stereo Install, long post, just data on my setup for those interested

[Velox]

PLEASE ignore this post if your accelerator pedal is your stereo volume control and side pipes=speakers. Few want/need stereos in their SF Cobra but for those that are interested, I came up with a setup I am very happy with, is easily removed, very little access required through panels, gives great sound and I can easily hear my tunes driving the Cobra around. Sometimes I just have to have tunes in the car! I thought I’d post what components I used since there is little found with the search function on this topic. I did not want the head unit hanging below the dash or hidden in the glove box and I was hoping to come up with a hidden system without need for a wireless remote. I also did not want kick panel or under dash speakers but I did want full sound (bass) available, meaning would need a sub somewhere, not for thumping or vibration of others at stop lights but for just fullness of frequencies. I was hoping to keep as much trunk space open for storing the top, side curtains, tonneau, tools etc. I did not want an iPod deal or any headphone or earpiece system. So this is my setup completed this weekend:

The head unit is a Kenwood KTS-MP400MR mounted (Velcro’d) in the trunk on the little shelf in front of the right rear tail light area. There is already a wiring hole/rubber grommet there for the tail light, and with the grommet removed there was plenty of room for all wiring needed. RTV sealant seals the area after wires placed. The Kenwood is a marine system – weatherproof supposedly –but I mainly wanted this for availability of a wired remote system with most functions available on the remote as opposed to other units, like the Sony ones. It has all the usual bells and whistles, but I was interested in MP3 function. I have over a hundred favorite tunes on a CD and this unit plays them all perfectly with no need for any disc changes. Velcro (one-half of a Velcro set – the loop side) adheres very well to the standard SF carpet, in all areas – behind the seats, trunk, trans tunnel etc. Velcro made for very secure installs of most components but I did hardware attach amps. The radio antenna is a hidden antenna (eBay street rod hidden antenna) Velcro’d to the trunk side wall, works perfectly, no need for any external antenna.

Speakers were a challenge. There is very little room in the SF for main speakers. I decided on trying to use the space behind the seats, so looked everywhere for decent quality thin speaker systems. I finally found the Pioneer Ultra-Thin S-LF3-F speakers, they are sold in two-piece or three-piece sets, usually for surround systems, Crutchfield, eBay etc. These are only 2 inches thick, perfect for limited spaces, rated at “max 130 watts” with 3 drivers each panel, so I assume probably 65W RMS power handling. They are only 5.5 inches wide, easily mount behind the seats, and are almost 16 inches tall, so initially were a bit too much in height. These speakers have aluminum designer surrounds not needed for function, so I removed (Dremel) the top and bottom pieces, reducing height by nearly 3 inches. 1 cm holes were big enough for wire exits to under the car, and Velcro strips nearly cement these in place.

I wanted a sub for full sound, a small one hopefully self-powered to avoid any more than one additional separate amp. I found the Infinity BassLink 10 inch driver unit, 200W RMS amplifier contained in the unit, and small enough to easily fit on the shelf in the trunk, single 1 cm hole needed through the trunk for some wiring, other wiring to the head unit fit under the carpet edges, mounted to the back of the trunk with cloth straps and a small piece of firm foam used in front of the sub to prevent it from vibrating on the fiberglass panel behind the seats. The main amp for the Pioneer speakers was necessary as the max output from most head units is 25-50W RMS each channel, not nearly enough to provide volume adequate for a side pipe open car like the Cobra. The Pyle PLAD213 was small enough to mount in the trunk above the battery compartment, and has 2x150W RMS output at 4 ohms, plenty for the Pioneer speakers which are rated at 8 ohms, so effectively provides them 75W RMS each. The overall sound is amazing to me.

Finally, the wired remote is a Kenwood KCA-RC100MR unit, and comes with plenty of cable to run the length of the car underneath. I wanted it mostly out of sight, so placed it high up on the trans tunnel, easily reached while driving to adjust volume, change to CD, power on-off etc, but not obviously visible on casual inspection of the car. It is brightly lit for night driving. A single 1.5cm hole was needed through the tunnel fiberglass, for the cable and mount hardware, and if this is removed the hole is well hidden and can be easily closed with a rubber grommet or plug. The head unit retains memory of station presets etc when power supply is removed, so all of this was wired past the battery cut off switch but I wired it unswitched to the ignition, so it could be on at any time. So if left on it could drain the battery but when leaving the car for any time I usually disconnect the battery via the main cut off switch.

Pictures of the amp, sub, head unit, speakers and remote are posted in my gallery for those interested.

[Goober]

Pretty cool setup. Out of sight with all the sounds

Mark

[Velox]

Thanks, Mark. I like your car! I see you have the clock installed on your dash, I like it. So far I have swapped out my Lucas ammeter for a Smiths voltmeter

[TKing]

Hi Don:

Good setup. I have something similar.

Did you change the alternator or did you stay with the standard SPF 60 amp model? I purchased my car about 2 months ago with the stereo installed, but need to make a few alterations to make the system better. I think the electrical system is overburned if the stereo and lights/heater/radiator fans are on.

Tom
SPF1823

[Velox]

Hi Tom,
My alternator is the original one installed with the 460. It has a chromed exterior and I assume it is 60A. It is not a single wire unit and my setup still has the voltage regulator all wired as original. I have wondered about overload if all systems would be on at the same time, especially with halogen lights, both fans, heater, stereo etc. I had thought about going to a new 100A unit, internal regulator etc, but so far have not figured out what would fit exactly and what all wiring changes would be required. Do they make a direct swap alternator that works with our voltage regulators but has higher output? Thanks for any info!

[TKing]

Don:

I don't have a plan yet. Have you been to RT's web site at http://performanceunlimited.com/cobravalley/? RT has 2 SPF's and sells some after-market parts from this web site. He has a couple low rpm/high output alternators for sale, but they are 1 wire (internal regulator). The 1 wire deal seems okay, but I heard some people say the alternator warning light would not work and others were concerned about 100 or more amps going to the amp gauge and others were concerned with the price and the ability to find a replacement alternator if the 1 wire alternator failed. I need to do more research, but have other things to fix/modify on my car before I fix the low amperage problem.

Tom

[Tom of VA]

Don,
Where did you get the antenna? How is the reception? Is it made for an interior mount?
Thanks

[Velox]

Originally Posted by TKing

Don: Have you been to RT's web site at http://performanceunlimited.com/cobravalley/? The 1 wire deal seems okay, but I heard some people say the alternator warning light would not work and others were concerned about 100 or more amps going to the amp gauge. I need to do more research, but have other things to fix/modify on my car before I fix the low amperage problem.Tom

Tom yes I had checked RT's site and have an order in there for the 105HD Reactor alternator. The Lucas ammeter is rated at 50A should not be used with a high output alternator, and is rendered nonfunctioning anyway with a proper install of a single wire system as all the recommendations are to run a large gauge wire from the alternator output directly to the battery terminal on the solenoid, so this defeats the circuit through the ammeter. I have installed a Smiths voltmeter in mine and removed the ammeter. There is a way to retain the charge light function with a single wire alternator (requires a small added circuit I'm told) but I am in the processing of converting my red warning light to a low oil pressure warning system which would be much more useful for me.

[Velox]

Originally Posted by Tom of VA

Don,
Where did you get the antenna? How is the reception? Is it made for an interior mount?
Thanks

Hi Tom, I got mine on eBay, search there for "hidden antenna" or plug in this item number 110069554875 on advanced search to see the one I got, I think I paid 20 bucks or so. They are designed for inside the car placement, and work very well in a fiberglass trunk (no metal to get through!). They have a sticky pad in the middle but it doesn't hold very well. I used two small pieces of the loop side of a velcro strip wrapped around each end of the antenna and then Velcro'd to my trunk carpet on the side, it's like cemented in! Works very well, good AM and FM reception with my system.

[Tom of VA]

Thanks,
I ordered one of those hidden antennas from the same ebay store. Looks like what I wanted.

[cobrasnake]

Don - sorry to sidetrack a little but I too plan to replace my ammeter with a Smiths voltmeter. How did you handle the existing wires to/from the ammeter and where did you connect the wires to/from the voltmeter?

Thanks - T

[Velox]

Originally Posted by cobrasnake

Don - sorry to sidetrack a little but I too plan to replace my ammeter with a Smiths voltmeter. How did you handle the existing wires to/from the ammeter and where did you connect the wires to/from the voltmeter?

Thanks - T

T - I cut the wires about 6 inches back from both ammeter posts, left the connector clips on the ammeter in case it is ever used again (didn't want to lose them, they are a weird size) and removed the gauge leaving the panel light in there, it fits the Smiths voltmeter perfectly. I stripped back 1/2 inch on each end of the cut wire ends, put shrink tubing on both sides, pushed the heavy wired strands into each other firmly and thoroughly soldered them together. Then I pulled the shrink tubing over, heated it, then pulled the other over that, heated it, and when done had essentially connected the wire with a heavy solder and double wrapped it with shrink tubing. I then carefully positioning it way up out of the way of any metal near the main harness and tie-strapped it in several places to dash supports and other wiring to make sure it stayed there! So basically just remove the wires from the ammeter, securely connect them together, that's it. The voltmeter ground side (the gauge is labeled + and - posts) just goes to chassis ground anywhere, like where the 12v adapter ground goes or any similar ground. To be most accurate, the 12+ side of the voltmeter should go directly to the battery, or at least to the solenoid post for the battery. This avoids reading any drop in voltage from the wiring harness. But the problem is then it is unswitched, meaning the volmeter would always be on unless the battery disconnect was switched to off. I prefer to have the voltmeter only function when ignition is on, so I used the hot lead (red wire) from the 12V adapter (cigarette lighter thing) that is mounted under the dash on my car. This lead in my car is only hot when ignition is on. A voltmeter or 12V test lamp can be used to check which wires in your car on only "on" with the ignition. That's all there is to it. Mine reads right at 12V with car off, and running it goes up to about 14.5V. Let me know if you have any more questions, or PM/email me if you want.

[cobrasnake]

Thanks Don - sounds simple enough -(whoops, that's when I always get into trouble ). Tom

[TKing]

Dan:

Thanks for all of the information.

Look's like I have several new winter projects. Anything you learned the hard-way that will help me avoid the same mistakes removing the dash? Is the wiring long enough to move the dash forward to remove gauge? Or must all or some of the wires be disconnected to move the dash forward?

Thanks,
Tom

[Velox]

Originally Posted by TKing

Dan:

Thanks for all of the information.

Look's like I have several new winter projects. Anything you learned the hard-way that will help me avoid the same mistakes removing the dash? Is the wiring long enough to move the dash forward to remove gauge? Or must all or some of the wires be disconnected to move the dash forward?

Thanks,
Tom

Hi Tom, I'm confused was your question to me (I'm Don, not Dan ) and if so, I did not remove the dash and that is not needed to change any gauges so maybe I misunderstand and your question was to someone else? Sorry I'm slow today

[TKing]

Hi Don:

My question was for you. I thought the dash had to be removed to access the gauges. The backside of my dash is a maze of wires especially considering the addition of the radio and alarm system. I think I'l try removing the dash to replace the amp gauge with a voltmeter.

I also need to replace the gas pedal which will necessitate the removal of the steering column and to remove the column I must remove the dash and since the dash is out I will replace the amp gauge. It's amazing how little problems can cause a lot of work.

Thanks,
Tom

[Velox]

Tom - ahhh now I understand! Sorry I was being slow there You have alot more dash wiring with stereo and alarm system stuff! All the gauges are readily removed without the dash out, especially if you remove the speedo first. This gives a large opening to get to almost anywhere in the gauge area. That's how I worked on my ammeter was through the speedo opening. There is a large wiring harness connector just near the drop down fuse panel but with your extra wiring it probably is alot more complicated. Sorry to hear you have to remove the column, that is a much more work than just a gauge install, good luck

[TKing]

Hi Don:

Did you replace the alternator yet? Any problems? Did you run the one wire to the , starter relay, starter or all the way back to the battery?

I replaced the ampmeter with a voltmeter yesterday in preparation to replace the alternator with a high output model, but I'm concerned with the new alternator output. The fusible link in the pull down fuse box is rated at 80 amps, so I'm wondering if runing the wire to the starter or starter relay will cause issues with the car wiring. Also, the sum of all running car components could exceed 80 amps - heater fan, lights, stereo, cooling fans, electric fuel pump, and so forth. Will this cause wiring heating issues? What's your opinion?

Thanks,
Tom

[Velox]

Hi Tom,
Yes I went with the "Reactor 105" which required me to redo the install and bracket setup up a bit with some shimming with washers to get it lined up right but ended up fine. Interestingly a small oil drip problem was revealed with the alternator out - the oil pressure tubing was again leaking at the fitting to the block so I decided to go with a Smiths electric oil pressure gauge - no more oil tubing into the dash - and this is backed up with an oil pressure switch at 20psi that I wired to the red dash warning light (which is non functional with the single wire alternator setup anyway). The harness to the voltage regulator I isolated with a bunch of heat shrink tubing and tie strips and anchored it way back up out of the way but can be reused if there ever is some reason to go back to the voltage regular setup. I went with a double 10-gauge wire run from the alternator to the solenoid, I did not like 6 or 8 gauge wire samples and was advised a double run of 10g was more than sufficient for the alternator. I have an 80amp circuit breaker on this alternator output run and I mounted that through the same location as where the voltage regulator was. At the solenoid the large copper connect at the top is attached to both 10g alt wires. The smaller red wires are the outputs to the MSD box and the car primary 12v lead. I'm using the solenoid on my mini-starter so the firewall solenoid mostly acts as a connection post for the battery lead and the starter lead. My stereo install is all wired to the switched side of my battery cut off in the trunk so none of that load goes through the underdash panel. The other big draw items - fans, lights - are all separately fused and on relays with the SP setup so I think the wiring should be stable and safe - that's just my guess

[TKing]

Thanks Don for the great information and pictures. I like the idea of the circuit breaker protection.

You have given me a lot more to think about before I install the new alternator.

Tom