Mirada Speaker Layout?

[moreada]

Hello,
Is there a way to find out where and what size speakers are in my 1983 Mirada? Reason I ask is that I am curious if there are door speakers or just the obvious dash ones. The logical thing is to turn on Radio and check, but my car does not have electrical at the moment. Apologies if this is the wrong subforum. Thanks.

 

[Jack Meoff]

As far as I know Chrysler was fairly across the board with the setup. Look on top of the dash and see if there's the tell tale pattern of small holes to let the sound through.

My guess is you have two 3 1/2" speakers in the dash and if you pop the trunk and look in there's no doubt two 5x7's mounted in the parcel shelf.

I don't own a J body but that was a standard Chrysler setup.

 

[moreada]

Thank you. One of the sites said some crazy numbers and mentioned door speakers. Test there are some in dash and rear deck. I read online some folks use 6x9 on underside of the rear deck using stock holes.

I am considering a wideband driver in dash, a midbass in a kick panel and infinite baffle 10" subs playing through the rear deck. I wasnt sure if there were doors. That would have alleviated the need for kick panels, but no dice. Worse things can happen.

Before you cringe, Its going to be a sound QUALITY not quantity build. My biggest challenge will be finding a way to conceal a modern head unit in my dash or glove box. The only thing noticeable to a discerning eye will be the midbass 6.5" and i am looking at ways to hide them too.

 

[Jack Meoff]

Nothing wrong with great sound in your ride.
Unless you're planning a by the book resto who cares how you do it. It's your ride after all.

 

[moreada]

Stupid question... I've got to get to my dash speakers and forget how I got the dash apart to install them. Is there a tutorial or anywhere that could steer me in the right direction?

 

[80mirada]

the plastic panel can be pried up where it meets the back edge of the padding.

 

[Jack Meoff]

I don't know of one on here.
When I get around to doing my speakers I'm going to post one.
I'm guessing J bodies are pretty much identical to F's and M's.

Basically the gauge cluster bezel comes off first. If you follow it around you'll see four screws along the top and four along the bottom (two on each side of the steering column. Take those out and tilt the top of the bezel towards you a and wiggle it up and out. If it's a column shift it's muck easier if you drop the shifter down to 1st.

Then if you look where your defroster vents are you'll see there's two hex head screws on each of them. Once you take those out I think the whole dash comes out.

If memory serves I believe you have to take out the glove box (or just unscrew it and it'll come out with the dash) to get to the right speaker and the top left gauge cluster (alt/temp)to get to the left one. Again I haven't done that part yet.

Be careful with the bezel and such. Remember this is very old brittle plastic. If you excersise patience you should be fine.

Here's the best diagrams I could dig up.

 

[80mirada]

J bodies are different, the dash pad is part of the dash structure. There is a cover on top of the dash that hides the speakers and the mounting bolts for the dash.

 

[Jack Meoff]

J bodies are different, the dash pad is part of the dash structure. There is a cover on top of the dash that hides the speakers and the mounting bolts for the dash.

Thank you Sir.
I wasn't sure. I'm not that familiar with the J bodies at all.
Sounds a lot easier than doing the swap on an M body.

 

[80mirada]

I had to swap the dash in mine as the mounting tabs were all broken.

 

[moreada]

It's that easy?

I'm worried I will break something. Then again i never had FMJBodies to help and managed before... So i don't need to remove the dash cover that overlaps the panel covering the speakers?

 

[Cordoba1]

It's that easy! I do it all the time... Just put a flat blade screwdriver between the dash pad (the soft / top / front part of the dash), and gently pry up the top plastic piece. It'll pop out at one corner, then you just grab it and lift it off. It's held on by about 6 friction-fit springs. To replace, you just line up the springs, and tap it back into place.

 

[80mirada]

Like he said, I use a plastic putty knife instead.

 

[moreada]

Haha... as soon as first spring popped it came back to me. Thanks folks.

I noticed I had some tiny coax in there... the hole looks like it could take a 5-1/4" speaker. The back is not an enclosure but there is a shroud that prevents a big or deep basket.

My plan is a pair of Tymphany 3.5" full range in those dash spots as a wideband driver. May have to make a mini adapter plate. A pair of 6 to 8" woofer in kickpanels for midbass and some tastefully done 10" open baffle in rear deck. I am not a fan of box speakers, even at home they are used in free air. More musical, less visceral. Something you hear... and hopefully won't see. Still trying to figure out where and how to hide the head unit. Any tips?

Did you see the centre channel opening in the dash?? Anyone utilized that hole?

 

[Cordoba1]

I'm personally not a fan of hacking into the doors for speakers. Looks too .... aftermarket. I installed one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Kenwood-KSC-S...d=1436548354&sr=8-1&keywords=Kenwood+KSC-SW11 under my front seat. Added just the right amount of kick to my system, very easy to install. As far as a location for your head unit, why not in the space where the original radio goes? If you want to hide it, you could put it in the center console. I may try and take a few snaps of my setup -- there seems to be interest elsewhere, too.

 

[moreada]

Yeah no tint and such means hiding it is the best course of action. Hence the factory HU staying and being the dummy. Plus i hate modern radios in old cars. Since i need a modern HU to do crossover duty, its my best approach. I am going to try to source a pair of these interior panels and modify them to be kick panels with a 6" driver in a custom pod. That way they'll fit right into the stock location and be colour matched. That way the stock ones are left in tact should I choose to to back and the speakers will be fitted to look factoryish. Or at least not stick out too much. Anyone know the odds of finding a spare set of these cheap? Otherwise its an all fibreglass custom jobbie.

 

[dodger roger]

how fast do you need them ? i have those in red but i am looking into getting a parts car and those might be blue

 

[moreada]

Not a massive rush. Sooner is better than later, but realize good things can take time.