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Bought the wrong amp. Can I make this work?

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    #1

    Bought the wrong amp. Can I make this work?

    So, I bought a NOS football amp to replace the blown one in my 86 Crown Vic with premium sound.

    The ad said it was a 87-91 amp, but it looked the same to me, so I bought it. It arrived yesterday, and when I tried to install it, I realized the plugs are not the same. My existing amp has one 8 pin connector, and one 4 pin connector. The new amp has two 8 pin connectors and no ground wire coming out of it.

    Is there any way to make the new amp work in the 86? Obviously it would require soldering and/or new connector(s). Pictures and/or diagrams would be very helpful.

    I thought this would be an easy 5 minute job, but nope.
    sigpic
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    #2
    easy answer: nope. Hard answer yes, but...
    You car uses a common ground for all the speakers. That will not work with the new to you amp. You would have to replace your head unit with one that has 8-wire speaker output and then run the wires back to the amp. As far as converting the internals of the new one to use the 5-wire setup... I'd really have to see both internals to find out. Gadget may know though. He's messed with those things quite a bit.

    Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
    rides: 93 Crown Vic LX (The Red Velvet Cake), 2000 Crown Vic base model (Sandy), 2003 Expedition (the vacation beast)

    Originally posted by gadget73
    ... and it should all work like magic and unicorns and stuff.

    Originally posted by dmccaig
    Overhead, some poor bastards are flying in airplanes.

    Comment

      #3
      Is this the football amp? The experience I have with early vs late ones is that the plugs are the same. The 2 channel one just has some empty spots in the connector, but the 4 channel one is fully populated. I have run a 4 channel amp in a 2 channel car, and it worked fine. The other two outputs just didn't go anywhere. I recently converted my 2 channel 84 to use an '87 4 channel amp. Mostly it was a matter of moving wires from the rear speaker into the connector for the amp, and tying the amp output back to the speakers. I won't tell you its much improvement, but the front/rear balance is a little better. I don't know that its worth the effort but I was curious and I had the amp on hand.

      Diagrams for an 86 Vic for 2 and 4 channel premium sound.
      Attached Files
      86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
      5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley

      91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry

      1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal

      Originally posted by phayzer5
      I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousers

      Comment

        #4
        Hey I picked up the older amp with the 4 pin plug. $5 plus shipping and its yours. Nos in a rather sad box.
        86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
        5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley

        91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry

        1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal

        Originally posted by phayzer5
        I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousers

        Comment

          #5
          Originally posted by gadget73 View Post
          Hey I picked up the older amp with the 4 pin plug. $5 plus shipping and its yours. Nos in a rather sad box.
          Cool. PM set.
          sigpic

          Comment

            #6
            Originally posted by gadget73 View Post
            plugs are the same
            Bit more complicated, I'm afraid.
            I have 3 football amps, one from a Mark VI of unknown year, one from 84 Lincoln and one from 85 Ford or Mercury, all with physically different connectors.

            I presume, however, that they can be used if you get the ins and outs hooked up right...

            Panthers: 83 GM 2dr | 84 TC | 85 CS | 88 TC | 91 GM
            Not Panthers: 85 Ranger | Ranger trailer | 91 Acclaim | 92 Jaaag | 05 Focus
            Gone: 97 CV | 83 TC | 04 Focus | 86 GM            ​ |​ Junkyards

            Comment

              #7
              well, the experience I had until that point was my 84 Continental and the 86 Towncar, along with whatever the 4 channel amp came from. The Conti and Towncar were 2 channel, but the plugs were identical to the 1987 vintage 4 channel amp.
              86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
              5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley

              91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry

              1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal

              Originally posted by phayzer5
              I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousers

              Comment

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