My 1987 Two Door Crown Victoria AKA THE BROWN BLOB

[packman]

I know the Premium Sound unit in the CV was becoming non-functional as it got closer to decommissioning. I wish I knew this stuff because I would love to restore that unit, get a decent amp, and replace the speakers in the car.

My neighbor back in the day found that adding an amp to his stock head unit (1984 Buick Regal) made a drastic improvement in sound quality. That would be my goal with the CV.

[gadget73]

The stock radio is good for something like 6 watts on the front channel and 12 in the rear. The premium sound amp was good for 20 watts max and it added an EQ curve. The JBL stuff was good for 40 per channel with an EQ curve. I expect the GM stuff wasn't grossly different.

[DerekTheGreat]

When stock, I switched just the premium amp in my '88 for the JBL amp and that was a huge improvement. Could be the EQ curve difference between the two but the clarity, image, musicality and presence was much better over the small black box to my ears.

[87gtVIC]

Installed the previously mentioned 12v aux port underneath the passengers side seat this morning.

Pics of bracket here: http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...l=1#post848460





I am super happy with the position. It travels with seat movement and does not interfere with anything in the least.

It is not wired in as of yet.

I built a power distro panel that will be mounted to the heater box via silicone...and the main panel screws into the metal siliconed brackets. It houses a fuse panel, factory panther junction block, ground distro as well as a relay. I know I will have constant power and keyed power available via the junction block. Unsure of how the fuses will be populated as of yet. Will all make more sense once I figure out where I am grabbing power from and how I wire it up..oh an pictures will help it make sense too. Hopefully I can silicone on the metal brackets tomorrow so I can give them ample time to dry before fiddling with it.

[sly]

Nice. Wire routing for this will be interesting.

[87gtVIC]

Nice. Wire routing for this will be interesting.

For the 12 aux plug?

I thought so at first as well but it slipped underneath the seat rail and right through factory hole in carpet for power seat harness. I then routed it over to the sill panel along side the door and forwards to the passengers side kick panel.

[gadget73]

just need enough of a loop to let it move with the seat, but thats easy.

[sly]

For the 12 aux plug?

I thought so at first as well but it slipped underneath the seat rail and right through factory hole in carpet for power seat harness. I then routed it over to the sill panel along side the door and forwards to the passengers side kick panel.

That makes sense. Didn't know if there was an easy way to get around/over the seat track to the area where the power seat connector would be to prevent pinching it.

just need enough of a loop to let it move with the seat, but thats easy.

I'd put a connector at this point as well to make removing the seat easier in the need it happens.

[87gtVIC]

That makes sense. Didn't know if there was an easy way to get around/over the seat track to the area where the power seat connector would be to prevent pinching it.



I'd put a connector at this point as well to make removing the seat easier in the need it happens.

Yep. I did that as I did not want to unbolt if removing seats. It can just come with it! As seen here:




And this is what I have going on with the power distro in the heater box area:



Luckily I do not even need that relay as I found a dedicated keyed power and constant hot in the p.side kick panel:



Thank you unused police options? Or trailer options. Regardless. Perfect for my application of feeding the factory panther junction block.

And this is where the power distro business will be mounted:



Black smaller brackets will be siliconed into place. Larger bracket bolts to those and houses the business end of things.




Also started working a seat belt reminder light as well as brake reminder light (also will assist if a line is blown out and fluid goes low). The factory indicators were removed when swapping to police cluster with the integrated gauges I install in them. This project is turning out really nice and clean looking. Still in progress but has been totally wired in and tested. Seat belt light illuminates off factory chime/timer deal and brake light gets ground from reservoir if fluid is low and/or when you have the parking brake engaged.....which is something I now use all of the time because of the manual trans.

[sly]

Nice. Makes that easier to deal with.

[WagonMan]

I just finished stripping my 89 LTD wagon. I cut as many plugs from the dash I could including the ones I sent you before. LMK if you need anything. Pete

[87gtVIC]

Nice. Makes that easier to deal with.

Oh yeah. I was ecstatic when I found those two plugs and one was always hot and one was hot with key in run and accessory.

I just finished stripping my 89 LTD wagon. I cut as many plugs from the dash I could including the ones I sent you before. LMK if you need anything. Pete

Yessir. Will do. Right now I think I am good. Turned out the parking brake switch was still installed in my car but now I have a good spare in case things go south. If any future projects come up I will check with you first.

[87gtVIC]

Well. I flubbed that one. My meter must have been playing tricks on me as I was preparing to wire in all the bits to the power distro BOTH of the lines were constant battery power and not one keyed and one power as I have previously stated. Woops. NO biggie. Found a keyed power in the kick panel and tapped into that to trigger the relay to give full power from the other free line to the accessory position of the junction block.

Here is that all finished up:



Wired in two hots and two keyed to the fuse block. Only thing in use right now is a keyed power to the 12 aux port under the passengers side seat.

I have spare junction taps if I need to switch things around. Green and gray connectors are keyed special so one does not accidentally plug things in the wrong spot.

Spare pieces:



All tucks up nicely under the dash under panel:



Whats nice is that I can unscrew the four corner screws and service the whole shebang if I make any additions or changes. It has a service loop to drop nicely into the footwell.

Then went to the trunk and installed some ferrule ends onto my amp...

Before:



and after:



Just did the speaker outs, trigger and ground. I was not in the mood to disconnect power....The ferrules make nice connections over just the bare wire being crimped down in the terminals. Once I have the battery disconnected I will go for installing a ferrule on the positive.


And a sneak peak of the idiot light gibberish I was spewing in the above post.

[87gtVIC]

Oh and that fm transmitter I have kicks ass so far.

I have 104.3 tuned in on the radio and fm transmitter is tuned in at 92.1 and it blows 104.3 out of the water. lol

Tuned radio to 92.1 and leave antenna in fully down position and it works awesome. You get noise between songs switching but for my ears and desires it works great.

[87gtVIC]

Finished up with the interior jobs I wanted to tackle.

Got a 1966 mustang parking brake light installed as well as seat belt reminder light. Also relocated the tuner interface to underneath the ash tray. Even with ashtray open the cable connected to it clears with plenty of room.

Brake light:



Up close:



Just held on with silicone!

Seatbelt reminder:



Up close:



Held on with silicone as well using the factory grand marquis cut away for trip reset.

And the quarterhorse relocation:





Mounted with the factory rear ashtray screw!

Also a video showing things in action: