ignatz

Curious whether I can retro-fit the later model two compartments into an earlier three compartment setup? My car is a 69 and the hinges and doors are kind of a mess. I am not sure when this change occurred, but this picture is from a 1982 car. Except for the middle light, the latch position, and maybe some cutting, it seems it ought to drop in.

Bikespace

I think the assemblies are interchangeable if you have the frame, and all of the parts are reproduced. The difference is also in the latch hardware.

The change occured in (very) late 79. My (regular) late 79 has three doors, my 80 has 2. The drivers side door is the same size in both, though with different hardware.

ignatz

Thanks Joe, you seem to be uniquely qualified to compare the two arrangements

Can't imagine they made any changes to the body molds to fit a wider compartment, but it's not impossible that something makes this swap harder than it looks. I'm looking for extra room to make some audio upgrades to my car this winter. This might be a subwoofer location as I know others have put that gear in the rear compartments. But with a closed door, that doesn't seem sensible so I'm not yet in a position to know what to do.

Crutchfield is showing a "nano" subwoofer which needs 3" headroom and maybe that fits under my seat. I'll have to pull a seat to find out so that gets me halfway to a swap anyway. Regardless of audio my rear compartments are a bit of a mess and I like the looks of this setup.

Bikespace

As far as I can tell, the outer frames are interchangeable. Makes sense, as it wouldn't have made sense to change the tooling during the 79 production.

If you end up with a sub in the rear compartment, make sure it is sealed. It's probably a better place for an amp.

Here's a photo of my 80 with the frame moved out of the way (don't worry, it wasn't screwed in). I can't imagine that there would be any differences in the metal lip, but take a look at yours. Dimensions appear the same.

ignatz

Thanks for the additional picture and taking the time. I plan to head over to my local store and see what they've got there, or what they think. I have been going there forever and the owner is very accommodating and knows pretty much everything there is to know about these cars.

My amp and.two good sized speakers are on a shelf over the wheel wells where the rear window gets parked. My only two choices are in this compartment or under a seat.

I think my C8 has some 11 speakers to surround the passengers and a touch screen to move the focus wherever I think I want it. Progress.

SteveG75

It will fit. Trick may be matching carpet color but that's it. Put a two door lid in my '75 at least 15 years ago.

ignatz

Now that I've got the JBL Nano Woofer in hand, dry fit looks like it will comfortably fit in the center compartment area.


Front to back is tight as I was surprised to find a reinforcement to the rear wall. I don't ever cut into structure but I think I can make this work. This seems like better placement than under either seat or in the larger compartment on the passenger side. It does stick up a little bit but seems well protected with the existing screen.

Next up is to hook it up temporarily and see how it sounds.

ignatz

This job is now done.

Some numbers. Dimensionally the center door is 10-5/8's" X 7-7/8's". The woofer is advertised at 10" X 8" X3". The frame surround is just big enough to fit the woofer within. With 3" of height, the differential hump at the rear of the compartment area keeps the unit from sitting level with the floor so I've angled it down. It sits in a cradle as pictured.



This is made out of 3/8" plywood. The sides insert snugly into the compartment recesses between sections securing it in place. I had to cut away some of the flange all around the compartment surround to provide enough room for the woofer itself to stick out a bit. Here is what the two look like together. There is no room inside the cradle at all to route the wiring towards the rear wall where I can hide it to get it to where it needs to be. It's a very tight fit! The woofer is secured to the cradle with four screws through the bottom. They're not yet drilled in the above picture. It won't lift out without some disassembly but I figured that was better than letting it slip around.



The larger holes you can see in the first picture allow routing around the assembly and through the battery and the jack compartments. From there the two cables get to signal and to power, on/off switch, and ground.. I needed some 10' of audio cable and needed to hide both cables under the carpet. They're not at all visible.

All of my audio except the low level jacks connects to a terminal strip on the 'B' pillar. Four speakers front and rear, and now the woofer.



Here's what the rear compartment looks like with the passenger seat out



Not sitting flush with the floor is kind of a bonus as all wiring, fuse, and the woofer adjustments at the rear are nicely accessible. Well you do need a mirror to see what's there.

I found an escutcheon to sit over the visible cable connections you see at the back in red. Also, the jacks go through a right angle adapter to keep close to the back. With the seat back in the car, you hardly know anything is much different.

I have to say all this pain was worthwhile. I think this is better than having the woofer sit under the passenger seat. I never did check that fit and I think I might have had to cut the carpet away to mount the unit. Plus put some holes in the car's floor.
If the woofer is off you really now notice something is missing in the sound quality. Pretty happy with the upgrade!

The Phantom

Nice work and looks like it belongs. I went for the passenger compartment with a 10” under the compartment door, it was a bit of work but I agree worth the effort.







There are lots of ways to git-r-done!

Dave

HOOAH

I have been watching this gentlemans videos for a while now. He (John) comes up with some great ideas and well worth the watch. For what you are doing, I would start out at about 13 min into the video where he explains everything in detail.


Might want to watch all of his c3 videos. as I mentioned, they are very interesting.

Terry