First some back ground info for you...

I bought my 1x owner Ford DF Series 1 LTD back in February 2011 and whilst it had had all it's routine services as per the handbook (N.B. travelled just 82,000km in 16 years). The car was starting to fall apart around the edges, which i suspect is why the old retired chap that owned her was willing to part with her.

As a former motor mechanic, I saw the potential in the old DF. After all power windows not working, an cheap a** after market head unit with what sounded like blown speakers front and rear and central locking not working (N.B. but a sample of the many small jobs that had accumulated over the years) wasn't beyond anyone's ability --- all i had to do was apply myself and put away some time to get everything done ---

So get on with it you say.... I couldn't bear the sound system for even low volume talk back radio. It was so clicky and crackly. Before i started to pull things apart i genuinely thought that someone had turned the volume up full blast and damaged all the speakers as a result, but i couldn't have been more wrong.

*********** Please read my next post as the story continues **************

 

 

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Last edited by LTD_DF on Sun Jun 26, 2011 6:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Upon removing the front door trims and rear parcel shelf (N.B. to access the factory fitted subwoofer) i discovered that the speakers all suffered from the same problem which was...

The diaphram between the speaker frame and the speaker cone had perrished from old-age/sun/use.

The factory speakers; from my knowledge of Fords of this vintage, were all Pioneer and because i wanted to fix the car and not drastically modify it i chose to replace the old speakers with new Pioneer speakers of the same size.

Both the front speakers (i.e. mounted in the front doors and covered by the door trims) and the
Rear speakers (i.e. mounted on the rear parcel shelf on the left and right hand sides) were replaced by 6.5 inch Pioneer 2-way "TSG 164P" at a cost of $85.00 a pair from Supercheap Auto.

************ Please read my next post for part "3" ****************

Last edited by LTD_DF on Sun Jun 26, 2011 8:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

The sub woofer however was a bit of a gamble on my part. At first I couldn't find anything that seemed to suit; moreover, i couldn't be sure as to the size of the sub woofer on account of the fact that i did not know how the speaker sizes were arrived at. When i measured the physical size of the factory sub it was +9 inches. I didn't want to get it wrong either as this would mean cutting the rear parcel shelf to make it fit; which would not only generate more work, but potentially give rise to reducing the structural support of the retracting centre seat belt mechanism which could ultimately result in the death of a passenger in that seat as a result of a rear ender and frankly i just didn't want to go there.

I looked accross a variety of different brands and sizes and i decided to go with Pioneer's 8 inch "TS-SW841D" shallow subwoofer, which i bought on line 24/03/2011 from a mob called Elite Electronics for $200.00 (inclusive of freight to Central Queensland), but as at the date of this post you can buy the woofer for just $169.00 --- see link below ---

http://www.elite-electronics.com.au/ind ... cts_id=275

**************** Please read my next post below for part "4" ***************

Last edited by LTD_DF on Sun Jun 26, 2011 8:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

The 8 inch Pioneer sub woofer fitted perfectly. The only modification i had to make was the screw mounting points differed to the factory sub, which meant i had to drill two (2) screw mount holes. This took minutes to install.

NOTE: I replaced the rear parcel shelf without the factory sub speaker grill on account of the fact that it didn't fit well; moreover, it caused the rear parcel shelf to sit up too much. I figured i would never place anything on the rear parcel shelf anyway, so the factory grill was of no use anyway.

The fact that the sub is a "Shallow" sub woofer by design meant that it didn't overly pretude into the boot space either, which was great.

The best part of it is the sub woofer preforms awesomely when i wind that volume up. I don't think i could handle any more base that what it has to offer...

The factory amp (N.B. mounted behind the right hand side boot trim) was in perfect working order, so i didn't do anything other than check it out and clean some of the dust off of it before replacing the trim and tucking it away again.

************ Please read my next post for part "5" --- The best part --- HEAD UNIT *********

I wanted to make sure i did this bit right...

Replacing the Head Unit was important to me. Like all us boys i wanted the biggest bang for my buck possible.... without finishing up with all the goodies on borad and a head unit that had issues, which "no name" head units in the past had a reputation for.

I sifted through the web every evening for about two (2) weeks before i took the plunge.

I bought a double din head unit with everything on board and boy o' boy i'm glad i did it.

If you take nothing else from this series of posts take just this

I decided to go with the 'no name' head unit after all. I based this decision on the fact that i had found a local Australian distributor whom answered a plethora of questions i hit them with before making my purchase. Their customer service was excellent and i was confident i was actually going to get what i thought i was buying on line through them; which hasn't been my track record in the past, when buying s**t from overseas web sites.

********* Please read my next post for more detailed information ***********

I bought a s**t hot head unit with all of the following features on board:

7" CAR DVD RMVB HD PLAYER STEREO DVB-T DUAL ANTENNA GPS
Dual Antenna DVB-T + Plays RMVB + 128MB GPS RAM+ SiRFIV

Direct link to item via eBay (N.B. likely to expire in due course) visit: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... 0613947402

Direct link to sellers store on eBay (N.B. not likely to change anytime soon) visit:
http://stores.ebay.com.au/Autoproz?_trksid=p4340.l2563

I chose to go with the reversing camera and an upgrade on the TV Antenna's not offered/advertised, but send the seller a meesage and ask about paying $40.00 extra as i did for eight (8) times the signal strength --- purchasing 25 dBi antenna --- in place of the 3 dBi antenna offered. Better yet the more powerfull antenna is discretely mounted to my rear window (N.B. one either side with the wiring tucking descretely out from the very same removable pannel as the rear demist).





The head unit was installed with the minimum of fuss. Yes it took me some time; aproximately four (4) hours in all to do everything, but i wasn't in any hurry and i wanted to do a professional job. But if was to do the whole job again i reckon it would take me half that time.

Importantly: No real modifications where needed !!!

**** Please read my next post for more detailed information on what the install involved ****

Last edited by LTD_DF on Sun Jun 26, 2011 6:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I purchased an ISO Speaker and Power wiring harness adapter from Supercheap Auto to suit EF-EL series Falcon for just $20.00, which addressed 90% of the wiring needed. Then i used a test lamp to identify the power source from the back of the head unit to tap into for the TV Antenna's and the most time consuming part was actually fitting the reversing camera, which involved removing the entire LTD boot lid garnish and carefully drilling a hole through it behind where the number plate is mounted, so that the wiring could be discretely installed.



NOTE: I mounted the camera to the top of the boot garnish frame. I also modified the base of the camera mount slightly with a pair of sharp side cutters by trimming the excess protruding metal away from the camera's mount, so that i could get a tighter fit against the boot garnish and securely mount it with two (2) tiny self tapping screws which i pre drilled to be certain that i did not damage the boot garnish before mounting.

******** Please ready my next post for information on how i installed the GPS antenna ********

Last edited by LTD_DF on Sun Jun 26, 2011 6:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

The GPS antenna was also a little tricky, but after coming up with a solution i can tell you its EASY TO DO; it takes a matter of minutes literally and it works perfectly without looking out of place at all.

The GPS antenna has a magnet inbuilt into it for affixing to the cars exterior. The problem was how do i run the cable between the antenna and the head unit without drilling holes in the body and more importantly without making it look out of place or as most of us would put it "s**t".

The front windsreen rubber is fortunately flexible rubber. I simply mounted the GPS antenna to the roof pannel adjacent to the front windscreen rubber with the wire from the GPS antenna tucked under the windscreen rubber. I mounted the GPS antenna centrally, so that it didn't stand out too much and proceeded to tuck the wire accross to the front left hand door of the vehicle. In my case i had the good fortune of a factory fitted external visor which i concealed the wire behind as i wrapped it around the outside of the front pillar, before removing the door jamb frame rubber/trim to concel the wire which i then ran down the front of the door jambs opening in order to run it in behind the left hand front kink pannel.




NOTE: For those of you without a visor, simply remove the windscreen edge trim and run the cable behind it.

From the kick pannel it was a simple case of running the cable under the dash and into the back of the head unit.

****** Please read my next post for information on dash mounting the head unit ******

Last edited by LTD_DF on Sun Jun 26, 2011 6:26 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Note: As with all the wire runs i made within the car itself i used cable ties to keep things neat and tidy as well as to eliminate the chance of developing noises from cables rattling.

The head unit being a double din fitted perfectly in place of my cheap a** head unit that the former owner installed upon the factory head unit failing.

There really wasn't much too it.

The factory double din stereo mounting cage was still there (N.B. with a few extra holes in it from the after market cheap a** stereo being mounted in it) and all i had to do was figure out which hole(s) i need to use in order to mount my new Head Unit.

Unfortunately i did not take any pictures at this point of the install and so i cannot descriptively tell you which holes i used. What i can tell you was that after several attempts i discovered that a factory hole in the mounting frame was used. It resulted in what looks like a factory/professional istallation which i will post image of in due course.

That's all there was too it....

Now i have a s**t hot head unit installed complete with kickin bass and 2-way speakers through out.

The GPS feature is current 2011 australian maps, the head unit boots with the Ford logo and the whole thing just impresses the hell out of all my friends that see it.

Last edited by LTD_DF on Mon Jun 27, 2011 8:32 am, edited 3 times in total.

If you decide to take this project on for yourself and you have any questions before, during or after... please don't hesitate to ask.

 

 

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File comment: GPS Antenna looks as though she's factory. IMG_0081.jpg [ 107.34 KiB | Viewed 237 times ]

Last edited by LTD_DF on Sun Jun 26, 2011 6:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Pics Please......

Nice DF - +1 for more pics.

There is a mob on Ebay (Brisbane based) who supply speaker repair kits, pretty cheap, around $20 from memory - I've replaced the diaphragm foam on the 8" factory sub, and it works well.

Sensational Car, great job on the install, Love it! Thumbs up