1996 Eddie Bauer

[1Hondalover]

Mostly wrapped up my new speaker wiring and mini 4 channel amp harness. I should be able to run RCA's from the aftermarket head unit directly to the amp, bypassing all of the factory speaker wiring. Hoping for a stronger cleaner sound.

Every connection from the harness pigtail provided by Pioneer to the speaker wire got a solder sleeve, with an extra layer of heat shrink for protection. There should be little to no load on these connections, as the20awg of the main harness will be under the carpet, and the 16awg going from the harness to the speakers with thick insulation will be run to the speaker itself.

The + and - connections on the speakers are all sized, crimped, and shrink wrapped to match

Be careful of those type of crimp terminals Will. They can splay the strands and detract exactly what you're trying to achieve in a cleaner sound. Solder would make them far more bulletproof, but if that solution isn't viable for whatever reason then I'll recommend a mechanical crimp solution to all that's 99% as good.

If heat shrink is happening or necessary, we use only terminals that are non-insulated, heavy wall, serrated barrel, and brazed seam. We consider Thomas & Betts (T&B) Sta-Kon the best.....in this case #A18-250 or #B14-250. The wall on the disconnect terminals isn't as thick as the ring and fork terminals, because the ultimate connection stress is far less.

Even though the "insulation grip" style is also offered by Sta-Kon, we consider them worthless. Using a proper full cycle ratcheting crimp tool, if the conductor can pull out of the crimp then there are bigger problems than the silly little insulation grip fingers are going to solve. The only way to make such strain relief bulletproof is with adhesive lined heat shrink.

If moisture and corrosion are a concern, even adhesive shrink can't help on open barrel terminals. If the environment is such that these are a concern, then we "dip" the conductor into dielectric grease or similar before the crimp. This application has proven to live far longer than a dry crimp, heat shrink or not.

Some will say this prep and assembly could approach actual soldering, which is "sealed" by default.

But sometimes a soldering iron and/or the power to run it isn't available.

My two cents based on 35 years of crimp tool in hand.

[Becks_Bronco]

Mostly wrapped up my new speaker wiring and mini 4 channel amp harness. I should be able to run RCA's from the aftermarket head unit directly to the amp, bypassing all of the factory speaker wiring. Hoping for a stronger cleaner sound.

Every connection from the harness pigtail provided by Pioneer to the speaker wire got a solder sleeve, with an extra layer of heat shrink for protection. There should be little to no load on these connections, as the20awg of the main harness will be under the carpet, and the 16awg going from the harness to the speakers with thick insulation will be run to the speaker itself.

The + and - connections on the speakers are all sized, crimped, and shrink wrapped to match

Be careful of those type of crimp terminals Will. They can splay the strands and detract exactly what you're trying to achieve in a cleaner sound. Solder would make them far more bulletproof, but if that solution isn't viable for whatever reason then I'll recommend a mechanical crimp solution to all that's 99% as good.

If heat shrink is happening or necessary, we use only terminals that are non-insulated, heavy wall, serrated barrel, and brazed seam. We consider Thomas & Betts (T&B) Sta-Kon the best.....in this case #A18-250 or #B14-250. The wall on the disconnect terminals isn't as thick as the ring and fork terminals, because the ultimate connection stress is far less.

Even though the "insulation grip" style is also offered by Sta-Kon, we consider them worthless. Using a proper full cycle ratcheting crimp tool, if the conductor can pull out of the crimp then there are bigger problems than the silly little insulation grip fingers are going to solve. The only way to make such strain relief bulletproof is with adhesive lined heat shrink.

If moisture and corrosion are a concern, even adhesive shrink can't help on open barrel terminals. If the environment is such that these are a concern, then we "dip" the conductor into dielectric grease or similar before the crimp. This application has proven to live far longer than a dry crimp, heat shrink or not.

Some will say this prep and assembly could approach actual soldering, which is "sealed" by default.

But sometimes a soldering iron and/or the power to run it isn't available.

My two cents based on 35 years of crimp tool in hand.

Thanks Jim! Good looking out on the Sta-Kon, I will note the website for the future. I think my wire gauge and insulation were too large for the crimp connectors i used, but i was limited by the spade end attached to the speakers themselves. Some additional research (could have just asked you considering what you do for a living ha!) probably would have yielded exactly what I needed. This was all priced right, with quick shipping, ala Amazon Prime. Hopefully the shrink tube will prevent the strands from splaying and losing connection. If not, i can always pull them out and solder with a new connector. Would rather not, but wouldn't be especially difficult.

This is also really good info for wiring under the hood;

"If moisture and corrosion are a concern, even adhesive shrink can't help on open barrel terminals. If the environment is such that these are a concern, then we "dip" the conductor into dielectric grease or similar before the crimp. This application has proven to live far longer than a dry crimp, heat shrink or not.

Some will say this prep and assembly could approach actual soldering, which is "sealed" by default.

But sometimes a soldering iron and/or the power to run it isn't available."


If/when I add LED lights (thinking Baja Designs LP9's) to the front, I may get some quotes on professionally made harnesses.

[Becks_Bronco]

Installed both the Solo Motorsports door panel reinforcements, and my billet door handles today.

Looks like the driver's door had already failed, and received a little shade-tree fix.


Driver's side done;


Passenger door disassembled;


Early signs of fatigue;


Marking drill holes;


Riveted in;


Billet vs OE handle;


All done;

[Becks_Bronco]

In my bumbling uneducated quest for better music sound quality, i had my fab guy add tweeter mounts to the factory rear speaker brackets. He also opened them up to accept 6x9's. He was not proud of his cuts opening them up, but it's just to make clearance, and the tweeter brackets are perfect. Gonna drill holes for the speaker mounting screws and paint them before throwing them back in.



Tweeter bracket;


Now everything sits in there nicely;

[LvSteve]

Nice

[mobil1syn]

If/when I add LED lights (thinking Baja Designs LP9's) to the front, I may get some quotes on professionally made harnesses.

check out swith pros and if you enjoy the wiring stuff, its just a matter of getting the proper materials and taking your time.

[madmatt1]

Those Solo reinforcement plates are really a neat idea. I've seen lots of "other" repairs that kinda-sorta worked, but nothing of that caliber!
The thing I've learned after 15 years of working in Ford parts, as well as owning OBS Ford trucks, is that the latch mechanisms are what start
this problem. The cables and latches dry up, don't work as well, and people start pulling and pushing on them harder and harder. Gotta keep
all that stuff nice and greasy!

[Becks_Bronco]

If/when I add LED lights (thinking Baja Designs LP9's) to the front, I may get some quotes on professionally made harnesses.

check out swith pros and if you enjoy the wiring stuff, its just a matter of getting the proper materials and taking your time.

I have an sPod SE, with the touch screen. I don't like wiring, but i don't hate making the harnesses. I definitely need to look into more professional methods and materials.

[Becks_Bronco]

Those Solo reinforcement plates are really a neat idea. I've seen lots of "other" repairs that kinda-sorta worked, but nothing of that caliber!
The thing I've learned after 15 years of working in Ford parts, as well as owning OBS Ford trucks, is that the latch mechanisms are what start
this problem. The cables and latches dry up, don't work as well, and people start pulling and pushing on them harder and harder. Gotta keep
all that stuff nice and greasy!

Good tip! I'm going to get some tri-flow on them before i put the door panels back together.

[Becks_Bronco]

Finally worked up the motivation to fish the speaker wire through the factory body to door boots. The driver's side was a PITA with that massive aluminum bracket over there.

Fed it up behind the hood latch release.


Used a coat hanger to pull the wire through the body, boot and into the door.




I'll clean up the leftover factory wire leads. I probably won't cut them off, but i may cut them back so there isn't so much dead wire floating around in there.

[Becks_Bronco]

Ran the power cable from the battery into the cab for the amp. I need to remember to go back and seal with silicone. Then spliced in the ground, and cleaned up some of the wiring. I think once i have everything more or less where I'm going to be happy with it, i'll wrap it up and cut out a majority of the zip ties. They're just to keep everything organized as i piece it together.



The lonely blue/white wire is the signal output from the HU to the Amp. According to the paperwork for the amp, if I run RCA's from the HU to the amp, i don't need it. I gotta do more reading before i snip it off and tape it up.


Nice fat bolt holding up the dash going into a welded nut, good enough ground for audio???


Power coming into the cabin, ground, and front door speaker wire. Maybe someone that knows audio/electrical (Jim?) can confirm that i won't get any, or too much signal interference running everything together?

[1Hondalover]

Nice fat bolt holding up the dash going into a welded nut, good enough ground for audio???

Power coming into the cabin, ground, and front door speaker wire. Maybe someone that knows audio/electrical (Jim?) can confirm that i won't get any, or too much signal interference running everything together?

That firewall ground is only as good as the battery to body connection under the hood Will. And all should be thin coated all sides with your favorite dielectric grease regardless of inside or out. And before that you should remove any paint to bare metal before the dielectric. In every single location.

If the engine block to frame/body/battery connections aren't clean bare metal entirely including any washers then I recommend bonding the alternator chassis to the battery or whatever ground bus you have.

Whenever possible it's always best to have a common ground bus......never a series of connections in a line with one before another. Broncos are old and so are their corroded connections so check 'em all Will!

Interference is generally not a problem for most 12V power and line level audio so you should be good there.

[Becks_Bronco]

Nice fat bolt holding up the dash going into a welded nut, good enough ground for audio???

Power coming into the cabin, ground, and front door speaker wire. Maybe someone that knows audio/electrical (Jim?) can confirm that i won't get any, or too much signal interference running everything together?

That firewall ground is only as good as the battery to body connection under the hood Will. And all should be thin coated all sides with your favorite dielectric grease regardless of inside or out. And before that you should remove any paint to bare metal before the dielectric. In every single location.

If the engine block to frame/body/battery connections aren't clean bare metal entirely including any washers then I recommend bonding the alternator chassis to the battery or whatever ground bus you have.

Whenever possible it's always best to have a common ground bus......never a series of connections in a line with one before another. Broncos are old and so are their corroded connections so check 'em all Will!

Interference is generally not a problem for most 12V power and line level audio so you should be good there.

I was thinking about the ground the most. Glad to have your input Jim! Cleaning up grounds is easy, and i can do that while it's all still apart.

[Becks_Bronco]

Hopefully i don't mess this up too bad...

[Becks_Bronco]

Well, i must have done something wrong, because 38mm was supposed to fit snug, but they're not even close. Gobs of hot glue should remedy, and be completely hidden + vibration resistant. Close enough, i need to start getting this project put back together.

[Becks_Bronco]

Routed the tweeter crossover harness from the door up to the a-pillar. EQUALLY as PITA as it was to do the original speaker wires...

Tweeter end at the a-pillar


Speaker end at the door;



One hurdle i'll have to figure out, the a-pillar is just not quite deep enough. The tweeter sits on this bump just as it sits flush. I am gonna have to see if i can get an o-ring or something to use as a spacer and get enough clearance.

[Becks_Bronco]

Managed to install all of the new speakers minus the front tweeters. I do have everything i need for them now though, so the next chance i get, they'll be going in as well.

Door speakers got a baffle, since i have the room. Hopefully these do what they're advertised for. If not, i'm only out $10.


Slipped the main power and tweeter wires through the baffle and connected. Thank goodness for color coding and matched size connectors.


Speaker installed. I despise self tappers, but 90% of speakers are installed with them, and i just don't have the time to do rivnuts like i did for the rear.

[Becks_Bronco]

On to the rear!

Naked panel. Put CLD tiles behind them to kill any panel resonance.


Since I'm using a spacer to clear the large driver on these 6x9's away from the body, i couldn't use a small self tapper. Instead i drilled a hole and used a 6-32 rivnut and 1.25" machine screws. Much more clean imo.


Love me some color coding and size matching connections...



Rivnut and machine screw:


Speaker and tweeter mounted;


Excess wiring tucked up and secured.

[Becks_Bronco]

Since i ran all new speaker wire, i clipped back the factory pigtails, insulated the ends using shrink tube and tucked them back into body cavities. Should keep any potential shorts safe and tidy.

[Becks_Bronco]

Gaining some steam on wrapping up the interior...

nearly 100% coverage on the floor with the CCF. Sorry for the grainy photos, working in a dark warehouse with a single worklight in my spare time "after hours".



Mass loaded vinyl down, and seams "sealed" with vinyl tape. This stuff is surprisingly easy to work with, scores easily with a razor blade, then just peels along the seam. HEAVY af though...


Opened up and unrolled the new ACC carpet. The color difference is wild, but the new carpet is actually the color the factory carpet started out as...


LOTS of creases and wrinkles to work out


Using a handheld steamer to relax the carpet backing and smooth out the carpet.


Going in pretty well i think! I laid the old carpet on top and trimmed it. Originally i laid the new carpet in the Bronco and was going to trim that way, but there was so much excess that i couldn't really get it laid in properly, and was worried about cutting it wrong. I got the front edge trimmed perfectly (IMHO) but maybe took a smidge too much off the sides. They'll be covered by the sill plates though, so all good. Cutting the slits for wires, and holes for the seatbelt bolts wasn't too bad, but the jute backing is persistent shit lol.


More smoothing, more massaging, more holes. BUT I GOT THE DOOR PANELS BACK IN!! Kicker panels too. Sad how brittle this plastic is. So many broken tabs and push pins.