Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Speaker Panels

I drove home to Essex from Somerset last night or should I say this morning. Due to the M 5, the M 4 and the M25 suffering from serious traffic problems I didn't leave until 5 after midnight, after about 140 miles I was seriously tired so pulled off for a Starbucks ( ugh) for the caffeine. I thought why don't I try the audio system perhaps Bruce Springsteen will keep me awake. Fat chance by the time I hit 60 the wind noise from the hood had completely drowned the poor bloke right out. So I turned him off and went back to listening to Ruby's own brand of music.

best kind of music...... my car has speakers and aerial but no radio and I intend to keep it that way, i suppose if i wanted music i would use my walkman with earbuds....

my previous mog many many moons ago had a radio and was used once and forgotten. The mog is so good to drive it does not need enhancing with audio.....

Pete

I hope that is qualified as how you like it and not how you think others should enjoy their Morgans. I have a stereo system and use it often.

yes whether you like Vivaldi, or Metallica, sport tattoos or hate them, wear a silly hat or not, like to bumble along at 40 mph enjoying in the scenery, or get along at a pace as quick as you can, all that really matters is you enjoy your Morgan. Who cares what anyone else thinks, enjoy.

+1 Adrian!

+2
I'd just like to add to that... "and whether you use it only sunny days or as your every day transport"

I spent a great wet Saturday investigating what is to be found deep in the passenger foot-well and talking to a specialist in in car audio.

So, what did I find?

1. Under the rather low quality floor carpet lurked all sorts of odd little things left over from building the Mog, including a couple of washers, a self tapping screw and a bolt sitting between the floorboard a the chassis side rail.

2. The carpet trim comes away from the side of the foot-well easily enough, it isn't exactly firmly glued. But a couple of carpet tacks have been used and because they have surface corrosion they are a pain to get out. As the chassis frame was revealed I found a couple of holes to the outside, so water can get in....some epoxy putty called for I think!

3. Behind the carpet the leather side trim continues about 20cm, up to the point where the ash frame ends.

4. Removing the leather trim is more difficult as it is stapled to the floor and frame, the staples are corroded and each one has to be eased out to avoid damaging the leather!

5. Behind the leather and between the scuttle tube and front of the ash frame, where it joins the firewall, is an aluminium panel that is cut to take a loudspeaker.

6. Stuffed behind this panel are a load of wires, including what look like the plugs to go into the back of a radio!!

7. The radio fitting position is ready to take a radio, but no wires in it.

This all looked promising so off to the Car Audio specialist in Amesbury.

I spent about an hour chatting with Jason, the owner. He gave me a lot of really useful advice.

1. The car is wired for a radio and speakers and the wires stuffed between the speaker panel and body work are the radio connectors and they reach into the radio fitting position!
This makes it all much easier!!

2. There is no wiring for an aerial. Not a problem, Jason will fit a hidden DAB antenna.

3. Don't spend too much, the position of the speakers and the maximum 10cm speaker size is very limiting.

4. Don't put tweeters at the ends of the dash, they are too far away from the main speakers and the sound wouldn't integrate so I'd hear them separately.

5. Spend money on lining out the foot-wells, transmission tunnel, scuttle floor and doors with Dynamat and on the sides and bulkhead also use Dynaliner to cut out heat. Together this will cost close to £300 if I do it but will make a massive difference to comfort, with or without the audio! Given the Mog has no sound or heat insulation I'm not at al surprised!

6. Fit Pioneer speakers, about £40.00

7. Fit an Alpine head unit, he recommended the same on that Henry at Williams recommended with DAB Radio, full i-pod connectivity, built in blue-tooth so the sat-nav and phone will work. About £200 with remote control unit.

8. Upgrade the speaker fittings to they are, structurally, like small Hi-fi units. This means the speaker is in a closed, filled box and sound from the rear of the speaker doesn't leak out.

The last point is the starting point and I'm building a wooden frame and front panel. As nothing is square or parallel it is an enjoyable challenge that I'm documenting and will report on with dimensions and photographs, so you can all copy me if you feel the urge, or just wonder why I would do all this!!

Total budget is about £500.

It will take a couple of months as there is A LOT of measure, make a template, cut the Dynamat, fit the mat and so on. The passenger side is easy as it is relatively accessible but the drivers side will be fun as there isn't much space down there!

Interesting stuff Peter. I was pretty sure the radio and speaker wiring would be there somewhere as it is shown on the wiring diagram. I am really surprised that the wires were just staffed in behind the foot well side panel instead of being left in the correct position. A bit of laziness there I suspect.

Given that the inside of a Mog (and other places for that matter) could sometimes be considered a damp environment I am amazed that Morgan does not use marine quality screws and other components where corrosion may be a problem. The door hinge screws are a good example, and surely the cost of stainless staples for fitting the upholstery would add very little to the cost.

I am very curious to hear if you think the sound insulation has made any difference after you have fitted it.

Keith. I think you have an Easy Up hood? If you are getting a lot of noise because of the hood flapping on the centre support hoop there is a way to fix that. Initially Alis stuffed some folded up paper handkerchiefs under the flapping part above the seat headrests and halfway between the two velcro straps that hold the hood to the hoop.

Apparently removing the hood to have extra velcro straps sewn on is not easy. I found two small velcro straps that were used to keep the leads in order on a mobile phone charger. I cut them to suit and hand sewed them into position. Problem resolved.

If I was ordering a new car (or hood) I would specify extra straps in these positions.

You can see photos at http://www.talkmorgan.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/167781/1

Sounds like great advice and useful information to all.