Speakers and radio installation?
 

My 142 doesn't have a radio and I would like to fit one that I have had converted. Has anyone installed speakers discretely and where are the best places to fit speakers? I am currently thinking in the kick panels and tweeters in the A pillars..

I suppose a pair of AirPods and a Bluetooth phone are not desirable? If it wasn’t fitted as an option it would seem a shame to not keep it original.

Just my opinion of course but some of the Bluetooth speaker systems or air pods are so good, removable, compact etc etc.

I have speakers mounted in the kick panels behind the air vents (which were relatively useless as air vents). I also have a pair of speakers mounted on the rear parcel shelf using the convenient holes provided for me by somebody 40+ years ago.

The speakers in the air vents work OK (they are co axial). You do need to protect the top back of the speakers with a splash shield because rain and car wash water enters the grill below the front glass and drains down through the air vents. It would probably be better to have them mounted forward and low down in the door panels; but, I paid big $ to have my driver side door card reskinned to match the original and there was no way I was cutting a hole in that for a speaker plus most door mounted speaker grills look a little tacky (my opinion).

The location of the speakers in the parcel shelf is not great; but, the holes were there already. You have to be careful with mounting to avoid vibration; but, you do have a nice 'high volume enclosure'. If it was a 144 speakers in the rear doors might be a better choice or perhaps small speakers in the C pillars with a sub woofer; but, I don't know how you would get anything to fit in the C pillars.

Tweeters in the A pillar is a theoretically good solution; but, I have a hard time thinking of anything that is not going to look like an afterthought.

Take into consideration that the 140 is a sonically challenging environment. There is a lot of competition from the valve train on the B20, wind noise and road noise even though I have added a fair amount of acoustic absorbers. I wouldn't worry about getting too purist with the car audio unless you plan to spend a lot of time parked.

Thanks. I can get a spare set of kick panels so no real harm fitting them there and was going to try and make them look 70s factory. Will try. 😀

Agree fitting them in the door is a non starter. I’m not convinced I will put them in the rear parcel shelf yet either. Still debating that so will see. There are rarely folk in the back.

I need to do some sound proofing this winter to improve things a wee bit. Having music and the radio will improve my user experience especially for longer drives so looking forward to having music in the car. Messing with the originality is something that I am struggling with but the radio is a converted P1800e radio so was probably a optional extra.

Found a pic from turbo bricks of a speaker in the kick panel.

Order a B&O Bluetooth speaker, will see how it goes before I cut anything and just the one at this stage. Will get another if I think it is needed.

Thanks for the help and info, I may go back to the stereo install if Bluetooth from my phone doesn’t work well enough.

Wife picked up the speaker for me, it's wee but impressive quality and very loud. Looking forward to see how it goes in the 142.

Nice radio - period correct and doesn't display Bye! when you turn it off (a feature that grates on me).

I stuck my speakers right inside the fresh air vents behind the grills which requires fabrication of a mounting plate. I think my speakers are 4"x6". The speakers in that photo are mounted directly over a solid chunk of body (see my photo) so they will have to be a very shallow speaker. Judging by the number of marks on my kick panel they are also going to be subject to abuse, particularly on the driver's side.

When insulating your car, don't go overboard on viscoelastic damper (the butyl pads covered with foil. You only really need to apply the pads to flat surface which can resonate like a drum and 40% surface area coverage usually gets you maximum return on your dollar for reducing resonance. For the floor area on my car and up the inside of the firewall I used MLV (Mass loaded vinyl) backed by a foam isolating pad. In body cavities and above the head liner I used a product called 3M Acoustic which is a sound absorber (looks suspiciously like 3M Thinsulate which you might be able to source from a sewing supply company). It is that white padding with a black backing lying on the caret in one of the photos. Unfortunately, it is now pretty much impossible to purchase in quantities of less than 100 square m. However, the stuff is ubiquitous in modern cars so you may be able to get some from a salvage yard as long as it has not been exposed to rain.

The doors are the difficult items to insulate. I used some damper pads on the outside door skin and a thin layer of 1/8" closed cell foam between the inside door skin and the door card. Anything thicker and the retaining clips on the door card would not stay in place. Nothing inside the door because of moisture problems.

If you are serious about noise you will want new door gaskets and the gaskets that seal around the door glass inside the frame. Having eliminated a lot of significant sources I find that engine noise transmitted through the front windshield is significant. I put a couple viscoelastic damper pads under the hood skin and used seam sealer to rebond my hood skin to the frame. The center of my hood skin was unattached to the frame (a common problem on the 140) and would vibrate and resonate like crazy at certain RPMs. The seam sealer and damper pads have eliminated that; but, I still get a lot of engine noise through the hood. I have talked to some 140 owners who have put those stick on foam pads under their hood skin. It doesn't hurt; but, the jury seems to be out on whether there is a material difference in noise. They look nice if the bottom of your hood is scratched up - until oil and other crud accumulates on the foam.

The one area I have not insulated yet is behind the back of the back seat (into the trunk space). When I did the initial work I was running out of 3M Acoustic so I did the hard to get at spots first and left the back of the seat because it was easier to access; but, I have not been able to scrounge enough 3M acoustic to do that area yet.

Thanks.

A mate who is a principal automotive engineer talked me through the basics when insulating my Amazon. Him and another mate who use to be a chassis design engineer for Walkinshaw racing were in the car a couple of months back and giving me advice. I put on a larger exhaust and they said I’m getting a booming/resonance in the back seat so I especially need to insulate that area. I’ll do the whole space properly this winter is the goal. I still have two rolls of material I used on the Amazon which is a bit denser than MLV. Everything you wrote above is what I would have recommended someone else, even the 3M material which is sold here by a car and camper insulation company online. That’s good as so many guys just put a layer of insulation down and think that is all is required.

I installed new door seal and wipers last year but not started anything else yet. Also have new bonnet and boot seals to put in.

Try insulating the bulkhead/firewall on the engine side - it acts like a big "sounding board" and the vibrations that it reverberates from the engine will travel up into the screen. Giving those vibrations a soft pad to absorb them instead of a hard bulkhead to vibrate in sympathy will likely reduce that problem.

As for head units that display "BYE!" when switched off, i have two of those. I haven't found the way to turn off the messages (equally distracting is "HELLO!" on power up) but i know it exists on both of mine, when i find it they will both be inhibited!

Just a suggestion for the rear speakers, make a false parcel shelf and cover it in black (or similar colour to your interior if it's not black) speaker cloth so the speakers can be hidden underneath it. If yours has the demister vents in the parcel shelf you'll obviously have to fit those to your new shelf but even they could be covered in speaker cloth or left obviously visible to make it look more original.

It seems like you have it well in hand. I did a renewed web search and it now appears that there are a number of van conversion retailers in North America who are offering 3M acoustic for sale so I may get to complete my noise abatement program this Spring.