http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/ http://www.eblah.com en http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-1282237864/ http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-1282237864/#num1 The FSM shop manual is not very helpful in this regard.]]> Thu, 19 Aug 2010 11:11:04 datsa http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-1277568439/ http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-1277568439/#num1
I used to own two Lebaron convertibles, a 92 and a 94, at two different times of course.  If there was one thing I liked about those LeBarons, it was the rear-view mirror with maplights on the bottom edge (because you can't really have a dome light in a ragtop convertible, lol).  They would both come on like a dome light if the doors were opened, and had separate switches for each light when the doors were closed.

Anyways I went to the junkyard a few months ago and picked up a r-v mirror from a LeBaron.  It was just a matter of fabricating a custom bracket and mounting the mirror to it, then figuring out how to wire it up.  I had this bracket welded up at my job, then took it home to round off the corners and edges, then brought it back to my job to have it powder coated.



Another view of the bottom -- clickable link



A not-very-good-quality pic of the mirror test mounted in place, before it was painted -- clickable link




^ Hand-cut with a Dremel!



Another view of the "top" side which contacts the roof -- clickable link



I'm either going to paint that acorn nut ($2!!) or take it back and just cover the bolt threads with a rubbery end cap.  The acorn nut interferes with the mirror a little bit, being so close, and I didn't want to cut that bolt and ruin the threads.  I don't know.  I need something there to keep the bolt from cutting into my sun visors when I put them up.  Maybe I'll just cut the damn bolt, lol, and paint the end of it black.

The only real disadvantage of the LeBaron mirror is that it's a little narrower in the middle of the mirror (when looking into it) compared to the Corolla mirror.  But it's not that big of a deal.  The LeBaron mirror is actually a little wider.  I'll get out the calipers and measure it sometime...

My next part of this project is to wire it up.  I tried to get as much of the wiring as possible from the junkyard car, so I pulled away most of the windshield molding in order to get a good length.  I'm thinking about tapping into the dome light wiring somehow, so that these maplights come on when the doors are opened, though I don't know if I really want them to "always" be on like that (I usually keep my dome light always off).

Any suggestions for how to remove that headliner would be greatly appreciated... I haven't attempted it yet, but at least now I have the room in my own garage to put all the pieces!]]> Sat, 26 Jun 2010 10:07:19 Rogue http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-1274749468/ http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-1274749468/#num1 Mon, 24 May 2010 19:04:28 rickyzee http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-1271460040/ http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-1271460040/#num1
I also picked up a small rockford fosgate punch 160w 4 channel amp for $40 to run my rear speakers to their potential, and I found 2 4" rockford speakers to replace to two in the front dash.

So, the deck is wired up well and works, I ran the power cord for the amp down the middle of the car beside the shifter, under the carpet, then under the back seat where it cuts to the driver (right for me) side, runs along the rear panel, up the very rear panel beside the rear door, and up into the rear storage panel. Unfortunately it was Sunday, and there was only one place I could find power wire, so its 1000w wire, overkill but whatever.

The deck came with a set of monster RCA's which I ran down the passenger (left) side of the vehicle along the carpet, up the panel by the rear door, above the rear window and again into the storage compartment.

SO, its all wired up so that my amp will sit in the rear storage compartment in the roof of the car. =D

Now, I hook up the amp (possibly wrong) and it would only run one speaker, after trial and error circuitry for 2 hours, I made a speaker produce smoke, and I called it quits. hahaha =(

So where I sit now: Nice deck working well, running two 30w rockford fosgate front speakers, and 1 pioneer 50w speaker in the very back, whose friend has been retired to the electronics recycler. My amp is at a local audio shop getting bench tested for $22, which will hopefully have some results for me Tuesday.

So, I got a great deal on the deck, and burned on the amp. BUT, the wires are run, so when I get the money together to finish this project its gonna be pretty neat! I'm not going to put a sub in, I'm just going to pick up a couple of high quality 6" speakers and run them off of a small amp. The rear storage compartment also has room for another set of 4" speakers that obviously came with the car, but were removed. So, if I find another nice set of 4" I will throw them in there too.

The ones I took from my dash were definitely factory speakers, and they said 10w on them. hahah

I'll take some pics soonish!
]]> Fri, 16 Apr 2010 17:20:40 dylangumby http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-1264884400/ http://www.alltracwagon.net/forum/m-1264884400/#num1 Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:46:40 dylangumby