Fiero sound system upgrades (Page 1/3)
Cajun Road Warrior JAN 15, 12:31 AM
I bought my 87 GT in August of 2019. Since then I can't leave it alone. I made lots of little upgrades to the drive train.
The stock sound system leaves much to be desired so I stated making changes.
My car came with a Pioneer head unit and aftermarket speakers. I discovered Pontiac offered a factory subwoofer so I bought one on Ebay.
It had a Boss 4" subwoofer and it was an okay subwoofer for it's size. I powered it with a Kicker 250 watt amp.
After a weekend of hard playing during the Cruising the Coast event it eventually gave up the ghost.
Exhaustive searches led me to the Tang Band 5.25" subwoofer. I made a wooden adapter to fit the subwoofer to the factory box.
I hammered that little subwoofer for months and it never failed.

As with any tinkerer I just can't leave swell enough alone. My sound system has come a long way and here is where my journey began.

Below is my stock interior with my little factory sub box and my TangBand sub.


I looked at some 10" touch screen head units on ebay and wondered if I could make on work in a Fiero.


Figuring out what to do with the vents and climate control took some thought.


Here is where I began the mods to the center pod.




This is where it gets real ugly. I had to relocate the climate control and redesign the air vents.

First test fit.

Now for some supports.

and reshaping the airduct.

now that the control is mounted time for the vents.

I started with the vents from a 88 though 94 Chevy/GMC truck.
This was not easy by any stretch. Lots of cutting and gluing small parts.

didn't turn out half bad.



Now time for mounting the head unit.

and mounting the vents

Now that the hard stuff is done it's time to make it pretty.
I used Nason black base and clear for all the trim panels.


While I was at it I also shortened the shifter. A little cutting and welding and done.


If you look to the right you will see something else I made, That is a custom fiberglass subwoofer enclosure I made.
In it is a 6.75" high powered subwoofer made by Amper Audio. I'll get into those details next....
Frenchrafe JAN 15, 03:15 AM
Interesting...
I saw your video on Youtube yesterday for this conversion.
You certainly don't have any worries with modifying the center consol!
(Some would here I bet! But it's your car to do what you want with.)

I like the touchscreen but since I already have a screen (smartphone), I just wanted Bluetooth capacity with the existing sound setup:
https://youtu.be/GYB39Ru_AXI

Regards,
Rafe

------------------
"Turbo Slug" - '87 Fiero GT. 3800 turbo. Sticky tyres. Driven hard!
https://www.youtube.com/cha...1wZvWQlkYxTjivW_0XNg

Australian JAN 15, 04:14 AM
I am looking at things like tesla screens as have an rx300 with air con controls. Wondering how much screen you can fit in there in 2021.

[This message has been edited by Australian (edited 01-15-2021).]

Cajun Road Warrior JAN 15, 08:39 AM

quote
Originally posted by Frenchrafe:

Interesting...
I saw your video on Youtube yesterday for this conversion.
You certainly don't have any worries with modifying the center consol!
(Some would here I bet! But it's your car to do what you want with.)

I like the touchscreen but since I already have a screen (smartphone), I just wanted Bluetooth capacity with the existing sound setup:
https://youtu.be/GYB39Ru_AXI

Regards,
Rafe



It's all a bunch of old brittle plastic so I really didn't think much of cutting it up.
This car wasn't in mint condition so I'm not too concerned about keeping everything pristine and original.

I was looking for a little contemporary look to the only 80's interior.
I figured the large screen fun so perfectly in the bezel I had to go through with it.
The only issue was the top of the head unit is just a little wider than the bottom.
Not much of an issue since the vinyl is flexible enough to permit this.
I then used a piece of acrylic to make the upper bezel
Cajun Road Warrior JAN 15, 10:19 AM

quote
Originally posted by Australian:

I am looking at things like tesla screens as have an rx300 with air con controls. Wondering how much screen you can fit in there in 2021.





It would be interesting to blend-in modern technology into the 80's interior. Given the blocky shapes of the Fiero I'm sure larger screens in a vertical position could be made to look real good. A touchscreen interface could be made to work with an arduino to control the actuators for the climate control. We would just have to make new vents behind the screen.

------------------
Paul R. Mechancal Designer.
Projects: 1987 GT
1988 Chevy Stepside Reg cab. Scratch built Serpentine accessory drive. Offenhauser Cross ram Dual TBI.

[This message has been edited by Cajun Road Warrior (edited 01-15-2021).]

fierobear JAN 17, 04:39 PM
Very clever idea, especially the vent rework.

I have some similar ideas for using a Raspberri Pi as a head unit. We'll see how that goes.
Wichita JAN 17, 10:43 PM
Has anybody actually tried to run the climate controls via an infotainment system or touch screen pad?

IMSA GT JAN 17, 11:15 PM
Sorry to sidetrack this a little but what's going on here?

[This message has been edited by IMSA GT (edited 01-17-2021).]

Cajun Road Warrior JAN 18, 08:28 PM

quote
Originally posted by IMSA GT:

Sorry to sidetrack this a little but what's going on here?







You mean this old thing? It's just another of one of my 80's things. 1988 Chevy

[This message has been edited by Cajun Road Warrior (edited 01-18-2021).]

Cajun Road Warrior JAN 18, 08:40 PM

quote
Originally posted by Wichita:

Has anybody actually tried to run the climate controls via an infotainment system or touch screen pad?



I'm sure it's been done. I've seen just about everything imaginable done to a Fiero... even some dreadfully tasteless things too unfortunately. lol