Wondering if all the '86s came with B pillar speakers. I have an '86 I just acquired and there are no speakers back there. The interior has been pulled apart and there are two speakers stuffed in behind the grills of the center console so they would be on opposite sides of the ECM. Could it be that the B pillar covers came from an '84 or '85?
Wiring harnesses should be in place in the B pillar, irregardless of whether the car came with them, or not. There is also a plastic mounting plate for the B pillar that sets the speaker at the right depth and angle. If the trim was replaced with 84 or 85 trim, it would be a much lighter gray than the 86. If it has tan interior, well, that's difficult to tell, but to give a comparison, I have an 88 that was a radio delete base coupe. It had the trim with speaker grills and also the wires were in place. It's unlikely Pontiac continued to make plain B pillar trim after 85. It's not shown in the P22 parts book.
It's possible that the PO acquired speakers that wouldn't fit into the B pillar and just used the 'idiot installation method'.
[This message has been edited by fierofool (edited 07-15-2013).]
speakers on both sides of the computer ? Not a good place for Magnets.
It's fine. There is no magnetic storage media in the ECM, any coils large enough to induce enough electricity to damage anything, or relays that would be held open or closed, by the magnets, especially if they are small cheap-o magnet speakers.
The bigger problem would be blockage of the vents, preventing heat from escaping.
Wondering if all the '86s came with B pillar speakers. I have an '86 I just acquired and there are no speakers back there. The interior has been pulled apart and there are two speakers stuffed in behind the grills of the center console so they would be on opposite sides of the ECM. Could it be that the B pillar covers came from an '84 or '85?
Are you certain it's an 86? Is there wire at the back of the seats near the center console, with a 2-wire plug, which is being used to power the speakers? What letter is in position 10 in the VIN?
Could be the seats were swapped for later year seats, and speakers were placed behind the ECM vents, and you actually have an 85.
I was starting to wonder if it really was an '86 or a Franken-Fiero. It is a fastback and has the 3rd brake light leading me to believe it is in fact an '86, but it's the first one I've seen without the B pillar speakers. There aren't any wires on the floor where you would find them on an '85, but I still haven't finished digging through all the parts that are sitting where the seats used to be (they could be hiding under the carpet). When I picked the car up I was thinking I could add the B pillar speakers to my '85, but now that's not an option, so back to the drawing board.
As for the speakers beside the ECM, the venting was my major concern, I think you would just be asking for overheating with the vents blocked.
I'll check the VIN etc. to see. Thanks for the replies.
Upon closer inspection, it looks like somebody planned on cutting out holes for speakers back there...... it appears to be 'marked for death'
Here's the options sitcker:
The VIN checks out:
1 Made in USA G Made by GM 2 Pontiac Division P Fiero (P-Body) G GT 97 Fastback 9 2.8L HO V6 (L44) 4 Check Digit G 1986 P Made in Pontiac, MI 262337 62337 of 83,974
[This message has been edited by NetCam (edited 07-15-2013).]
Putting B pillar speakers in an 85 is a little difficult. The pillar doesn't have the clearance nor do I believe the sheet metal behind the trim piece is designed for speakers. It does appear that you have the dark gray trim in the 86. Never seen or heard of that before. If you remove the trim, see if the speaker wires are in place. You should see them enter behind the bulkhead carpet trim on a level about equal to the bottom of the ECM.
Looks like radio delete is UL5 which is NOT on the options sticker. This is of course assuming that this list is correct - http://floridafieros.org/osg/options.html
If your car had been an extremely low production number, it might have been possible to have something from the previous year carried over. I've seen this on a very early 88, which had some 87 design decklid parts. However, your production number is way too high for that to be the case.
It looks like the B-pillar panels have simply been replaced with ones from an 85. Given that you say speakers are installed in the center console next to the ECM, what most likely happened is that a previous owner went to install new or aftermarket speakers in the rear, and damaged the plastic panels when pulling them out, or something similar. To replace the panels, the 85 panels were used, and another place to put the speakers was found, though they probably are wired wrong (left speaker firing toward your right side, for example).
What you should do is find the correct rear panels to use, from an 86-88 car, and install the speakers in the correct place. And grab the plastic mounts for the OEM speakers as well, if you pull the panels out of a junkyard.
Hard to tell from your pic what color your B pillar trim is. If it is dark grey, do they appear to be painted? 86 would be the dark grey, previous years were light grey.
