sandness
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2024
- Messages
- 6
- Reaction score
- 4
- Points
- 3
- Location
- Iowa
- Vehicle Year
- 1996
- Make / Model
- Ford Ranger XL
- Transmission
- Manual
I recently purchased a 96 Ranger absolute base model from a gentleman retiring at work for $350. Since that's basically scrap price, I couldn't turn it down.
Being the base model, it didn't have a factory radio. The guy I bought it from put in a Pioneer CD player from the 90's and 2 JL 6x9's in half boxes behind the seats. By half boxes I mean a normal carpeted 6x9 box had the back side cut off for unknown reasons. This sounded like yelling into a pillow. And, being an early up 90's deck I soon missed having Bluetooth- which I decided was essential for a 5 speed.
Since this is a cheap spare vehicle, I opted to be cheap wherever possible. I bought a cheap single DIN Belva media receiver as it had Bluetooth and 2 sets of preouts. I reused the dash kit and even mounted it properly this time (there was duct tape on the old Pioneer). Also, since there was no antenna, he had an aftermarket antenna laying horizontally behind the dash- seems to work ok at least.
I had to run speaker wire into the doors as there was nothing from the factory. I then had to cut the 6x8 holes bigger to fit the JL 6x9's I already own. Normally I would have just bought some 6x8's for an easy drop-in install, but I'm being cheap. On a side note, I was pleasantly surprised by how the door cards are held on by 2 screws and zero plastic self-destructing clips. Its a good thing I looked up how to remove them rather than just start prying. Also, since this is a base model truck, the white inner door seals were in perfect shape as no one has ever had to cut them to access window regulators or door lock actuators.
In running RCA's to the amp I mounted behind the seats, I found the passenger side airbag was an optional extra, so there is a nice sized space behind that panel. Unfortunately, my 4 channel Kicker amp that I saved from a previous vehicle was a bit too big to fit in there. A newer class D 4-channel would have fit nicely and been a slick place to hide an amp. Perhaps I'll come up with something to make use of that area.
The RCA's, remote turn-on, and right speaker wire ran down the passenger sill to the amp. I had to replace the screws with bigger due to rusted holes.
I forgot to snap pics of the drivers side. That had a few fist-sized rust holes, so I slide some galvanized sheet metal scrap I had under the rubber to cover those up and provide something for the screws to bite into.
I've got the door speakers on the front channels of the amp. The rear channels are bridged for an 8" sub. Being a cheap build, I decided to recycle my Logitech Z560 sub from 20 years ago that has been sitting in my basement as it's control box died many years ago. I opened it up, unwired the plate amp and wired directly to the sub. I slid the seat all the way up to test it in the truck.
It sounds great. I took internal measurements and it appears there is about 0.6 ft3 tuned to about 43Hz. Since its an 8 ohm sub, it is getting 80w bridged from the amp (exactly it's RMS). I am going to build a ported box behind the seat soon. And if it dies, I found some Skar IX8's for $39 to swap in. At 4 ohms, those would get the 150w they need from my amp (also it's exact RMS). Hopefully my weekends clear up so I can begin building the sub box. I'll probably tune it a little lower as I've never had a ported sub tuned that high.
Being the base model, it didn't have a factory radio. The guy I bought it from put in a Pioneer CD player from the 90's and 2 JL 6x9's in half boxes behind the seats. By half boxes I mean a normal carpeted 6x9 box had the back side cut off for unknown reasons. This sounded like yelling into a pillow. And, being an early up 90's deck I soon missed having Bluetooth- which I decided was essential for a 5 speed.
Since this is a cheap spare vehicle, I opted to be cheap wherever possible. I bought a cheap single DIN Belva media receiver as it had Bluetooth and 2 sets of preouts. I reused the dash kit and even mounted it properly this time (there was duct tape on the old Pioneer). Also, since there was no antenna, he had an aftermarket antenna laying horizontally behind the dash- seems to work ok at least.
I had to run speaker wire into the doors as there was nothing from the factory. I then had to cut the 6x8 holes bigger to fit the JL 6x9's I already own. Normally I would have just bought some 6x8's for an easy drop-in install, but I'm being cheap. On a side note, I was pleasantly surprised by how the door cards are held on by 2 screws and zero plastic self-destructing clips. Its a good thing I looked up how to remove them rather than just start prying. Also, since this is a base model truck, the white inner door seals were in perfect shape as no one has ever had to cut them to access window regulators or door lock actuators.
In running RCA's to the amp I mounted behind the seats, I found the passenger side airbag was an optional extra, so there is a nice sized space behind that panel. Unfortunately, my 4 channel Kicker amp that I saved from a previous vehicle was a bit too big to fit in there. A newer class D 4-channel would have fit nicely and been a slick place to hide an amp. Perhaps I'll come up with something to make use of that area.
The RCA's, remote turn-on, and right speaker wire ran down the passenger sill to the amp. I had to replace the screws with bigger due to rusted holes.
I forgot to snap pics of the drivers side. That had a few fist-sized rust holes, so I slide some galvanized sheet metal scrap I had under the rubber to cover those up and provide something for the screws to bite into.
I've got the door speakers on the front channels of the amp. The rear channels are bridged for an 8" sub. Being a cheap build, I decided to recycle my Logitech Z560 sub from 20 years ago that has been sitting in my basement as it's control box died many years ago. I opened it up, unwired the plate amp and wired directly to the sub. I slid the seat all the way up to test it in the truck.
It sounds great. I took internal measurements and it appears there is about 0.6 ft3 tuned to about 43Hz. Since its an 8 ohm sub, it is getting 80w bridged from the amp (exactly it's RMS). I am going to build a ported box behind the seat soon. And if it dies, I found some Skar IX8's for $39 to swap in. At 4 ohms, those would get the 150w they need from my amp (also it's exact RMS). Hopefully my weekends clear up so I can begin building the sub box. I'll probably tune it a little lower as I've never had a ported sub tuned that high.