mkpony.com - My 2011 Mustang GT Fun Page

Deleting the Rear Seat Bench AND Adding Real Audio

OK, as noted under the "Sound & Gauges" project, I mounted the ham radio unit under the rear seat, but now the rear bench won't go back in.

So, I've decided to "Delete" the rear seat bench. I did some measuring and went out and bought a piece of 24x48x1/4 inch plywood sheathing. Cut it down to 45 1/4 inches in lenght, cut out some notches to accomodate the wiring harnesses, and rear seat mounts. I cut a notch in the front to clear the "hump support". Bingo, slides right in.

It will still need some "fine tuning", but it's good for now. I've purchased some generic black auto carpet and Loctite 200 adhesive from Amazon. As soon as it gets here I'm going to apply it to the sheathing.

I also got some threaded hooks, washers, and wing nuts. I'll use those to hook into the holes in the body where the old seat inserted and tighten down to secure everything in place.

The Original Seat Bench w/ the Deep Bucket

Seat Old

The Sheathing in Place of the Old Bench

Delete1

Delete2

It's April 8th, and while I was waiting for the carpet to be delivered I kept thinking that while I'm in construction mode, I might as well go ahead and do a "Proper" audio set-up.

Sooooooo.. I bought a Blaupunkt EMA-255 55W/chan (rms into 4 ohm) stereo amp, and a pair of JBL/Selenium 8" mid-woofers(8W4P), along with some nice grills, and a wiring kit. I also picked up a set of 4 JBL GTO8628 5x8s to put in the front doors, and the rear panels. I'll probably move the Jensens over to my Nissan.

Over the weekend I'm going to mount the amp in the seat well opposite the ham radio, cut 8" holes in the "seat delete panel" for the JBL speakers, and lay on the auto carpet. Plus mount in all the 5x8 JBLs. Once the 8" speakers arrive I'll mount them to the panel along with the grills, finish up the wiring, and it's Miller Time!

Today is April 30, 2016. I've completely finished the rear seat delete & enhanced audio install. Over the last month I've mostly been waiting around for the JBL speakers to arrive.

Here's a helpful tip Never, EVER, buy anything from Beach Audio in FL.! What a pack of IDIOTS! I ordered 2 speakers, one arrives. They shipped it in it's original JBL box with just some tape wrapped around it. As you may guess, it was damaged beyond use. BTW, Where's speaker number 2?? I contact them, "Oh sorry, sorry.. We'll send 2 new speakers ASAP"! I tell them to please ship them together, double boxed, and properly packed! "Oh, Yes Sir, Yes Sir"... Guess what... A couple weeks go by first 1 shows up, same crappy "no packing". Then a couple days later a second, same deal. Luckily no one dropped any of these and they weren't damaged, but It blew the better part of April waiting for them. Hrumph!!!! I always buy my raw speakers from Parts Express. Should have stuck to a known & reliable Co.!

While I was waiting for the speakers to show up I covered the plywood with carpet, mounted the Blaupunkt amp, pulled all the cables and wired things up. I took pictures of all this, but they seem to have disapeared. I'll add them if I find them.

Here's what I could find. Adding the carpet to the plywood, and the final job, all finished up.

Add Carpet