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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - V8 Roadster comes home in 2 days!

http://www.v8mgb.com. She's almost ready...

Sal

Sally

What is the curb weight of that car? All that wiring and gear must be incredibly heavy, no? I realize the emphasis is not on performance, but still. I guess I love plain cars, because I am nuts about the car when you first bought it -- I wouldn't have done a danged thing to it except probably stick a tranny in there ... but then ye had to go and stop by the cosmetics counter a wee bit long ...
Terrence

Oh god you're right - it sucks, what have I done?!!
Sally

Sally, I looked at your site and it strikes me that you have more interest in what you call "good music" than MGs. The car looks interesting and I will be looking forward to seeing the finished article but you can't do what you have without expecting criticism - but then again you seem to me to be to able to take that. My real problem is not you or what you have done to the car but that others who caim to be interested in "good music" in cars seem unable to accept that to my ears it is far from good! Basically I just don't want to hear it if I have not chosen to. But then you wouldn't be one of those who drive around pumping out so much volume that I could hear it up here in Nottingham, would you. Good luck - but keep the bloody volume down.
Ian Thomson

A question for you car audio experts: I am in the process of putting a halfway decent system in a GTV8 -- not nearly so fancy as Sally's but it does have a small amp for the rear speakers which I placed inside the unused left rear battery box: it's necessary to run the RCA cables rearward, as well as the blue signalling wire, from the head unit back to the amp. I spent a couple of hours today sheathing them in split-loom tubing, and running them through the big rubber firewall grommet, down about an inch aft of the headers (I hope that split-loom tubing is somewhat heat resistant!) and back along the main wiring harness that includes the battery cable. After considerable exertion getting them cable-clamped to the main harness, I read the directions (!!) and it says to route the RCA cables well clear of power cables, etc. so as not to produce noise. Will the way I did it make any material difference? The main loom is by far the most logical place to attach them; besides, I am hell-bent on making as few permanent alterations to the car as possible so it's crucial to use the firewall grommet.

My reason for using a separate amp is, the GTV8 is a very loud car at speed and extra power should help overcome this. Because I did not wish to alter the car, the biggest speakers I could use are 4" front and rear -- the front I laboriously installed into the kick panels (no problem altering the panels themselves) and the rear I super-laboriously installed into carpeted panels I made to insert into the rear empty spaces just forward of the taillights. I soldered "high-pass" capacitors into the + speaker wires all around, so that the little 4-inchers wouldn't get bogged down trying to reproduce a lot of bass. Managed to tuck the speaker wiring under the carpet. Lastly I am installing a Bazooka powered subwoofer in the trunk next to the spare tire -- which fits because the rear deck had to be shimmed upward slightly in order for the 195/60/15 spare tire to fit. The subwoofer is mounted with a rather interesting velcro, Plexiglass and wood contrivance, again in the interest of not altering the car. It all _looks_ superb; I don't know how it will sound yet.

As far as head units, I happened upon a Nakamichi non-changer AM/FM/CD unit that was on closeout ($140) and that looks extremely plain -- quite suitable for a vintage car, in contrast to many of the gaudy mass-market systems. No problem whatsoever getting it to fit in the radio console, with room to spare behind it. No matter how I sliced it, I could not figure out how a CD changer could be installed, unless I wanted to put it inside the cabin which I did not. I hooked it up briefly to the front speakers and the FM reception, anyway, seems exceptional.

As far as the amp for the rear speakers, if you want to put it in the battery box you have very little choice. I took the empty battery box to a car stereo store and they sold exactly one model, 50W per side I believe, that just barely fits. I forget the brand, it's not a particularly good one but not too costly either. Easy enough to install in said battery box; you need to provide some ventilating holes for the heat.

The one permanent alteration you do have to make to the car is to drill three holes in the bottom front of the trunk area (up on the shelf just forward of the spare wheel) to pass the cabling through (three holes are (i) RCA-R to subwoofer, (ii) RCA-L to subwoofer and (iii) +/-/blue switching/speakers. Rather than just use waterproof sealant, the stereo store in question sold really superb Monster Cable hard plastic and rubber grommets that accommodate this function very nicely. I sure wasn't too keen on drilling three 3/4" holes in the body, but I was able to zinc and Waxoyl the holes and I'm now not _too_ worried about rust, etc. ... this isn't an area which has to deal with any material moisture. Not happy about drilling holes, but unless you are a magician there's just no other way.

I think that, for about $750 plus a heck of a lot of time, this system will be OK. And it's not very heavy -- don't know the exact weight, though. But before I finish boxing everything up, I wonder if you all could tell me if my choice of cable-run locations is idiotic. (One thing that's a bummer is that I seem to have lost track of what's + and - on the speaker wires -- I know you should pay attention to keeping them in phase -- any easy way to tell which is + and which is -?)
Bob

I would not put that split loom near the headers. Unless you bought some special stuff it is not very heate resistant. It is just nylon after all..

It may be a pain in the neck, but I did this in my truck. run the wiring under the dash and then under the carpet along the bottom corner of the tranny tunnel. then you can drop a hole into the battery box and spread out to your speakers. You could even use both side of the tunnel, the key is to hide it in the corners and under the carpet.
Larry Embrey

Car looks great Sal.

Anyone can see you have combined two of your loves into one, with the emphasis on the car. Otherwise your web address would have been audiomad.com.

I am in the process of sorting out my stereo and found you information really useful.

Keep up the good work.

Nick
http://www.mgbv8.co.uk/
Sick Smallwood

Thanks Nick!
I have now come to expect the usual flurry of abuse and/or jealous comments, but it's nice when somebody 'gets' it. It's just a car that I did something a bit different with to make it right for me - after all, it's my car and I'm the one who's going to be driving it for the next X years. I'm not saying everyone should do the same. However, no one who's seen the car in person has been anything other than amazed at how gorgeous it is. 2 folks have seperately called it a 'baby Aston Martin', one called it a 'TVR that looks good on the outisde as well!', and none of them saw any of the audio bits. A guy asked me yesterday if I was planning to get a stereo, and where would I put the speakers?! I pointed out that the speakers were already in the car.

Ian,
Don't worry. It's a common misconception that anyone who installs car audio with an amp is just after volume. My amp is not only necessary to run my head unit (which does not have a small built-in amp like most off-the-shelf head units do) but also to give the whole system extra power. Now this is not for volume (I could turn up my old amp-less system plenty loud if I wanted to) but basically the more power you have to the system, the LESS you need to turn it up in order to hear the same clarity in the music. And if I do decide to crank it up with the top down, the car next door will be treated to some 'proper' music - my Motown collection, or perhaps the Kinks. All in perfect clarity - not just some bmmph bmmph dance beat escaping from the boot!

BTW, I grew up in Nottingham - you couldn't get me back there if the rest of the country was on fire! ; )
Sally

To Bob in Charleston, the speaker wires are 'marked' to indicate polarity by a raised strip on the side of one of the paired wires. You can use this to indicate positive or negative. It's obvious if you're looking for it, but easy to overlook if you're not. All the speaker wire I've ever seen is marked this way.
Sally, thanks for all the good ideas; have a great time driving it.

Joe
Joe Ullman

Sally, you mention on your site that this 'Vinylkote' product is still being made. Would you have an address for the company?
Bob

http://www.woolies-trim.u-net.com
Sally

Very nice site Sally and your car is stunning.
James Skinner

Sally, My point is not that you will go around creating the sort of noise pollution that some do, but that your choice of music is not mine. What you regard as "proper" music may or may not be what I regard as such, or appreciate. It's just that if I am listening to something else - or nothing at all - I should have the right to do so without others imposing their tastes on me. Whatever the clarity; and even if our tastes are the same, I just want to hear what I have chosen to - without having to hear others' choice of listening as well.
Ianm Thomson

Ian,

Yes, I did understand the point you were making - and I agree with you fully, as my reply stated. The last part (about the Kinks) was thrown in for humour. You're not American, are you?!...
Sally

peace?
ian thomson

Point Ian is that if you read any of Sally's website you would see that she wrote extensively about how she is far more interested in sound quality, than loudness. She in fact said that she was not interested in the latter.
It's not vitally important, but for Christ sake if you must moan go and moan about something relevant.
Cheers
Warwick
Warwick Blench

BTB
Great looking motor Sally, Not sure about the Wolfrace wheels though. They are a bit seventies Starsky and Hutch for my taste. Did you think about knock off Halibrands? Rest of it looks blistering (in the best sense of the word that is).
Cheers
Warwick
Warwick Blench

Sally, when you get the car back do tell how the sound is. I was told by an excellent local stereo installer that it probably wasn't worth putting a really high-end system into a roadster because the car was simply too bloody loud, unaero, etc. ... but if that's wrong and you do find it works well, would be very interested. I mean, doubtless it will sound super at lower speeds but I use my MG mostly for longer trips at relatively high speed. Also, how powerful is that big McIntosh amp? I couldn't seem to find it on the site ... what did you end up doing for the subwoofer ... you were thinking about placing it behind the driver's seat IIRC ... but I don't think that would be possible in my case b/c I could not then move the seat back enough.

I would think that RV8-style hood/top, while I'm not really wild about the rear window, would greatly help on the noise front with all the insulation, etc.

Same as Warwick, I love it but I'm not crazy about the wheels. (I thought real Wolfrace wheels were kind of like they put on the 240z's ... with 5 kidney-shaped cutouts and a fairly consistent concave dish? ... a lot of folks have those on their BV8s so they must fit too.)

Super minor point ... I'd probably put the MGB nameplate back on the trunk!
Roger

Warwick/Roger,

Starskey & Hutch - cooool! (I'm a child of the '80's). It _is_ a '70's car though, so I think the '70's wheels are well suited. My second choice was knock-on Minilites, but I do find them a bit boring - every MGB I see has either wires or Minilites (or replicas), and I obviously can't have wires because of the V8. There were some deeper dished Slot Mags Wolfrace made, but mine are genuine Wolfrace Slot Mags too - just a more subtle version. They were on another MGB before I got them. I love those deeper ones, but these were the only ones I could find, and they're near enough for now.

The RV8-style hood, combined with all the Dynamat and soundproofing carpet, cuts out a huge amount of road/wind/engine noise (and that big rear window is a god send for rear vision!). I think getting a great sound from the system when the top is up will be no problem at all. With the top down and at speed we might have a bit more of a problem, but I'll soon find out and I'll let y'all know.

As for the MG boot badge, that's just my personal preference. I'm always a "less is more" kinda person. Don't like logos, think the design/shape should speak for itself. I guess it must look odd if you're used to the badge being there though - I'm so used to it now that the badge looks fussy and cluttered. Besides, it's easier to add one later than to take it off once it's on!
Sal

Roger,

The McIntosh (MCC446) is 4 Channel x 55 Watts + 2 Channels x 110 Watts. Still undecided about the sub. The audio is the next big job...

Sal
Sally

Sally
Car is looking great--anxious to see the final audio layout espessially the placement of the tweeters.
James Johanski

This thread was discussed between 13/06/2001 and 21/06/2001

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