I just went to a small car audio shop near my house and talked to the head installer and want your guys opinion on his pricing and everything. I have a 2000 mustang with a mach 460 that was butchered by the previous owner (he cut off the harnesses and a few other wires so only the tweeters run off of a cheap dual head unit). The installer told me it will most likely be pretty expensive to get the Mach system up and running again so I might as well go with aftermarket stuff. He wants to charge me $840 to run new wires to the speakers, put in components that i already have, put in 6x9s that i already have (i know these don't fit but he said he could make it work), an RE audio VLX 4150x 4 channel amp, install the amp, and a pioneer head unit that he said cost $189.00 (i didn't see what the exact model was), and install for the head unit. Does this seem like a fair price or should I go check out some other places?

Either that or I was going to see if anyone here knows how to rewire a mustang and can give me a pretty good how-to and then install the amp and speakers with my brother since he has done that before.

 

I'd vote for going to a few more shops to obtain second/third/fourth opinions. That goes DOUBLE in this economy where certain industries are literally fighting for business.

 

DEFINITELY get more quotes and advice. The more guys you talk to, the more you'll learn. And you'll probably end up figuring out which guys were BS'ing you. From there, you can make an educated decision. OR, maybe you'll figure out the job may be worth tackling yourself. A little time consuming for 'amateurs' like myself, but not overly complicated. Just take the time to properly solder connections, etc.

 

No way I would pay that kind of money.

For wiring new speakers, that is as simple as running speaker wires from the amp to the speaker locations. If you brother can help you wire up the amp which itself isn't too hard, the rest is just running speaker wire.

 

Alright that doesn't sound too hard. What gauge speaker wire would I need, 16? If I have the speaker wires run to the amp, what will be hooked up to the head unit? Ground, power, and turn on/off wires along with RCA's from the amp?

 

Not sure about speaker wire size off the top of my head, but I think 16 gauge should be fine.

The best way is probably to get a head unit with enough preamp outputs that you would run straight to the Amp(not sure if all units have these now, and the number does vary). There is also a remote turn on wire that runs from the head unit to the amp. This turns on the Amp when the car is started so it does not run all the time. I forget the gauge of this wire but it is a pretty small one.

The most important things are that the power and ground cables are done correctly and the specifics on those depend on if you have multiple amps and the power ratings.

 

I do that same type of install for about $350-$375 with 4 GA amp kit and all wiring,not including the radio

 

Would you mind given me a little how-to on rewiring the car. Like where to run the power wire for the amp, the speaker wires from the amp to the speakers, and then the RCAs?

 

sorry if this is sloppy, i'm doing it from memory and just a quick over view. if amp is in trunk,

remove rear seat bottom. (http://www.americanmuscle.com/99-04-...e-install.html)

start with wire of your choice(from the sound of your setup probably 8 gauge power/ground. also, i would get about 20 feet to make sure you have more than enough, and an additional 3 for ground.) by the battery.

attach wire to a coat hanger and push it through the rubber boot in firewall(driver side)
should come out underneath the steering wheel.pull it tight enough where a lot of it is inside.

give the door seal (driver side) a good couple tugs and it will come off. run the wire under this, then continue into the area where the rear seat goes.run it in between where the top part of the rear seat folds at. leave excess wire under seat.

for my ground, i put a ring terminal on one end of the wire and got a metal screw and drilled it directly into the car in the spare tire area. make sure you use some steal wool or something to get the paint off so it gets a good connection.

for rca's and remote wire, you start at the back of the head unit, and run it the same way you did the power wire under the door sill and rear seat except on the passenger side, because if the power and rca's are close you get interference.

to run the speaker wire to the speakers:

for the front: run it back up the same way the power and rca's came to the door. for the rear, theyre right in the trunk.

http://www.mikefordmustang.com/write...el-mustang.php

 

thanks girardi! This is going to help out a ton