280ZX Radio Replacement, Hawk Electronics Rip-off?

[Phantom]

My son took his '83 280ZX into Hawk Electronics to see about a new head unit and was told it would be $950.00!!!!!

Their reasoning is that the 280ZX uses a single wire speaker and that, in addition to the head unit, they would have to replace all the speakers and run all new wiring - as well as a new faceplate.

The faceplate I can get from MSA for $18.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong. The 280ZX basically has the two big speakers in the face of the deck area behind the seats. How hard would it be to just rework those speakers to a two-wire system and run the wires to the new head unit? At worst case - just replace them?

Anyone encountered this?

[Guest 305240]

Roflmao at Hawk electronics! They just don't want to rip you off, they want to retire off you. The sterio in the 280ZX's are like a 2 part system. meaning the radio and tape player are seperate. At least it's that way in both of my 81s. If it were me, I'd get the new faceplate and install the speakers I wanted. I did this with an alpine head unit and a pair of 6" round 100watters in my storage lids and a set of 200 watt 9" ovals in a speaker box I fabbed in the back. I can't turn it up all the way it's so loud, and I'm not even using an amp! I still got the working original set up.

[Guest 305240]

Sorry, forgot to add that it doesn't take much to run the wires under the carpet by the console. My total time for the installation took me about an hour, which included cutting the acces doors and building the speaker box. The faceplate change is pretty straight forward. Hope this helps.

[Phantom]

Thanks, I thought it would be pretty straight-forward. Maybe I'll replace the electric antenna while we're at it.

[280Zen]

Does the bitching betty still work in your 83 zx? I know that some of the BB functions run through the stereo to the center dash speaker. You could either run a seperate wire or wire up a seperate speaker for it. You would have to look in the haynes manual for the diagram.

[Phantom]

Naw - Betty died before I got the car. The master warning light works most of the time but it randomly indicates a taillight out (they all work fine) and it got stuck on low windshield washer fluid so I disconnected that function. Car has about 220,000 miles on it and is showing the wear. I'm helping my son fix it up good enough to drive while he finishes out the Seminary.

[80LS1T]

If I remember correctly my 80' ZX had 2 wires going to each speaker? I would run new wire anyways if it was me. That 21 year old wiring probably isnt all that great anyways.

 

 

Guy

[Sumo]

We had an 82 ZX and it wasnt that hard to put an aftermarket stereo in it including the speaker wires that we put in it. We had purchased most of our stuff from crutchfield back in the early 90's and they even provided me with the wiring diagram of the stock system and a faceplate. I dont know if they provide the plate now. We even replaced the stock antenna with a fully automatic one from Pep Boys for around $50.

[Guest HolyLlama]

My 80 and 81 ZX had 2 wires running to each speaker, although they were tiny. I'd go ahead and replace the wires because the speakers are (I am not joking) 8 watts max apiece and I doubt the wires could support the higher current of a modern speaker.

 

HiFi Buys was the same way to me, they wanted 2000k to install a $300 Alpine head unit, $300 worth of speakers, and a $100 FM modulator. That's 1300 for installation, to be fair that included installing my existing amp, sub, satellite radio and and cd changer. I installed all that in my Oldsmobile by myself in two hours. So it's not like it's a major deal. In my experience, most audio shops will rip you off.