Canadian Mustang Owners Club - Ford Mustang Forums - how to replace the mach 460 system by yourself!

a lot of people i've noticed, including myself.. have been looking for ways for a cheap and good way to replace the stock mach 460 audio system in thier late model mustangs.

THE HEADUNIT:

the first thing you need to do obviously is to find te right headunit for your needs. A lot of makes and models are out there to choose from, DVD, normal Mp3, Ipod and many more with soo many features. if you're going to be running any type of system with aftermarket amplifiers you'll need a HU with pre-out (the RCA connectors on the back) probably three, tow for the two sets of speakers and one for a subwoofer. I will explain more later on.
for this purpose i went with an alpine iDA-X100 (for ipod, bluetooth, and sat radio)

-- REMOVAL:
To remove the radio and/or CD player you will need to purchase or fabricate the tools needed to release the locks holding the two units in place. There are three different methods I have used.

-Take an old coat hanger and cut four lengths from it 4 inches long.

-Take four Allen wrenches just small enough to fit in the lock holes around the two units.

-Ford DIN tools. (U-shaped tool for removing the factory radio)

Slide the hangers/Allen wrenches/factory tools into the four holes located around the outside of each of the units. You will feel a little resistance when the tip of the tool reaches the locks, push passed this point a 1/8 to a 1/4 inch. Do not insert the tool more than a 1/4 inch past the resistance point, other wise the tool will prevent the locks from releasing.

Once all four coat hangers are in place put an inward pressure on them towards the center of the unit and pull the unit outward. It's a little tricky so just keep working with it. Do not force either of the units out of the dash. You may break the housing around the two units if too much force is used. I usually pull out on one side at a time when removing the units. Be careful not to pull either side out to far. You only want to release the latches and then work on the other side. If you pull one side out to far you will never pop the other side loose. This is due to the pressure placed on the locks with the units angle.

after that i recomend finding an aftermarket harness to match up with the ford harness so it's all just plug and play. most aftermarket harness' are colour coded te same as the head unit so it is easy as pie. and you can still retain all the stock speakers.

More advanced work

Amplifiers:

Now if you're still here and wanting to replace the speakers.. you can just run speakers from the HU.. but quality will lack, even over the stock sound system. I'd recomend waiting untill you have all the componants needed for a good system. and that includes an amplifier.
For te speaker all you need is a decent four channel amp (for four speakers..). the other thing you want to look at; is where are you putting it? I opted for a lower profile amp again from alpine to fit under my passenger seat. you want to find a place where it's not going to be damaged, has room to breathe and cool, and is decent to access. under the passenger seat is a great place because it isn't too far from the HU (you have to run RCA cables from the pre-outs to the amp, as well as a remote lead from the HU to tell the amp to turn on[usually a blue wire])
next thing is; how big of an amp do i need? speakers are fairly simple, for example: if you have 4 speakers able to run at 150W max each, 150W x 4 = 600W. Therefore you dont want to be pumping 1000W to your speakers unless you want to keep replacing them. go with a safe amp running 600W or 500W.

Subwoofers and thier amps i'll explain later..

the biggest issue with an aftermarket amp is the power lead. most people think "oh we'll just drill a hole in my firewall!" NO DO NOT ATTEMP UNLESS YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHERE YOU ARE DRILLING!! it's easy untill an amp install turns into replacing something like an ECU.. I went and found an exisisting hole on my driver side where i fit the little bugger in with no problem and then ran the lead under my HU, under my center console, under the carpet to here it met the amp under the seat. you'd never guess it was there.:tup

THE SPEAKERS!

now a lot of people will say: "wont it look ugly running wires in youre car's interior?" i'll explain where the best places to run wires are for front and rear.

SIZE:
size with the mach system seems to be another big issue. the stock speakers for the coupe are 5x7's all 'round and the convert has 5 1/2's i think in the rear..
**Note: this part is for coupe only... convert should be simmilar if not easier**

for the speakers i went with all alpine type S 6x9's. if you could find 5x7's that's even better, but i had no issues installing the ones i had.

FRONT:
Using a flat head screwdriver, pry off the trim around the door handle being careful not to break it.

Using a flat head screwdriver, pop the push in fastener from the leading edge of the door.

Using a flat head screwdriver, remove the trim panel housing the window and door lock controls by prying up on the panel. It should pop right up and off.

Next use a Philips head screwdriver and unscrew the switches from the window and door lock trim panel.

Remove the two Philips head screws on the door panel and remove the door panel off while lifting up and outward. If the panel has never been removed before it may take some force to remove. Keep working it up and out.

Note: On the drivers side door the electric windows wire harness will need to be unplugged.

once that is done, all you need is to remove the speaker and after that feed the wire lead through the "door pipe" (a little tricky but still very possible) and run the wire to your amp. install is reverse.

REAR:

Using a T-15 Torx headed driver or Allen wrench remove the two amps located on each corner of the sound board. There are four screws holding each amp!

There are five sunken holes around the center of the sound board. Using a nut driver, remove the four nuts located around the bottom center of the sound board. Note: The center hole has no bolt in it.

Next using the same driver and while supporting the sound board, remove the two nuts located under the two amps you removed earlier. Note: Support the sound board while removing the last two nuts. Once these nuts are removed the sound board will drop to the trunk floor. Also as the sound board is dropping you will see two wires running into the top of the sound board. Unplug these before it drops to the floor. They will not reach and you may damage the plugs. (you wont need the plugs if replacing the speakers.)

again remove the speakers and feed the wires through the sound board. leave a bit of overhanging so you can grab them again.

re-install the sound board

grab the wires you left hanging and keep the lead hidden. i ran mine under the carpet in the inside of the trunk beside the fold down seats, ran them throught a hole in the metal wall. under the seats, under the carpet again (can also go under the mouldings along the side. but is long and may require a lot of speaker lead.) hook up to your amp, make sure all you're wiring is good and snug (not going to need fixing..)
and test the system.

TESTING:

Most HU's now have a fader, use it to see if all four speakers are working, just has to work and have music playing. it may not be the greatest off the bat at higher levels, but we're not done. set your HU's volume to half it's max and fine tune youre amp to what you like.

**IMPORTANT**

most people do not pay much attention to it but all speaker do have a break in period! slowly start at 5 and every fifteen minutes go up another 5 volume untill you reach max and you should be good. i know it's hard, but unless you spent $50 on all ur speakers you'll probably want them to last. it's just like a new clutch.

after that have fun and rock had. it's a lot of time involved. but i went to the shop and asked. my speaker system: i spent $1500 with everything, (wiring speakers, HU, Amp.) and my local installer wanted 2.5k to do it..:banghead: it was well worth it, a lot of fun, and not all that hard. and sounds great!:tup

any quetsions?