curtislyons

I had the same creaking sound in my ute and kept looking under it expecting to find the u bolt nuts barely on. But they all looked fine every time. So I took the wheels and tightened all the nuts and now the noise is gone. I was actually surprised at how much I tightened them when they didn't appear loose. Fixed it for me

Ive had my ute since october last year and although it has 'premium' sound, I have struggled to convince myself its decent. In all of my previous cars Ive had good aftermarket stereos installed. You can spend $100 or $1000 on just a pair of speakers and its safe to say anything will sound better than stock if you choose a reputable brand and run it off a decent headunit and/or amp. So anyway heres what I did to the ute..... - use this vid to remove your trim without snapping it off in 3 pieces I was going to make the front speaker mounts from ply and then use a little angled spacer from autobarn to copy the factory mount but instead I just cut the factory speaker from its mount. I just used a jigsaw to cut out the support bars on the back and then you have to cut/rip the rest out around the edge. The factory mounts seem to be made as complicated as possible to make this task even more frustrating haha but it will work with 6'' replacements. Then just screwed the new speaker into the rim on the top edge (where the foam edge is) just watch your screw size and pre drill so as to not slip and put holes in the new speaker which will render them as just magnets and will only produce a noise when you throw them at the ground immediately after) I also decided to just solder the new speakers into the factory connections in the mount since it was easy and just plug them in (I hate crimping) so the tweeters were the easiest part of the project and the factory ones (if you have them) just unscrew from the mounting bracket once you take it off from behind the pillar. I used liquid nails in the middle of the new tweeter and then superglue around the edges to stop any vibration. Just remember that the positive wire on the tweeter comes out of the capacitor on the side so just connect the new one after the capacitor. In the utes the back carpet and side panel is one piece so I cut in the corner join just to remove the sides (otherwise you have to pull up the floor carpet and step) Then I removed the back speakers and this is what your left with... I cut a ply wood panel out using 12mm ply at 180 wide and 250 high to accommodate the 6x9. Then jigsawed out the centre leaving 10mm around the top, bottom and sides of the new speaker. I screwed the panel in just lower then centre of the original hole. I then screwed a pre purchased 25 thick 6x9 spacer onto the panel matching up the 6x9 holes. You have to cut the carpet panel to fit a 6x9 also but keep the spacer behind so you can screw through the carpet and into the spacer. I screwed the speaker through the carpet panel, through the 25mm spacer and into the ply behind, thus holding it all together neatly. (I used a mate to hold it in place since it can be tricky trying the find the ply panel right at the back when you cant see it. just feel for where its solid and put all 4 screw holes over the solid) as long as you line the spacer and the carpet holes up with the ply panel hole it will locate correctly. I know I shouldve taken pics of this but too late so it just goes... 1. ply panel 2. 25mm spacer 3. factory carpet panel 4. new speaker 5. speaker grill the speakers mount slightly angled back which is why I used the 12mm to space off the factory round hole. done. I need to run all four speakers off an amp since the ICC is only running them at about 1/3 of what they should. I would have sound deadened behind the rear speakers for the bit extra as ford cheaped out on it and just did a single little panel in there. I also would have just used 6'' rear speakers but was fooled by the seemingly 6x9 cover in the back haha so make it easy on yourself and go all 6's with the appropriate ply mount. I used JL audio c2600cw front splits which have the external tweeter, they are available with the tweeter built in also. I used JL audio TR series 6x9s as they are a very good speaker with a lot of development behind them and they were good in my last car. when choosing speakers try and preview them at the shop, JB hi fi is the best and autobarn also have a sound wall to hear all of them. JB hi fi has always been the cheapest over the last couple years. I will also be using a digital sound processor to cut out that usual static feedback in these cars and will allow me to connect an amp to the ICC. like this one which is around $250 but rockford and JL also make a similiar unit. Any questions?

What did you do with your back speakers? I have all my speakers ready to go. Mine has premo sound but why they call it that is beyond me. Ford didn't tell me it had premo from the factory and it is sh*thouse to say the least. I'd hate to hear the standard. I've always had good sound in my cars and can't go past the JL audio gear. They are a bit different to normal speakers but go to jb hi fi and get them to show you the sound from them off the wall. You'll understand why they are so good.

heres my ute and the ba/bf driveshaft and fg driveshaft comparison

got a mk2 fg turbo manual and love it, the tramp I get in the dry ONLY with traction off. ive read all of the horror stories about cvs and centre bearings on the fgs and have done my research. a mate has a bf tradesman ute and the driveshaft changes are surprising to say the least. a few people have said that ford are replacing the fg shaft with the ba/bf kit under warranty but I havent even bothered with them. got quoted to lower it from ssa suspension at Virginia, qld. I chose them because the can custom make springs in house. the are so high standard and I want 3-4 inches in the back. they quoted $700 to put in custom main leafs which have a reversed eye (about an inch lower just doing that). they would reset down etc and get it to about 3 inches lower and I made sure they were going to add in another leaf to stiffen it right up to avoid the tramp issue which is usually enhanced with softer reset leafs. the $700 also includes king sl for the front. set to whatever height I wanted, all fitted, drive in/drive out. herrods told me their leafs will go 2 inches lower and they are actually an 's' shape which is apparently the secret to keeping the shaft/cv angles right and therefore avoiding the cv problems. they quoted $750. now, I would definitely be going herrods over anything else, except that I want lower. I will also be forking out for lower rear shocks at about $550 extra not long after getting the leafs done. because I want it stiffer. I have the rear end creak which is apparently the diff bush but I havent looked into it in depth. its only on hills and in reverse for a second when it happens, carpark type sh*t. being around drift cars etc custom driveshafts are common. but for an fg I was quoted $1800. pfffft, ringing a few specialty ford wreckers for a bf/ba driveshaft and turned up empty handed. by chance I found one on ebay local and snapped it up for $25, that was pure luck and chance. the main differences is that the older is a 3 inch full alloy shaft with a universal joint on the diff end instead of the fg's 2 something inch steel shaft with cv to diff. I will post the photo of the different driveshafts on my profile here when I work out how to. but a mate has a mk2 turbo with reset leafs and he has had no issues (not sure if the mk2s are different to the mk1's but I doubt it) and he pretty much drives it sideways full time. basically the plan is to get it lowered and see what happens. maybe look into diff wedges to correct the angles but if the cv sh*ts itself then to fit the older shaft my fg diff will need the other uv half mounted to it and maybe shortening but shouldnt be too much length difference. people have broken the cv and/or centre bearings on stock power and worked, auto and manuals xr8s/turbos and carrying weight or lowered so its hard to know whats going to happen. but it is possible to have a low fg ute without breaking anything!

Got my mk2 in october and as far as I can tell, its a full touch screen, projector headlights, the different shape lower grill (which is actually the same shape as the fpv lower grill outline)