1982 CHP #0327

[Wolfe1013]

Amazing work, Steve! Do you double as an electrical engineer in your second life after the CHP? 👍🏻

[28HopUp]

Great job and excellent write-up. Thanks​ for sharing.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Wolfe1013

Amazing work, Steve! Do you double as an electrical engineer in your second life after the CHP? 👍🏻

Yes, my main occupation is Electrical Engineer. I left CHP to go back to College and earn a BSEE degree. But I still work in LE part time, both for a Sheriff's Office and for a local city PD. 37 years total now.

It's supposed to be rainy again the next few days, which means inside work. Next up will be completing the wiring harnesses and installing the Federal TS100 outside speaker.

[mac88chp]

Very nice work. Here is a shot of a CHP fuse block I owned at one time. John S. (John10608) has it now.

[Steve]

I did see that one and it helped inspire my version.

[chp1982]

Invaluable information, Steve. Maybe this can be integrated into the CHP Restoration document.

[Steve]

It was cloudy and cold again today, a perfect day for inside work. I had recently received the 100W outside speaker purchased on eBay, so I thought this would be a good day to install it.
The TS100 is a little larger than I expected, and is heavy, no doubt due to having a large permanent magnet in the coil area. The first thing to do was look at 0327 to see where it would go and what I could take advantage of from the past.
On 0327, the original had been installed on the driver’s side. That was obvious because there was a rectangular cutout in the lower bumper near the LF corner, and I could see where CHP had cut part of the plastic splash protection out on the inside of the LF fender to enable access to the area inside. I took the speaker assembly and tried fitting it into that area. I was hoping to see an indicator of what type of mounting bracket CHP had used and where it was, but there was only one obvious hole drilled in the underside of the frame that might have been used. It was inconclusive. So I knew I would have to fabricate something.
The speaker came with a mounting bracket that I couldn’t use as is, but it did pick up two of the mounting holes of the coil housing. So I modified the bracket, then fabricated an L bracket that would mount to the underside of the frame and attach to the modified speaker bracket. I used 1/8” stainless steel sheet to make the L bracket; it had to be strong and SS would prevent rust. It was some work and there were several hours of trial fit, marking, and modifying to get it right. I wanted it securely mounted, tucked in as much as possible, but not touching or too close to the radiator or anything that could damage it from contact and vibration. The most difficult part was the plastic air intake snorkel tube the Mustang uses (on each side). It takes up a lot of room in there and one edge of it pressed against the speaker horn and prevented it from going far enough into the well to enable square and a well-located mounting for the assembly.
I don’t know what CHP did; I wonder if they had a TS100 with a slightly smaller horn? I cut three slits in the open part of the snorkel tube to enable it to flex where the horn pushed against it to relieve the stress. Then I drilled three pilot holes in the underside of the frame, and mounted the L bracket with heavy-duty self-drilling screws. I had already run the wires into the area, and I wanted to keep the connectors the speaker came with, so I spliced the wiring by soldering them then using shrink tubing to protect the splices. I also used plastic flex tubing to protect the wires all the way from where they came through the firewall; I really like the look of that tubing. You can use regular speaker wire for this, 16 or 18 gauge is fine.
There was no way I could see to mount the unit so the speaker horn is oriented the same way as the cutout in the front bumper, or get any closer to it without cutting out a large piece of the air intake snorkel. So the speaker horn is oriented 90 degrees different than the cutout, but everything is lined up, brackets are straight, so I’m good with it. As soon as I get the CC1 and MPA2 installed I will be able to test.

[ImEvil1]

Great write-ups, Steve.

Here is a picture of the mounts that CHP fabbed up for the siren speaker. It's in the CHP resto doc also. I know it's a newer car than yours, but I'm pretty sure my '82 still had it there also.

http://www.specialservicemustang.net...CHPspeaker.jpg