96 GT Mach 460 Convertible

Haymore1965 · Mar 8, 2023

So one of my three amps in my 96 gt with Mach 460 went out and would drain my battery in minutes (before I unplugged them all) so problem is gone but no radio.

I want to have a stereo in the car so what I’d like to know is if I put in new speakers and tweeters all around the car, can I simply run new wire from each speaker to headunit and simply bypass the amps?

I will most likely remove the amps from the car.

ttocs · Mar 8, 2023

yes you can run new wire to each location. Now on the 94/95 there is a harness that you can connect to next to the radio that allows you to use the stock speaker wires and still bypass the amp but they changed it on 96 and I never got to dig into one and find where it is. The harness will come off of the front amp and should have at least 8 wires on it.

Haymore1965 · Mar 8, 2023

ttocs said:
yes you can run new wire to each location. Now on the 94/95 there is a harness that you can connect to next to the radio that allows you to use the stock speaker wires and still bypass the amp but they changed it on 96 and I never got to dig into one and find where it is. The harness will come off of the front amp and should have at least 8 wires on it.

Awesome good to know. Yeah my buddy redid his SS on his 94 and mentioned that. I’ll just remove the Amps and re run all new wire and such.

ttocs · Mar 8, 2023

there really isn't a need to run new wire if you can find the stock wiring. If you had a 94/95 I could point you right to it, but it will come off of the front amp under the radio. Be sure to at least disconnect the front amp if not remove it because it can continue to kill the battery even though it is not playing.

Haymore1965 · Mar 8, 2023

ttocs said:
there really isn't a need to run new wire if you can find the stock wiring. If you had a 94/95 I could point you right to it, but it will come off of the front amp under the radio. Be sure to at least disconnect the front amp if not remove it because it can continue to kill the battery even though it is not playing.

I have a 96 though, which you said was first year they added something in the wire harness?

ttocs · Mar 8, 2023

the wire harnesses are different, but the wiring is still there. There are speaker wires that go from that front amp to each tweeter so if you connect your decks speaker outputs to that harness, and then use the tweeters speaker wire as your signal you do not have to run new wire. What you might try to do is to pull the front amp out and take a look at the harness. As I said there should be 8 wires for the 4 tweeters but of course we do not know the colors right? Go to the speaker/tweeter location and you can see what the wire colors are there, and then in a perfect world they are the same in the dash. If you are on the drivers side front, connect the white wires(white/white with black) to the correct wires in the dash(you can pick +/- just be sure to match it when you connect the speaker), and then connect the wires at the tweeter to your new speaker.

cobrajeff96 · Mar 9, 2023

To trace wires out without having to remove them or remove the dash where the wires snake behind, you can buy yourself a Fox & Hound cable toner. Real easy to use and cheap. Makes life easier.

ttocs · Mar 9, 2023

Those are great tools and I had one when I was installing full time but for one time use they are a little pricey. If you find two wires that you think are speaker wires and want to test them, first leave the speaker connected and test for resistance and you should find something between 3-6 ohms. You can figure out which speaker it is connected to by taking a AA battery and touching one wire to one side and the other wire to the other side of the battery. If you have the correct speaker wires the speaker will make a light popping noise. Don't hold the battery to the wires just tap them on/off/on/off.