Hi all, My 1987 Testarossa came with a non-functioning head unit and speakers / tweeters that are fitted but disconnected. Can anyone advise me on how to remove the tweeters without breaking anything, please? I’ve added a photo. Thanks in advance! Image Unavailable, Please Login
first post and not even filled out his profile right and not introduce himself a little? how I hate this non-personel internet
Ah, thank you. That’s very helpful. Is there a trick to reaching them without dismantling the dash? I tried to reach my hand up to feel the reverse of the tweeter, but couldn’t.
My apologies! Richard, 40, based in the Midlands, UK, and just acquired my first Ferrari. I’ve got some experience with maintaining classic cars through owning a 1987 BMW M6 and a 1991 Lotus Excel, but I know very little about the Testarossa. Here to learn and grateful for any pointers.
thank you richard and welcome to the friends of the flat 12 ferraris long ago I fastened those tweeters because they have been loose and made terrible noise. and at that time I had the dashboard out and it was easy fo fix. so sorry, can not tell you if it would be possible when the dashboard is in. but not only ferrari often makes things very complicated because all is be done outside the car and put in the car when finished and nobody cares about how to reach there later
Since you have a euro (GB) version (without the knee protection brace of a US version), I believe that, if you remove the red panel with the main speaker, you might be able to reach up to access the back of the tweeter.
Interesting, thank you. I’ve tried but my hands are too big. Will see if it’s accessible with tools and a camera.
Thanks, it’s really helpful to see how they fit together. I think on balance I’m best leaving the current tweeters in place and just swapping the main speakers.
I have the larger speaker removed right now on a Swiss testarossa, and even with it out of the way, I can just touch the tweeter, with my NOT big hands. This is on the passenger side of a left hand drive car. Not a chance of getting to it on the drivers side with the woofer still in place. Sure is NICE not having that stupid knee pad that's in the US cars. It's EIGHTEEN pounds of unnecessary weight in my mind! The Euro cars seem so much more roomy without it, and for situations like this trying to get to the tweeters, so much simpler. The 18 pounds ISN'T a guess, I have it sitting on my shop scale RIGHT now having weighed it last week.
I have the dash out of a 1989 Testarossa, and can see the back side of the speakers clearly. On both sides of the dash the tube for the vent is in front of the speakers, making access difficult. The tweeters on this car are held in with four nuts that look like they require an 8 millimeter socket. On the drivers side of this car which is an American model is a small motor used to draw in air to measure the temperature for the heater control. This ALSO blocks access to the tweeter. The air vent tube which is on both sides of this car, is riveted to the back of the dash. So access without removing the dash is REALLY challenging. Maybe if you're really patient and you use a 1/4 inch drive socket and wobbly socket with an extension, a mirror or a camera to see, it maybe possible. With the back of the dash on a bench, the nuts are assessable- doing it on your back with barely enough room to get your eyes on the nuts- I think you'd be hating life. A picture from ME would be worth a thousand words, but I'm not up to speed on posting photos online.
Ohhhh. That motor is the thing that was making noises on my car. Always wondered what that rattle was.
Thanks all for your very helpful and informative replies. I tested the existing tweeters by connecting a small battery to the taped-off wires, and they both emitted a clear crackle. On this basis, I’m going to wire the existing tweeters and new woofers (replacing the old coaxial speakers) into a crossover and see how it sounds. Much less hassle than trying to fit the new tweeters behind the dash!
I thoght I would post some pics, as I have just completed a tweeter upgrade. First of all - this is a dash out job. There is no other way around this. Sure, you can remove the factory grills and press-in some aftermarket tweeters, but you will loose the OEM look. If you want to keep the OEM grill, the dash has to come out. For those that are not ready to take the dash out, here are two good candidates. Both have no logo on the grills (99% of the tweeters available on the market have manufacturer's logo on them, which would be a big no-no for me, as it instantly screams aftermarket). Both are 2-way systems, consisting of tweeters, 165mm mid-bass drivers and crossovers. Both are in $150-200 range. HiFonics ZS6.2E https://www.hifonics.de/english/zs6.2e.html Image Unavailable, Please Login Advantages: - they look OEM-ish - are relatively flat - the silk dome is black Disadvantages: - 50mm outer diameter, so 6mm larger than OEM grills; installing them would require enlarging the hole in the dash. Musway 6.2C https://musway.de/english/me6.2c.html Image Unavailable, Please Login Advantages: - they look OEM-ish - are relatively flat - they are same size as OEM grilles - 44mm, so should fit plug & play Disadvantages: - the silk dome is not exactly black - it has some yellow/green tint to it, so even tho there is no logo, they somehow draw a bit of attention to themselves.
Now for those brave few, that are not affraid to take the dash out. This is the backside of the dash - as you can see, there is a plastic AC piping that blocks access to the tweeter: Image Unavailable, Please Login You can see the tweeter hidden behind the plastic AC pipe: Image Unavailable, Please Login To remove the AC vent pipes, you need to drill out rivets: Image Unavailable, Please Login With AC piping removed: Image Unavailable, Please Login You can see where the factory tweeter clips in. My car had no tweeters - probably the previous owner attempted to upgrade / replace them and failed. Here is the Musway ME6.2C tweeter we have used, next to plastic OEM mounting bracket: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Tweeter installed in the OEM bracket (some dremmel skills were needed): Image Unavailable, Please Login and back (please note we placed 3 small pieces of a black soft tape, on the small metal tabs holding OEM grill - this was done to prevent any future rattles / squeaks from the aftermarket metal grill touching the OEM grill's metal tabs): Image Unavailable, Please Login Tweeter installed: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Loctite applied, new tweeter bolted down: Image Unavailable, Please Login Same on driver's side: Image Unavailable, Please Login Job done: new Musway tweeters behind OEM grills: Image Unavailable, Please Login
I managed to replace my factory tweeters NOS tweeters in my 92 512 without removing the dash. I had to remove the knee bar, which is much easier to do than on a Testarossa. The removed the Ac temperature fan thing-a-doey! Followed by a lot of cussing and cut knuckles! I don't think its possible on Testarossa without removing dash.
For those looking for a modern headunit (with BT streaming and hands-free) - the new retro-look Blaupunkt Frankfurt 82DAB is a perfect match for Ferrari orange/red instrument cluster. Image Unavailable, Please Login The hearunit has RGB illumination, meaning it can adjusted in steps for any color from red, green and blue and all inbetween. Tech talk (via Grok): Each RGB LED has 3 channels (Red, Green, Blue), and each channel can be adjusted in 16 steps (from 0 to 15, inclusive). The total number of possible colors is the product of the number of steps for each channel across all three LEDs. For one RGB LED: Red: 16 steps Green: 16 steps Blue: 16 steps Total colors for one LED = 16 × 16 × 16 = 16³ = 4,096 colors. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
