99 Taurus unmarked unit. PICS ADDED!

apco25 · Post by **apco25** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 11:17 am

I have a 99 Taurus here to convert from administrative car to a full unmarked unit.

What bracket from whelen will fit this model year for an SA314 speaker?

Only brackets I can find are either really old body style Taurus 92-95 or late model 02-05 (which I've installed before).

Or can I get by with the universal bracket? Car isn't here yet to scope out obstruction free mounting areas.

007 · Post by **007** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 7:59 pm

Two words: Good Luck

apco25 · Post by **apco25** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 8:07 pm

I know, tight fit.

However, the car is getting a dual orion (VHF/800) with smartsiren put in

mancow · Post by **mancow** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 9:03 pm

007 wrote:Two words: Good Luck

No kidding. We recently did a 2005 and ended up mounting the speaker under the left fender off the frame. It was the only place a regular speaker would fit.

Getting through the firewall was insane. There was no natural spot and we had to put it on a lift and bore a hole after studying it for 30 minutes to figure out where each side would line up.

apco25 · Post by **apco25** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 10:09 am

Pulled off the front facia bar / valance (whatever Ford calls it ) and found room for the SA314 speaker dead center below the bumper. Slight cutting of the lower plastic air damn and the fit was perfect.

Pics of the almost completed car.

MACOM ORIONS in dual radio config
35w 800 EDACS and 110 VHF
Federal Signal SS2000 ERCSN matcing intergrated siren.
Trunktracker scanner
Garmin GPSIII+

Warning system was what had on hand from another car. It will probably be converted to LED in the near future.

Dual whelen dashmaster up front
Pair of single whelen dashmasters in the rear
Not seen (was missing the braceket) additiona dual dashmaster for the rear deck, to be mounted above the 3rd brake light.

These are mounted on steel channel painted to match the vehicle interior.

Whelen Tailight and Headlight Flasher UHF2150
Front corner strobes

Antennas are all Antenex supplied by the customer.

Console is a 13inch Gamber Johson MCS EPIC mounted to a vehicle specific base.

This was a very clean install. All wiring was sent to the trunk for power distribution. Yes, I know there is a big chunk of wiring haning in the pic. I had yet to tidy up the pull out "LOOP" for the smartsiren.

Sorry for the dark pics as these were taken at home and the garage isn't fully finished out yet.

007 · Post by **007** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 3:32 pm

Eh...not too bad.

apco25 · Post by **apco25** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 3:51 pm

Had the lighting not been recycled from another car we would have done something far different, but for the intended use its more than adequate.

davkenrem · Post by **davkenrem** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 3:07 pm

Is the siren controller integrated into the radio?
Could you take a photo of the radio faceplate?
Is the lighting also controlled through the radio?

Please excuse my ignorance of this system.

007 · Post by **007** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 6:32 am

davkenrem wrote: Is the siren controller integrated into the radio? Could you take a photo of the radio faceplate?
Is the lighting also controlled through the radio?

Please excuse my ignorance of this system.

My Orion/SmartSiren set-up...very similar to what Apco25 did with the Taurus. The Orion radio and control head are much more option-laden than any comparable /\/\ mobile radio.

The "System" head has 12 buttons, all of which are user-programmable. I have 5 buttons programmed to control various functions of the SmartSiren. I have no lights in the vehicle, but there are various vehicle-related things that I control. The Orion head is similar in function as the normal SmartSiren control head...push a button and it fires a relay in the SS to activate a function.

The SS is controlled with a shielded data bus cable between the control head and the SS, as opposed to a regular phone line cable like the standalone SS.

The Orion has total control over the SmartSiren. As far as the radio is concerned, the SS is just another serial device.

apco25 · Post by **apco25** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 8:28 am

LED would be nice and may be swapped out at a later date.

I was stuck with what was available from within the agency for lighting. I wasn't able to sit down and plan the vehicle equipment list from scratch due to budget contraints. Worked with what we had.

The deck lights are just self contained 400 series strobe heads from Whelen so they aren't that out dated.

007 · Post by **007** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 8:44 am

Just screwing with you...I know it's not your ride, or your decision.

apco25 · Post by **apco25** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 9:26 am

Of course!

You know I would have done many thing differently

2112 · Post by **2112** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 4:51 pm

Apco25:

Nice-looking install... because I'm working on a 98 Taurus install, I've a quick question or four

:

1. How's the main power cable connected and fused under the hood?

2. Where in the firewall did you come through with the main power cable?

3. Where is your ground point in the trunk?

4. Any problems mounting lights on the back deck?

Many thanks,

apco25 · Post by **apco25** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 6:45 pm

Fuse is inline up near the battery

Firewall access is through an existing wire boot. Normally I would punch a hole in the floor pan (done this on newer body taurus's) but this was convenient enough.

Its a uni-body vehicle so any good spot such as the trunk bracket mounting points would work for grounding.

Rear deck ligh mounting was simply in this case using the steel channel or bolting straight through won't be a problem.

I would suggest removing the rear seat entirely to make the cables runs easier.