Marc's DLS E36 M3 install

[marbat]

Hey guys!

I'm going to start posting a build log for myself and for anyone else that is interested in my little project.

Here is the equipment I'm using:

Sony CDX-GT500 (trying to find another head unit; looking for a Blaupunkt Toronto or Sydney, or I'll settle for a Nak if I can't find those)
DLS Ultimate A7 5 channel amplifier
DLS UP35 3-way components
DLS RW10 10" subwoofers
BSW d210.e36 sealed enclosure
Probably RAAMmat and Ensolite deadening or Cascade at some point in the future, unless I determine I don't need it

Keep in mind while viewing this, that I am working with a complete lack of tools besides a hand crank operated drill and some sockets/screwdrivers.

I'll be adding to this post or making new ones as I go along, feel free to offer tips or criticism. Also, I have to work slow since I'm really busy all summer .

Anyway, to start out, I mounted the crossovers for the components on the bracket for the stock amplifier:



Front



Back



In place

Coming up soon will be tapping the stock wires, and getting the door speakers to fit the stock grills.

[Dephect]

did you ever consider using a cleansweep or something instead of a headunit? im curious on how bmw owners upgrade there stereo.

[marbat]

Originally Posted by Dephect

did you ever consider using a cleansweep or something instead of a headunit? im curious on how bmw owners upgrade there stereo.

You don't need a Cleansweep unless you have a 5 series with DSP. If you want to keep the stock head unit, a simple LOC will do. I needed to change my head unit because all of my music comes from an AUX-in. The DICE units and other stuff like that which grant an AUX-in for the stock HU tend to suck.

[marbat]

Today, I had some time to fit the UP1C tweeters into the stock housings:

I also bought a Dremel! For anyone interested, Lowe's has the 8000-02 10.8V kit for $50 dollars this week, down from $85. There's a $10 off coupon floating around the internet, and they also give you a free EZ lock mandrel starter kit with purchase. Great buy for $40, IMO. It's already proven itself invaluable.

Onto pictures:



Before - this is the stock housing



After - I cut enough of the housing off to remove the tabs, and hollowing out the inside. I also removed the covering for the grill.



After with UP1C - By lightly bending back the plastic, the tweeters are a perfect pressure fit. As you can see, the back plate still screws on flawlessly.

Sorry for the shitty pictures, there are many things I am good at. Photography is not one of them. Although, to be fair, my camera is well outdated .

[marbat]

I picked up some more tools.

I got:

- a small Shop-Vac from Lowe's, which is actually awesome, for $15 after abusing their coupon one more time. Great for cleaning up the mess from just about anything I've been working with. Retail value: $40.

- a DeWalt DC728KA cordless drill. This thing is badass, you can tell it is well made. Beats the crap out of my hand-crank one. It was on clearance for $89 after, again, abusing the coupon at Lowe's. While this is a great price for a DeWalt, I might return it and get something more fitting of my n00b skills (and cheaper). Retail value: $170.

I also had time to Dremel out my midranges. Here are the pictures from today:



Before



After

Yes, I did do both, even though only one is pictured .

I am not, however, done with midranges, because in order to mount the DLS speakers, I need to do something funky with the stock fastener and make a small baffle. More on this when I have time to do it .

[FrankstonCarAudio]

Originally Posted by marbat

- a DeWalt DC728KA cordless drill. I might return it and get something more fitting of my n00b skills (and cheaper). Retail value: $170.

Looking good so far, keep the pics coming..

Why return it? You won't be a "noob" forever.. buy right the first time, look after your tools and they will (hopefully) last forever..

Mark

[marbat]

Originally Posted by FrankstonCarAudio

Looking good so far, keep the pics coming..

Why return it? You won't be a "noob" forever.. buy right the first time, look after your tools and they will (hopefully) last forever..

Mark

The only reason I thought about returning it was that it has Ni-Cad batteries. I feel a Li-Ion drill might be better suited for me since the batteries don't wear out so much. Then again, those are pricey, and by the time the Ni-Cads in the DeWalt die, we all might be using hydrogen fuel cells or something

[FrankstonCarAudio]

Exactly!

Look after Ni-Cad's and they will last..
I have an old 14.4V DeWalt that I bought in 1999, and it's still going fine (and it has Ni-Cad's).. just use the battery until the drill stops before charging.. the first 4 or 5 charges are the important ones.. fully charge and discharge before recharging..
Sorry for the battery charging lesson! ( I learn't the hard way!)

Mark

[tyroneshoes]

Nice start

Every man needs a good cordless drill. Keep the Dewalt. It will last you and youll notice that you use it often.

[marbat]

My friend came over with a jigsaw today and we got some wood cutting done.



Safety stuff - Please, take care of yourselves when working with stuff that can go in your eyes and lungs!



Trunk floor - The first picture shows the materials from the E36 trunk that were used to make our stencil. The second picture is the stencil. Third picture is the cutout (which is not perfect yet).



Midrange speaker stuff - Images one and two show the stencils and the cut-outs for the baffles. Image three is the trim piece along with the wood part that it will be Loctited to. Image four is the speaker screwed into the wooden baffle. Image five is the Loctite in action. Images six and seven show the finished "speaker pod" or whatever it is.

My two questions for you guys are:

1. How would you suggest that we cut the trunk floorboard that we're working on? In order for it to fit into the trunk, I figure the best way is 3 parts, like so:



The question is, is there a better way to cut it to minimize rattles? Any tips are appreciated.

2. For the midrange "speaker pods" that I made, in case you can't tell, the DLS speakers sit about 1/2"-3/4" behind the grills. Does this detract from SQ; should they be closer to the grills? If necessary, I can cut some more material off the stock fasteners, but I'd rather not if it won't make a difference.

tyroneshoes: Thanks fellow goon . My friend and I got to use the DeWalt today, and boy was it nice compared to his drill...

[marbat]

Anyone have anything to say about the floorboard?

Short update for today:

The E36 is not known for sturdy door panels, and so I set out trying to fix this issue. Everyone trying to eliminate rattles should do this before messing with any sort of deadening. Also, when working on immobilizing stuff, be sure to use hot glue and not any sort of epoxy. I tried Loctite epoxy, and it failed spectacularly, so I just borrowed my sister's pathetic little hot glue gun which performed admirably.

On to the images:



Front and back - Here, you can see what needed to be glued on the front and back side of the door panel.



Bottom - Just a quick shot of what needed to be glued on the bottom.



Top - The strip on the top (not yet attached in the front and back pictures) often falls off and breaks during removal of the door panels. Glue it tightly!



Finished - This is the view we'll be seeing from the car. Not sure why it came out so bright, but you can't see the basketball or the midrange behind the grills unless you're looking for them.

I also went ahead and replaced all of the white door panel clips. They cost 20 cents each, and a few of them broke while removing the door panels. I figured having new, non-brittle plastic was worth some spare change.

[marbat]

Tiny update for today:

I concentrated my efforts on eliminating some rattle sources. Also am thinking about if I should pick up some deadening at this point or not.

Here are some trouble spots on these cars that I fixed today:



Door handles - They should have a little gold liner as shown in the picture. Sometimes this falls out into the door skin. Good luck finding it, I was fortunate enough to find mine. Without it, the door handles are loose and wiggle quite a bit.



Door stuff - Some more random stuff that breaks and falls off with age. I reattached everything and some other small not pictured things.



Engine cover mount - Good lord was this thing a major PITA. I'm still not quite done. The PO overtightened the engine cover, and now the damn mount won't come off and won't properly screw in. There's no way to unscrew it, since the damn thing flexes. I ended up chopping most of the stuck piece off, as I have a replacement mount, but I still can't get the damn thing off. I'm almost done completely cutting through the metal securing part, but wow was this annoying. Without this mount, the engine cover vibrates a bit, although not very audibly (what can I say, I'm a perfectionist).

[brendan 67]

Nice work.Definitley get the deadening in there now,while the doors are apart.Let me now how they sound.I have the UP 36s.

[marbat]

World record smallest update coming up. I'm becoming extremely frustrated with the weather around here. It seems that whenever I have free time to work, a thunderstorm immediately rolls in and I can't get anything done. The install is starting to go way over schedule.

Anyway, all I've been able to do is organize my head unit wiring:



I did manage to pick up a nice jigsaw.

The Bosch 1587AVSP was on sale/clearance, and I grabbed the entire set for $79, down from $129.

[syd-monster]

Good work so far, +1 on the deadning... its pretty well much essential in my opinion, so im sure you won't forget it. Keep up the updates, just because we don't comment, don't mean to say we don't look.

[marbat]

Originally Posted by syd-monster

Good work so far, +1 on the deadning... its pretty well much essential in my opinion, so im sure you won't forget it. Keep up the updates, just because we don't comment, don't mean to say we don't look.

Thanks for the kind words!

Got to use the aforementioned jigsaw today .

Sadly, since I was so excited to try it out and play carpenter, I didn't think my cunning plan all the way through.



As you can see, I somehow messed up my measurements and made the inner hole too small for the speaker to fit through, and the baffle itself too small to allow for enlarging the hole. Very poor craftsmanship .

Anyway, I corrected my mistake to come up with this:



I purposely left the surrounds big so that I can trim them down to exact fit later. I did make sure the screw fit the stock locations. This baffle will effectively seal the front and back of the speaker away from each other when combined with some deadening.

I also went back and shaved the excess baffle from my midranges today (shown sloppily earlier in this thread), just because I felt like being a perfectionist. No pictures of something so minor .

Two thumbs up for the Bosch saw, by the way.

[marbat]

Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been tearing out all the stock deadening (not too interesting) and getting set to replace it with some real stuff.

Anyone have any pictures of an E36 door that's been deadened? Also, how much do you guys think I would need to do the entire car? I was thinking 2 rolls of RAAMmat and a corresponding amount of Ensolite.

Finally, does anyone have any tips for getting the carpet out in an E36 so I can deaden the floor?

[syd-monster]

The one and only e36 i worked on required a complete gut-out. Spesh the seats and center console. Just made things so much easier. Plus because of several reasons we didn't remove any of the factory deadning on the floor as it was all still stuck down well and in good overall condition, cleaned it all up with methonlated spirits and we layed over the top. We did however remove the felt deadner from the door cards and used a paste brush on deadner at the time known a Sound-Off (google it) As far as I know, car still sounds great nearly 6 years on, although with another owner now.
Search up about a Jasper jig too, for your circle work, nothing wrong with Jigsaw, but the the jig & router is the next step up. Its a tool you will use time & time again. Good work so far!

[ianbiz]

Nice install.