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An abbreviated install log of my own car :)

74K views 175 replies 82 participants last post by  mumbles 
#1 ·
well, its acutally been a few weeks since i finished the installation on my own car, but with the crazy work schedule, i havent had any chance to organize the pics i took and upload them.

With the G35 out of the way, i finally got a chance to sit down, relax a bit, and comb through the pics and start to put together an install log. One thing that immediately became apparent was that i am apparently much less patient at taking pics of my own car's install than the last time around haha, as a result, this is going to be a pretty abbreviated install log, compared to many similar logs posted by other DIyers.

so anyway, lets get started...

Goals:

1. achieve a decent level of sound quality (than previous system)

2. keep everything hidden completely under the floor

3. throw in aspects of my skillset into the install so i can demonstrated to potential clients what certain things can look like (i.e. wiring neatly through grommits, routed plexi, led edge lit plexi, etc etc)
-------------------------

okay, i guess before i go into the install, a little bit about the vehicle?

its a 2005 subaru legacy 2.5GT wagon...with some mods. here is a list and the most recent pics of i have of it:

KN intake
Cobb Pulley
Perrin turbo inlet hose
Perrin TMIC
760cc injectors
Walbro pump
aquamist methanol injection
18G turbo at 20psi w/meth
flex UP
Cobb DP
Crucial P/P exhusat manifold
BC Racing BR coilovers
Tranny Cooler
crossdrilled/slotted rotors
magnaflow exhuast with porsche 911 style tips
20 Tint
AEM UEGO wideband
autometer boost guage
accessport with custom tdc/harmann map
GFB BOV at 50/50
Kosei K3 18x7.5
General Exclaim 225 40 18
Debadged with L7 badge ont he back i made
mesh grille
cleared headlights
4500 HIDs
engine cover and bracket delete
urathane control arm bushings
two large cracks in the windshield curtesey of cali highways lol
all told about 400hp/450tq at crank, 300-325 awhp depending on mustang or dynoject

may have mised a few things here and there













 
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#33 ·
i was under the impression that hte zener diode would only help when engine detects too hgih a boost level and cut fuel, what i am hitting is the RPM limiter fuel cutoff at around 7500 RPM (redline is at 6500)...i would think that a zener diode would not help there, as in first gear now, even if i dont boost and just hold it in first in manual mode, and slowly rev up, it will still hit this fuel cut off at around 7500 rpm even with no boost. no? if i misunderstood it, let me know, cuase i would love to find a solution to this but as far as i know, with the 5eat tranny of our cars, wtih similar mods as me and the lightweight pulley, no one hsa been able to figure it out
yeah, apparently I can't read.. you have it exactly right. I don't know much about the LGT but an STi I worked on recently had a really cool accessport tuner.. you could pick a program with the settings you want (such as rev limiter) and just load it in... I think it was made by cobb tuning. Way easier the deal with compared to my setup.
 
#34 ·
the AP is the first mod we subaru guys get, but i am a bit beyond it, my car is dyno tuned and then the maps loaded to my AP, so i can switch it to a few different maps depending on a few things :) but i have zero control over the tranny shifting thing :( coming from volvo turbo tuning before my subaru, i do agree the control you have with the AP is great, though it is a more expensive than my volvo for ECU tuning :) my 850 T5 went up 50hp and 60flt/lbs with a 250 dollar ecu tune hehe :)

the LGT has the same block as the Sti, but different turbo, plumbing and other stuff means we start wtih 250bhp to their 300ish hehe...
 
#35 ·
Yeah, yeah, yeah... enough of the engine mod talk... let's get back to the audio stuff! :D j/k

I had a '97 WRX with full Motec engine management, Apexi N1 adjustable suspension, 6 pot Brembo's on the front with 13" rotors and lots of other mods that I used mainly for circuit work until 2002 (I got married!).
I miss that car when I see and hear of other Subaru's.. :(

Mark
 
#36 ·
okay, lets continue. I always felt that each install, especially the stealth ones, is like a jigsaw puzzle, you get an overall picture and slowly piece it together by making the individual components. The most important aspect IMO, is the overall picture in my head, without that, then i really am lost.

so...tackling htis install is sorta like working with a really small puzzel interms of overall size, yet having many many pieces to it...

so the first thing is to figure out the one component that takes up the most amount of space, and pretty much will dictate how the entire install will be fitted, in that is, the sub box.

after some quick measuring, it quickly became apparent that the ONLY way for everything to fit int he well is to make a pancake flat subbox. luckily, i had a very large spare tire well :)

here is the well after the old system was removed:





so i used a box and measured out about .9 cub feet with peanuts:



and put it into the well, and as you can see, it stacked up about 2" high when laying flat:



then the height was mapped, the buttom bluetapped, and the line draw across to mark the heigh for glassin'



so here is after 8-10 layers of 3/4 oz mat goes on:





and here is the top baffle piece made:



and the bottom mold piece trimmed.



some dampening while i am at it:



and sorry about htis part, cause i skipped a few steps and didnt take pics, but here is the box with the top part joined with the bottom and test fitted in the spare tire well:



i took a second measurement with kitty litter and found the internal air space to be around .8 or so, which is right around where i wanted it to be :)

more later on today, off to dim sum!! woot!
 
#37 ·
okay, moving on...

one thing i decided very early on to do, despite the fact that it was going to make my already crowded install even more difficult, was to show case some clean wiring via barrier strips and distribution blocks, as well as to use some edge lit plexi to set things off. The reason i wanted to include these aspects into the car is not really my own preference, but i wanted the ability to demonstrate some of my installation skill set to a potential client...as it is much easier and effective, for example, to show what edge lit plexi looks like than trying to describe it...

so anyway, here is the start of the construction of the U shaped piece that would make up the side walls of the install...hard to explain, i guess just follow the pics.

each side piece is acutally made out of three pieces, first the two sides were lined up wtih the custom routed center plexi pieces, and holes were drilled onto the back MDF where wires will be passing through.



and then, the frontal piece is made out of 1/2" mdf as well, and an opening was routed out, and slanted, to match the opening on the plexi piece:



then, skipping over a bunch of steps where i forgot to take pics lol, here is the bulk of the pieces test fitted together, and marked, the frontal portion of the U is pre drilled also for the wires of the DSP6 to pass through, you can tell by the markings on the floor piec where each piece will go:



then the side pieces, including hte plexi border and the back piece with the grommits, are test fitted:







and mounted ontop of the subbox, to check for clearances...so pretty tight already, without any of hte wires ran yet :eek:



next come the vinyl part...i chose to do the back in two tone black and silver CF vinyl, again, not neccessarily for my own preference, but to those of some of my customers in the recent past. Its very easy to explain what suede or single color vinyl looks like, but its kinda hard to pass on what the CF vinyl looks like in real life, plus it blends well with the black and silver theme i have on the rest of hte car hehe...

so here is the U piece:



and covered in black CF vinyl:



the back of the side pieces:



covered in silver CF vinyl and grommits installed:



the side plexi clouded:



and million (RGB) led strips attached to the outter edge:



the thin floor piece also covered in silver CF vinly:

 
#38 ·
so here comes the pain...i mean...wires :)

here is the bulk of hte racks sitting together, all vinyled, and all the preliminary wires ran and lead out. a keen eye will notice that the barrier strip closer to the camera is empty, and indeed it is there solely for cosmetic balancing purposes, as there are TWO D blocks on the driver side, there should be TWO barrier strips as well on the passener side)...

so as you can see, a ton of wires already :( and not even counting the ones that comes from the CAR, these are just the ones running to and from the rack itself :)

here is an all around view of this:









to prevent any bare MDF to show through any joints between the silver floor piece and the black side walls, the box was painted black at those areas...most likely this made zero difference, but i am a bit anal sometimes :)



a grounding spot was chose on the driver side and the metal ground bare:

 
#39 ·
so now the real fun begins, as the wiring coming from the front of hte car joins the fray...

its really hard to explain just how many wires are on the PASSENGER side of the install, 3 simblink calbes in, 3 simblink out adapting to 3 rca cables...speaker wires.. etc etc...took a while to get things at least some hwat organized and the space taken up minimized... i will just let the next few pics do the talking:







next comes the mounting of the various components into the well...

i had a good friend of mine make me two spacer blocks out of aliuminum, this will provide a very solid footing for the A4 amp that will be suspending over the smaller A5 amplifier:



so first up is the DLS ultimate A5 big three 3 channel amplifier. this unit will send 85 watts a piece to my tweeters upfront, and power the subwoofer with 780 watts at 1ohm, all class AB :) not ehte wires for the dsp6 was ran as well.





here is a brighter pic to give you a closer look at the wiring leading to the A5

 
#40 ·
then, the A4 4 channel was installed, this amp is briedged and powers the midbasses with about 250 watts rms.



and the wiring:



and then, we skip a head a few more steps...and now the sub and the DSP6 are wired up as well, so this is the raw install finished, wihtout any of the top cosmetic panels:







so naturally, the next thing to do is to make the top floor...

first, a piece was cut with the opening shaped the way i wanted, and apiece of plexi was routed to match the opening:



the mdf piece was then slant routed and sanded, and opening was cut onto the upper right hand corner for my logo



then, two side pieces were built matching the shape of hte stock foam floor pieces...here is everything back together in the car before vinyling:



so next, the main MDF floor piece:



was covered in black CF vinyl as well:



the piece of clouded plexi attached:



and the led strips were attached to the outside edges and then black tape was put down to prevent any light "leakage"



so this basically is where i stopped taking pics of hte progress in the back, as you can pretty well imagine, the two side little pieces were covered in black vinyl as well, and thats it...time to move onto the front :)
 
#41 ·
so...onto the front stage construction...and here i got really lazy with the camera so i apologize in advance.

i was determined to make the biggest kicks possible given the space and cosmetic restrictions...so a relatively lrage back mold was taken, integrating the stock kick panel pieces into them:



here ist he mold out of hte car after drying overnight:



then the baffle was trimmed and some dampening attached:



two MDF baffles with flush mount rings were carefully aimed and attached to the back molds:



and here again, skipping a few steps where mold cloth was attahced, and resined and reinforced, here are the kicks, ready to covered in black suede:



the Seas mid is wired up and ready to go:



i covered the kicks with black suede, and did a silver CF vinly trim around the speakeres, and here is passenger side kick pretty much finihsed.



and of course the same thing with the driver side:





and finally, a two piece grille was made to protect and hide the speakres:



thats all for tonite, going to bed, should have the last part up tommorow :)
 
#45 ·
Nice work so far!
the AP is the first mod we subaru guys get, but i am a bit beyond it, my car is dyno tuned and then the maps loaded to my AP, so i can switch it to a few different maps depending on a few things but i have zero control over the tranny shifting thing coming from volvo turbo tuning before my subaru, i do agree the control you have with the AP is great, though it is a more expensive than my volvo for ECU tuning my 850 T5 went up 50hp and 60flt/lbs with a 250 dollar ecu tune hehe
Yeah, sometimes the extra expense is worth it. I am stuck with a speed density system... there is a bit of electronic work I can do to my socketed ecu, but lots of the tuning is still done with rising rate fuel pressure regulators, larger injectors, and advanced timing ;)
 
#50 ·
now unto the tweeter mounts.

first, a ring baffle was carefully aimed and attached tot he stock A pillar:



then mold cloth was used and resined:



and finally, bondoed and sanded smooth, ready to be wrapped:



a major issue was trying to find a matching material for the stock A pillar, its this beigeish color and essentially grille cloth, i went through distributor after distributor, no one carried it, so i decided to try something a bit risky, but worth the effort, and that is, to carefully peel off the stock material, and rewrap the new panel with it, hoping that i can line it up correctly and that it stretches enough to cover the new, bulging shape...

so here it goes:



and the first onetook a coupla tries but in the end, i managed to make it work :)



tweeter mounted and ready to go!



and the other one as well:



took a while but now i have a perfect match to the stock headliner material :)

while i was at it, i decided to make my seas reference tweeter a little different, i took a sponge brush, eld the tweeter upside down, and stubbled it into a silver metalic color...one of those "i am bored, what can i do now" kind of deals hehe but i do beleive i have the only pair of silver reference tweeters around? ;)

finally, the top floor covering panel was made, its a piece of 1/4" mdf with grille mesh secured on top, the wood was covered with black CF vinyl on the bottom side, and the part where the mesh is seen through the opening is covered with black grille cloth:



here is hwat it looks like from the bottom side, and then the top side was wrapped again with factory matching carpet




okay, so this basically is all the buildup pics that i have...sorry that i missed quite a few steps here and there but hopefully you can fill in the gaps yourself hehe
 
#58 ·
Noticed that the bottom amp doesn't have its label/tag on it, are the amps that close that you had to remove it? Also, how difficult is it to adjust the amps, especially the bottom one?
Everything looks great, awesome work... however I do have to give you a hard time on a couple points:
1. Get a new windshield. Or are you keeping that to get some SPL jobs, telling folks you have so much bass that it cracked the windshield?
2. Your mids are screwed in at different angles, i.e. the screws are in different spots from driver's to passenger's side. A little OCD, but noticeable, for me anyway.


BTW, how does it sound? Do you get decent subbass out of it?
 
#59 ·
1. yeah, i took the tag off cuase its that close, well acutally it would have cleared it without the tab i think, but by a whisker, so i took it of anyway.

2. reaching the gains on the top one obviously is easy, on the bottom one is not too bad either, a skewdriver easily reachs the gains on the front and rear channels, whcih are the only thing one has to touch owning to the DSP6 controlling everything. i have adjusted it a bunch of times (the bottom one) already.

3. about hte windshield haha, i was, well after i got hte first one, i contacted the place, and guess hwat, within 24 hours, i got another one, so i said screw this, just going to wait it out, and sure enought, with in the next 3 months, i got two more chips which thankfully didnt spider out...so i dont wnat to change it and just have it happen all over again...gonna wait prolly until the end of the year and see bout doing it when its about time for inspection hehe

4. you are absolutely right, but i hvae a good reason for that, i ran outta screws, as soon as i get some more time, i am acutally going to fill in the rest of the mounting holes so then it will be identical :) i think i was majorly jetlagged from my china trip when i did those and went after the wrong holes haha

5. the subass is superb IMO, its always been a strong point of this car, and thebas sounds much better acutally IMO with the heavy mat in place, i believe its having a loading effect on it.
 
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