1998 Honda Accord 2dr Install - Daily Driver

[Niebur3]

I thought it was about time I posted a build log. This car is my daily driver, a 1998 Honda Accord 2dr. I have a 1998 White Pontiac Firebird that a few on here have seen from USACi sq competitions. I have gone to finals with the firebird a couple of time and this year went home with a trophy in Consumer Q. Anyway, I decided to put a system in my daily driver aimed very budget minded and toward my kids. Everything you see in the car cost me roughly $1000 and I did 100% of the install.

Equipment:
Head Unit - Clarion MAX385VD
Monitors - Clarion VMA570
Speakers - alpine SPX-F17T
Subwoofer - Image Dynamics IDQV3D2
Amp1 - Alpine MRV-F353
Amp2 - jl Audio 500/1

Most of these products were bought used at very low prices.

The idea of the install was to provide decent sound quality utilizing stock locations and creating a stealth install and having a system my kids would also be happy with.

First thing installed was the head unit:




It was pretty easy and straight forward. The previous owner of the car had installed a second cruise control switch for after market fog lamps, but they couldn't figure out how it worked because they had a little toggle switch wired in the little pull out drawer underneath it. So, I switched thing up a little. I wired the Parking Brake wire from the Head Unit to the other Cruise Control switch and now I can watch movies with the car moving - anyone on here police.



This car gets an ipod cable, because I need all the original CD for my other car. For the sq people, I downloaded all CD's using Apple Lossless...it at least helps! I installed the iPod cable in the top compartment of my center console to easy access and I can control everything from my Head Unit.



I then installed the monitors in the head rests (again, no pics). Very easy, just cut the area out according to the template and secured it in using a 1/4" piece of MDF, screws and velcro.




In the console, I installed 2 switches. 1 is used to turn on/off the fog lamps and the other is to turn on/off the headrest monitors for when the kids are not in the car.



The SPX-F17T speakers consist of a 6.5 midrange/mid-bass, 5.25 midrange, and 1" tweeter. This set has passive crossovers with many different options using jumper bars depending on what you want to do with each speaker. I wanted a stealth/factory looking install, so I ruled out kick panels and decided the factory locations were sufficient. I also needed speakers in the back for the kids to hear the movie - the main goal here was to allow me to use the fader in the Head Unit so they could listen to the movie so me and the wife could talk about which sexual position to try that night!

I installed the 6.5 in the factory locations on the door. Very simple (wooden spacer made from MDF) and sorry no pics. I used the setting on the crossover that allowed me to have the 6.5 play the midrange and mid-bass as a 2 way setup.



The 5.25 from this set were mounted in the rear deck 6X9 locations using a simple wooden spacer from MDF (sorry no pics again). These are playing full range off the amp for the kids.

[Niebur3]

The tweeters would not fit in the factory locations in the dash due to the depth. These are the scan speak made for alpine and are around 2" deep. I decided to mount these in the a-pillar firing across at each other. I took the factory mounting angle cups and curved them to fit the pillar better using a dremel. Then, I glued them to the pillar and stretched grill cloth over the cups. I used fiberglass resin to create the final shape and finished with a little body filler. I covered the whole pillar in black grill cloth because I thought it looked nice with all the black in the dash already and stretched very well.

[Niebur3]

I have 2 amps, but the jl is in very poor physical condition due to the previous owner (hence why it was so cheap). So I only wanted the Alpine (which was in almost mint condition) to show. I built a box for the Alpine to mount in and cut out sections of the sides for cooling. I am only using 4 of the 5 channels just for the Alpine speakers, so it won't need much cooling. I made a panel covered in matching vinyl with the plexi so you can see the amp when the seats are folded down. The crossovers are mounted outside of the amp box out of view. The amp box, crossovers and power distribution block are all mounted to a 1/2 piece of MDF. The sub box is then mounted to the other side of this piece with the JL 500/1 mounted next to the sub box.









The final panel in the trunk was made out of 1/4" MDF to cover everything and pressure fits around the sub. Sections of the MDF over the sub opening were cut to allow the bass to flow though. The cover is covered in felt I found at the fabric store for 2.49/yd that matches almost perfectly.




Well, that is it. A simple install that meets all my needs I set out for.

[haydennn12]

wow that's really cool. I like what you did with everything.

[sydmonster]

can I have a pic of the whole car??

cool install!

[Niebur3]

Originally Posted by sydmonster

can I have a pic of the whole car??

cool install!

Sure...it is dirty because our weather here has been awful! But here are some pics anyway.





The exhaust is only for show....just large tips, sounds completely stock. I bought it this way, but I really like the large tips .


And here is the competitions baby sitting in the garage.

[arrivalanche]

i like how you painted that center piece on the back of the accord. It looks so much cleaner than the stock red plastic.

[Niebur3]

Originally Posted by arrivalanche

i like how you painted that center piece on the back of the accord. It looks so much cleaner than the stock red plastic.

Thanks...I wish I could take credit....I bought it that way .

[hiphen]

wow impressive

[rsf98]

clean install! looks great

[sydmonster]

cheers for the car shots... we didn't get the 2dr here, so owning a 4dr makes it interesting to see yours.

[Billk1002]

Awsome install!!!
Do you have any pics of how you made the cover in the trunk?? I would love to do the same in my car.

[Niebur3]

I made it from 1/4 MDF. I actually made a square piece like the face of the box with the sub hole cut out so it pressure fitted around the sub. Then added scrap pieces of MDF on the square piece to build it out so the sub would clear the front of the sub. Then I cut the shape of the trunk and attached the 2 pieces so it could pressure fit around the sub, but still protect it at the same time.




To make the curvatures of the trunk...probably a little unconventional, but I used cardboard from pop cans (really easy to cut) and just cut and glued small pieces until I had the shape I needed and transferred the shape to the large piece of MDF.

[ryan s]

You can get an OEM fog switch from your dealership or online for about $30

Nice work...I kinda want to do the beauty panel like that next time around.

[Kenny_Cox]

nice install, everything looks well put together.

[Niebur3]

Originally Posted by Kenny_Cox

nice install, everything looks well put together.

Thanks...I only wish it sounded as good as my other car, but the kids like watching movies. We have a van with the flip down DVD player, so now the kids allow us to take this sometimes instead...lol.

[JayinMI]

What happened to the pics?

I was looking to see if there was a build log for the Firebird, and came across this.

Anywhere we can see the install of the 'bird?

Jay

[cleung]

[Niebur3]

Sorry, my wife deleted all my pic from her photo bucket account. I will repost them in order so you can tell what is going on.

As far as the 'bird, I don't have a lot of build pics because I never wanted to compete in install, but will do a build log thread tomorrow and will post all the pics I have. I realize now, I should have taken more pics anyway.

[Niebur3]

I thought it was about time I posted a build log. This car is my daily driver, a 1998 Honda Accord 2dr. I have a 1998 White Pontiac Firebird that a few on here have seen from USACi sq competitions. I have gone to finals with the firebird a couple of time and this year went home with a trophy in Consumer Q. Anyway, I decided to put a system in my daily driver aimed very budget minded and toward my kids. Everything you see in the car cost me roughly $1000 and I did 100% of the install.

Equipment:
Head Unit - Clarion MAX385VD
Monitors - Clarion VMA570
Speakers - Alpine SPX-F17T
Subwoofer - Image Dynamics IDQV3D2
Amp1 - Alpine MRV-F353
Amp2 - Jl Audio 500/1

Most of these products were bought used at very low prices.

The idea of the install was to provide decent sound quality utilizing stock locations and creating a stealth install and having a system my kids would also be happy with.

First thing installed was the head unit:




It was pretty easy and straight forward. The previous owner of the car had installed a second cruise control switch for after market fog lamps, but they couldn't figure out how it worked because they had a little toggle switch wired in the little pull out drawer underneath it. So, I switched thing up a little. I wired the Parking Brake wire from the Head Unit to the other Cruise Control switch and now I can watch movies with the car moving - anyone on here police.



This car gets an iPod cable, because I need all the original CD for my other car. For the sq people, I downloaded all CD's using Apple Lossless...it at least helps! I installed the iPod cable in the top compartment of my center console to easy access and I can control everything from my Head Unit.



I then installed the monitors in the head rests (again, no pics). Very easy, just cut the area out according to the template and secured it in using a 1/4" piece of MDF, screws and velcro.




In the console, I installed 2 switches. 1 is used to turn on/off the fog lamps and the other is to turn on/off the headrest monitors for when the kids are not in the car.



The SPX-F17T speakers consist of a 6.5 midrange/mid-bass, 5.25 midrange, and 1" tweeter. This set has passive crossovers with many different options using jumper bars depending on what you want to do with each speaker. I wanted a stealth/factory looking install, so I ruled out kick panels and decided the factory locations were sufficient. I also needed speakers in the back for the kids to hear the movie - the main goal here was to allow me to use the fader in the Head Unit so they could listen to the movie so me and the wife could talk about which sexual position to try that night!

I installed the 6.5 in the factory locations on the door. Very simple (wooden spacer made from MDF) and sorry no pics. I used the setting on the crossover that allowed me to have the 6.5 play the midrange and mid-bass as a 2 way setup.



The 5.25 from this set were mounted in the rear deck 6X9 locations using a simple wooden spacer from MDF (sorry no pics again). These are playing full range off the amp for the kids.

[Niebur3]

The tweeters would not fit in the factory locations in the dash due to the depth. These are the scan speak made for alpine and are around 2" deep. I decided to mount these in the a-pillar firing across at each other. I took the factory mounting angle cups and curved them to fit the pillar better using a dremel. Then, I glued them to the pillar and stretched grill cloth over the cups. I used fiberglass resin to create the final shape and finished with a little body filler. I covered the whole pillar in black grill cloth because I thought it looked nice with all the black in the dash already and stretched very well.

[Niebur3]

I have 2 amps, but the JL is in very poor physical condition due to the previous owner (hence why it was so cheap). So I only wanted the Alpine (which was in almost mint condition) to show. I built a box for the Alpine to mount in and cut out sections of the sides for cooling. I am only using 4 of the 5 channels just for the Alpine speakers, so it won't need much cooling. I made a panel covered in matching vinyl with the plexi so you can see the amp when the seats are folded down. The crossovers are mounted outside of the amp box out of view. The amp box, crossovers and power distribution block are all mounted to a 1/2 piece of MDF. The sub box is then mounted to the other side of this piece with the JL 500/1 mounted next to the sub box.









The final panel in the trunk was made out of 1/4" MDF to cover everything and pressure fits around the sub. Sections of the MDF over the sub opening were cut to allow the bass to flow though. The cover is covered in felt I found at the fabric store for 2.49/yd that matches almost perfectly.





Well, that is it. A simple install that meets all my needs I set out for.

[Niebur3]

Pics of the back panel:




Pics of the Car (a little dirty):

[Sex Cells]

Clean, i like it. Really like how you did the A Pillars too.

[Sex Cells]

I'm not crazy about the side marker on the side of the car though.