another full stereo install log.

[bfowler]

looks good. nice job on taking the time to do it right. my only question is, how are you going to let the amps breathe a little? i had an amp hidden in my old car and i have no doubt that it got too hot too many times and didn't last as long as it should have

What paint did you use to redo the radio bezel? Looks like a good match. I need to do mine too

the xs2200 is a pretty massive amp for its rated power. its only doing 50x2, so the heat sink barley gets warm. the 2500 on the other hand got HOT, i have a 2 80mm fans set up now and that seems to be working. i will post them soon.

for paint it was just normal krylon flat black. i sanded the center console, the bezel, the mp3 pocket and the trim bezel for the deck all with 300grit, then prepped it with rubbing alcohol.


thanks for the comments guys!

 

[projectmx]

man that is amazing you put some real work into that... where does most of the road noise come through cause i'd love to do something to quiet that down a bit, my wifes golf has less than half of the road noise that my p5 has.

 

[bfowler]

doing the doors and hatch helped quite a bit, but its still niot great. i plan to ad some luxury liner or smiler later and i will report back

 

[HKPRO5]

Awesome

 

[canadian357]

Nice job man. Loving the sub box, can't wait to see that in.

Subscribed.

 

[Balls]

Looking pretty good. Nice looking fiberglass work. I can't tell you how many times I've had customers come in with horrible jobs done that I end up fixing!

 

[MP5 Kyle]

hahah ide be that person Balls. sooryyyyyyyy ;s ;]

 

[denim]

Brian, you know my feelings.

As for people thinking about deadening, check out my topic I posted. I highly suggest www.sounddeadenershowdown.com.

 

[n2stox]

stunning.

If this is for the g/f, I'd love to see your personal setup.

I have a stack of stuff waiting to go into my audi S4, and my wife got the hand me down, but man, I wish I had the time and skill to lay down that sound deadening stuff on her P5.

 

[bfowler]

so i know i promised updates...and that was a few months ago. but i finally got back to working on it. as you can see in the pics...the weather pretty much killed all my motivation to work on the install. i used some more wood to follow the shape of the interior panel. then used spray foam to span the gaps between the box and the interior panels. a will then cover that in body filler and paint it to match the rest.

the last pic is the grill/trim panel. when i post the next pics it will make more sense, but the idea of it was to protect the sub from stuff in the back (including a dog) and hide the fan speed controller. in my next update i will show that, as well as the cooling fans for the xs2500

 

[bfowler]

oh, and for added fun, i found some older pics of the nastiness i found when taking the interior apart from the previous owner! needless to say, the car smelled way better after i cleaned everything...and took out the prehistoric (mozzarella) sting cheese

 

[MasonMetcalfe]

lol

 

[Josue6WGN]

Damn...that's nasty!!

And GREAT install! This is literally everything I wanted/need to do to mine! The previous owner routed the door speaker wires around the white plastic plug, not through, so that will need to be remedied. Nice to see that the wires will fit through the plug!

I also have 2 Boxers that I will be hauling around quite often now that spring is here. I had planned on mounting the amp under the radar, and just running the sub wire out, so I could easily remove the sub to haul the dogs. I'd have to figure out some way to secure it though, maybe some kind of quick disconnect so I'm not running bolts in and out all the time? After seeing your box design though, I might jump into something like this. Very cool!

 

[bfowler]

i'm not sure if i noted in the pics, but i did have to move a couple of the pins in the driver side harness using a pick tool. you can see the little retainer clip, move it in with the pick, and the whole wire will slide out. so just move a couple until you have created a larger space (2 pins worth for 16awg) move them on the other part of the plug and you are set. (i made 2x4 space, and ran 2 16awg wires)

there is quite a bit of room under the seats for mounting and amp if you want it out of the way. and if you plan on taking the box out often, you can use plug like these so you never have exposed wires. good luck!

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=092-067
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?PartNumber=092-190


also also, with the false floor i built, its now flush with the seats when they are folded down. the dogs like that a bunch!

 

[Josue6WGN]

Nice...thanks for the tip! I hadn't thought about it, but I guess it WOULD be a bad idea to just have the speaker wire(s) hanging there. haha

And which seats are you referring to? The front seats, or the rear? I thought about the rear, but didn't know if it'd be a good idea for when I fold the seats down and load up 150lbs worth of dogs. lol That's sweet that the false floor is level like that! To be honest, I was a little disappointed about that hump being there. It wasn't a deal breaker though, just something that I'd have to deal with.

 

[bfowler]

the front seats. you have to make the little heater vent go over them, but its not too bad.

 

[themodefanatic]

Where did you get that set?

 

[Sport23]

Very nice! Subbin

 

[Josue6WGN]

the front seats. you have to make the little heater vent go over them, but its not too bad.

Did I read something about a fan setup for the amp's under the false floor? Would they overheat under there without one?

 

[bfowler]

Did I read something about a fan setup for the amp's under the false floor? Would they overheat under there without one?

the sub amp might. the xs2200 is not bridged so it has almost the same heat sink, and is only making 1/5 the power so its cooling fine. the xs2500 hasnt shut down, but it gets pretty hot to the touch. i have the fan set up in place, but it will be a few days until i get the pics for it up.