1988 325IX My $500 Stereo Install

[airkhin]

i want to do that sub control knob like you did. wow.

[StereoInstaller1]

You make me so proud!

<sniff>

Seriously, if you wanna keep that amp in that shoadowbox, watch your temps closely. That is why the amp racks have a pair of small fans to keep things cool.

Your sub level controller looks identical to the one I did the tutorial for, again, most excellent!

Tell you what...sometime, when you are really REALLY bored, go take apart some of your buddies cars that have had "professionals" install stuff. Your work is way nicer and cleaner, clearly more thought out. Very few so called "pros" do anywhere this tidy of work...Nothing short of excellent!

Honestly, guys, it takes so much longer than you would ever guess to write stuff, to make the tutorials. I put TONS of effort into them, but it is all part of a plan to build this business. That is why we build absolutely amazing products, easily the best value in car audio, and still make them affordable. To my eye, it shows in spades. To my ear, well, our goal is to be the best there is, bar none.

Again, wonderful work. Show your buddies, shit, help sell some boxes for me!

If you get tuning questions, please call me. If you don't have my number, check the GAS facebook page. I will do all I can to get stunning sound in your car. Not just loud (which it had better be loud or I will be pissed!) but absolutely amazing sound quality, that is what I want to have ALL of the stuff we build do, every time.

Luke

[moto650]

You make me so proud!
Seriously, if you wanna keep that amp in that shoadowbox, watch your temps closely. That is why the amp racks have a pair of small fans to keep things cool.
Luke

Thanks, like I mentioned before, I'm a total noob at car audio, I didn't know these things produce so much heat.

Mouser order placed for thermal mitigation. ;)

[moto650]

The speaker grill cloth for the front speakers behind the kick panels was deteriorating so I had to replace it. Pretty straight forward, just pulled out the old, then cut a new piece and fastened with 3M spray adhesive.




Started reassembling the interior and noticed that my window up/down lock out switch was funky, not working very well. Like someone had spilled pop on it or something. Took it partially apart, washed in warm soapy water then lubed it up with some dielectric grease. Works better, not perfect, but I think the plunger rocker arm thing is getting worn. As it's not a high usage part I think I'll live with it.


Off topic partially, I know, but I have to delay till my shiny heat transfer bits show up now. <sarcasm> Thanks a lot StereoInstaller :D </sarcasm>

[moto650]

My order from Mouser came today so I had some goodies to play with.
Picked up some misc hardware from ACE and we're ready to start.

Guess where I'm going with this?

Some work with my dremel on the 1 1/4 copper joint

Test fit. I did this in the store but hey, just to give you a clue as to my plan.

Okay, this gives it away. Perfect fit in the 1 1/2 hole saw hole. I X'd the felt on the inside, then pushed the pipe in so it'd tuck the felt in nice around the pipe. Snug.

A shot with the holes drilled and grill in place

Tried it like this at first, but the fan was too close to the carpet, so I was afraid it wouldn't be able to suck good enough. That's important : angel face :

So then I switched it to the top.


I used the red and black wires that I'd spliced earlier which are always on, and the remote wire from the radio to operate a bosch type relay to turn the fans on. They don't draw much, I could have probably wired them straight to the remote but this way sets me up nice for some cool neon or LEDs or something down the road.

Next I started working out the final wiring, tucking stuff in place, etc. Here's the left side hookups

And the right side. Got the primary power hooked up before it was time to call it.


This stuff takes time. Props to those who do this for a living.

[moto650]

Since the trunk carpet will be difficult to remove once the sub and amp are installed I decided to fix the saggy floor where the spare tire goes.

First, remove carpet and flip upside down. Peal up the fabric and remove the two half moon pieces of hardboard

Trace pattern on new hard board


Cut out. Yes, I used a 6" circular saw. It worked great actually, just take care and keep your depth shallow and no problems

Made a cross support for over the spare tire. There might supposed to be something here normally... like a wheel or some other wheel hold in place thingy.

Re-assemble. I used 3M 80 spray glue to attach the fabric half back in place. I did also try doubling up on the moons, but it was too thick and wouldn't bend right so yeah. Back in place. no sag though now a poof up where the fabric had stretched.


Time to install the subwoofer. It came with some foam tape. No directions for it, I figured it must be for sealing so I put it on the backside of the flange. With the carpet wrapping around into where this will rest on the box this is probably not needed but whatever.

Hooked up the sub. Take note to watch the polarity on the sub terminals. + on the left on one side is NOT + on the left on the other, they flip flop. I hooked it up wrong the first time but on double check noticed.


Rotate the sub so the logo is level to horizon and screw it in. Used regular 11/4 drywall screws

View from the inside, note it's not pushed all the way forward yet.


Back to wiring. Hook up the wires for the output to the speakers and sub. Do this one pair at a time.
Since I labeled my wires with tape, I just removed the tape and stuck it to the amp in front of me to remind me what speaker I was hooking up.



Question for audio guys or gals in the know: So I have 4 channels feeding the amp right, L & R, Front and Rear. I have 5 Channels output, the L & R Fronts and Rears PLUS the sub. So what do I set the mode on the amp to be, 4 chan or 5 chan ???

[moto650]

and back to the radio work

I don't have one now, but in the event I get a arm rest rear seat, I put some felt around the ski pass through hole so that when the arm rest that I don't have is down, it looks clean.

Then it was time to shove the whole box forward against the firewall. Took some grunt but fits nice. Then to screw it in, center punch

Drill

Screw

Attached

What it looks like from the trunk now

You did a good job, well thank you, here's a toast to you, you're too kind.

[Schnitzer318is]

Looking great so far. Loving your wiring work. Luke is right, most professionals do not take the time and effort to do things as properly as you are. Myself included (most of the time)... most customers don't want to pay to have things done as correctly as you are doing and so limits what you can do for them.

Anyway, nice work and looking forward to seeing the finished setup. BTW, where did you get the mesh loom? I use split loom mostly because I can get it wholesale from local suppliers but it is not nearly as pliable or visually pleasing as the mesh.

[PNWDan]

Its the details that count and you have done many. Nice work

[moto650]

BTW, where did you get the mesh loom?

Waytek, these folks have great quality product. Expandable sleeve
It's not particularly inexpensive, but it does look nice. Beware, it requires planning and is more PITA to use than split loom.


Anyone have ideas on the 4 or 5 chan mode? I've got 4 channels input but 5 out. The amp manual has me confused.

[SkorcherX]

I am looking to do this exact same thing, but I have to replace speakers too, since all of mine have disintegrated. I really want you to finish up so I can see everything completed. So much inspiration. I currently have my dash torn out so I will be doing stereo stuff while its out as well.

[Schnitzer318is]

Waytek, these folks have great quality product. Expandable sleeve
It's not particularly inexpensive, but it does look nice. Beware, it requires planning and is more PITA to use than split loom.


Anyone have ideas on the 4 or 5 chan mode? I've got 4 channels input but 5 out. The amp manual has me confused.

Thanks for the info. Will order some from them in various sizes, or see if I can find something comparable depending on pricing. I like to keep loom in stock (bulk) and might be cost prohibitive if these are really expensive.

As for your question regarding the mode. How are you running your RCA to the fifth channel? Your radio has front and rear outputs... are you using a couple Y splitters to run the sub off of your rear channel?

Just curious... but at any rate you will run it in 5 channel mode. You say you have 4 channels input? You should have all 6 RCA's going into the amp... front, rear, and sub. You will split your rears using the above mentioned Y adapters at the back of the head unit. From your pics it looks like this is the case. If you had only run 4 RCA's (front and rear channels) you would split them at the amp.

PS: Make sure you don't do any Xover work on the head unit for the rears. Use "pass through" for your rear setting so that you can do all your Xover settings on the amp itself. Otherwise your head unit will be sending Xover settings to both your rear speakers and the sub... which of course will give you less than optimal quality.

[moto650]

As for your question regarding the mode. How are you running your RCA to the fifth channel? Your radio has front and rear outputs... are you using a couple Y splitters to run the sub off of your rear channel?

So my Headunit has 4 RCA outputs, 1 for each speaker. FR FL, RR RL. I did run 3 pair of RCA from HU to amp, because I had the cable. I certainly can put in a Y splitter or two somewhere but currently that's not there.
I wasn't sure if there was some sort of splitter in the amp itself, where you'd tell it, "hey, I'm giving you 4 inputs, take that and pump it out to the 5 outputs".

Just curious... but at any rate you will run it in 5 channel mode. You say you have 4 channels input? You should have all 6 RCA's going into the amp... front, rear, and sub. You will split your rears using the above mentioned Y adapters at the back of the head unit. From your pics it looks like this is the case. If you had only run 4 RCA's (front and rear channels) you would split them at the amp.

Okay, so it sounds like I need to run a Y split off of the left channel and one off the right channel then connect those to my spare RCA pair up at the front and run that to the input for the sub connection.
Just regular ol Y's okay? Total audioobie here (<<new word). I don't need some sort of band pass that would let only certain frequencies through?

[singh336]

this is legit

[Schnitzer318is]

Okay, so it sounds like I need to run a Y split off of the left channel and one off the right channel then connect those to my spare RCA pair up at the front and run that to the input for the sub connection.
Just regular ol Y's okay? Total audioobie here (<<new word). I don't need some sort of band pass that would let only certain frequencies through?

This is correct, splitter on right rear and left rear. Any old splitters will work. The more shielding the better, but I've run regular home theater splitters in the past with no ill effects.

Edit: no you won't need any filters. That's why I said set the head unit's rear Xover settings to pass through or bypass (depending on your unit). This will send unfiltered rear channel our of the head unit, into your 4 RCA's (rear channel that have the splitters on them) and then on to the amp. Then at the amp you can block/allow whatever frequencies to those particular speakers using it's Xover network.