# The unofficial "Thumper's 05 Honda Accord EX Install" has begun...



## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Over the long weekend, I got a friend to help me get started on the new install. We put about 80 square feet of Raammat BXT and ensolite in the cabin and trunk of the car. I saved the doors for later b/c I'm going to do those as i build the baffles for the 162s that'll go in them. I also didn't do the rear deck b/c I'm going to wait until I have my subs ready to be mounted before deadening. I didn't have my 3/8" fatigue mat to stuff in the trunk lid, so that will be done at a later time. However, all of those areas can be done on a much smaller scale. The goal this weekend was to get the core deadening done, as well as figure out how this car comes together. Everything has one layer of mat, with a second large layer over the floorboard and trunk. A layer of ensolite went over that in key areas as well. Roof pics don't show it, but ensolite was applied to there as well.

Here is the link to my photobucket album with all the pics:
http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b47/thumper26/Accord/

Here are the highlights:


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

WOOT!

I love install pics...it always makes me want to do a new install on my car. Then I start and about 30 minutes later I'm pissed at myself.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

dude, i blew up II at sounddomain before starting. there's a couple of really good installers over there that let me know how most of the car came apart. I will say it was a bit overwhelming when it got to be time to put the car back together. we filled a 2 car garage with interior parts. it is crazy how they make all that stuff fit together though...


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## edwelly (Mar 29, 2006)

bikinpunk said:


> I love install pics...it always makes me want to do a new install on my car. Then I start and about 30 minutes later I'm pissed at myself.


That is probably the best thing I have ever read on this forum!!!


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## ///Audience (Jan 31, 2007)

looks like its on its way to an awesome install!

i wish i could rip out all my stuff for sounddeadening but i park in a parking garage


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

it was 13 hours of hell...

anyways, my speakers came in today! 




























I'll post better pics later, I just snapped those fast.


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## doitor (Aug 16, 2007)

It's great that you started the build Thumper26.
I'm sure it's going to be a great thread.
Just one suggestion, would you resize the pics to 800x600?
It makes it a lot faster to those with not so fast internet.
Those Dyn's sound great.
Keep the good work.


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## tr0y_audi0 (Feb 13, 2007)

Lookin nice..
Keep it up..


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

thanks guys.

Doitor sorry for the big pics, I'll try and resize in photobucket. Or how bout you stop flying to the states and invest in high speed internet.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

So, I suppose it was easier/cheaper to buy the passive set? Curious why you did that?

Oh, and those Dyns suck. Just ship them to me and I'll take care of them.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

yeah it's actually cheaper to buy the comp set than to buy the drivers separately...which reminds me, i need to post those xovers for sale in case anyone wants them. I'll never use them.


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## Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX (Oct 24, 2007)

Did you ever get your RCA problem sorted mang??


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

eh, not yet. I haven't made a decision yet. I have some neutric ends with smaller openings that I may use. The other option is to just run two runs and have bigger rca cables. The cable isn't all that thick, so I'm leaning towards that. I only ordered 50 feet from PE, and using one wire for two channels, that should be plenty, but it'll be cutting it close with multiple wires. There are a couple other things I need as well, so I may just buy some more once I figure out about how much I'll need to have.


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## doitor (Aug 16, 2007)

Thumper26 said:


> thanks guys.
> 
> Doitor sorry for the big pics, I'll try and resize in photobucket. Or how bout you stop flying to the states and invest in high speed internet.


LOL. That's a good one.


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## Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX (Oct 24, 2007)

Thumper26 said:


> eh, not yet. I haven't made a decision yet. I have some neutric ends with smaller openings that I may use. The other option is to just run two runs and have bigger rca cables. The cable isn't all that thick, so I'm leaning towards that. I only ordered 50 feet from PE, and using one wire for two channels, that should be plenty, but it'll be cutting it close with multiple wires. There are a couple other things I need as well, so I may just buy some more once I figure out about how much I'll need to have.


You know, I was thinking, you could always take that shielding and push it back so it expands and then CUT it with scissors...


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

i thought about that, except of how the threads wrap all the way around, it just falls apart in little pieces when you do that.

I'm pretty much set on just running two cables at this point. Wire is cheap, it fits the connectors better, and it's less of a headache to make.

On a side note, working on wiring has been scoring great brownie points with the wife. Instead of being on the computer at night, I'm sitting beside her on the couch soldering and heatshrinking cables together while she watches her shows that I care nothing about.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX said:


> You know, I was thinking, you could always take that shielding and push it back so it expands and then CUT it with scissors...


NOOOOO! Just brush it out with a coarse tooth-brush or a very fine wire brush and you are set! If you don't need to seperate it then push it back and pull the signal carrying wires thru a hole in the braid then pull the braid tight again.

IF you cut it you will have a fine mess on your hands.

Chad


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

Thumper26 said:


> On a side note, working on wiring has been scoring great brownie points with the wife. Instead of being on the computer at night, I'm sitting beside her on the couch soldering and heatshrinking cables together while she watches her shows that I care nothing about.



Wait till one of them wire snippets imbed into her precious bare foot and she will think different 

It's the opposite for me, I sit with her while I'm on the computer and watch TV. (Laptop in the family room)


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

chad said:


> It's the opposite for me, I sit with her while I'm on the computer and watch TV. (Laptop in the family room)


Truth. It's our trade off. She watches e-news and I pull the laptop out. But, when she watches 'the girls next door' I put that thing away.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

lol, +1 for girls next door. I kept all my wire snippets on the case for my soldering iron, so we're good there.

I didn't think about the coarse toothbrush, and I forgot to go look for a wire brush last night.

But, what should I do about all the gap at the end of the RCA?


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## doitor (Aug 16, 2007)

What HU, processor, amps and subs are you installing?


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## GlasSman (Nov 14, 2006)

bikinpunk said:


> WOOT!
> 
> I love install pics...it always makes me want to do a new install on my car. Then I start and about 30 minutes later I'm pissed at myself.


No need to start over every time you're inspired. Just make something in your install better or finish something off with some detail.

Dot your i's and cross your T's


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

doitor said:


> What HU, processor, amps and subs are you installing?


Alpine x001, with a cha-s624 changer in the glove box or console, not sure which yet, and optical from the changer going to a 701. Everything will be powered by an Audison 5.1k. Here's the system diagram...


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## doitor (Aug 16, 2007)

That looks really nice Thumper26.
Great equipment.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

thanks, i appreciate it.

I stopped by a local shop and it'll be 45 bucks for them to mount the changer in the glove box so it'd fit. That'll work, b/c I'd be nervous cutting into the glove box on this car. I'm also having them run the speaker wires through the ******* molex plugs in the door as well.

+1 for having a good quality shop to do the PITA parts of your install.


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## unpredictableacts (Aug 16, 2006)

Thumper26 said:


> thanks, i appreciate it.
> 
> I stopped by a local shop and it'll be 45 bucks for them to mount the changer in the glove box so it'd fit. That'll work, b/c I'd be nervous cutting into the glove box on this car. I'm also having them run the speaker wires through the ******* molex plugs in the door as well.
> 
> +1 for having a good quality shop to do the PITA parts of your install.


not to pry to much ....just curious.....what did the 3 way dyna set run you?:blush:


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## bobditts (Jul 19, 2006)

so why is this the unofficial build thread? Looks pretty official to me


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## doitor (Aug 16, 2007)

Thumper, you said that you're planning on competing next year, right?
I haven't competed so I don't know, but is there a problem for the judges to put the "official" cd in the changer instead of the HU?
Not talking about SQ, just the ergonomics of it?


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## MiloX (May 22, 2005)

Thumper26 said:


> yeah it's actually cheaper to buy the comp set than to buy the drivers separately...which reminds me, i need to post those xovers for sale in case anyone wants them. I'll never use them.




HALT IN THE NAME OF THE "BREAK-IN PERIOD".

Thumps... Don't sell those passives yet. Hook em up to your home stereo and let those drivers play for a good 200 hours or so. 

THEN sell the passives.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

unpredictableacts said:


> not to pry to much ....just curious.....what did the 3 way dyna set run you?:blush:


it's a 2 way dyn set. on the price, i'd rather not say, but pm me if you're looking to buy. i can point you in the right way



bobditts said:


> so why is this the unofficial build thread? Looks pretty official to me


lol  Just an old habit from SDOT



doitor said:


> Thumper, you said that you're planning on competing next year, right?
> I haven't competed so I don't know, but is there a problem for the judges to put the "official" cd in the changer instead of the HU?
> Not talking about SQ, just the ergonomics of it?


I checked the IASCA rulebook, and a cd changer is fine. It's listed as an acceptable source unit. I'd also clarify that I run my songs through my ipod while driving.



MiloX said:


> HALT IN THE NAME OF THE "BREAK-IN PERIOD".
> 
> Thumps... Don't sell those passives yet. Hook em up to your home stereo and let those drivers play for a good 200 hours or so.
> 
> THEN sell the passives.


Home Stereo?  I live in an apartment, and don't have one. I agree with the break in though, I might buy a cheap receiver just for that. I'll put them in the box they came in and just let them run freeair at very low volume for a few days.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Thumper26 said:


> Home Stereo?  I live in an apartment, and don't have one. I agree with the break in though, I might buy a cheap receiver just for that. I'll put them in the box they came in and just let them run freeair at very low volume for a few days.


I would do that. I killed my battery twice playing them in my car.

Oooor, for the price of a cheap receiver you might be better off getting a battery charger for your car. but, then you'll still have to wait for them to break in.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

yeah good point. i'll get a charger when i get everything installed and need it.

until then, i need something to break them in with...


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## dtviewer (Dec 18, 2006)

Looking good!
What are your plans for the sub install? Also, where are you planning on putting the amps?
As soon as you can, please do a review of the ida-x001. I'm still trying to decide on it and would really like to hear your thoughts.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

will do. it'll be a while before i get it all in.

the subs will be IB in the rear deck. on the amp, i'm copying a concept i saw on here. Pretty much just anchor a board to the floor of the trunk by the seats and mount the amp to it, then make a thin cover to protect the amp.


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## dtviewer (Dec 18, 2006)

Thumper26 said:


> will do. it'll be a while before i get it all in.
> 
> the subs will be IB in the rear deck. on the amp, i'm copying a concept i saw on here. Pretty much just anchor a board to the floor of the trunk by the seats and mount the amp to it, then make a thin cover to protect the amp.



U copying mine? The one with the grill over the amps?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

lol, yes.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Thumper26 said:


> lol, yes.


You better hope he doesn't have that copyrighted!


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## dtviewer (Dec 18, 2006)

bikinpunk said:


> You better hope he doesn't have that copyrighted!



Anything has a price.............


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

i figure it'll take a while for the copyright to go through. i can have it done by then, or add a hinge or something so it's different.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

so last night i go to techflex my Alpine Ai-Net wires, and the control wire for the 701, and the techflex I got won't fit over the ends! 

so, I have to order more and wait for it to come in. While I'm at it, I'm going to go ahead and verify I have all the heatshrink sizes I need as well. I've been bitten once already b/c the heatshrink didn't fit the connector.

This is very frustrating b/c I have no plans for this weekend, and could have gotten all the wiring done. 

btw, when it's over, I'm going to post the sizes of 'flex and HS that I used for everything so people won't go through what I'm having to deal with.


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## MiloX (May 22, 2005)

Thumper26 said:


> so last night i go to techflex my Alpine Ai-Net wires, and the control wire for the 701, and the techflex I got won't fit over the ends!
> 
> so, I have to order more and wait for it to come in. While I'm at it, I'm going to go ahead and verify I have all the heatshrink sizes I need as well. I've been bitten once already b/c the heatshrink didn't fit the connector.
> 
> ...


Totally know whee you are coming from. 

I am sure there are things you can do over the weekend though, 

There is ALWAYS something to do.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

yeah, the amp should be here today, so I can test fit that with the 701 and fuse blocks. I'm also going to try and get the new StreetWires terminals on, and upgrade the factory grounds. I can get the wire and terminals for that from the local B&M. If my dad is free, we're going to go to the dealership where he works and put the Accord on a lift to bolt in the ground terminal, since self tapping screws are apparantly unacceptable in IASCA.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

welp, the amp and subs are on a bit of backorder, and should be here early next week. this holds things back b/c I needed to test fitment of my rca ends inside the amp, and now I can't, so I can't make my RCA cables. I'm about to just buy some streetwires, cut them to length, and be done with it.



tomorrow I'm going to get my dad to help me put the accord on a lift and find a safe spot to screw the ground terminal in. I'm also going to put the streetwires terminals on, upgrade the factory ground to 1/0, and maybe upgrade engine chassis to ground if I can find a good length for it.

Also, I'll be putting my deck in tomorrow. The local shop attached the cd changer to the glove box today, so I'll be getting pics of that later.

Speaking of which, should I line the glove box with carpet and ensolite to make it quieter?


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## MiloX (May 22, 2005)

Thumper,

I assume you are trying to attenuate the changer mechanism?

Not sure how much the ensolite will help. It's bound to help somewhat, but I really don't know if it is going to much.

Besides, you aren't going to get any point deductions for system noise. Think about it. Every single deck makes noise when it is sucking the cd in. Moving parts make noise.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

yeah i was just going to line the glove box to make it quieter. Just b/c i won't lose points for hearing it doesn't mean it won't give me a point for attention to detail.

i got the ground block installed today. I'll post pics in a little bit when I wrap that up. I'm also going to do the Big 2 today (read: upgrade grounds). Later tonight, I might tackle the deck. If not tonight, then some time tomorrow. I just want to verify the changer works and everything sounds good. Later I'll run the wires to the trunk for the 701. Right now I'm just going to bundle the ai-net and run it from the deck to the changer in the glove box so I can listen to cd's.


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## bjayjr5679 (Nov 8, 2007)

what size techflex did you buy and what size would you recommend for going around rca's and 4 gauge wire?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

on the rca's it depends. 1/4" will work in most cases. On the power wire, I got 3/4" for my 1/0 and it's actually a little more loose than I'd like. I'd say 5/8" would be great for 1/0, and 3/8 has a good fit on 4 gauge, although you could stretch 1/4" if needed. For the heatshrink, I'd go 1/8" over the size of the techflex on non data carrying wires, and measure on rca, ai-net, control, and optical wires. Also, 3:1 heatshrink is an absolute necessity. It's the only way to get over some of the fat cable plugs and still sinch down on the wire.

Pics of wires coming soon...

k, my computer is being gay. it looks like i'll be upgrading to Vista tonight, so I"ll get them up after that.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

k, computer stopped being gay, and I was able to get pics off my camera. So here goes:

The supplies. These are 20mm bolts. I could have went with 16mm, but I wasn't sure if they'd be long enough.









Grounding spot. I checked with my dad who's a mechanic, and he said this support bar would be fine as it was a structural piece of the car. I'd hope so. It was about 3/16" thick:


















I guess I forgot to take a pic of it actually on there before putting the trim on, so sucks to be you guys. I'll take one later when I'm putting the wire in it, but it faces up.

Here are the new wires for the two grounding portions of the big 3. The short one is for the battery, which is cool b/c the battery wire attaches to the frame right beside the battery terminal.

First, the tools used to make the wire:










Wires done.









Side shot of the crimping. BTW, if you live in an apartment, neighbors LOVE it when you do things like this... 










Techflexed and HeatShrinked. The battery wire has a streetwires compression terminal on it. It fit great, and was a breeze to use. It was snug with the layer of heatshrink on it, but it still fit.









Close up of terminal with the clear heatshrink:










Now, here's a problem I have. The battery doesn't really have clearance to fire the wire straight back, as the air box is there. I can't really do it 90 degrees to the right at the moment due to the wire, but I think I can make the ground longer and make that work if possible. I'd appreciate some feedback and ideas on that. Pic of bolt hole from factory ground sanded bare for the 1/0 ring terminal that's going to replace the flimsy terminal:









Pic of new ground installed:









Head on shot of the battery. You can see how it's mounted now. There's not much room for the battery to move. My dad recommended an Optima Red Top, and I'm hoping that it would be a bit more narrow than my current battery, and I can run the terminals straight out from the back. You can also see the factory power connection on the other side. Tomorrow I'm going to remove that, zip tie those wires together, and attach them into the 4 gauge connection on my positive terminal.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

also, here's the harness for my deck techflexed up. I used a hot knife to cut a slit for the fuse holder. I couldn't get the 1" heatshrink over the fuse holder, so I used electric tape on the back side of it to hold things down. The remote wire is temporarily taped up until I solder in the remote turn on wire. I'll go back and flex the RTO in the harness when I flex the remote wire that will go to the amp. Tomorrow I'm also going to try and get the deck installed and running...more pics to follow. Also, does anyone have any ideas on covering that small pigtail? I think I can get the 3/4" flex to fit over it, but there'd be tons of slack, and it'd look pretty crappy. Should I just do that, and then try to fold the flex over and tape it up?


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## MiloX (May 22, 2005)

Hellz yeah!!! That's what I'm talking about thumper!!!!

That Carbon Techflex is soooo sexy. 

Those streetwires power rings rock, eh? They are a joy to work with... once you figure out how much wire you need to strip.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

lol, thanks Brian.

I liked the carbon better than just black.

I agree on the streetwires terminal. You have to figure how much to strip, but it works really well.

Also, any ideas on the ground? I'm thinking about just making it go straight out to the right, or make both the power and ground go down across the battery, then turn.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

alright, got the Positive terminal installed today. I had to cut away the factory terminal, cut back some of the factory split loom, strip the wires, and cut some excess to make it fit the 4 gauge hole. However, it's in, it fits, and it looks clean.

next, I installed the deck. I got the kit that replaces the pocket in my car. The deck install went very smooth. The steering wheel interface, however, did not. See my post in General Audio on that.

I got the deck in, connected the usb and ai-net to it to test all the inputs. Btw, the usb plug for the back has a thumbscrew anchored to the plug so after you plug the usb cable in, you can screw it into the back of the deck to make sure it doesn't move.

Ipod playback all went well, although I don't think it sounds as good as it did in my 9887 with the 422i high speed cable. I have one, and I'll compare and contrast the next time I have the deck out.

On to the changer. I picked up a CHA-S624 from a guy on ebay that looks brand new. The local shop cut my glove box and anchored it for me for only 20 bucks, which is worth it b/c I would not have wanted to do something like that to my new car. Anyways, I loaded my Led Zeppelin remasters discs 1-4 in the changer. I fired the changer up, and it starts playing on disc 3. wtf. I change to disc 1 and i hear it unload disc 3, load disc 1, then unload 1 and reload 3 again. wtf.

At this point I'm thinking there's an ai-net firmware issue between this brand new deck and older changer. Just to make sure, I take disc 3 out of the magazine, and fire it up again. It starts playing disc 3, track 1 with the cd sitting in my hand. I'm seriously confused at this point, until I realize...the magazine's disc 1 is the bottom one, and disc 6 is on the top. I change to disc 6, it changes without a problem, and starts playing.

So, anyone wanting to use the X001 with a CHA-S624, go ahead, it works like a charm. I'll let you know how things play with optical going to the 701 once I get that set up. And I'll get pics of the deck later.

Although I'm using power off the deck, things sound better than they did with the factory deck. The changer sounds best, followed by radio, then the ipod. I was disappointed in the ipod's sound. Also, it will play whatever eq you set on the ipod, so you can use that to help compensate for things. Now that I think about it, I haven't seen an MX button on the unit, but I'll look for it.


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## tr0y_audi0 (Feb 13, 2007)

lookin good this is a great unofficial install...
the power & ground wires look sick man,
Keep it up
Peace troy


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

thx for the replies. ups ran again, and i got my updated zip ties and tech flex. i have two boxes waiting for me at the apartment, and am expecting three things, so that means everything is almost in.

for now, +1 for OCD wiring. You can just imagine what the car will look like with these in it!


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

So, any updates?


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## kimokalihi (May 27, 2007)

Looks nice but do you only have one ground off your battery to the body of the car? Shouldn't there be one to the tranny or the block as well? I have 3 grounds on mine, 2 body and one to the tranny.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

kimo, i have one big wire going to battery, and then on the other side of the engine bay, i have a 1/0 going from the engine to the chassis. I call it the big 2, since i haven't upgraded the alt. 

All wires were techflexed over the last couple of nights. Today they'll be run and anchored with color coded zip ties. I'm also going to clean up the install of my steering wheel interface. I found a place that does trim kits for cars and cuts them to order out of real aluminum. I mailed them my kit and they're going to make a custom piece for it, as well as make me pieces for the other parts in my car that already look aluminum brushed. In my Accord, the factory radio has to stay, and the deck is mounted where a big pocket is under the factory radio. The pocket, and trim pieces in the middle console all had a plastic that looked like brushed aluminum. The kit for my deck is just black abs, and doesn't match the factory deck perfectly, so this should get all that tied together again. Plus, his piece will cover the seam from the removable trim ring as well. It'll just be the opening for the deck, which will be iso mounted. It should look pretty clean, and I'm excited to get it back. Here is all the wires covered and ready for install. The big bundle on the bottom left is 100 ft. of stinger hyperflex wire.










top left: 701 wire, two ai-net wires.

bottom left: remote turn on wire, four runs of 25ft. speaker wire, optical wire, 1/0 power wire.


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## Tonyguy (Nov 15, 2007)

nice work Thumper. very clean looking wires.


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## MiloX (May 22, 2005)

Sweeeeeeet!!!!!!


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## DonovanM (Nov 1, 2006)

I gotcha on the OCD wiring. I'm using different techflex for power, signal and speaker wires 

Still... I am anxiously awaiting the next installment Thumper... Looks awesome!


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

got everything run, my fingers are sore, and i'm tired. i'll post pics after i get them uploaded.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Thumper26 said:


> got everything run, my fingers are sore, and i'm tired. i'll post pics after i get them uploaded.


we need to sleep.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

went to my dad's shop last night to run the power wire. there was no place on the firewall that we could do it to spec, so we found a flat spot in the driver's side floorboard and drilled a hole and went down right beside the fuel lines. the wire is already techflexed, so i'm going to split loom it just for extra protection while it goes to the battery.

what sucks is we drilled from under the car up, and the hole is RIGHT in the path of my speaker wires that cross the floorboard going to the side of the center console, so i'm going to flare them out as best i can and reanchor them.

i'm going back tomorrow night to get things cleaned up, and hopefully i'll post some pics tonight.


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## dtviewer (Dec 18, 2006)

Hey Thumper. 
How are you getting along with the ida-x001? I'll be honest, your post where you said "The changer sounds best, followed by radio, then the ipod. I was disappointed in the ipod's sound" has actually scared me away from the ida unit. I'm about to pull the trigger on a Alpine 9886 instead. 
Any last thoughts before I make my purchase?

By the way, looking great on the wires so far. Wish I had the patience for your attention to detail!!
(When you are ready for your amp cover let me know and I will pull mine out and take some pics of the underside of the metal grill I used)


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

i don't think it's the unit as much as it is a high quality changer, and some of the music i listened to on my ipod. the ipod sounded better in my civic, but it was on a 9887, and was being played through AA poly mids and dls ir1 tweets amped with alpine mrv amps...a step up from the honda factory system. 

the deck itself is the best option for what i want. i think it plays the ipod as good as or as better as any other deck out there. it just sucks with the factory stereo.

Thanks for the support on the pics. The amp rack will be coming up sooner than planned. I'm trying to get the car ready in time for a MECA show in TN in february. I'm going to my dad's shop 3 times a week, plus work on the weekends, AND i'm moving in a week.

I'm not sure if I can do it or not, but I'm going to try.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

brief updates:

my dad and i got the power wire run. we had to drill through the floor on the driver's side b/c there wasn't a good spot in the firewall that we could use and put a grommet.

i have the inner doors deadened, and it's going to be hell getting a mid mounted due to how close the factory mid is to the bottom of the door. there is no room for a big baffle there.

i'm mounting tweeters tonight and will hopefully start on the amp rack/ib wall tomorrow night.

lots of pics to come.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

one more non picture update:

right now my installer has the gasket ring for my 162, and one of the stock speakers working on a baffle or at least a template for one. The stock speaker sticks out 1 1/8", and I only need 1 1/4", so I'm good on getting the mid to fit. It'll be snug, but I wouldn't have it any other way. 

also, I used some spray trim adhesive that I got with my ensolite to try and attach luxury liner to the insides of my door when I deadened them. I took the panel back off today and some of it came off, so I'm going to go back with silicone and make sure those things don't go anywhere. They really made a difference with road noise.

I'm going to try and get all my pictures on my computer and uploaded to photobucket for you guys soon.


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## waternut (Feb 6, 2008)

WOW! have learned a lot reading this.Thanks


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

no problem. I work in Chattanooga, so am relatively local to you. When it gets done, we'll hook up and you can check it out. Since you're in Cartersville, you need to pm DigitalBoomer. He lives in that area.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Alright, I have about 200 pictures to upload to photobucket, but they're mostly of wires being run and anchors being verified every 6" or so. So here's something that I thought was more interesting, my tweeter build.

in a nutshell, I got pvc pipe that the tweeter woudl fit in, then used a holesaw to cut a hole for the pipe. I cut a piece of pipe to mount the tweeter in, then used high temp hot glue to anchor it to the hole. Then I used epoxy putty on the sides to make it blend more smoothly. The putty dries in about 45 mins, and sands really easily. I only needed to use 80 grit to get it smooth enough for carpeting. Any pockets can be filled with smaller pieces of putty. And, here's the pics:

Putty used:









Hole cut out. Both pillars had a retaining clip in the middle that could be done without. I took the clip out then tested the pillar, and it still held fine from being attached at the bottom and top. I removed all the plastic that held the clip in place, which gave me a perfect reference to get each hole cut at the exact same place









Here's the PVC ring I used. The Dyn 102 tweeter fit very snug inside 2" pvc, so I went around the inside of the ring with my dremel and a sanding bit to give some slack for when the tweeter pins down the carpet.









Ring glued to the pillar. I hot glued a small section, then put the pillar in my car to aim it. Once I had it the angle I wanted, I went back and glued it in place.









Build up of putty around the pillar. I forgot to take a picture of it sanded smooth, but it was smooth. The putty wants to crumble a very small bit on the edges, but me using 80 grit may have had something to do with that. It sanded smooth, and 80 got it more than fine for covering in headliner material.


















Here's the final project. I'll go out and take some pictures of them in my car later today. I got some headliner material to match my car from a local auto shop. The factory pillars didn't have any foam backing on the cloth, but I think the foam will help with reflections. I have a dashmat for the dash that I'm going to put ensolite on the bottom of.


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## doitor (Aug 16, 2007)

VERY NICE.
They look stock.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

doitor said:


> VERY NICE.
> They look stock.


x2. Very clean. Have you considered using the grill cloth to hide the tweeter?


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## doitor (Aug 16, 2007)

bikinpunk said:


> Have you considered using the grill cloth to hide the tweeter?


That will also be really nice.
I decided to hide all my speakers because of competitors recomendations. They sayd: "Out of sight, out of mint".
It seems like some judges might have a predetermined idea of how a car is supposed to sound depending on speaker locations. They shouldn't but psycoacoustics play a BIG role.
On the other hand, those Dyns need to be shown off.


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## BigRed (Aug 12, 2007)

The judges did'nt seem to have a problem with Dave Brooks truck and his speakers being unable to be hidden  Highest SQ score in SQC


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

BigRed said:


> The judges did'nt seem to have a problem with Dave Brooks truck and his speakers being unable to be hidden  Highest SQ score in SQC


I wasn't implying anything about them _needing_ to be hidden. Just suggesting that for a stealth look it might be something to do. Though, I'm quite sure J has thought of this already.


Besides, who's to say the judges don't prefer Hybrid? I'm not saying that, but I think you see the point. Those who say you need to go stealth for judging concerns could have a valid point; though it's going to be hard to pinpoint what a judge is privy to. I personally choose to believe that it's not as big a deal as some may make it out to be.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

thanks for the compliments guys. i'm very pleased with how they turned out.

as for hiding them, my original plan was for them to be mounted behind the pillar, but those dyns are pretty big. I have some speaker cloth I can cover them with, but it'd be a challenge to get it wrapped around the tweeter tight enough and make it look right. For now I'm going to leave them as is. I have a black interior, so they actually compliment pretty well.


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## doitor (Aug 16, 2007)

BigRed said:


> The judges did'nt seem to have a problem with Dave Brooks truck and his speakers being unable to be hidden  Highest SQ score in SQC


Does this has something to do with a certain Red Ranger with 2" lift, Jim? 
j/k


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## BigRed (Aug 12, 2007)

you guys are right.....bottom line is who is to say what the judjes are privy to THAT DAY! I think blindfolding the judjes for pure sq BEFORE getting in the car would be a great idea, but it will never happen 

I like what you're doin thumper 

Doitor, just burned 3 more cd for ya!!


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

thanks red!

i'd like some cd's...


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## drake78 (May 27, 2007)

Thumper26 said:


> thanks for the compliments guys. i'm very pleased with how they turned out.
> QUOTE]
> 
> No thank you, that looks way more simple than fiberglassing.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

glad i could help, drake. 

here are a few pics of wiring being run. I tried to upload 20, but photobucket or vista doesn't like me uploading that many pictures at once while still using the internet, so it crapped out and i have to reload them tonight.

Ai-Net and Optical wire going to CHA-S24 in glove box:










down the side









up the back to the back seat









speaker wires down the driver's side of the tranny hump









for now, everything is coiled up under the rear seat









more to follow when i get them loaded.


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## atsaubrey (Jan 10, 2007)

Awesome looking work my friend! Nice attention to detail.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

i appreciate it. I think yours is 10x better.

lol, i loved the carbon techflex when i got it, then saw pics of your white techflex, and was instantly jealous.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Alright, here are a few more.

My dad and I took my car to his shop that has a pit and went all over the firewall trying to find a place. On this Accord the firewall is two pieces, like many cars, and a lot of the places we could access on the inside we either couldn't access on the outside, or on the outside the pieces weren't against each other and one was flared out so we couldn't use the grommet. So, we went through the floor and used a StreetWires 1/0 Grommet. On the underside, heavy duty conduit is zip tied with military grade zip ties, and gasket silicone covers the seam around the grommet and the metal, as well as where the conduit meets the grommet. I'll get those pics later this week. The wires for the speakers were run at a previous time before the power wire was run. At the time, I had assumed I could drill through the firewall near the dead plate in teh floorboard, but I we all know what happens when you assume.









Another shot of the power wire, showing anchors less than 6"









I ran the power wire and remote turn on through a hole in a crossbrace that the seats bolted to. I put grommets in to prevent rubbing.



















Here's a shot of the power wire through the crossbeam. The wire is still anchored within 6".


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## Keith Turner (May 28, 2007)

Hey Thumper26 heres a 96 Honda Accord I did with the same speaker setup. This is a very nice setup for that car. I love the setup because I can play anything pop,rock,jazz,rap,reggae,ect.....


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

make your own damn thread keith!!! 

just kidding 

that's some nice work. did you FG your pillars? and is the grill over them one you did yourself?


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## Keith Turner (May 28, 2007)

Thumper26 said:


> make your own damn thread keith!!!
> 
> just kidding
> 
> that's some nice work. did you FG your pillars? and is the grill over them one you did yourself?


LOL LOL! The tweet grill is the grill from the 102, I also use the cup that it came in also. I use Duraglas to do the apillars.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

my tweeters didn't come with a cup. how'd you paint that grill? does it come off or something?

Also, here's installed pics of my tweeters:


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## Keith Turner (May 28, 2007)

The tweet that are in your pillars are the same tweets. Check your PM.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

How'd you get the pillar off? Just smack it with a mallet on the SRS symbol?

also, does that symbol come off and go back on?... meaning, how did you get the cloth to go _under_ it?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

lol, you must have missed my post about those pillars back in the day.

i don't know wtf people are talking about when they say smack it. the plastic logo is a big clip. take a small flathead screwdriver, and just lift up on the edges, and it'll lift out. then just pull the pillar. you have to remove one pressure clip in the middle (the one i removed to mount the tweeter) and that's it.

after i wrapped it in cloth, i just cut a slit to put the clip back in to. you have to make a couple of short slits on the sides b/c the clip has a barbed tab that sticks down on either side to hold it square. it's really easy to do.

don't tell anyone, but if you look closely on the passenger side pillar, on the left side of the clip by the SRS, you can see a seam where i cut the slit too close to the edge. I may go back and rewrap them b/c the material was like 8 bucks. Right now I just want to get everything in, and I can worry about stuff like that later.


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## dBassHz (Nov 2, 2005)

BigRed said:


> The judges did'nt seem to have a problem with Dave Brooks truck and his speakers being unable to be hidden  Highest SQ score in SQC


Have you heard this truck? How is the imaging? I like the midrange/tweeter dash setup but I can't get it to image properly. The image reminds me of headphones... none.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

I got some more work done on the car today. First off, here is a pic of the ground block installed. As I've mentioned before, I had my father, who's a lifelong mechanic, help me with location on several pices. He confirmed that there wouldn't be any structural issues with mounting this. It's bolted to the support metal.









The focus on today was finding a place for the 701 to be mounted. Teh first idea was to put it in the back left corner where there's a gap. After toying with that for a half hour or so, I wasn't happy with how it sat, how much work I'd have to do to reshape the factory trunk lining, and the fact that if I was ever hit in the rear quarter panel, the processor would be hosed. So, I did some measuring, and decided to mount it on the passenger's side wheel well. There was thick foam back rubber attached to the well, so I cut out a section, and then used some heavy duty construction adhesive to attach a piece of 1/2" plywood to the area. I'll be using screw inserts to actually anchor down the 701. As it sits, I can reattach the factory trim with no problem, but I have to pull it tight in one section. So, I'm going to use the heat gun and a 2x4 block and mold a little relief in the trim. Here's the wood anchored:









Here's a shot of the adhesive I'm using. From what I've gathered, it's liquid nails on steroids. For me, it's the best alternative to putting holes in my car, something that I'm really not a fan of. I have no doubt that I'd be pulling the layer of deadening that it's attached to before it came up:









Now the good stuff, the amp rack. I will be anchoring down pieces of mdf to the trunk floor, and using threaded inserts (again) on the pieces in the floor to hold down the amp rack that'll go on top of it. This is me trying to fit everything accordingly. Audison is awesome enough to include a mounting template with their amp (thanks again Don  ). Rough layout:









Adhesive layed for the base pieces:









Pieces anchored. I made sure to leave the fuel pump accessible at all costs, so no deadening over the access, and no mdf to be glued down either.


















Here is the trunk lining sitting on top of the supports. I don't want to cut the factory lining, but may use a heat gun to help mold those down better. As is, it's not really noticable, but I'm not sure how good it'd look after everything else is finished. I will be cutting the floor cover to run up to the edge of the amp rack.









Finally, the piece that will be the amp rack sitting on. It will be on 1/2" risers to route wires underneath to the amp so things will be clean and neat. I'm not sure if I'm just going to clamp the rack down over the trunk trim, or if I'm going to cut the trim away. Only time will tell...









At this point it was getting dark, and my friend whose garage I use had a sick kid, so that kindof put things on hold. It's supposed to be pissing down rain tomorrow, so I'll be inside marking screw holes for the amp and possibly building up the riser and the rest of the rack. If I can get a free garage, there is a chance that I'll have things playing tomorrow night, just without the subs. Here's hoping...


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## GlasSman (Nov 14, 2006)

Not sure how I missed this. Lookin' good!

Do you have any pics of the HU install?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

yeah, it's just mounted in the kit that is currently getting painted with the other middle console trim pieces. At a later time, I'm going to paint the silver inserts on the armrests on the doors too. Then the whole interior will be blacked out.

Here's a couple shots of the deck install:




























That aluminum trim piece has been removed, and the local shop is painting the whole deck kit, as well as the two pockets and trim around the shifter a light metallic black. I'll post before and after pics tomorrow when I get everything put in.


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## GlasSman (Nov 14, 2006)

Wow that kit makes installing a HU much easier as it makes a nice foundation for doing anything you want. What other functions are in the stock radio? 

Never really paid much attention to that car since my Dad has one but I've been thinking of getting a 2 door Accord coupe...leaning more towards an Acura CL-S coupe. Much more standard interior and install friendly.


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## xtwistedx (Feb 19, 2008)

man i have been wanting to do that to my car for so long! I have an 02 altima with three twelves in the truck and let me tell you the rattling is really annoying.
How long did this take you to do and how much? 
Very nice man i know that takes a while


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

thanks for the compliments.

regarding actual time spent, it took about 30 hours to deaden the car, and dress and run all the wires. add another 2 hours to deaden the inner doors, another hour of actual labor to do the a-pillar install (there was time spent just waiting on pieces to dry), and a couple hours going over the vehicle to find a way to run the power wire, then actually running it, i'm over 35, closer to 40 of actual labor time. If one was motivated enough, he could do a complete car from start to finish in 7 days working 12-16 hour days. I don't have that kind of time, and my job esp takes time away.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

I finally got the pics of the power wire install from my dad's digicam:

Wire coming through the floor with streetwires 1/0 grommet:









Wire anchored along the bottom of the car. When this was done, I hadn't read the updated IASCA rules that allow for every 8", so these were done to be within every 6. The zip ties are military grade 175 pound zip ties. They were cinched up with a pair of pliers to ensure that nothing was loose.


















Here is what I sealed up the hole with. I used silicone to seal around the gasket and the metal, and to seal the conduit around the wire and grommet. I used silicone gasket maker. This is what Isuzu uses to make waterproof gaskets in their diesel engines. If it can stand up to that kind of stress, it should have no problem keeping dirt and water off of the wire:



















Here is the wire covered in silicone:



















Here are a few shots of the wire running vertical against the firewall before making a 90 degree turn towards the battery:




























90 degree turn:










Shot of the wire from the battery looking back towards the firewall:


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## xtwistedx (Feb 19, 2008)

very very nice job done. I dynomated a SMALL part in my trunk and i thought i was doin the most. Its tedious stuff to do. keep up the good work


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## GlasSman (Nov 14, 2006)

Any shots of the wire entering the trunk from inside the trunk?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

right now, they are all coiled up under the back seat. if you're looking into the trunk, the power and remote turn on will enter from the left. all data cables will run to the right to the 701 mounted to the side of the wheel well, then RCAs will go from there to the amp. Speaker wires will go to the amp as well. I will have the slack from the ai-net, optical, and 701 controller cable coiled under the rear seat. I'll also leave a few extra feet of speaker wire as well, just to have options to move it later.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

It was sunny and 65 yesterday, so I got some more work done. I deadened the outer metal on the passenger's side door, put in deflex pads, and got the holes cut for my baffles. I had all the threaded inserts and bolts ready to go ahead and mount the dyn mids and the bolts I got were too big for the speaker holes!  

So, I have to go to Lowe's, return everything, and start over. I'm going to go ahead and just order security screws from partsexpress or mcmaster. I have about three layers of deadener over the whole door. I used 1/4" plywood wrapped in deadener to cover the holes. The pressure pin by the speaker BARELY fits, so I may have to trim away some of the mat on the door and the door card. Since I cut the metal away for the Dyns, I just duct taped the factory speaker to the door until I can get my baffles mounted :blush: Either way, there was noticably more midbass coming from the passenger's side now. I would have liked to do the driver's side today, but I have to go out of town to see some friends. I'm about to start just being a jerk to everyone so I can stay home and get this thing done. Anyways, here are the pics.

Outer door skin deadened:









Panel covers being wrapped in deadener. By the way, I saved these, so if anyone has an 03-07 accord, I can scan them and email them to you to use.









Cascade deflex pad in the door. My accord has a big 2" metal support arm going the length of the door right behind the speaker, so the pad is curved. Maybe that'll make it work even better? As a side note, I tried to use silicone to hold these in, but b/c of the curve, it wouldn't hold. Super glue worked great.









Filling the gap between the panel and the door with silicone:









Strips of deadener covered the silicone edges:









Completed door:









Here's the factory hole with the baffle traced out. As a side note, I've kept that green sharpie in my toolbox for a couple of years now. It has the thick and the small tip, and has come in handy more times than I can count:









Holding the baffle up to the hole. After I cut out the hole, I wrapped it in a couple layers of deadener. I covered the metal edge as well. A local shop made the baffles for me, and I forgot to tell them to make the tabs big enough to hold a 1/4" bolt. I had to go smaller, but I think after the sides get treated with deadener, it won't be an issue. I have nonhardening modeling clay going between them and the door as well.









The whole job took just under 8 sheets of Damplifier pro. Anyone want to do the math on how many square feet that is?









Finally, here's a pic of the scrap metal that I cut. 10 points to the person that tells me why I was so excited about this picture...


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## Tonyguy (Nov 15, 2007)

wow, clean cut on the doors. I'd be excited too.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

thanks for the compliments! I used a dremel with a cutting bit to cut the door hole out. I did my Civic doors the same way a couple years ago, so I already knew what I was getting into. As long as you go slow, it works fine. I broke a couple of bits from it getting hung on the edge, but they're cheap so no biggie.

Also, you still haven't said why I love that picture...


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## Tonyguy (Nov 15, 2007)

then i'm lost. why?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

b/c MECA allows for 1/2" of metal to be cut before you have to go up in class. I'm under 1/2", and it's not even a full circle.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Thumper26 said:


> b/c MECA allows for 1/2" of metal to be cut before you have to go up in class. I'm under 1/2", and it's not even a full circle.


Don't be such a scaredy cat.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

there's a difference between scaredy cat and wanting to have a snowball's chance in hell of placing.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

I got some more work done yesterday on my day off. Focus was on equipment layout for the amp rack, and 701 mounting. I got the rack settled into place, marked, then drilled holes through it to the layer glued to the trunk floor. Threaded inserts and stainless steel security are put in both places to hold everything in place. The 701 is anchored on the side via threaded inserts and stainless steel security screws as well. I forgot to get pictures of it. I also worked on using a heat gun to help create some extra room for the 701 behind the molded trunk carpet. I made room for the RCAs and other connectors, but still have to push the carpet out off of the body of the 701 a bit. I'll post more pics of that next go around.

In the meantime, here are a couple pictures of the amp rack layout. I went back and cut holes so cables can go up and install underneath the rack. The hole for the power and speaker wires sat right in between the two support pieces for the amp rack, so no problem there. However, the hole for the RCA's was right over the middle of the right amp rack support. Thirty minutes with a chisel and mini-sledge and I had the hole cleared out. That industrial adhesive that I used to hold the pieces down never once acted like it was going to let go, and I was putting some serious pressure trying to get that wood out. 



















Also, here are pics of my center console that I had a local shop paint for me. Originally there was a silver pocket where the deck was, and the piece around the shifter, as well as the pockets in front of it, were all silver as well. The kit for my deck was black and was supposed to match the texture of the factory deck, but didn't really. So, I had all the pieces painted to match. I glued up the trim ring, and the shop smoothed it over to make it look like one piece. If you're near Chattanooga and need some work, I use the Radio Clinic. Kerry is their paint guy, and does it on the side. Mike McDaniel also works there; he made the top 100 installers list that was put out a while back. They're all really cool guys, and have their own RTA if you need it.

Out of coincidence, there are two strips on my steering wheel that hold the radio and cruise controls that are a very similar color. So, that worked out well. The inlays that have the window controls on the door arm rests are still silver, but it doesn't look as out of place as it did with the kit in the middle. I'll go back later and have those painted as well.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

What did you make yout filler panels with?

I have the same bar down my door as you do and did the exact thing with the deflex.

Did you happen to holler in that hole before and after to hear a difference with the pad? It's suprising!


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

filler panels? on what?

i didn't yell into the hole, i should have though. i did do the "knock test" though, and just kept going around, adding deadener until I was satisfied.

when i put the panel back on and screwed down the handle, it wouldn't open smoothly. i forgot that there's a dip on the sheet metal to allow clearance for the handle to open. When I cut the deadener away from that spot, it was 5 layers thick!


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

Where the holes are on the panel from the factory, what did you fill them with?

Edit: I believe what you called the panel covers.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

oh, those. 

I used 1/4" plywood covered in a layer of damplifier pro.

one of the nice things about having friends with cabinet shops, is they have a scrap pile that you can dig through. That piece of wood to cut the six holes would have been 10 bucks or so at Lowe's.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

Thumper26 said:


> oh, those.
> 
> I used 1/4" plywood covered in a layer of damplifier pro.
> 
> one of the nice things about having friends with cabinet shops, is they have a scrap pile that you can dig through. That piece of wood to cut the six holes would have been 10 bucks or so at Lowe's.


You gotta know where to look, they have a section of "small wood" 

But yeah, scrap wood piles FTW! between work and home i could QUILT something!


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

lol @ small wood.

mostly, the smallest i've seen was 2x4 'handy panels'. 

i've seen some small single pieces, but never anything 1/4" that I could use for something like this.

I would have preferred to use self tapping screws to hold the pieces down, but I felt the silicone and extra deadener were secure enough.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

Thumper26 said:


> I would have preferred to use self tapping screws to hold the pieces down, but I felt the silicone and extra deadener were secure enough.


I like adhesive silicone idea better, it will prevent buzzing if done well!


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## SQrules (May 25, 2007)

Thumper26 said:


> Also, here are pics of my center console that I had a local shop paint for me. Originally there was a silver pocket where the deck was, and the piece around the shifter, as well as the pockets in front of it, were all silver as well. The kit for my deck was black and was supposed to match the texture of the factory deck, but didn't really. So, I had all the pieces painted to match. I glued up the trim ring, and the shop smoothed it over to make it look like one piece. If you're near Chattanooga and need some work, I use the Radio Clinic. Kerry is their paint guy, and does it on the side. Mike McDaniel also works there; he made the top 100 installers list that was put out a while back. They're all really cool guys, and have their own RTA if you need it.
> 
> Out of coincidence, there are two strips on my steering wheel that hold the radio and cruise controls that are a very similar color. So, that worked out well. The inlays that have the window controls on the door arm rests are still silver, but it doesn't look as out of place as it did with the kit in the middle. I'll go back later and have those painted as well.


Do you have any pics of what the center console looked like stock? These will be important to see to make sure you can stay in MECA Street class.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

this isn't my picture, but here's what it looked like:










I still have that fold down pocket. The piece that the deck is in is an American International (i think) dash kit.


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## mulletboy2 (Aug 17, 2006)

Hey, I'm loving the install  Great attention to detail.

I have an 04 Accord so I'm familiar with some of the challenges it presents.. props to you for getting the 1/0awg through the firewall - I went for under the car after several hours of swearing.

Where did you get your dash kit from? I started fabricating my own but due to a headunit and processor change recently, I can't be bothered to make another - would really like to just buy one that slots in


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

thanks for the compliments mullet!

i just googled for a dash kit and the one from american international came up.

on the power wire, i went through the floorboard, not the firewall.


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## mulletboy2 (Aug 17, 2006)

Nice one mate, I've found the kit, thanks 

Didn't realise you'd gone up through the floorboard.. that makes a lot more sense than you having managed to get the cable through that rediculously placed grommet in the firewall.

I'll keep an eye on this thread, as you seem to be a fair amount ahead of me  

Oh, one more question - where did you get hold of the a-pillar cloth from?

Cheers

Mark


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

a local trim shop.

i ordered some stinger light gray cloth and it's about the same color, and the texture matches. you can find that online and get it shipped to you. the stuff i used has a foam backing.


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## mulletboy2 (Aug 17, 2006)

Great, thanks


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## SQrules (May 25, 2007)

This is the part of the rules that pretain to you headunit install.
Street
This class will include competitors that choose not to modify their vehicle’s interior and overall aesthetics. The competitor must use factory speaker locations, but will be allowed to place one pair of tweeters in a non-factory
location. The vehicle must retain functional components of the vehicle, i.e. center console, glove box, etc., with the exception of access to the spare tire. Pick-up trucks with cut-throughs are not allowed in Street Class. The vehicle must maintain the ability to install or remove removable seating, maintain the ability to raise or lower seats and/or the ability to stow away the seats as applicable. The Sound Quality score sheet will be used to evaluate the system, with a maximum of 100 points possible.

I believe their is another competitor that is using a deck in that location in their Accord. Evidently Honda offers some sort of audio upgrade that uses that location which allowed him to use that location. Do some research, and be able to prove your position when you come to a show. I'm just letting you knkow so there is no confussion at your first show.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

I gotcha.

Aaron Thomas (i think that's his name) has an 07 Accord, which is the same body as mine, and his deck is there. I'll hit him up, and find out the deal.

Thanks in advance for that!


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Well, I've been home sick the past three days, but have finally started feeling a little better today. Cabin fever has had me about ready to go crazy, so I decided to do some work on the stereo. There is a show this Sunday, and if I can just get things hooked up, I figured I'd enter for ****s and grins.

Besides the IB sub mount which will be its own headache, all I have to do is put the baffles in, screw amp and distro blocks to the amp rack, and connect wires.

I started with getting the wire connectors for the speakers set up today. My original plan was to solder pigtails on the speakers, and attach molex connectors to them. However, when getting into that, making the connectors look the way I wanted was proving to be more of a hassle than I planned on. Plus if I ever had to swap a speaker at a show, I'd be totally screwed. So, instead I soldered spade terminals onto the ends of the wires, then covered the whole thing with heatshrink.

Here is the wire stripped and prepped. I used 1/4" 3:1 heatshrink to cover the wire and terminals, and 1/2" 3:1 heatshrink to dress the ends of the wires and techflex. The electric tape is there to hold the techflex out of the way while I covered the wires:









Ends crimped and soldered on:









Wires covered in heatshrink. Black is negative, grey is positive.









Wire finished and dressed:









Passenger's side:









Passenger's side mounted and ready to be connected:









Driver's side ready:









Here's one of the door baffles. It's covered in resin, and I've used threaded inserts for when I attach the mid. These will be wrapped in clay and deadener as well:









My town just had the tornado siren go off, and it's been raining pretty hard, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to do everything tonight or not. I really hope I can though. I'll update with pics as progress is made.


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## quality_sound (Dec 25, 2005)

SQrules said:


> This is the part of the rules that pretain to you headunit install.
> Street
> This class will include competitors that choose not to modify their vehicle’s interior and overall aesthetics. The competitor must use factory speaker locations, but will be allowed to place one pair of tweeters in a non-factory
> location. The vehicle must retain functional components of the vehicle, i.e. center console, glove box, etc., with the exception of access to the spare tire. Pick-up trucks with cut-throughs are not allowed in Street Class. The vehicle must maintain the ability to install or remove removable seating, maintain the ability to raise or lower seats and/or the ability to stow away the seats as applicable. The Sound Quality score sheet will be used to evaluate the system, with a maximum of 100 points possible.
> ...



Pertaining to the red highlighted section, what about parts you ADD? My Rabbit didn't come with the OEM armrest/storage area but the 4-door Rabbit did. The pocket is a DIN location and an optional 6-disc changer can be put there from the factory. Would they still allow me to install something in that area if I added the armrest to my car?


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## Whiterabbit (May 26, 2006)

its up to the judge. when I was competing SPL I made sure I did not classify my car as a wall. I passed by nearly a half inch, giving me a 30 cubic foot volume to work with.

The judges just saw the 3 15's and modified rear seat and put me in the wall class every time, even though by the LETTER of the law I was not a wall.

Got my ass handed to me every time by the folks with walls.

The judge will decide, semantics and verbage aside.


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## HondAudio (Oct 19, 2006)

Thumper26 said:


> Here is the wire covered in silicone:


I've always wanted to use that Carlon hose to run a cable under the car, but how come you didn't use the 90 degree plastic piece to make the final turn and go into the car?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

honestly, b/c I just didn't think about it. Also, you can't see b/c of the silicone, but the butt end of the streetwires grommet sticks down, so the 90 degree piece wouldn't have fit that well anyways.

Tonight wasn't as productive as I would have liked, but I still got a lot done. Since it was raining, I had to wait on my friend to get off work so I could use his garage. There we got the door baffles fully installed, and got the mids in. At this point, I have to carpet the amp rack, and plug things in and I'll have music with the new stereo. If all goes well, the IB mount for the subs will be finished by the end of the week. And, here are the pics:

Door wiring treated just like the ones for the tweeter. Of course they're a bit longer:









Here's a baffle with clay on the bottom. This one is dated later b/c I forgot to take a pic of the first one I did.









Baffle mounted and excess clay smoothed around the edges. I used 10-24 bolts and vinyl backed nuts to anchor this to the door.









I put a layer of deadener around the inside to prevent the clay from possibly dripping on the speaker in the summertime.









Aluminum tape over the butyl edge again to prevent mess.









Wires anchored to the speaker. Special thanks to Jeff Smith from Audio Designs of Atlanta for the idea of securing the wire to the speaker. Besides giving it that extra touch, it helps knowing that something isn't going to just come loose b/c the wire got snagged in the window track or whatever.









Finally, speaker mounted. The spanning screws went in very smooth. I kept a finger layed across the surround of the speaker the whole time, and can honestly say it's the slowest i've ever used an 18v drill in my life. The bit for the spanning screws is just a couple of forks that stick out and go into the holes. I was having visions of those chewing through a surround. On the one bad note, once the bolts are in, they're in. I didn't have the clutch set, and it bent the prongs on my bit. It still works, but I need to order a couple more from McMaster.










It's still raining right now, and my friend is busy tomorrow, so hopefully the rain will let up and I can get some good trunk time in. If there's any hope of me getting it finished tomorrow, I'll be foregoing aesthetics to get things working, then reroute everything after the show on Sunday.


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## Whiterabbit (May 26, 2006)

ssssssssssssssssssoooooooooooooooo.....



When does the "official" install thread get started?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

once I build a 2nd car, without making any of the stupid mistakes I made along the way with this one. 

the unofficial thing is a joke from SDOT.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

I woke up this morning highly motivated to get things done. I have to carpet the amp rack and rack mounts in the trunk, and then anchor the equipment and connect wires. It's been raining on and off all weekend, and was misting earlier. I got all the pieces carpeted. On the amp rack, I used a piece of coathanger and a cheap walmart wood burner to find the screw holes and burn the carpet away. Whoever originally thought of this is a genius, as it works great and looks much better than cutting the carpet a way. It's also MUCH easier. I got the pieces in the trunk carpeted, and as I set the rack in there to start screwing equipment down, the flood opened. So right now my car has random pieces piled up in it while I wait on it to stop raining so I can go out and work some more. It's actually a good time b/c I'm still not back 100% from being sick all week, and a break was sounding nice.

Anyways, here's a pic of the amp rack. I didn't have time to snap a pic of it installed.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Well, after a long productive day with nothing going wrong, and nothing getting in my way, everything is in and tuned and sounding great...NOT! 

Today was very frustrating. It rained all day. I finally decided to just prep the amp rack inside while I waited. In the process I realized I needed 8 gauge ring terminals, and radio shack was already closed. Also, thanks to the deep wells on the Audison amp, the bit for my security screws barely fit in there. I had to engineer something to make them snug up the last little bit. Coupled with the fact the prongs are bent from overtightening them last night, it was a serious PITA to get the amp secured. I've already decided I'll be making my RCA's and plugging them in ahead of time so I don't have to take the amp apart.

Anyways, I got the wires flexed and heatshrinked, and I pull out my brand new label maker out of the package and the cut button is hanging loose on the side, and pieces are rattling around inside it. So I can't get the wires finished tonight. Tomorrow I'll return the label maker (which is bs anyways b/c I have one at work I could use no problem) and get those wires done. That will leave me hooking up the wires underneath the hood tomorrow, and plugging in the 701. While I figure in my head, this shouldn't take more than 2 hours of work, it will somehow manage to stretch into all day. I'm sure it'll just rain again and I'll be **** out of luck.

Anyways, here's a picture of the rack with everything mounted, and the wires I'll be using:


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## doitor (Aug 16, 2007)

Why two distro blocks?

Jorge.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

b/c I can't find an afs fuse small enough to cover connecting the 701 to the big block. Also, there isn't a clean way to connect it.

I'll have a led strip in the trunk sometime in the future, so it'll also help to power that, as well as fans on my amp rack whenever I get to that point.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Thumper26 said:


> b/c I can't find an afs fuse small enough to cover connecting the 701 to the big block. Also, there isn't a clean way to connect it.
> 
> I'll have a led strip in the trunk sometime in the future, so it'll also help to power that, as well as fans on my amp rack whenever I get to that point.


Don't know if you'd want to go this route, but for me, I used a spade connector and slid it in, then bolted it in place. Hasn't caused me any issues yet. But, I totally understand what you mean by not being able to put the bare wire in there. No way it would stay.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

eh the rack has already been built, and my luck would be something like that causes issues in the lanes.

I worked on getting wires labeled tonight and the 701 mounted. No sound yet, but I am getting damn close. Tomorrow night, I'll actually route the wires under the seat, and MIGHT have sound, we'll just have to see. I ran out of daylight today, and since I have to work tomorrow, I decided to cut out early. I forgot to take pics of the cables going into the 701, but I'll get pics of it with everything attached later.

Things are really coming together, and aside from one issue with making the trunk trim pieces look right, I have a set plan and design for how everything else will go. For me that's huge, b/c I don't have to waste time standing around staring at the trunk.

Here are the pics I did grab today:

Wires prepped and labeled:









701 mounted. I used industrial adhesive to anchor it. After I put it in, I grabbed the side and pulled pretty hard. It didn't even wiggle, so I think I'm good there.









Close up of the security screws holding it in:


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

I did some more work tonight, mainly running wires to the 701 and cleaning things up under the seat. As I type this, I realize that I forgot to take a shot of the 701, so I'll grab some tomorrow. In the meantime, here are pics of under the seat. Looking at the pics, some of the wires look a lot messier than they looked when I loomed them up, so I'll have to straighten those up later as well.



















I worked about three and a half hours tonight. Going at that rate, I should have things finished up Friday night. I don't have any time to work on it Tuesday or Thursday. Wednesday night I'll try and get the amp rack in, get the main power and ground wires attached to the rack, and get the 701 wired up. I have to dress the cables for the 701 and also find a small ground spot for the processor. I figure I'll just clear out a spot of deadener, sand it bare, and use a self tapping screw to make the ground.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

What's the bundle right in the middle?


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

Is there any truth to what they say about coiling cables affecting the sound, or is it audiophile voodoo? They recommend collapsing the coils but then I think electromagnets use collapsed coils as magnets so that can't help much.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

t3sn4f2 said:


> Is there any truth to what they say about coiling cables affecting the sound, or is it audiophile voodoo? They recommend collapsing the coils but then I think electromagnets use collapsed coils as magnets so that can't help much.


We are getting there


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

bundle in the middle is two Ai-Net cables.

as far as coiling them goes, it's prolly not good, but the speaker cables are coiled a whopping 4 feet or so, not enough to matter i don't think. I don't think the data signals in the ai-net will matter either. The others are a fiber optic cable (in orange), and the 701 controller cable in black.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

I'm not AiNet savy, is it control or does it have analog audio on it too?


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

chad said:


> I'm not AiNet savy, is it control or does it have analog audio on it too?


Both, .85 volts


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

Right over that "Honda Famous" fuel pump :blush:


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

right behind it, actually...the fuel pump is in the trunk right under the amp rack.

i'm a little worried about that, as the speaker wires will be all but laying on them.

we're about to test the limits of potential system noise.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

I was hoping to get more done last night, but my wife had an appointment to take pictures of our son, and then my friend's washing machine went on the fritz and i had to help with that, so that put a damper on things. Anyways, here's what I got:

Harness for 701 prepped. I call it the squid:









Harness installed and connected:









Lines run behind the amp rack. I only used one anchor for the power/ground wire due to space. Each still has their own colored zip tie though.









Wires anchored underneath the 701. It's getting a little crowded under there. I was tempted to anchor them to the side of the unit itself, but decided against it.









Layout of how things will be. I'm still trying to figure out how to get my amp cover done in my head, but other than that things are coming together pretty well.


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## Whiterabbit (May 26, 2006)

what the heck, werent you the guy who was supposed to have the car that was so simple, no D-blocks were needed, an existing fuse in the fuse panel used (or just the inline at the battery,) The 701 pulling power from the radio, etc etc etc?

What happened? The wiring is a comparative mess now!


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Whiterabbit said:


> what the heck, werent you the guy who was supposed to have the car that was so simple, no D-blocks were needed, an existing fuse in the fuse panel used (or just the inline at the battery,) The 701 pulling power from the radio, etc etc etc?
> 
> What happened? The wiring is a comparative mess now!


lol, keyword is supposed.

it started like that, but I wasn't sure how to get wiring for the 701 from the factory fuse block and make it be approved by IASCA judges. So, a fuse block was introduced. Then, since I can't get an AFS fuse small enough or a wire small enough to use a lead from the Streetwires block, I needed a secondary block.

This is better, as it allows me to add another amp later if I choose, and the smaller block will be great for when I wire fans and accent lights.

I'm just now sure how things will go if I ever add another amp...


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## James Bang (Jul 25, 2007)

Very nice install. I can't help but notice how similar that Accord is to Acura TSXs.

You gave me some great ideas for my brother's tsx.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

thanks, I think the Accord is either the TSX or the TL, maybe both. 

Anyways, I worked on my IB wall today. I didn't have a lot of time to work on it, since my friend who has the shop had to leave to go take care of some stuff, but here are a few pics.

The wall will be two layers of 3/4" 13 ply Baltic Birch. Mmmm, birch:










Here are the outer sub holes traced out. The subs will flush mount, with a flared edge on the opposite side.










Dyn 190 sitting over the drawing. I don't think you can really see it that well in the pic, but the line is just over the edge of the sub, so it should be a tight fit. Dyn's website called for a 11.8" outer diameter, but 11 7/8" didn't cut it, so I did 12". The subs will be pulling the carpet from the sidewalls in, so a little slack was fine.










Bottom layer glued up before sandwiching them together. We set them up, put in a couple of brad nails to hold the pieces in place, clamped them up, and put a drill press on top of the baffle to help add to the pressure, then went to Lowe's for a couple of things. I got the flushmount rings cut out later, but didn't get the full hole cut out yet b/c we ran out of time.










More to come possibly tomorrow as we wrap up.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Well, no new pictures. Work has kept me out of town. However, after some consideration, I made a change in amps. Here is the new system diagram:










The new setup will allow me to give each speaker 300 watts, while also allowing me to move to a 3 way setup in the future if I want. Also, since the PDX amps are so small, I can mount them side by side, and the amp rack will only be maybe an inch deeper than it currently is. I will have to relocate my distro blocks, but that shouldn't be too difficult. I'm going to see if I can fab a spot for them along the wheel well. Due to comp rules, they have to be quickly accessible. Another option is for me to extend the amp rack to hold these, and then just have a removable panel to cover them. The amps won't be in until next week, and I will be gone again next weekend, so it's going to take me a little bit to get these installed. However, they should be ready by the next show I decide to go to. I'm borrowing some amps from my friend for the show this weekend.


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## Whiterabbit (May 26, 2006)

well, I agree with your amp choices (all identical) but DAMN from simple to this? sheesh!

Which way are you gonna face the subwoofer motors?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

most likely towards the trunk lid so you can see them. I'm going to play around and see which looks better.

and yeah, not quite so simple anymore, but the necessity of the 2nd small distro block negated that anyways.


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## ndm (Jul 5, 2007)

Thumper26 said:


> thanks, I think the Accord is either the TSX or the TL, maybe both.
> 
> Anyways, I worked on my IB wall today. I didn't have a lot of time to work on it, since my friend who has the shop had to leave to go take care of some stuff, but here are a few pics.
> 
> ...


I sure hope you have a good router. Baltic birch can be a bish to route out. I would have rather done 1 layer....route the holes....then glue the other layer on top and route that out with a flush bit...

We actually broke a 1/2in spiral router bit while routing the 2 layers of birch. 

Be very safe while doing it.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

thanks, i noticed it bogged the table saw more than mdf did when we cut it.

I routed the flush mount side 1/2" deep, and ran out of time. I'm going to go back and do the actual pass through side later. The dyns don't have a thick lip, so 1/2" was all that was needed. I'm making passes at 3/16 - 1/4" deep and the router seems to handle it no problem.

I've cut the pieces out separately before, but I've had a couple of issues where things didn't want to quite line up right.


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## s2groove (May 18, 2007)

What kept you from adding another 2 channel lrx amp if you ever wanted to go 3-way front stage? All Alpine system? Cute PDX stackables? I must admit that the pdx amps look great when showing off an install, are easier to install due to size, and you'll have more power in your case. I'm just curious as to why you decided to do that. Seems like a downgrade? I know headroom is nice but it seemed the lrx had more than enough for just about any install, especially the sub stage.

...also, how long is the 5.1k?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

headroom was the biggest thing. i had everything hooked up, and the power wasn't cutting it. i had the gains at 1/2, and to turn it up to the volume i'd like to listen to it sitting, there was a bit of hiss. having 300 watts for every speaker was my goal. I would have liked to go with Zapco I-Force 4100's, but then I remembered the pdx amps and got to looking at their size. The small footprint won it out from there.

an all alpine system is the last thing i was thinking about. the ability to line all three up with the same footprint as the lrx had was huge for me.

as for downgrade, i considered that, but i don't think there is an audible quality difference in the ouput from the lrx vs. the pdx. i got the lrx b/c i'm infatuated with 5 channel amps and audisons have always looked sexy as hell to me.

now i just got to think about what kind of design to go over the amp cover...

the 5.1k is about 2 feet. i'd have to look up the manual to know exactly.


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## s2groove (May 18, 2007)

I'm suprised the Lrx didn't put out. 






...the power you wanted I mean. 

I guess it's just one of those things you don't know until you try. 

I may make it over to Hixson late on saturday as a spectator, I have no time to compete, but will be curious to see what will be out there. Hopefully I'll see you there.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

lol.

i'm sure it did what it was rated, but I've been spoiled after hearing cars with insane headroom.

I should be around, I'll keep an eye out for you.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

well, between work and having to be out of town, not too much progress has been made. Here is a crappy shot of what got done tonight. I had to use my friend's el cheapo camera, and apparantly something wasn't set right. Anyways, you can see how the rack and everything is coming together. That is a PDX amp in the middle, but I might be going with the Pioneer Premier amps instead. I'll have to see tomorrow.


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## droskis (May 6, 2008)

cool


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## Ttowncls (Apr 14, 2008)

Why the change on the amps? Just curious. Looks very nice.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

i went from the audison due to an issue with it, and also b/c i wanted more power on the tweeters.

i'm now running three 2.150 pdx amps after a miscommunication between me and the shop.  they said I can run them and swap them out if they're not enough power for my liking. So, I'm going to do that and see what happens next.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

no pictures, but did some work last night. i feel like i'm taking three steps back for every step forward. I went to test fit the rack last night and it just wouldn't fit at all. It turns out my 701 behind the trim sticks out too far on one side, and on the other side there's a 2" lip that i measured over, instead of up against. So, I took out the 701 and ripped out the mount that it screwed to. The mount was glued to the deadener on the side wall with industrial adhesive. I literally had to pull with both hands as hard as I could to get it out, and even then it took the sheet of deadener out with it. What's even more surprising is there was only a 1/2" wide by 4" long strip of adhesive actually touching the mat. That stuff is insane. So, at this point I need a new location for my 701. It might go on the rear deck, but I've also found another place behind the carpet that I can put it. I think the most frustrating part of last night was cutting all the color coded zip ties loose to move the cables. I just watched about an hour of routing cables go down the drain.

Guests are in town, so I won't be able to work on it until next week. The next show is at the end of the month, so I have some time.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

it's been a shytty week for progress. i was finally able to break free tonight and do a little bit. i picked up the master of puppets album today and got it on my ipod, cracked open a few beers, and went to work. about 2 hours later, i had this:










tomorrow i'll drill those holes and put the knife inserts in all the holes. if anyone needs to know, the spacing between the holes on the pdx amps is 8 7/16" wide by 5 13/16" high.

hopefully tomorrow will also get my 701 relocated, and the rack hooked up. I have some luxury liner pro and some fatigue mat. whichever makes the tightest seal will go between the deck in my trunk and the lip on the wall. I'm going to precarpet some pieces and leave scrap hanging so I can blend once I have things in the trunk.

One huge thing I'm still unsure about is how I'm going to route the power wires. I can cut one long slit in the bottom of the rack in the middle and snake them up that way, or I can cut holes in the side, and then in the side trim of the car. I'm thinking the floor option would be less intrusive, but I'm not sure. Opinions?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

quick update on today. the IB wall fits. I had to trim some edges, and shave 3/16" off the top, but it's just about perfect as is. I'll go back and fill the small crack with silicone before covering it with carpet.

rear deck is totally deadened. both distro blocks are now on the driver's side. the 701 has been moved to beside the wheel well. Again, PL 375 FTW. The stuff is ridiculous. Knife inserts have been installed in the rack for the amps and subs. Tomorrow will be dressing power wires, routing cables, and reconnecting. I have to solder up a relay as well to power the fans and the remote turn on leads. Right now my biggest concern is finding what I have left of my 1/4" techflex.

I also got the fan panel redone for the 60mm fans. That will be done tomorrow as well.

It seems like I should have gotten more work done than was, but there was a lot of figuring out that went out today. It was one of those days that got everything staged for a quick install tomorrow. The only gotcha I'm not sure about is if the trunk carpet on the side walls is going to keep the box from going all the way back. If so, I'm cutting it to make it fit.

Pics coming tomorrow...


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

still no pictures. i have a couple but forgot to upload them last night. fuse blocks are relocated to the rear deck. relay is also wired up. the 701 is in its new home with all the wires going to it. IB wall is carpeted. I have to run the 4 gauge from the distro block to the amps, then treat the wires in techflex. It also looks like I'll have to do a little trimming on the factory trunk liner to get the wall in place. I wanted to finish last night, but had to get home to pack for a trip, so I called things off after I got the wall carpeted. I won't be back in town until friday, and will be gone all weekend, so hopefully next Monday I can get things finished. Here's hoping...


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

pics or it didn't happen


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

lol, classic. they're coming...

i figure one more full day and i should be good to go. man, talk about being tired of a project, though. i was going to carpet the rear deck, now i think i'm going to leave it deadener silver. I might pay someone to carpet it for me later...


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## Hixson (May 2, 2008)

Any updates??


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

um, it's in. i need to spend an afternoon and make some trim pieces for the trunk to be a little more clean looking and not so much an amp shelf just sitting there, but other than that it is done. July is stupid hectic with shows, so prolly the first weekend in August I'll dedicate a Saturday at a friend's place towards getting everything looking how I want it.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

since july, the install stayed the same, i competed in a ton of shows, constantly losing to either kirk proffit, aaron thomas, or both. finally beat aaron at AL state finals, he promptly beat me at every show after that. i came in a close 4th behind kirk at CAN during GA state finals, and came in 2nd there to aaron. finished 4th at MECA world finals, which motivated some serious revamping. Here's what's coming for 2009:


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

since july, the install stayed the same, i competed in a ton of shows, constantly losing to either kirk proffit, aaron thomas, or both. finally beat aaron at AL state finals, he promptly beat me at every show after that. i came in a close 4th behind kirk at CAN during GA state finals, and came in 2nd there to aaron. finished 4th at MECA world finals, which motivated some serious revamping. Here's what's coming for 2009:


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## unpredictableacts (Aug 16, 2006)

passive front?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

look again. the dsp6 will take care of the front stage, sub will be eq'ed off the deck. the 800 has the same sub frequencies on its eq as my 701 did and work on my subs was minimal. If for some reason it doesn't work out, I'll add another dsp.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

genesis amps... droooooool


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## tr0y_audi0 (Feb 13, 2007)

the profile is a nice amp!
Bob Morrow has them in his Tacoma
I had one for the Lotus Elise,
Nice choice
keep it up


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## Thrill_House (Nov 20, 2008)

Dude let me say great job on everything loving the progression of the system and I totally dig the car to, I've got a 2002 civic coupe that I compete with in IASCA and alot of your install prog pics look so similar to mine!


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Thanks man! IASCA is all but dead here now. With my job and everything else, I just can't take time off for shows like SBN, or world finals somewhere out in TX like USACi, so I'm going to focus on MECA this year. My install was originally done to compete in IASCA, and they fell off the board. Plus even before I started the install, it irked me that all this extra work had to be done when the factory wires aren't even routed all this well. On the new install, I have to pull some old wires and rerun some extras. They most likely won't be anchored every 6". They'll be anchored and safely routed, but only for my peace of mind and not b/c of a rulebook.

After MECA finals I really chewed over what to do with the car. It went from sell everything and get out of the hobby to go for Modex. I built the first install excited about working within limitations of a class. After chewing on things for a month or so, I decided I want to make my car sound as good as it can be within reason. I don't want to have to cut any more metal than was already done, or do anything extravagant that i'll regret later, so this is what you have. If I had the money, I'd prolly pay someone to put a pair of 172's in the doors, but the 162's worked great last season, so we'll see how they do this season.

All in all, I'm excited about this season, as long as I can get the install done. Last season I set a pretty lofty goal for myself, and didn't make it, but the knowledge I have now vs. then is incredible. I'm still a noob, and every time I learn something new, it just reinforces how much I don't know, but I'm loving every minute of it. I just wonder who else will be in Modified Street this season for me to lose to? 

In about 5 hours I'm supposed to get up and run the wires for the Zapco stuff and new midranges and uninstall all my old alpine gear. I dunno if i'll be starting that early, but it's a nice idea to entertain.


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## BigRed (Aug 12, 2007)

Like the upgrades thumper.....quesion.....where are you going to put the mids at? in the kicks?


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

^ yes he is. 

J, put up some pics of your install if all goes well.


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## braves6117 (Feb 13, 2008)

Thumper, looking good! 

Just wondering, how are you running the RCA's into the symbalink on the processor? I noticed that your diagram show's your running symbalink into it so maybe using a zapco line driver?


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## hallsc (Oct 26, 2008)

Looks great man; how much do you think you spent on the sound deadener? I have an '09 Accord, and from the amount of road noise I am getting right now I think I will be spending quite a bit on it


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## InjunV18 (Jun 16, 2008)

Oh the world of competition. The iterations you go through are quite amazing to think about. Well, if things go as planned and work starts in the month, I'll be very interested in some of your old things if you haven't sold them already. Looking forward to the new three-way+sub. I think I'll be going two way for awhile and learning the ropes before I attempt that monster.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

sorry for the delayed updates guys. Last Saturday I got all the ai-net cables pulled, and ran the symbilink and rca cables for the new gear. Part of me died as i undid hours of zip tying and routing in a couple of minutes removing the old wires.

mids are going in the kicks. i'm trying some non fiberglass methods for the kicks first. If they just don't want to work out, then I'll go back and FG them in.

I'm using a symbilink SLDIN.T-F to connect the deck's rca output to the DSP6. No line driver being used. The sub amp will receive signal straight from the deck, and will be eq'ed from the deck as well.

Altogether, I have about a grand in Second Skin products in my car, and they're absolutely worth every penny. When I got my cabin deadened for the first time, on the drive home I thought my windows were cracked, b/c that was now the noisiest part on the whole car. I have three layers of second skin on the floor and a layer of luxury liner pro as well. Putting the carpet back down is tricky in some spots. The doors have 40 square feet on each door. Knock on the outside of them and they sound like concrete, and that's with the older, thinner Damplifier Pro. The stuff is hands down awesome.

Freezefest is the 15th, and I'd like to have some semblance of a finished install by then. Materials have been ordered for the kicks, and amps are on their way from California as we speak. If the weather warms up a little, I'll be in good shape. Otherwise my "amp rack" for the show will be a piece of mdf sitting in the trunk.

I'll post pics as I go along.

*****, all my old gear is sold except for my Dynaudio MW190 subs.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

double post


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## braves6117 (Feb 13, 2008)

Thumper26 said:


> Part of me died as i undid hours of zip tying and routing in a couple of minutes removing the old wires.
> 
> When I got my cabin deadened for the first time, on the drive home I thought my windows were cracked, b/c that was now the noisiest part on the whole car.


I know that feeling. It take's soooo long to run those wires, and then poof, their gone :mean::mean:

I experienced the window crack phenomenon as well! I think it's a sign your deaden job is complete. It must be the second skin circle of life lolol


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

lol, truf.

it's supposed to warm up some this weekend but i have my 21 month old son, so i doubt there will be much work done on the car until he goes to bed, then it depends on how cold it is. I have some mindless grunt work i can chew out, but the real fabrication for the trunk needs to be knocked out next week. it looks like work is going to kill me, so i don't know how much time i'll really have to get it done. oh well, i'm not going to kill myself to do it. i did that the first time around and almost quit before i started.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

lol, truf.

it's supposed to warm up some this weekend but i have my 21 month old son, so i doubt there will be much work done on the car until he goes to bed, then it depends on how cold it is. I have some mindless grunt work i can chew out, but the real fabrication for the trunk needs to be knocked out next week. it looks like work is going to kill me, so i don't know how much time i'll really have to get it done. oh well, i'm not going to kill myself to do it. i did that the first time around and almost quit before i started.


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## InjunV18 (Jun 16, 2008)

Wow, I know it's great gear but that's super fast! Lookin forward to the rest of things.


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## lashlee (Aug 16, 2007)

Quit whining and get to work!!!! At least you still don't have snow on the ground like we do up here!!!


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

hey, cold is cold. shut it. 

i have my son this weekend (he's actually asleep right now) so not much will be done at all. Right now he's just too little to try and do any serious installing and watch him at the same time, although he loves playing in my trunk at shows. At best I'll get some misc deadening work finished this weekend. Next week I might end up being 4 hours south of ATL for work, and if so there's no way I'll be ready for FreezeFest. Even if that doesn't happen, it's not looking good. Some materials I ordered for my kicks haven't shown up yet either, which was something else I could have knocked out this weekend...

Oh well, it's still early in the season...


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

double post


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

materials for my kicks came in today, it was the wrong stuff, so that's been delayed.

to top it off, i just found out i'm going to be in south GA for the rest of the week for work, so no work will be done on the car. Freezefest is definitely out.

In the meantime, if anyone that lives near Savannah wants to meet up, shoot me a pm.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Seems we're both having some crap luck lately.
My plans for this weekend have been put on hold, too. 

Hope you get it figured out, bud.


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## so cal eddie (Oct 1, 2008)

Do you think there is enough room for a MW170 in the door? I know it will require a lot of metal cutting but would it possibly fit behind the stock door panel? I have an 05 tl and i got the 170s in there and thought the accord might be similar.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

if you fit it in a tl, i'm pretty sure it'd fit in my car too. i just didn't really have the extra cash to go with 8's in the doors. Also, I don't have the time to install them either.

I got back from work late tonight. My genesis amps were here waiting on me. Right now I have everything except the subs, and I have a basket to use as a template for right now. Hopefully I'll be able to get some work knocked out this sunday...


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## trunks9_us (Oct 25, 2007)

Hey what is this called thumper?

Looks like this is what you used to make your wires snug and I like this invention.


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## braves6117 (Feb 13, 2008)

trunks9_us said:


> Hey what is this called thumper?
> 
> Looks like this is what you used to make your wires snug and I like this invention.



It's a large AWG wire crimper you hit with a mallet/hammer.

Rather then getting the $200 plus tool, you get this guy which works great.

Hand Tools > Crimping Tools > Crimping Tools > Battery Crimper : Grainger Industrial Supply


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## trunks9_us (Oct 25, 2007)

braves6117 said:


> It's a large AWG wire crimper you hit with a mallet/hammer.
> 
> Rather then getting the $200 plus tool, you get this guy which works great.
> 
> Hand Tools > Crimping Tools > Crimping Tools > Battery Crimper : Grainger Industrial Supply


Thx I will now be buying one of these.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

it's called a hammer crimp, and i think i paid around $30 shipped for it.

here's one for about the same price:

Hammer Crimp Tool for Large Terminal Lugs


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## trunks9_us (Oct 25, 2007)

Thumper26 said:


> it's called a hammer crimp, and i think i paid around $30 shipped for it.
> 
> here's one for about the same price:
> 
> Hammer Crimp Tool for Large Terminal Lugs


I am really glad you posted a pic of it.  

I never knew they made something like this so now I don't have to keep messing up my terminals.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

no worries. Crimping my wires was by far the most fun part of the install.


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## keep_hope_alive (Jan 4, 2009)

looking forward to update pics. i'm with you man, pulling out all of the wiring i spent weeks on was waaaay to easy. but, it was a learning experience.


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## methmurda (Jan 28, 2008)

How did you get the front seats unbolted. I broke two socket wrenches trying.


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## audio+civic (Apr 16, 2009)

Where are you going to put the display for the 701???


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## Andy Jones (May 12, 2006)

^he put the 701 display in a box and sold it to someone else


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

methmurda said:


> How did you get the front seats unbolted. I broke two socket wrenches trying.


Lefty-Loosey, Righty Tighty.......


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

chad said:


> Lefty-Loosey, Righty Tighty.......


Bahahaha :laugh:

Seriously though, you may need to heat the bolts if they're giving you that much trouble.

Hey Thumper, how about some updated pics of the whole install bro


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Andy Jones said:


> ^he put the 701 display in a box and sold it to someone else


yup.

i cut a hole in a removable panel in my center console so i could keep the controller in there. my console already has a cutout to allow wires plugged into the cig plug inside the console to be routed out, so i was able to tune with the arm rest down and just the controller sticking out.

since last season, the 701 was swapped for the dsp (not sure if i posted an updated diagram on here, thought i did), and some changes were planned to really get things going for this season. due to several unforeseen circumstances, i've had to take a break from the lanes for now, but i hope to be able to return soon.

On the seat bolts, I believe it's a 14mm bolt, turn it counter clockwise and they'll come up no problem. 

Oh, and updated pics might be coming this friday, I'm doing work on the new IB wall and will hopefully get the amps put in as well.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

So like usual, bullshyt keeps coming up. Meanwhile it was damn slow at work today, so I redid the new diagram. This makes me sad a little:


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

why does it make you sad?

looks like it'll rawk!


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

eh, it keeps it simple, but i hate i'm not in the lanes right now.


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

Thumper26 said:


> eh, it keeps it simple, but i hate i'm not in the lanes right now.


Nice upset man, I fell you about not being in the lanes and things keep coming up. I hear the Flatlynes are amazing sound subs.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

They really are. They were recommended by a teammate, but I didn't know much about them. Then I heard them and it was over. They are incredible.


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

That looks like a really killer setup on paper.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

lol, you should see it in my livingroom. incredible.


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## circa40 (Jan 20, 2008)

Not trying to be too off topic, but Thumper your avatar scares the hell out of me!


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

lol, i know, i love it. such a great coincidence that someone made that pic and it's my username.


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## predatorftp (Dec 13, 2009)

can you give me some information on your lower dash adapter for double din audio device ? i can only a single din adapter.

thanks


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## audio+civic (Apr 16, 2009)

bikinpunk said:


> Truth. It's our trade off. She watches e-news and I pull the laptop out. But, when she watches 'the girls next door' I put that thing away.


same boat for me. I can't stand Americas next top model though.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

predatorftp said:


> can you give me some information on your lower dash adapter for double din audio device ? i can only a single din adapter.
> 
> thanks


the dash adapter i'm using is a single din. honda makes a set of mounts for the factory dvd player that can go there. you can fit a 205 in there but it's really tight, and the touchscreen is hard to use.


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## predatorftp (Dec 13, 2009)

Thanks,
I found a double din adapter and installed my Pioneer AVH-P4150DVD, It works and has enough room in the back side for my front crossovers, SWI-PS (Pioneer to Honda wheel remote adapter) and 3 monster 402 RCA connected in the back + all the wiring that goes to the amp.

Daniel


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

does yours replace the bottom pocket like mine or does it replace the factory deck? I opted to keep my factory deck b/c i'd lose the dual climate controls as well as the graphic display showing the a/c settings.


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## predatorftp (Dec 13, 2009)

Thumper26 said:


> does yours replace the bottom pocket like mine or does it replace the factory deck? I opted to keep my factory deck b/c i'd lose the dual climate controls as well as the graphic display showing the a/c settings.


Yes, that was exactly my issues when i came to decide what to do, I was looking on METRAs adapter that replaces the factory deck, i must suggest that it looks as the most elegant solution but with the big disadvantage of loosing the A/C display, clock and the dual control (i don't really think anyone uses the dual control for the a/c). so i went looking for another solution from Metra for the bottom pocket under the factory deck, metra only has a single DIN adapter  I don't really know why because I found a double DIN adapter at my local dealership and i have read in a few places on the net that other people got it from Honda dealership. 
I can suggest another solution for this issue, you can get a single din lower pocket adapter and modify it your self, I just ordered one my for my self because the installer broke my double din adapter and to buy it again here (i live in ISRAEL) will cost me allot more than simply 15$ on Ebay ! so i will hack the adapter to accept the double din radio.
be careful to make sure that your adapter comes with a Y Harness, so you don't loose the factory deck display.

good luck


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

yeah i actually use dual zone all the time. I like it cold, and any girl i've dated doesn't. Even the honda option would require some filler to make it fit...it's the same height as a double din, but too wide.

Thanks for the heads up on the harness, mine does have the Y, but I've seen a lot that don't. What single din did you look at modifying? I'll prolly never run a flip face, but you never know what might come up.


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## predatorftp (Dec 13, 2009)

I will be using this: Metra Electronics - Products part number 99-7862

But like i said you can find a double din adapter for the lower dash @ your dealer ship they have it , although i couldn't find it any where on the web [email protected]?


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## Jayvuu (Dec 11, 2007)

here the link to the double din. not sure if they will ship out of the states.


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## predatorftp (Dec 13, 2009)

Link is broken


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## Shelbrain (Mar 1, 2008)

predatorftp said:


> Link is broken


The link worked for me. Thanks


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

yeah that's the double din kit i have actually. One nice thing about it is if you install it in your car, but decide to go single din anyways, you don't have to take those mounts out. They don't interfere with a single din kit.

Lol, and that's also the Metra kit that I use too. It works pretty well, although the texture and color don't match up the factory radio like it's supposed to, which is why I repainted it.


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## audio+civic (Apr 16, 2009)

hey there is a third option if you don't have navigation. I saw a guy take the factory radio apart and move its display down to the pocket. I don't know if that frees up enouph room for a double din where the original display was but it is pretty close.


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## predatorftp (Dec 13, 2009)

audio+civic said:


> hey there is a third option if you don't have navigation. I saw a guy take the factory radio apart and move its display down to the pocket. I don't know if that frees up enouph room for a double din where the original display was but it is pretty close.


NICE ! can you give us a link to his post or more details, please ?

like how he mounted the original screen down there ? and how did he prolonged the cables all the way down ?

cool stuff


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## audio+civic (Apr 16, 2009)

I don't remeber where I saw it but I am looking for the link.


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## audio+civic (Apr 16, 2009)

03-05 Accord 7" Mold - MP3Car.com

I am pretty sure this was the site but none of the pictures would pull up on my computer.


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## predatorftp (Dec 13, 2009)

unfortunately I think that's not the post. the pictures doesn't load at all. and his solution was a top mount where the air vents are located.


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## Techie (Mar 19, 2011)

I know this is an old thread, but figure I will ask the question here anyways...see if anyone has an opinion on it.


Just wondering if the radio feels too low or out of reach in that location? Being put below the stock radio and replacing the pocket. I am getting a similar vehicle and considering installing it there as well, just don't want it to be too far away/hard to read/impractical.


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