# 2011 WRX Hatchback Mostly Simple Stealth-ish Install



## blong07 (Aug 16, 2008)

Hey everybody. Haven't done much posting around here in a long long time as I haven't had much to contribute, but I have still been lurking about occasionally. Last year I traded in my old tC for a brand new 2011 WRX, a car I had been lusting after forever. The plan for the install is to lose as little space as possible and work with what I've got (new car = no extra money). I pulled most of the stereo components out of the tC with the intention of putting it in the WRX - an Alpine 9887, two Dayton HO 10's and a eD 9.1 and 9.2. Add to that a set of eD e9.65 components that I pulled out of a friends car that he won't be needing, and that's everything.

The 9887 made it's way within a month or so as the stock h/u's are garbage like everybody says - it's too bad, they have bluetooth connectivity and nice ipod controls, but the sound quality is terrible. I found a guy on a subaru forum I think (svxdc) that makes custom harnesses for the new wrx's to retain the steering wheel controls w/o having to splice into anything - I got that along with the metra axxess unit and every function works flawlessly on the 9887. I didn't get any photos of installing the h/u, but there are plenty of write-ups on subaru forums...plus it's cake, definitely the easiest headunit I've ever installed.

The WRX has big cavernous spaces underneath the front seats, so I decided to put the crossovers and distro blocks under the driver's side, and the front stage amp under the passenger's side to save as much space in the back and to also keep the car's center of gravity a little lower. I intend to eventually replace the 9.2 w/ a 4 channel amp so that I can run active again (used to have 2 9.2's on ID mids and seas tweets, but there's not enough room for both amps).

Pictures! Sorry some of them are so awful, I couldn't tell until I uploaded them.

The car










The only one I have of the headunit










Making spacers for the mids




























I just threw this door gasket stuff on to alleviate rattles between the spacers and doors until I have the time and money to do a proper deadening job










I just sprayed some rattle-can bedliner on the spacers before putting them in.










The tweeters I've just thrown in to the stock sail locations for now until I have the time to make some a-pillars. I didn't even sand the plastic after drilling the holes, and they're held in with duct tape. :laugh:



















I cut a piece of mdf to mount the crossovers and distros to under the seat and also sprayed it with a couple coats of bedliner










Wired up










The 9.2 on the passenger side










Both ready to go










Seats all the way forward










Seats where they normally are










I didn't really get any photos of running the speaker/power wire. I already had the 0 gauge power line run for a temporary setup I had before (just subs). There's at least a couple other tutorials around that show how to run it through the side of car where there's a large grommet that most of the other electronics come through the firewall. That and running two runs of 12 gauge speaker lines through the door grommets was by and far the most time consuming, frustrating, [email protected]$$ part of the whole thing.

So now I'm working on the sub enclosure/sub amp rack. The spare tire and tool kit have to go to make room for them - I have AAA and can always just call a friend if I need rescuing. This will be my first go at fiberglassing and as such, I'm trying to keep that part minimal and simple. I'm only going to be glassing the bottom of the enclosure, the rest is mdf w/ a double 3/4" baffle on the top to recess the faces of the subs. False floor to follow. I measured the volume w/ the packing peanuts method and got 1.33 cu ft before driver displacement, so about .6 cu ft per driver after. Should be about right.

Pics of the progress on that so far:

Measuring


















Amp location









Upside-down w/ baffle










So that's it for now. I still need to order the fiberglass material, but I'll update when it happens. In the meantime, any comments/suggestions are appreciated. Thanks for looking.


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## lucipha (Aug 5, 2009)

You're giving me good ideas as to what I should do with my 11 WRX, but PBR, I think you can do better than that.


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## ecbmxer (Dec 1, 2010)

Looking good! I love the Dayton subs.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

I like them too. Are you running .6 sealed or are you running ported?

Jay


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## trojan fan (Nov 4, 2007)

OP beware, PBR has been known to give people the ****s....:laugh:


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## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

Subscribed  Liking all these newer model WRX builds popping up around here.


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## kizz (Jun 22, 2009)

nice work. how do you like the eD components? I don't think I've seen anybody use them before.


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## blong07 (Aug 16, 2008)

Ha! PBR is the king of piss water!



JayinMI said:


> I like them too. Are you running .6 sealed or are you running ported?
> 
> Jay


Sealed. I've had them both sealed and ported, and while ported gets a lot more deebees, I've decided that I like sealed better. And they still get plenty loud anyways.



kizz said:


> nice work. how do you like the eD components? I don't think I've seen anybody use them before.


They actually sound great - very clear and a lot of midbass even in my unsealed, undeadened doors. I've still got some tuning to do, but they already seem to have a pretty flat response. They were in my friend's gti before also running on a 9887 and I don't think we ever even messed w/ the eq or t/a at all, they sounded so good from the get-go.


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## kizz (Jun 22, 2009)

the midbass does look pretty beastly


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## blong07 (Aug 16, 2008)

Made some more progress on the sub box. I'm waiting on the fiberglass material to get here to be able to glass the bottom of the enclosure. Apparently it got held up due to the weather out east. 

Here's some pictures of the frame w/ most of the important pieces and test-fitting the amp and drivers for now:

Hella-flush with double baffle and a 1/2" roundover:



























And one with the amp:










That's really all I can do until the fiberglass arrives. I need to order some 4 ga. power and ground wires to run from the distros to the amp, and figure out how I'm going to cut the new floor, and also what to cover it with. Updates soon!


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## mulagain (Aug 20, 2012)

chithead said:


> Subscribed  Liking all these newer model WRX builds popping up around here.


+1

Subscribed


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## IDGAF (Dec 27, 2009)

Man, you guys are straight up embarrassing me with these slick WRX installs. I need to put in some work.

I'd really love to do the spare tire well sub, but I throw too much crap in the trunk. Are you doing grills or something to protect them? How do people do that so you can still toss golf clubs or groceries or whatever back there?

Sub'd


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## mulagain (Aug 20, 2012)

blong07 said:


> Made some more progress on the sub box. I'm waiting on the fiberglass material to get here to be able to glass the bottom of the enclosure. Apparently it got held up due to the weather out east.
> 
> Here's some pictures of the frame w/ most of the important pieces and test-fitting the amp and drivers for now:
> 
> ...


This is BY FAR the best looking setup I've seen yet in the GR hatch. There aren't a lot of options from AI or other companies. They only offer a 10" option and it has about half the needed air volume. Your setup is ingenius.

I did my original install with a spec size sealed box with 2 12w3v3s but didn't like loosing the entire hatch area. I've downsized to a single w7 sub which gave me back about half the space, but it still sucks not being able to lay the seats down to haul larger items.

Will follow the thread to see how these work out, looks awesome sofar!


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## blong07 (Aug 16, 2008)

IDGAF said:


> Man, you guys are straight up embarrassing me with these slick WRX installs. I need to put in some work.
> 
> I'd really love to do the spare tire well sub, but I throw too much crap in the trunk. Are you doing grills or something to protect them? How do people do that so you can still toss golf clubs or groceries or whatever back there?
> 
> Sub'd


It is a lot of work - but I've just been taking my time and spacing everything out so it doesn't become too daunting.

I'm going to cut a new floor out of 1/2" mdf w/ removable cut-outs that will have grills integrated into them and covered in carpet, like all the ones that Bing does. Obviously stealing a lot of inspiration from his and other installs in this car. The floor will be raised up about 2" from factory, there's no way to make it any shallower and still fit the 5" depth clearance of the Daytons. I'm willing to make the sacrifice and still be able to have 2 10's.



mulagain said:


> This is BY FAR the best looking setup I've seen yet in the GR hatch. There aren't a lot of options from AI or other companies. They only offer a 10" option and it has about half the needed air volume. Your setup is ingenius.
> 
> I did my original install with a spec size sealed box with 2 12w3v3s but didn't like loosing the entire hatch area. I've downsized to a single w7 sub which gave me back about half the space, but it still sucks not being able to lay the seats down to haul larger items.
> 
> Will follow the thread to see how these work out, looks awesome sofar!


Hey, thanks! But I wasn't the first to do it like that - I definitely took inspiration from others.

It bugged me that the AI enclosure stuck out into the usable width of the trunk. Being able to fit wide items in the hatch is something I need occasionally. I tried the daytons in a ported box in the back for a little while - it didn't take long before I was really frustrated with not having any usable hatch space. Decided this was my only option if I wanted to still have subs.


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## beef316 (Dec 12, 2006)

This is looking good. Keep it up.

Tapatalk owns my productivity.


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## blong07 (Aug 16, 2008)

Fiberglass stuff is here!










Decided to give US Composites' epoxy stuff a try. From what I hear, the vapor off epoxy isn't as intense as polyester - we live in condos and our garage is right next to our neighbors, so that alone is (hopefully) worth the extra $.

Gotta pick up a few more things before I can get started, but things should be rolling in the next day or two!


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## TREOUSAMPS_GP (Dec 24, 2009)

subd


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## ecbmxer (Dec 1, 2010)

Sorry I never got back and replied to your question. I have 0.65ft3 sealed for my IDQ10v3. Those dayton 10's fit in there like a glove. If I can ever get the balls to remove my spare, I'd be all about that setup!


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## blong07 (Aug 16, 2008)

Sorry everyone, the last couple months have been pretty busy. Well, mostly I've been lazy as far as projects are concerned. But I've made a good amount of progress on the sub enclosure, so here's some pics.


Taping off the area to be glassed:





























So, I made a major rookie move here on the 1st attempt, and while I did spray a nice layer of Pam down first, I also put a layer of resin down on the tape, thinking that I would need to apply it to both sides of the biaxial mat because it's so thick (like 3 or 4 layers of 1.5 oz chopped mat each). This was dumb.










So here's the first attempt, pretty much completely stuck to the tape. I had to pry it out with a screwdriver, re-tape the area, and start over.











After that, I did a little reworking with the plan, and decided to just glass the bottom right in to the frame for the sides. That way, I could just mate the top baffle/amp perch together afterwards.










So here's the first layer glassed in to the frame. I used my dremel to trim the back down - you'll see why later.










And test fitting the drivers, they have a good inch of clearance:










The biaxial mat is ridiculously rigid once it's cured. One layer was all I needed to get the form of the spare tire well, then removed it and glassed the other layers outside of the car. I left those flaps un-resined for the next step:










Then I glued the baffle and amp perch together, and then attached that to the frame.











This was the difficult part - applying the resin to the back flaps and attaching them to the top of the enclosure. I put a few strips of the mat in the area where the flaps meet while I was applying the resin. I used a staple gun and a generous amount of resin to make sure the fiberglass adhered to the mdf. I'm sure this wasn't the easiest way to do this, but it was a learning experience. (I learned not to do it this way again.)



















And as you can see, I put my terminals in also.











I'm going to apply some more mat+resin to the inside of the enclosure, especially where the seams are, then do the milkshake method to try and fix any leaks it may have.

Keep in mind that this is my first go at fiberglassing - totally open to any advice about how I could do better in the future.


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## speakerpimp (Feb 15, 2012)

Very nice build so far! Sub'd...


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## FLYONWALL9 (Nov 8, 2009)

I REALLY like your choice of materials, epoxy and biax! You cant really get any 
better than that. If you would like to see some video's of how to wet it out so
you cat good results on LUNCHBOX's build you next to the last page you'll see
some video's. You could have salvaged your first attempt and had I seen this
in time I could have helped. The stuff just does not like to turn corners at all,
so the use of fillets is pretty much a must. 

Anyway, if you have the time check out those video's and you'll find many more
about epoxy layups on bateau.com or you can PM me, I would be happy to help.

Other than that GREAT work so far, look forward to your build.


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## blong07 (Aug 16, 2008)

FLYONWALL9 said:


> I REALLY like your choice of materials, epoxy and biax! You cant really get any
> better than that. If you would like to see some video's of how to wet it out so
> you cat good results on LUNCHBOX's build you next to the last page you'll see
> some video's. You could have salvaged your first attempt and had I seen this
> ...


Thanks! I did a little reading before I ordered anything, mostly this tutorial and a few others to come to the selection of materials that I did. I've been super pleased with how easy they are to work with and the results - both were well worth the extra money. It's true, the biaxial mat doesn't do curves as well as chopped mat, but all you have to do to work around that is trim it so it does what you want it to. It's kinda like wrapping a present. And the epoxy barely puts off any fumes, at least hardly any that you can smell. I still wear a respirator, but probably don't need to. And I'm using the 3-to-1 pump system from US Composites so it's super easy to mix - just pump, stir, and you're ready to go. Fiberglassing is way easier than I thought it would be, at least as far as I'm using in my project.

Thanks for the links - I will definitely study up on them.


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## FLYONWALL9 (Nov 8, 2009)

You know the absolute best part about epoxy to me is clean up. To get
your hands clean simple white vinegar and liq soap. I've used that and
biax for close to 10 years, its the bomb. You sub enclosure should be 
rock solid so long as you don't over saturate the cloth.

good stuff


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## speakerpimp (Feb 15, 2012)

Sweet build, I like where your headed so far. Any idea how much air space you could have had if you went all box in the back?


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## blong07 (Aug 16, 2008)

speakerpimp said:


> Sweet build, I like where your headed so far. Any idea how much air space you could have had if you went all box in the back?


I didn't really measure the sides, but I bet there's at least another cu. ft. of space to be had if they were glassed in. If you took out the space for the amp, probably another .5 cu. ft. I'd say the max total volume you could get without making the floor taller than the hatch opening is somewhere around 3 cu. ft. But fitting bigger drivers, or more than 3 magnets, would be tough.


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## blong07 (Aug 16, 2008)

Alrighty - I finally made a big push on this so that I could have adequate bass for a road trip to Vegas last weekend for a friend's bachelor party. The enclosure and floor are done, and everything is hooked up and sounding fantastic!




















And here's what it looks like most of the time (sorry, the rubber mat is perpetually dirty):










I decided to paint the box the Subaru wrinkle red to match my intake, and carpet the floor with black felt. Trying to keep with the overall red, white and black theme.

Some pictures of the progress of the floor:





























I ran 4 ga power and ground from the distros under the driver's seat to the amp location. I already had a grounding spot drilled in the back for the sub amp, but I wanted to make sure I avoided loop problems by grounding both amps in the same spot. There are two 4 ga runs from the ground distro to a bolt up on the e-brake where it was already bare metal and so far it has been working great. I also added a relay for the remote wire on the crossover/distro plate to be sure that the amps don't blow the circuit - probably unnecessary but I wanted to do it right the first time. Here's what all of that looks like now:











I made these supports to go on each side of the enclosure to hold up the floor - I decided this would be the easiest way to do them, and they worked out perfectly. They're fit just right so they won't go anywhere.











Box painted and test-fitting the supports:











I cut some 16 ga steel grating/mesh stuff (not sure what it's really called) to fit the grill cut-outs just so, and used a staple gun to attach them:











Then, with the help of my very patient girlfriend, covered the panels with the felt using some DAP contact cement and a few staples in the problem areas. We will probably go back and re-do this eventually, as there are a few spots that look less than great. I know there are lots of how-to videos on carpeting I should have watched first, but we were in a hurry so we just winged it.











And then the grills:











Everything in, with the grills on











And then with the rubber cargo mat on top and the hatch area cover back in - nothing is visible and there's still plenty of space for storing stuff!











So that's it for now. I still need to get some deadener and foam on the doors and floor of the hatch. When I have the money I am also still planning to replace the two channel amp on the front stage with a 4-channel so I can go back to active. Right now everything sounds exceptionally good - much better than I expected and could have hoped. My only complaint is that the tweeters are very bright where they are in the sails, and I have their attenuation on passive crossovers set to the min and even cut their range a little on the eq. I plan to move them to the a-pillars eventually though, hopefully that will help.


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## ecbmxer (Dec 1, 2010)

Man, I missed the end result of this! It looks fantastic! I may go a similar route in the future. I could probably snag up another IDQ10 and have them fit similarly. Not sure about the mounting depth though.


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## blong07 (Aug 16, 2008)

ecbmxer said:


> Man, I missed the end result of this! It looks fantastic! I may go a similar route in the future. I could probably snag up another IDQ10 and have them fit similarly. Not sure about the mounting depth though.


Yeah, I was a little disheartened that no one commented on the finished product! It's not professional by any means, but it's my best effort to date. It still needs some deadening - there's some rattles that need to be addressed. But mostly happy with the result.

The daytons have a mounting depth of 5", with the double baffle i still had about an inch of clearance to the bottom of the enclosure. Pretty sure you could fit IDQs.


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## highspeed (May 4, 2012)

Nice looking ride! Love your sub box, keep up the good work


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## Kevin K (Feb 11, 2013)

Nice clean work there


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## Mathematics2 (May 29, 2012)

Carpeting looks pretty good to me. Nice work!


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## ecbmxer (Dec 1, 2010)

blong07 said:


> Yeah, I was a little disheartened that no one commented on the finished product! It's not professional by any means, but it's my best effort to date. It still needs some deadening - there's some rattles that need to be addressed. But mostly happy with the result.
> 
> The daytons have a mounting depth of 5", with the double baffle i still had about an inch of clearance to the bottom of the enclosure. Pretty sure you could fit IDQs.


Very true. They're close to 5.75" mount depth if I recall. I may have to just settle for building another fiberglass enclosure to replace my IDQ one for something like a beefy 12". A bunch of companies seem to be coming out with nice slim woofers though, so maybe I'll go that route. A sub upgrade is pretty much last on my list at this point though, haha


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## dirtylarry (Sep 12, 2014)

That is a VERY NICE Install, I have a 2009 Impreza (non WRX) Hatchback and I am currently installing an SQ set up...BUT...I want to keep the functionality of the spare under the rear deck as I travel a lot and am out in the middle of nowhere frequently. I am going to mount my amps on a piece of MDF and mount it to the back of the rear seats and then my dual 12s will be in a box in the back and I can simply unplug it and remove it from the car in the event of a flat tire.

I know what you mean by the wiring and getting it ran from the front to the back and into the doors. With trial and error I found a Very nice easy way to run the wire. What I did was use a piece of 4 Guage about 3 feet long, I then taped my run of speaker wire to the end of it. I removed the door panel on the right front and cut the tape off of the end of the rubber tube that the wires from the door switches run through and started feeding the 4 guage down the hole. This didnt work well because it kept catching on the soft rubber tube and would not push through to the other side under the right front lower kick panel, so I took a can of sprayway glass cleaner and sprayed a bunch down the tube and "Voila" it was like butter then and fed right down into the kick panel area. I was then able to feed the wire under the rocker panel trim plates with no hiccups. when I saw it poke out the back under the rear seat I just gently kept tugging and pulled both runs ( I have seperate wires for my tweeters and 6.5s in the front. I then repeated this step at the rear door and ran the rear door speaker wire the same way. This literally took like 5 minutes after the door panels were off and I didnt have to strip all the interior panels off. Than once they were ran I made the connections to the speakers, and put new tape on the rubber hoses in the doors to keep moisture out, and the glass cleaner evaporates away nicely. Hopefully this might help someone with there installation.

Cheers!


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