# Ford fiesta install from the UK



## dave (Dec 17, 2007)

Hello everyone. I signed up over here quite a while ago but never posted and kinda forgot about the place. :blush:
I see quite a few names i recognise from other forums and plenty i don't. Anyway, this is my new install in a ford fiesta. I already know the car pretty much inside out having had another one for the last couple of years but it's always fun to start from scratch.

The kit list itself is pretty much the same as my last instal but with a couple of small changes.
Pioneer P90 DEX & DEQ
Genesis profile ultra amplifiers
Hybrid audio L6, L4 and L1. Most likely changing to the L1v2's
The sub is new, was previously using an IDmax but now want to experiment with 8" subs up under the dash.

First of all, a quick look at how it stands at the moment. It seems the car may already have the Ford audio upgrade which to be fair really isn't bad as far as stock systems go. 





































Here is the original plastic inner skin removed.
Front.









And back.









It's reasonably stiff due to the moulded shape, but it's still very light and not good enough for a proper speaker mounting.

Now i am going to cheat a little bit here, these inner skins will go into my old fiesta, and the inner skins from the old one will be used here as they have already had all the work done. So in a Blue Peter stylee, here's one i made earlier.
This is the back showing the recesses filled with fibreglass filler. This adds a lot of weight and stiffens the skin. The same has been done to the front.









On the front of the inner skin there is also a layer of dynamat extreme to add mass and then a covering of box carpet to eliminate any contact of hard surfaces.









You will notice the speaker mount has also been modified to allow the fitments of the rather large L6 midbass driver.


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## dave (Dec 17, 2007)

I have most of a bulk pack of dynamat extreme that will be used on the doors and possibly some other key areas. There is also a bulk pack of maxmat waiting to be used on the rest of the car.









So, the downside of the plastic modulated inner skins is they need a bit of work to get them suitable for mounting a speaker to. On the plus side it makes access for sound deadening an absolute doddle.









In each door i have added two layers of dynamat extreme, then directly behind the midbass there is an additional two layers.









There is then a layer of second skin overkill closed cell foam to add a barrier to road noise.









The new/old inner skins are back on and the oh so lovely ford speakers are back for the time being.










I took a trip to collect some acoustic carpet underlay and also a Focal 8" polyglass 21V2 i spotted on ebay. I have no idea what it's going to be like, we'll have to see how it sounds when i do some testing with it once the rest of the install is done.


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## dave (Dec 17, 2007)

I have done the rest of the sound deadened and got the cabling run down the car.

First i stripped every last bit of trim out the car bar the instrument panel and the doors which have already been done. To remove the carpet i would have had to remove the dash, gear stick and linkages and also disconnect the steering column which i couldn't be arsed with so instead i am just folding the carpet from one side to the other depending on what bit im working on.
















































Everywhere has been deadened with a bulk pack of max mat and the last of my dynamat.


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## dave (Dec 17, 2007)

Onto the wiring. I am using black braiding on all cables, here is the main power cable entering through the firewall using the existing grommet and sealed with silicone.


















The cable is then cable tied down at regular intervals.









Here you can also see the ipbus and optical lead for the p90 and also a sub remote cable coming down from the instrument panel.


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## dave (Dec 17, 2007)

Where the cables pass through metal work they are protected with convoluted tubing and hard neoprene .









And running down towards the boot.











On the drivers side we have the speaker cables all run in the same way.




























Over the top of the wiring i have laid down the sound deadening underlay i have.









I have put the stock ford sound deadening back over the top, i have cut away where the cables run to keep the level correct.









Exactly the same has been done to the passenger side.


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## dave (Dec 17, 2007)

The same has been done with the passenger kick area and also under the rear bench.




















The carpet just about fits back in. 









And all back together again.










Next job will be to get the boot built and all the amps installed and then fit the battery.


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## FrankstonCarAudio (Feb 2, 2008)

I've said it on the other forums, but I will say it again..
Looking great and look forward to more progress pics 

Mark


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## Giovanni (Nov 26, 2008)

Looking good, just keep it up .


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## icu812 (Jan 12, 2009)

looks good 
what is the color of the paint called on the car ?


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## Maddman (Dec 20, 2008)

interesting how the inner door panels remove, makes sound dampening easy. Look forward to more pictures of the installation progress.


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## dave (Dec 17, 2007)

icu812 said:


> looks good
> what is the color of the paint called on the car ?


It's called performance blue, it's actually a lot darker than it shows in those pictures because of the flash. But there is another blue that is fairly similar to how that looks called aquarius blue.


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## crosspug (Jul 14, 2008)

Thanks for posting Dave, my mate actually emailed your thread from another forum to give me more ideas with mine......

Will be watching this closely, good luck!

Jono


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## icu812 (Jan 12, 2009)

dave said:


> It's called performance blue, it's actually a lot darker than it shows in those pictures because of the flash. But there is another blue that is fairly similar to how that looks called aquarius blue.


it's looks to be very similiar to "Sonic Blue"( that is the color of my Mustang) over here in the states.
I really like it.very nice color


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## Stealthsounds (Feb 9, 2009)

nice to see a good UK install that does not resemble a car crash in halfords !


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## fallbrookchris (Feb 13, 2009)

Super nice install, guy like you get me motivated to get back to work on my own cars. Really like that color blue with the black carpet.


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## dave (Dec 17, 2007)

I know it has been a long time since i updated this, and you could be forgiven for thinking i had given up. I have just been busy with uni and still needed to get a couple of bits, but now we are back on track.



First off i collected these little beauties. Hybrid Audio L1V2s.































And ordered this from caraudiodirect to replace the pioneer bluetooth and ipod interface units.













And tonight i have made a start on the boot build. I already know what i want to do, it is going to be a simple false floor so that i have a usable boot for a change. I just need to work out how on earth i am going to fit everything.










It looks nice and easy, but the sides will be set in from the edges and there will also be a hatch for access to the spare wheel that i will need to work around.
So this is what i will go with i think.










The two profile 2 ultras have to be stacked to make room for the processor, the profile sub and 4 ultras could sit next to each other on the hatch, but that will not leave much room for wiring so i reckon it will be best to stack those too.

So now i know what i'm doing i can carry on with getting the flase floor built up.


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## Ianaconi (Nov 11, 2006)

Can't wait for this build.

How does the Parrot unit works? Is it compatible with the P9?


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## dave (Dec 17, 2007)

The parrot kit is designed primarily for use in cars with stock systems as it has a little class d 4 channel 20w amp to run stock speakers. But it also has a stereo line out that i can feed directly into the p90 so shouldn't have any issues there, both the phone and ipod function will be used through the aux in. Not the epitome of SQ i know, but it's nice and convenient for 90% of the time and of course i still have the p90 to play cd's.


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## dave (Dec 17, 2007)

Here is this weekends progress.

The false floor is pretty much built. The contoured side pieces are removable so that the main part of the build can be dropped into the boot in one piece, the side panels are then slotted in after and fixed tot he main build. This saves any faffing around building and assembling the build in the car.





















To mount and stack the amps i have knocked up some very simple brackets.












Profile 4 Ultra and sub ultra.












Two profile 2 ultras.












All installed in the build along with the processor and distribution block.












And a quick test fit in the car.





















Just need to get it in paint and carpeted and then the joy that is wiring can begin.


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## dave (Dec 17, 2007)

Just a quicky for today.

Got the floor painted and reassembled.









And the amps and processor are fitted.









Was going to make a start on the wiring too, but going to the pub is much more appealing.


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## Mooble (Oct 21, 2007)

dave said:


> There is then a layer of second skin overkill closed cell foam to add a barrier to road noise.


You'd be much better off gluing some MLV on top of that foam. Foam alone won't do squat for most road noise. If you haven't already put the door panels back together, try some vinyl or thick cotton batting just like you have on the floorboards.


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## dave (Dec 17, 2007)

I see, i may well give that a go then. 

Finally there is something in the car.



















There are a pair of latches to hold down the spare wheel access hatch.









And another to hold the lid open for setting up.









And of course the wheel is easily removable.



























Just need to hook up the main power and earth cables and get the speaker wires in and connected.


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## Scuzzy (Mar 13, 2009)

Very clean indeed


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## dave (Dec 17, 2007)

Made a start getting the front end in today.

First job was to get the speaker cables that i had left coiled up under the carpet in the kicks into the doors. So off they came.


















Now on the bootlid thes is a rubber umbilical used to get the rear screen washer pipe into the boot lid.









After a quick trip to the scrappy i had a couple spare.









Made some holes in the door shut, both on the body and on the door so i had this.


















Now with the door refitted you can see the speaker cable entering the door is very neat, stock looking and water tight.









I did exactly the same with the other side, though of course i suffered the obligitary rounded bolt and had to grind the head right off before it would budge.


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## dave (Dec 17, 2007)

Then i moved on to fitting the midbass in the doors. I knocked up some mdf baffles. 









Sprayed them up and fitted them to the door skin.









And here is the L6 fited.


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## Mless5 (Aug 21, 2006)

Very nice, can't wait to see finished product! Your Fords are x1000000 better that POS we get here in the States!


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## sydmonster (Oct 5, 2009)

Now that is a well done mod that look genuinely factory!! good to see your still on this Dave!


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## dave (Dec 17, 2007)

Because i am still undecided on what i am doing with the sub i have decided to install the head unit using the standard fitting adaptor for now. When i decide on the subs i will come back and re do the head unit and the control panel i had planned.



















And here are the a-pillar builds. Tomorrow i will do the final cleaning up on them and get them trimmed.


















So it's all up and running now and not sounding too bad, of course there will be plenty of tuning to do though.


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## jorona1 (Dec 6, 2008)

Nice and clean instal. For months I have been trying to figure out how to mount my amps. Honestly I'm going to do what you have done. Nice work. Can't wait to see the rest.


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## dave (Dec 17, 2007)

Glad you like it. 
Here is a little more from the weekend.


As the p90, being one of the top end pioneer units can't take a wired remote, i started making one today using a ford stalk control and an old pioneer ir remote.




















I have removed the circuit board from the ford control stalk. As it is canbus operated i can't simply attach a fly lead to the existing loom.









So i have drilled out the board.









And using cat5 cable i'll be wiring up the switches myself.









I have used a common earth across all the microswitches.









And the rest of the wiring finihed.










So far i have got the volume controlls wired up to the pioneer remote which is working. But when i try and extend a common earth to the other witches on the pioneer remote everything stops working. I think i need to spend a bit more time looking at this making umming and ahhing noises pretending i know what i am looking at and i am sure it will all fall together. Failing that, at least i'll have volume control.

I also knocked up a sub box. Just got to get some ports and i can finish it off.


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