# 2011 Honda Civic, first real install



## djcantr (Mar 1, 2011)

I bought my first brand new car last month, a 2011 Honda Civic LX-S with black leather. I wanted something economical and good on fuel with great reliability so a Civic it was. I figured since I love music so much, I needed to install a decent car audio system in it. I wanted everything to look factory or at least blended in well. I've deadened the front doors and rear deck so far with RAAMaudio BXT II and PS Ensolite, but not the rest of the car yet.

Here's the components:
Alpine INA-W900BT head unit
Focal 165VB components
Focal 165CVX rear fill (I installled them but have them disconnected because I'm undecided if I like the rear fill or not)
Audison LRx 6.9
IDQ 12v2D4

Head unit with iPhone connected










Playing a DVD










Microphone above rear view mirror










Ran 2 gauge welding cable and mounted fuse holder back and out of the way










Cut the A pillar covers with a Dremel and press fit in the tweeters without the cups (little too large diameter to flush mount) and put a dab of hot glue on the back to make sure they don't wiggle around.



















Mids are mounted in the factory door location. Running speaker wire to them was a pain! 



















14 gauge speaker wire ran and back to looking factory


----------



## djcantr (Mar 1, 2011)

Put down tape to start fiberglassing










Sprayed a touch of adhesive and covered the tape with foil










First layer of fiberglass










My ghetto way of making perfect circles in the diameter I need.  I made a ring out of 3/4" MDF and then a little bit larger one out of 1/2" plywood so the sub would end up flush mounted. I floated the mounting ring with dowel rods and went back to glassing.










Test fitting the enclosure in the trunk










Backside of enclosure










Another shot of enclosure










Enclosure got bolted down through the bottom of the trunk


----------



## djcantr (Mar 1, 2011)

Test fitting the sub. I really would have liked to have a better shape to it, but I had to keep the mounting ring pretty close so it'd clear the trunk lid hinge when I shut it. As it is, it only clears by about 1/2".










I wrapped the enclosure with the best matching backless carpet I could find. That speaker wire is now hidden...










Shot of trunk. I really wanted to hang the amp under the rear deck on drawer slides but I couldn't come up with a good way to keep the wires hidden while allowing slack so the amp could slide out. I ended up just mounting it on the back of the seat.










Amp lit up


----------



## strong*I*bumpin (Oct 3, 2005)

wow nice work,love these stealth installs


----------



## djcantr (Mar 1, 2011)

strong*I*bumpin said:


> wow nice work,love these stealth installs


Thank you. I'm pretty pleased considering it's my first real install. I installed a couple stereos when I was in high school but that always just consisted of a head unit and mono amp and sub with factory speakers in the doors. :laugh:

I REALLY wanted to find a way to hide the amp somewhere. I had a plan to weld up a mount and attach it to drawer slides under the rear deck but I couldn't figure out a good way to have enough slack in the wiring to allow it to slide out while also keeping the wiring hidden. I considered making a mount so that it could securely sit on top of the spare tire and be hidden under there but then I'd have to wire in some fans and run a couple ducts to provide airflow to the amp. 

I have an Alpine PXA-H100 Imprint processor on the way and I can't wait to hear what it sounds like once I get that installed!


----------



## Jimvegas00 (Feb 13, 2011)

Very clean install!


----------



## nepl29 (Mar 25, 2007)

nice simple clean install, i likes...


----------



## IBcivic (Jan 6, 2009)

very clean! well done man :thumbsup:


----------



## Fus1on (Feb 25, 2011)

I really like your install, it's clean and designed similar to what i'm going to do .... I'm dreading fishing the wires through the molex and gaskets, I know you had fun doing that.


----------



## djcantr (Mar 1, 2011)

Fus1on said:


> I really like your install, it's clean and designed similar to what i'm going to do .... I'm dreading fishing the wires through the molex and gaskets, I know you had fun doing that.


It wasn't as bad as I figured it'd be. I took a section of a wire clothes hanger and bent the tip into a teardrop shape. I disconnected the molex plugs at the body and pulled out the gasket from the body. I worked the hanger up through the gasket by pulling on the gasket to extend it and then pushed it back down while putting gentle upward pressure on the hanger and guiding the tip over the ridges. I got the hanger through and then taped the end of the speaker wire to it and then gently worked it back down by pulling and pushing on the gasket. Once I figured out the correct technique it only took a couple minutes.

Thank you all for the compliments!


----------



## req (Aug 4, 2007)

exelent sub box. it looks great! i think the shape matches the trunk very well!


----------



## scooter99 (Dec 21, 2008)

Well done for your "first real install". On the under deck sliding mount. If you find a way to mount a board under there to create a flat surface, you'll be helping yourself. You'll need to loose the torsion bars though for the trunk. But then you can take your slide rails, mount a box, with no top, on it. Mount your amp in there, make it flush mount and your wires will hide in there. For the outside you could mount a small spring and zip tie the wire bundles to it, then when you slide it out and then slide it back in, the spring will help keep the wires in place. Any excess can be hidden under the face panel in the amp rack. Just an idea.

Nice work!


----------



## djcantr (Mar 1, 2011)

scooter99 said:


> Well done for your "first real install". On the under deck sliding mount. If you find a way to mount a board under there to create a flat surface, you'll be helping yourself. You'll need to loose the torsion bars though for the trunk. But then you can take your slide rails, mount a box, with no top, on it. Mount your amp in there, make it flush mount and your wires will hide in there. For the outside you could mount a small spring and zip tie the wire bundles to it, then when you slide it out and then slide it back in, the spring will help keep the wires in place. Any excess can be hidden under the face panel in the amp rack. Just an idea.
> 
> Nice work!


I had planned on making a rectangle with angle iron (probably 1/2" with 1/8" thickness. Then weld a couple pieces of bar stock the length of the rectangle to give me something to attach the amp to. I didn't want to do a sheet metal bottom as I figured it'd just be one more thing to resonate and a little extra air flow to the amp wouldn't hurt. I'd make some tubes with tabs on the top to mount to the underside of the rear deck. I'd then attach one side of the slides to those tubes and the other side to my rectangular frame. I stared at the bottom of the rear deck for hours. :laugh: I measured and I could clear the torsion bars barely (counting the height change of them as the trunk lid closes). I would have definitely had to weld probably some 1" wide bar stock on the back of the frame so I'd have something to rigidly attach the wiring to so that as the rack slid in and out the wires weren't putting a strain on the amp connections. I might go back and build one eventually. It just seemed like the task of keeping the slack on the wiring hidden (even with a spring they wouldn't be hidden very well) given the amount of wiring going to the amp. I have 2 gauge power and ground, remote wire, 6 channels of interconnects and 5 pairs of speaker wire. Who knows... I'll do some more thinking and might fab one up eventually.


----------



## YouSirName (Feb 1, 2010)

Was wondering how the sub sounds in such a small enclosure seeing as how its a 12" sub. I've made an enclosure just like yours and always felt that the biggest subwoofer I could fit in there that would even come close to the volume needed (per the manufacturers recommended volume) would be a 10" sub.

Nice install by the way, I like the simplicity of it.


----------



## fish (Jun 30, 2007)

Keepin' it simple bro. Nice job. Like Yousirname mentioned, how large is your enclosure?


----------



## ibanzil (Jun 29, 2008)

Job well done sir. Now if you can keep the upgrade/tweak bug from biting, you should be set.


----------



## Mixerdriver (Nov 8, 2010)

the box came out great and I love the shape


----------



## scooter99 (Dec 21, 2008)

ibanzil said:


> Job well done sir. Now if you can keep the upgrade/tweak bug from biting, you should be set.


I second this one! Good luck with that!


----------



## SNEAKY (Jan 19, 2011)

i want to do the same thing in the wives altima. the sub enclosure is very pro looking


----------



## djcantr (Mar 1, 2011)

fish said:


> Keepin' it simple bro. Nice job. Like Yousirname mentioned, how large is your enclosure?


I can't pull up the specs for the IDQv.2 right now because of the crap going on there and their site being down. I seem to remember the small sealed enclosure being .75ft3 going up to 1ft3 middle ground and 1.2ft3 for the largest. My enclosure ended up being right around .95ft3 before driver displacement of .07ft3 so figure it to be .88ft3 with the sub in. That's right where I wanted the enclosure to end up so I was happy when I measured it. I like the sound, but it's very hard to get the bass into the cabin in these Civics. The back seat has a metal skin on the back of it so that leaves the rear deck to allow it in. I really might just remove the rear speakers (Focal 165 CVX installed but not connected) and I think the benefit of added bass would outweigh anything I could get from rear fill. The openings left from removing the rear speakers would be just about the only way for the bass to get into the cabin. I was just listening to a couple of the Focal discs and on disc three track ten, Livingston Taylor's Isn't She Lovely, the sound quality was much, much better with the back seat down than up. It's definitely not a bass heavy track, but there's parts with lower frequencies that need to be heard as they were recorded. That's exactly what I want, to hear music as it was recorded. The back seat hinders that. Regardless, I like the enclosure. Previously I had it in a 1.5ft3 enclosure ported to 28hz but that was probably 6 years ago so I can't accurately comment on the SQ of it.


----------



## scooter99 (Dec 21, 2008)

Just a thought, cause this is what I'm gonna do. Do you have the rear seat arm rest? Some do some don't is why I ask. If you do, cut the metal out of the back of that, i.e. the seat back, and then make a frame and put grill cloth over it. That will create a pass through, and the sound should travel well through it. But I agree, the seats are terrible to allow sound through. Although they are built solid.


----------



## knifedag007 (Mar 14, 2011)

looks good, i have a friend with a 07 coupe that i made 2 almost identical sub boxes for a while back. his are for 10's tho and he wanted one on each side


----------



## djcantr (Mar 1, 2011)

scooter99 said:


> Just a thought, cause this is what I'm gonna do. Do you have the rear seat arm rest? Some do some don't is why I ask. If you do, cut the metal out of the back of that, i.e. the seat back, and then make a frame and put grill cloth over it. That will create a pass through, and the sound should travel well through it. But I agree, the seats are terrible to allow sound through. Although they are built solid.


I don't have the rear arm rest.


----------



## Chaos (Oct 27, 2005)

Super-clean looking install job, and sweet equipment. I like it, I like it a lot.


----------



## IBcivic (Jan 6, 2009)

djcantr said:


> I don't have the rear arm rest.


The rear arm rest only comes in the EX version


----------



## IBcivic (Jan 6, 2009)

djcantr said:


> I like the sound, but it's very hard to get the bass into the cabin in these Civics. The back seat has a metal skin on the back of it so that leaves the rear deck to allow it in.
> I was just listening to a couple of the Focal discs and on disc three track ten, Livingston Taylor's Isn't She Lovely, the sound quality was much, much better with the back seat down than up. It's definitely not a bass heavy track, but there's parts with lower frequencies that need to be heard as they were recorded. That's exactly what I want, to hear music as it was recorded. The back seat hinders that.


there is always this option

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/690051-post925.html


----------



## scooter99 (Dec 21, 2008)

djcantr said:


> I don't have the rear arm rest.


That's a bummer! Hmm, I guess the rear speakers are your best bet then. 



amitaF said:


> The rear arm rest only comes in the EX version


Lucky me I guess huh! :laugh:


----------



## knifedag007 (Mar 14, 2011)

mine doesn't have the center arm rest...but its a 2-door so who really cares, ive considered removing the rear seat since they are never used. i think some one has ridden back there once in the 2 years ive had the car


----------



## Irishfocus06 (Sep 11, 2008)

Very nice install. One day I may do a single sub setup in a corner like fiberglass enclousre to save my trunk space.

Love the install!


----------



## AKMetal (Mar 3, 2011)

super stealthy and super clean install on the sub. great job.


----------

