# First IS300 build



## Jefferson (Jan 15, 2010)

Well guys like the title states I figured I would do my first build log. Keep in mind that this is my first time doing any type of audio myself so if you have any suggestions/comments they would be HIGHLY appreciated. 

To start I have had this car for a few years now(and its now my 2nd/daily car) and decided to do a very budget install on this car before I attempt to tear apart and sink money into the LS.

Whats going in:
-Source: Pioneer AVIC-X910bt
-Subwoofer: 12" JBL GTO
-Sub amp: JBL GTO mono amp
-Rear Fill: none 
-Front components: either the Phoenix Gold RSD's or the Pioneer TSD-1720C, I haven't really decided yet.
-Sound Deadening: Second Skin products


I wanted to lay down a plan of attack so I figured I would 
_tear out the rear interior
_start sound deadening the spare tire well, then rear deck, the rear seat back, and then finally the trunk lid
_run wires
_seal/deaden the front doors
_ then start installing the Headunit, components, sub, and finally the amps.


I work extremely slow so please be patient:blush:

Here I have gutted the spare tire well and started to deaden it







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I think that should be enough deadener, if I have any extra leftover I will cover the whole spare tire tub.

After I took the rear seats out. The lady who had the car before me must have let her kids do whatever they wanted back here. There was melted chocolate, bubble gum, half eaten cookies,...etc. I was NOT happy about having to clean all this up. Here is after all the "loose" stuff was vacuum/scraped off.







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I removed the ski-pass since its pretty useless and takes up room. 
Now I am wondering since I am not using the rear speakers, should I also yank those out or should I just leave them there?







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Currently I am in the process of deadening the rear deck with the SPL tiles and adding some CCF to the deck lid since I am going to assume that is what is going to rattle the most.


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## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

Nice start. Lemme know if you run into any trouble. I've been there before


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## Jefferson (Jan 15, 2010)

Italyn, is there any areas that you think I should pay extra attention to as far as sound deadening goes?


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## MTopper (Nov 4, 2009)

What are you running the front speakers off of? you listed a sub amp but nothing else. I'm just curious if you forgot or haven't decided yet


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

The roof and doors.



Jefferson said:


> Italyn, is there any areas that you think I should pay extra attention to as far as sound deadening goes?


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## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

thehatedguy said:


> The roof and doors.


Agreed....doors first, then roof.


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## Aznattic (Jul 4, 2007)

When i did the IS300, i deadened the inner and out layer of the door, the rear deck (it rattles quite a lot on the IS), and where the back seats lay on. Customer didn't want the roof or floor done, but the roof doesn't have that much wind noise (I am coming from a Honda though so)


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## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

The rear deck doesn't really need deadening so much as it just needs a thin layer of padding between it and the next solid object.


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## 94VG30DE (Nov 28, 2007)

Sounds like you've got a good plan. Looking forward to watching it.


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## Jefferson (Jan 15, 2010)

> What are you running the front speakers off of? you listed a sub amp but nothing else. I'm just curious if you forgot or haven't decided yet


Oops I must have forgot, I have a USAcoustics 2 channel amp that I would be using to power the fronts. 



> The roof and doors.





> Agreed....doors first, then roof.


Is the roof really necessary? Because I am pretty sure there is no way I'm even going to attempt to take the headliner out.
I will for sure be deadening and sealing the front doors. The rears I am thinking about leaving them as is, if there is not much to be gained.



> Sounds like you've got a good plan. Looking forward to watching it.


Thanks, I am trying to keep everything as organized and simple as I can since its my first time doing an audio install.


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## Jefferson (Jan 15, 2010)

I almost forgot to post a few updates:blush:

First off I have to say I really appreciate the guys that make their sound deadener installs so clean and neat. This stuff is a PITA to put on.

I think I have finished the spare tire well. I used SPL tiles from Second Skin and these things are super thick. They are thick to the point where I stopped putting them in the spare tire well because I kept getting deep knicks. This lead me to think that if I ever needed to pull the spare tire out for a quick change I could expect to be gashed by the edges of the tiles.

To remedy this I think I am going to go and buy some MLV and lay it down over the SPL tiles. Opinions?
Here is where I am at so far:







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I would be putting the MLV sandwiched between the tiles and this black thing







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This is as far as I have gotten with the rear deck and the rear seat back, I think they are both staying like this(as far as the tiles go).







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I have finished the trunk lid(about the only thing I have 100% completed). I installed the SPL tiles and then put Damplifier over them since I refuse to have this trunk rattle at all, I find it annoying.







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I got a little distracted late last night, actually I just didn't feel like working outside in the super humid Florida weather, so I re-wrapped the C-pillars in black suede I had found in the closet. I will be redoing all the pillars once I actually find out how to take the B-pillars off.







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I just received my dash kit yesterday in the mail, its the American International and it is a bit textured so I plan on sanding it smooth and repainting it to match the factory color/texture of the the OEM dash.







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I was thinking about using some kind of body filler to fill in the little gap created by the dash kit and the trim ring it comes with but am not completely decided yet.


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## Knobby Digital (Aug 17, 2008)

What are you doing for subwooferage? Sealing off the trunk from the cabin by way of some sort of manifold will wipe away all your trunk deadening woes.

If you really want to keep the lid from rattling you need to add mass, and there's cheaper, more efficient ways of doing that than 'spensive car audio products.


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

The roof is major. Taking the headliner down is pretty easy. You don't have to take it completely out of the car either. Every interior surface of my IS300 got 2 full layers of Damplifer Pro and a layer of Luxury Linear Pro. It has made a huge difference in road noise.


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## s4turn (Jun 17, 2009)

interesting, I havent done my roof yet, will be watching this thread as well 

I have a altezza rs200


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## Jefferson (Jan 15, 2010)

Knobby Digital said:


> What are you doing for subwooferage? Sealing off the trunk from the cabin by way of some sort of manifold will wipe away all your trunk deadening woes.
> 
> If you really want to keep the lid from rattling you need to add mass, and there's cheaper, more efficient ways of doing that than 'spensive car audio products.


I'm not quite sure of your question?
I was going to just leave the ski pass hole open, would that be a bad idea? 

Does the cabin and the trunk have to be completely sealed from one another?


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## Knobby Digital (Aug 17, 2008)

No, it's not necessary that you seal it off.

There's pics of 3 different trunks in the other IS300 build just down the page from this one, all IB with the trunk sealed off from the cab. Doing so you stop all that trunk noise from entering the cabin.


Lots of these cars here now. I'll take and post some pics, too.


Lookin' good!!!


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

For IB to work correctly it does. I have about 6-7 full sheets of mat on that part in my car to get everything sealed- wires/harnesses, holes, etc and dead.



Jefferson said:


> I'm not quite sure of your question?
> Does the cabin and the trunk have to be completely sealed from one another?


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

IMO, you are going to need/want a WHOLE lot more damping mat in the car than what you have pictured. To get it right and completely dead, I would be estimating about 75 sq feet of mat to do everything- doors, rear deck, behind seat, and floors. This is doubling on everything except the doors where they'll get a little more than a layer on them. You can do the whole car with 4 sheets of Luxury Linear Pro- doors, floors, roof, bottom of back seat, and behind the back seat.

Then to take it to another level, get a few gallons of Spectrum and do the inner wheel wells and bottom of the car.


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## Jefferson (Jan 15, 2010)

> There's pics of 3 different trunks in the other IS300 build just down the page from this one, all IB with the trunk sealed off from the cab. Doing so you stop all that trunk noise from entering the cabin.
> 
> 
> Lots of these cars here now. I'll take and post some pics, too.


Oh, I am not running IB in this car, its just a sealed box going in the trunk



thehatedguy said:


> IMO, you are going to need/want a WHOLE lot more damping mat in the car than what you have pictured. To get it right and completely dead, I would be estimating about 75 sq feet of mat to do everything- doors, rear deck, behind seat, and floors. This is doubling on everything except the doors where they'll get a little more than a layer on them. You can do the whole car with 4 sheets of Luxury Linear Pro- doors, floors, roof, bottom of back seat, and behind the back seat.
> 
> Then to take it to another level, get a few gallons of Spectrum and do the inner wheel wells and bottom of the car.


Like I said in my first post, this is my daily beater that gets a ton of miles racked on, so for me to go all out on deadening is out of the question.

When its time for me to do the audio in the LS, I will go all out like you mentioned.


But back to the build, does anyone know how to take the B-pillars off?
I am having the hardest time pulling the seat belt buckle cases off.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have some free time after work to run the power wire, put some of the trunk interior back in, and possibly re-wrap the B-pillars if I can get them off.

Oh and I finally settled on Pioneer for the front stage, they looked to be of a bit better build quality than the PG's. They will be run passive for those of you wondering.


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## tinctorus (Oct 5, 2009)

As far as rear speakers go you have two options

1) take them out and give the sub a little better path to the inside of the car "although I really think it would be negligable at best"

2) leave them in and hook them up to head unit power ONLY for those times when you have back seat passengers, That way you could have your fader set all the way to the front when it is just you and a front seat passenger and then you could fade it ever so slightly to the back for when you have someone back there

Although it has been quite some time since I have gotten to work on an IS300 even though i really do enjoy working on them, but if I remember correctly the back speakers play a full range signal do they not???

If it were my car I would leave the backs in and just run them off the headunit power "even though I didnt do this in my own car LOL" but then again I NEVER have people in the back seat of my car "05 dodge srt-4"


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

The covers for the seat belt bolts pop off. Take a flat pry tool and start it in a corner and the whole cover will pop off. The seat belt bolts are TIGHT. I thought that I broke a ratchet when they finally broke loose. After that, once you take the bolts out, the b pillars pop out. They have little hooks in them that fasten to the lower part of the panel.


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## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

I never did the trunk lid to my IS300 and I never EVER heard it rattle. Solid as a rock.

If you're not doing an IB install I'd recommend deadening the trunk quite extensively. Drive around without the rear seats in the car for a day and tell me how much louder the car is. I think that whole area above the wheel arches is thin as crap. Use a bunch of mat deadener in those areas. 

I used spectrum in addition to the mat deadener when I did mine. Looking back on it; do I think the spectrum made a difference? Not a noticeable one.


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## Knobby Digital (Aug 17, 2008)

Jefferson said:


> But back to the build, does anyone know how to take the B-pillars off?
> I am having the hardest time pulling the seat belt buckle cases off.


Wedge a small screwdriver in between the halves of the case.












How to: Remove the Headliner-Pics


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## Jefferson (Jan 15, 2010)

Thanks for the pic Knobby, I finally got them off last night.

Italyn, I will deaden the trunk some more after I seal and deaden the door. Since I don't know how much I will have leftover after that(doors).

Apparently the previous owner in this car also had an aftermarket radio in here, ALL the wires were hacked up. I think whoever did the install didn't have a wiring diagram and just started cutting/splicing wires to see what does what. 
Needless to say I had to clean all those wires up

I'll post up some pics in a few, maybe you guys can shed some tips on how to clean it up some more behind the radio.


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## Knobby Digital (Aug 17, 2008)

By clean up, do you mean dealing with where to put excess wire?

If so, my HU has a bunch of plugs and wires left over from the various features I'm not using (camera plugs, unused RCAs on pigtails and whatnot). I wrapped them in foam and some double-sided foam tape and wedged them in those hollow "beams" that frame the sides of the console stack. -Sorry if that wording in unclear, didn't know how to explain.


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## 94VG30DE (Nov 28, 2007)

Knobby Digital said:


> By clean up, do you mean dealing with where to put excess wire?
> 
> If so, my HU has a bunch of plugs and wires left over from the various features I'm not using (camera plugs, unused RCAs on pigtails and whatnot). I wrapped them in foam and some double-sided foam tape and wedged them in those hollow "beams" that frame the sides of the console stack. -Sorry if that wording in unclear, didn't know how to explain.


That's roughly what I did with my excess wire too. I didn't think about the double-sided tape, but mine are wrapped in foam and zip-tied out of the way. Seemed to take care of a lot of the in-dash rattles I had previous to that.


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## Jefferson (Jan 15, 2010)

Cool, that's where I was thinking of running them. 
Is there any specific reason you guys wrapped the wires in foam? Is it just to prevent any rattles that would occur?
Oh and Knobby I understood your wording perfectly clear

I have a couple of questions:
-For the rear deck lid should I apply CCF to the underside of the lid(the removable part that has the speaker covers) itself? or to the factory vinyl?

-I know I kind of asked this before but was kind of vague about it--> on the rear deck I am NOT running my rear speakers, would there be any effects to the sub sound if I were to leave the speaker holes open as opposed to sealing them shut? Should I be looking to seal up the trunk as much as possible?


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## Knobby Digital (Aug 17, 2008)

Yeah, the foam is just for rattles and I used the foam tape to ensure they'll stay wedged in there.

As far as the rear deck, I'm really not sure. I put a thin layer of foam over the MLV, but I still had some rattles, so I stuck some batting under there and now the brakelight rattles against the glass - maybe there's too much or it balled up as I pushed it in. What I'm going to try next is to put a thin layer over and under the MLV.

And if you're gonna put a rectangular box in the trunk leave the 6x9 holes open so that bass can get in the cabin.

The trunk does funny things to the transfer function, and there was a small discussion on the IS300 forum about that yesterday.


 HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY


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## Jefferson (Jan 15, 2010)

Thanks Knobby
I think I am going to put foam under the MLV and on the underside of the lid, if it rattles I suppose I can always go back and redo it.


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## Aznattic (Jul 4, 2007)

I am curious, in the IS300 in the trunk is there rust in the other 2 wells (not the one with the spare tire)? Iv'e seen 2 IS300s with that problem and figured out it was the plastic clips that hold the bumper or something together into the chassis were leaking water in. Had to silicone up all clips up. Just wanted to see if its a general IS300 problem.


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## Knobby Digital (Aug 17, 2008)

^You're asking about the 2 on the sides of the spare tire where the jack is? My car has spent its whole life in Houston aside from the past few. No rust at all. And it's pretty old by now, especially for an IS300. It was originally purchased in 2000.

Maybe the ones you've seen have been flooded at some point?


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## Jefferson (Jan 15, 2010)

Nope no rust here, and my car was originally from North Georgia so I know its probably seen some form of snow.


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## Jefferson (Jan 15, 2010)

So some updates, my camera broke so now I have to use my phone for pics from here on out.

I added some foam to the under side of the deck lid. I originally added some under the factory sheet of MLV but then the deck lid wouldn't go back on, so I removed it.







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Next I deadened and tried to seal the front door, this was my first time sealing a door. I just covered any visible holes where air could escape. 
On the outer door skin I only covered about 50%, sounds good by the knock test.







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I am not really sure why I put the factory plastic back on but I did anyway, maybe its because I like everything to look as factory as possible.







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I finally recieved my front component set, the crossovers look very well built. I have heard good reviews on this set, so I am anxious to give them a listen.







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Only one problem tweeter is way too big to fit in the factory sail panel. 







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They measure 2 1/8" in diameter. I think grinding out the stock housing still wont allow it to fit, restricting me from actually angling the tweeter in the direction I want.
I might actually have to cut the outer tweeter ring like so







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Any suggestions? 
I know ideally would be to make a new pod out of fiberglass, but I would really really like to keep it look as close to stock as possible.

Tomorrow looks like I will actually have time to possibly run the power cable, finish wrapping the A and B-pillars in suede, cut out some baffles for the front doors and install the head unit (half of this I probably wont even get to).


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## Knobby Digital (Aug 17, 2008)

Here's the back of my tweeter housing:










That's about as gutted as they can get. Just make sure you don't cut out anything that's necessary to keep the grill in place.

I previously had the stock tweeter mounts mounted to the door to press the tweeter into the housing, but I've since removed them and packed it with clay so there's more freedom with aiming and to _help_ with some diffraction. I don't have any pics of how they are now, but I can take some if you need.


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## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

The other option is to buy a separate set of sail panels from someone parting out a vehicle and glass them. That's what I did.


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## Jefferson (Jan 15, 2010)

Thanks for the pics and suggestions guys.
I have grinded away at the tweeter housing and it looks like the only way these tweeters will fit is to glass them in because the damned surround is so freakin huge. So I am still at a standstill on this one since I don't know how to fiberglass.

But on to a lighter note I got quite a few things accomplished the other night.
I was finally able to refinish the dash kit and install the headunit.







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The paint finish itself came out a bit glossier than the factory finish but it will do till I order some SEM paint, texture-wise I think its spot on though.

I got to build my first sub box ever
NONE of the edges really lined up good so I had to use a lot of glue and sealant to make sure the seams were airtight. I deadened the interior walls and added a few braces since I had leftover MDF. I doubled up on the front baffle also just cause.

Both of the front doors are now done, although I kind of wished I would have put some more deadener on the outer door skin. I stuffed some leftover CCF in between the outer door skin and that big metal bar that runs across the door to make it more solid.

The front baffles were also made(first time again)







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I sprayed some undercoating and deadener on the baffles since I needed some form of water/moisture protection.







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I cut a few pieces of CCF to mount between the driver and the baffles like so







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Hopefully tonight I can finish running RCA's, power, and speaker wires so I can have some interior back in. Maybe (slight chance here) I can make some form of amp rack to hold both amps and the crossovers in the trunk.


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## Knobby Digital (Aug 17, 2008)

What paint did you use for the dash? I used Dupli-color Vinyl/Fabric coating and it's nearly perfect. I'm sure the SEM is at least as good, but if you can't find it locally and you wanna get the dash buttoned up, there is an alternative.

About those tweeters, I've had ID NX30's in there which should be close in size (2.1", I think), but there was little I could do in terms of aiming and the way they were wasn't ideal, IMO.

One more tip (and tell me to STFU at any point ): If those Pio's are 6-3/4", check to make sure the grill isn't interfering w/ the surround. I had no issue w/ 6.5"s but 7"s are right there.

And after re-reading that post, just once more for good measure: *"BUT" 
*


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

SEM Landau Black is a dead ringer for the factory color...dead ringer. I'll try to take a picture of my dash kit that I textured and dyed if you want to see it.

Oh and if you have over 100k on the car, the best $350 that I have spent was- $100 for lower control arm bushings, $60 for 4 wheel alignment, and $180 labor to install both sides.


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## Jefferson (Jan 15, 2010)

The paint I used was Duplicolor black trim paint, its the only paint they had there. I will try to find the Vinyl/Fabric paint if not I was planning on ordering the Landau black regardless.

Knobby what did you wind up doing for tweeter housings? Or are you still using the ones you modified?

I checked the clearance w/ the grill and it looks like it will fit, although the driver isn't mounted on the baffle securely yet, I just kind of eyeballed it.


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## Knobby Digital (Aug 17, 2008)

You know, I did the exact same thing. I bought the dupli trim and bumper paint because I thought it would match based on the cap. **** was too shiny, so I went back and picked up the Vinyl & Fabric.

Here's the can. Internet pic, not my pink hand or brown yard. 










Since it's also for fabric I used it on a friend's tired hoodliner that got really funky from something in the engine compartment spraying on it and it turned out great. 


Anyway, the tweeter grills are gutted as shown, but I packed the bottom with clay up to where the grill starts, and stuck some under that little trianglular thing on the top to ramp the transition to the dome. I pushed the tweeter into the clay on the bottom, and packed some around the sides. I'll post a pic tomorrow.


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## Knobby Digital (Aug 17, 2008)

Okay, here are some pics.

Now this just look like a bunch of mud in there, but it works. It also adds a good bit of weight so you don't get any funny resonances.










While I had them out, I cut out that pointy piece that went along the inner-front corner and some of that bulk around the front, and stuck a little clay ramp there also. Dunno if when you said you were "grinding" at it meant you were using a rotary tool, but I've always just used a utility knife. Seems like it would be less easy to make a crucial (to the housing) mistake.

Here's the front of the grill. You can see the little "ramp".










And the back. That's a 1.8" tweet for measure. It's kinda angled upwards.










I also took a shot of the woofer grill. To those who aren't familiar w/ these cars it may look like there's alot of room there, but there's not. The surround is right against the kinda "tube" or "cylinder" flange that goes inwards from the grill. If it interferes with your speaker, you can drill out the holes that mount baffle to the door and get some play room. I took some closer shots to show what I thought was important, but they didn't come out. Also as mentioned above, my car is an '01, but I updated the door panels to the later style. Really makes the interior look much nicer and only cost me $60 net after selling my old ones. Of course Winslow is gonna do something nuttz with his doors, so it would be a total waste for him.










Sorry for the jack by way of a bunch of pics and explanations...


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## Knobby Digital (Aug 17, 2008)

Oh, and here's a shot of the dash so you can see what that Dupli Vinyl/Fab looks like. Sorry for the blur, but the flash kept reflecting off the screen.

Pretty damn close if you ask me.


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## Jefferson (Jan 15, 2010)

Thanks for all the pics, they really helped out.

I gutted the tweeter housings with a dremel w/ a cut off wheel and it came out decent, I'll see if I can snap some pics tomorrow of it. I think I am going to try glassing the tweeters because I packed it with clay like you said and I didn't really get too good of results. Without the grill on I can get them aimed where I want but at that point half the tweeter is poking out the pod. With the grill on the closest I can get them is pretty much aimed across the windshield. These tweeter housing are really big.
I really like the way member trevordj did his sail panels on the Volvo and I think I'm gonna try mimicking them(hopefully).

I haven't had a chance to permanently mount the baffles but I _think_ I should be good clearance-wise with the grill.

Your dash kit looks spot on, tomorrow I will go and get that paint because whats on there now is really bugging me. I just didn't want to re-route all the wires I hid, but its no biggie.

Some more updates:

I FINALLY finished running all the wires which means now I have the interior back in, hooray!!

I ran all the speaker wires in the corner of the drivers side, the RCA's in the middle on the drivers side, and power wire in the corner on the passenger side.







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They all pretty much dump off into the trunk by way of the ski-pass.
From left to right: power wire, components RCA, Sub RCA, passenger component wires, driver component wires. 







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They are covered in techflex minus the RCA's and they were a ***** to run through the door

Tomorrow I will try to mount the door speakers, possibly the tweeter without grills on, and make some sort of rack for the distribution unit, amps, and crossovers.


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## trevordj (Feb 22, 2009)

Looking good man! I think you will find glassing the sails is not too difficult. If you use duraglas and rage gold pick up a body filler shaper at the same time (looks like a cheese grater). Shaping the duraglas while still a bit soft will really save a lot of time sanding.


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## Aznattic (Jul 4, 2007)

I fiberglassed the Hertz MLK tweeters in, it was my second time fiberglassing but i had never done something this small. Using a hot glue gun, tiny wooden dowels, and a laser pointer i aligned them to where i wanted to point. Fiberglassing them was easy, painting was so so (i do suck at spray paint). The only horrible mistake i made with the tweeter pods was using fleece that was way too thick. The trimming to get the tweeter pod to fit in properly was an absolute pain. Also the stock clips on the back of the tweeter pod would not support the weight of the sail panel, so it would keep popping off. Had to use more clips to keep it in. If you wrap the tweeter pod for fiberglassing, be sure to use something thin like panty hose.


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## Jefferson (Jan 15, 2010)

Thanks for the tips guys, I guess I will attempt to glass the tweeter pods next weekend after I do a little more research on it.


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

This is how I would make tweeter pods for the sail panels:

Attach cup to the panel.

Drill holes in the panel.

Wrap tightly with grill cloth.

Coat the grill cloth the thin CA glue.

Spray the CA glued cloth with the accelerator.

Through the holes you drilled, squirt body filler in them with a cake icing bag. Fill it full.

Prep the front of the grill cloth.

Dye them.



Yeah, that is stolen from Cary Biggs...but really makes a ton of sense and A LOT faster than fleece and resin. You could have both done in about 30 minutes or less.


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

Nice doors.

I might get some later model panels just because the tops of mine are faded.

But no, no door install for me. My 8s are going in the floor/firewall .



Knobby Digital said:


> Okay, here are some pics.
> 
> Now this just look like a bunch of mud in there, but it works. It also adds a good bit of weight so you don't get any funny resonances.
> 
> ...


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## Jefferson (Jan 15, 2010)

So I finished installing the drivers in the doors...things definitely didn't turn out as expected.
I guess the driver was not perfectly centered on the baffle in correlation with the grill, it looked like it was going in perfect without any obtrusion to the speaker surround. So I had to shave the bottom portion of the "cylinder" that's on the grill. I may try to reposition them next weekend. At this point I am considering making new baffles since these have been hacked up so much already:blush:
I tried to follow the "Simple, cheap, and effective door treatments" thread in the tutorials section and feel I accomplished most of the major topics in there.

Here is the door, again I apologize for the crappy pics but my camera broke and all I have is my phone.







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Its got clay surround between the door and baffle, I would like to add more clay later on, I have a strong feeling I will be redoing many things in this build.

Here is the amp rack I have built, it pretty much goes behind the sub box, in between the back seat and box(right on top of the fuel tank). I mainly built it so I wont have a crap load of wires everywhere.







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Oh and before I forget this is the modified tweeter pod. Its pretty gutted in my opinion, yet the tweeter still refuses to cooperate.







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I will see if I can post more pics tomorrow(my phone doesn't have flash).

And one last question, what are you guys using for your amp grounds, I was thinking of using the ski pass bolts but wasn't sure if it would suffice


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## Brian_smith06 (Jan 31, 2008)

[email protected] this is making me want to sell my car(even though I just fully deadened it) and pick up an is300. I have ALWAYS wanted one


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## Knobby Digital (Aug 17, 2008)

The stock woofer is towards the top of the plastic frame. If your baffle is pretty much the exact same shape as the stock woofer, the top of your woofer should go pretty much along the top edge. 


Here's how to get the woofer centered behind the grill (or at least how I did):

Make a template by cutting out a circle in cardboard and pressing it on the back of the stock woofer's mounting flange. Then cut it out. Be sure to mark the mounting holes, too. To find a center point for which to cut your woofer mounting hole: After you've traced and cut your baffles, mark and drill the mounting holes against the stock speaker. Then, measure across the top two mounting holes on the stock woofer to get a center-point and use a square to measure down to the dimple on the back of the magnet. Correlate those measurements to the baffle you just made.

It still may not be perfect, but it will be close. If not, just drill out the mounting holes a bit (baffle-door, not woofer-baffle) and you should have enough play to get it aligned purrrfectly







. Just be sure to put some washers on those bolts (and a dab of silicone if needed) to seal up any gaps.


Don't mean to insult anyone's intelligence if any of that seems too common or redundant. Just figured I'd lay it all out. Plus I've had a few, so if any of that reads like **** lemme know what part and I'll clarify.
:beerchug:

Also, that tweeter housing looks pretty damn gutted and I'm surprised you can't get that tweeter in there at all. If you said you can get it to fire straight across I'd give it a listen, at least for the time being. I have mine aimed like that, and IME, I prefer it in this car.


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## Jefferson (Jan 15, 2010)

Thanks for the advice knobby, that's exactly how i did it (more or less) but as I stated before my carpentry skills kind of suck so the hole in the baffle for the speaker is a bit too big which allows the speaker to have a little too much play, but its an easy fix so no worries there.

Now here is my super duper big problem: my fuel, airbag and e-brake light do not turn off, and my trac light is blinking. 
Anybody know what would cause this? Its got me very aggravated right now because I'm sure its something simple.


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## goodstuff (Jan 9, 2008)

Jefferson said:


> Thanks for the advice knobby, that's exactly how i did it (more or less) but as I stated before my carpentry skills kind of suck so the hole in the baffle for the speaker is a bit too big which allows the speaker to have a little too much play, but its an easy fix so no worries there.
> 
> Now here is my super duper big problem: my fuel, airbag and e-brake light do not turn off, and my trac light is blinking.
> Anybody know what would cause this? Its got me very aggravated right now because I'm sure its something simple.


Did you disconnect the battery when you worked on the car? I know in the newer Subaru's if you disconnect the seat wiring with the battery connected it will trip the airbag dash light and it has to be reset at the stealership.


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## Knobby Digital (Aug 17, 2008)

Jefferson said:


> Now here is my super duper big problem: my fuel, airbag and e-brake light do not turn off, and my trac light is blinking.
> Anybody know what would cause this? Its got me very aggravated right now because I'm sure its something simple.


That's quite an X-mas tree. Have you tried resetting the ECU since this happened? Also make sure you plugged everything back in. If that's all checked, you can check the ECU for codes, and if there are none, you can check for ABS/TRAC codes by jumping a couple pins in the OBD2 port.

How can I read Brake Codes?

Beyond that, I don't know what else to say other than search my.is. Coincidental issues usually are just something silly, though.


Good luck.


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## Jefferson (Jan 15, 2010)

goodstuff, now that you mentioned it while the car was gutted I did connect the battery to make sure the headunit powered up properly:blush:

Knobby, I am going to try resetting the ECU when I get home tonight and I am pretty sure I plugged everything back but I am just going to double check anyway.
I have been checking my.is but didn't really come up with anything, I will keep you guys updated.

On a good note I am also going to connect and assemble my sub/box/amp tonight. Wish me luck!


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## Knobby Digital (Aug 17, 2008)

You ever get this put together, Jeffy?


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## Jefferson (Jan 15, 2010)

Sorry for the delay Knobby, the car is all put together but I do have a few things that I need to take care of, namely:
-fix the Christmas tree on my gauge cluster
-fix the nonworking fuel gauge that I think is the cause of the warning lights
-redo the tweeter housings
-fix the ground/RCA "noise that I am getting

Hopefully after that's all done I can start tuning the system a bit


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## Knobby Digital (Aug 17, 2008)

Nice. Good luck getting the bugs worked out. Give it a couple weeks and it'll be Christmas in July. 

Just posted some pics from my car, too. There's a bit of overlap...


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## 94VG30DE (Nov 28, 2007)

Any further progress with this? I would love to hear how your tweeter solution panned out...


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## Knobby Digital (Aug 17, 2008)

This dude got an Aura Whisper up there.


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