# Quick and Simple job on a E36 M3 Sedan



## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

Just put the finishing touches on this one week project. Back in college, what was then the newly released E36 BMW M3 SEDAN was one of my dream cars...really wanted one after graduation. 

now finally, after all these years, i get to work on one! yes!!!

The goals:

1. To achieve a decent level of SQ on a pretty tight budget

2. to utilize existing equipment the customer already had on hand (HU and amp)

3. Simple stealthy and daily usable fake floor set up in the trunk

4. allow easy access to the EVAP cannister, whcih sits at the bottom of hte spare tire well.


so...getting started.

the signal starts with an Eclipse CD8053 single din unit. it has on board processing capable of handling the two way active front stage and sub. some of you may know my distaste for eclipes, but this unit with in and functioned without much issues. it did still have some aspects that annoyed me though hehe

i also hardwired a smartcord for his radar detector.










for the front stage, after much debate, we went with a set of Seas Lotus Performance 6.5" two way set.

the original plan was to do the midbass in the stock kick panel location with a spacer. much like how i did the last E36 M3:










well...right away, after taking off the stock kick panel cover, we ran into a problem. little did i know, having done only e36s in coupe form, that hte sedan kick panel is a LOT smaller...here is the same lotus trim ring, laying on the sedan kick, you can see just how small it really is:










so after a lot of planning and cutting, and wanting to keep at least a little bit of deadpedal and not cut too much of the stock carpeting...i did a on axis kick panel that is attached to the top portion of the stock piece. the basic goal was to fit it correctly, and still retain as much space as possible.

the internal space of the kick also vents into the stock area, behind the metal...giving the speaker plenty of room to breath.

here is the driver side:



















the passenger side was aimed in a mirrored orientation:


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

the tweeters were molded into the A pillars, off axis, and wrapped with black grille cloth: 





































here is a shot of the entire front stage:










i made custom grilles for the front kicks with HD grille metal and black cloth:










and here are the kicks with the grilles in place:


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

now for the build pics of the front stage.

first, i took a mold of the stock kick panel area that i wanted the new pod to inhabit, after it cured, i trimmed it and cut the vent hole into it. a layer of SS deamplifier pro went onto them:










ring baffled were then aimed and attached. with the goal being for the entire pod to eat up as little space as possible and still fit in the tight constraints of the driver side kick panel, allowing for full access to the hood release handle:










fleece was then pulled, resin applied, allowed to cure, and then the pod was reinfoced from the inside with chop strand and a resin/duraglass mixture. 

and the entire shape was rough sanded and cleaned up:










here you can see the resin/duraglass mixture shown up in that dark brown color on the sidewall of the passenger side kick panel. its built up to be a good 1/4" thick in some places:










then a layer of modeling clay went in to kill resonance:










followed by another layer of sound proofing to hold the clay in place and to make the pod even more dead:










the pods were then wrapped in black suede, and here they are next to the pre-trimmed stock kick panels:










and then the two were mated:










the speakers were then installed, wired up, and some sound proofing went onto the backside of the stock kicks for good measure:


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

same goes for the passenger side:



















now for the pillars, first the stock material was stirpped off and rings aimed and attached:










mold cloth pulled, resin applied, cured, and reinforced from the inside:










the entire thing sanded smooth:










then it was spray painted black so the lighter shades dont show up through the black grille cloth:










and finally, they were wrapped in black grille cloth which matches the interior pretty well, and the tweeters installed and wired up:



















thats it for the interior, the only other hting i did was to remove the stock rear speakers on the rear deck.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

onto the trunk.

again, cosmetic flash was not at all part of the goal here, within the budget, its just to create something thats durable and clean.

so here is the trunk, covered in matching trunk liner, a new fake floor raised the level by less than an inch. basically just the thickness of the wood versus the stock carpet. a cutout is over the off-set spare tire well area:










pop the grille off, and its just a very simple layout dictated by the limited space avaiable and the need to acccess the EVAP cannister. 

a old sound sound stream 705 5 channel sits upfront, its mounted backwards front to back orientation for ease of removal for evap access. and a diamond audio S104 10" shallow subwoofer, utilized for its 2.7" mounting depth, sits at the back. they are trimmed in simple black suede to maintain the black/trunk liner look of the stock trunk.



















thats really it for the trunk, not much to see here.

onto some quick under the floor pics, whcih helps to explain why the layout is the way it is 

so here is the evap cannister that the owner wanted to have easy access to. it sits at the bottom of the spare tire well, anchored by the rod that also used to tie down the spare.

this effectively reduced my usable depth in the well down to 4" or so...










so i will go through the design by going through the process of accessing this evap cannister in case it needs to be replaced:

first, remove the top fake floor, and you see the black suede trim panel held down by six screws:










remove that, and you see the .55 cubfeet enclosure htat houses the diamond sub. the amp infront of it. the wiring into hte amp doesnt look as neat and streamlined as my normal jobs, but thats for a reason as you will see:










once you unscrew the amp. i left enough slack in the wires to simply flip it out of hte way, resting on the stock rubber floor cover:










the subbox, and hte two spacer platforms that the amp bolts to, is secured permenantly to a raised platfrom, held down also by the same rod that secures the evap cannister:










it had legs to ensure htat when bolted down, it is at the same angle and orientation as the top fake floor. so all you have to do, is release the nut, and slid the entire platform, with the subbox, and amp spacers, out of hte car, and viola, you are back to just having the evap cannister infront of you.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

here is the grille that goes over the sub and amp:










and finally, a few quick shots of hte Diamond flat sub:





























i have to say that this car turned out to be one of the biggest pleasant surprises for me interms of SQ. going in, based on past experiences iwh this car, and the fact that we are so limited on power (4x50 + 1x200), i wasnt expect a whole lot.

but when i powred the car on, it really blew my mind. the car sounded extremely pleasant and natural with NO equalization on it! in the end, all i did was very gently touch a few bands (-1db or -2db) and thats it. it has a nice deep stage, and good center. on some dynamic songs i can tell its struggling for power a bit on the midbass front, but overall tonality is really quite nice.

i am also impressed by the diamond sub. this is my second time using it, and each time, i am surprised by just how much output it has despite VERY limited published xmax figures (5.7mm in tihs case!) it fills out hte bottom end nicely, and blends very well with the music. infact, i am going to write a quick little review for it on CAE... 

overall, i am pretty pleased with the result of just one week's work 

cheers,

Bing


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## jimmy2345 (Jul 12, 2010)

How does it image? Those kicks look to be tucked under the dash somewhat.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

images great.  deep stage, pretty well centered image and pretty stable too. nice and high hovering a few inches above the dash.  part of the reason why i was so suprised


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## Cdub (Feb 3, 2006)

A big thanks goes out to Bing for his efforts on this project. He was limited by my equipment choices and install considerations, but I think the project turned out exceptional. 

It came out just like I wanted, as this is my DD. Simple, clean, minimal weight gain, no flash, retain the trunk and access to the evap canister in case anything goes wrong.

Not just the install itself, but the whole process was a excellent experience. Excellent communication during the whole process on every install consideration.

Commuting to work just got a whole lot better!

The biggest compliments to Bing's work come from my wife and brother.
My wife just kept staring under the rear view mirror when she was listening, then when we went to change CDs she ran her hand on the dash and asked where the center channel speaker was...HAHAHA! My brother said it was like he was in the front row of a concert and kept commenting on how the sound seemed much wider than the width of the car.

Looking forward to working with you in the future.


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## pwnt by pat (Mar 13, 2006)

On axis toward what?


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## schmiddr2 (Aug 10, 2009)

pwnt by pat said:


> On axis toward what?


It seems he's saying they are not mounted at 90 degrees, off-axis. Obviously there are degrees of on-axis.


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## bkjay (Jul 7, 2009)

Sorry if I missed it but are those kicks vented to the frame? BTW super work. I wish I had a fraction of your skills!


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## Afronaut (Apr 27, 2010)

Great looking install Bing...as usual...


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

pwnt by pat said:


> On axis toward what?


sorry, meant to say on axis towards opposite listener. which is the only degree to whcih i do "on axis"  fully on axis towards each side or to one side is not my cup of team.

but thanks for reading every word  it makes me feel much better knowing some arent just skimming the pics 

btw, hows the array in the golf coming along? i may go back to burgh for a visit sometime soon, love to take a listen to that.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

bkjay said:


> Sorry if I missed it but are those kicks vented to the frame? BTW super work. I wish I had a fraction of your skills!



they are vented into the cavity that the stock speakers used to sit in.


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## jimp (Jul 12, 2009)

damn, another nice job.


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## honza440 (Aug 22, 2009)

great work


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## ganesht (Oct 13, 2008)

nice and clean install!


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## Big_Valven (Aug 20, 2008)

Congrats on another good install. I was keen to hear about the Hex - I have been considering these in an install. Pretty smartly built if you ask me.


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## cannan (Jan 19, 2010)

Nice stereo set-up, but I'm just loving the Estoril Blue M3/4/5 a little bit more. Lets get some pics of the entire car


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## Cdub (Feb 3, 2006)

Cannan,

It took me a long time to find the car before I purchased it. I was looking for over a year!

Its a 1998 M3/4/5 Estoril/ Black. When i puchased it it had 63k miles with full maintenance history.

All the preventative maintenance has been done, and minor mods (coilovers, swaybar, wheels, tires, ssk, shift/ebrake boot, shift knob).

Its the perfect DD for me! I can even put my daughters car seat in back.

The job Bing did on this "simple" install was outstanding. SQ is very good.

We are lucky to have him here in the Bay Area to do installs for us.

Maybe Bing has some pics of the whole car...


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## pwnt by pat (Mar 13, 2006)

simplicityinsound said:


> sorry, meant to say on axis towards opposite listener. which is the only degree to whcih i do "on axis"  fully on axis towards each side or to one side is not my cup of team.
> 
> but thanks for reading every word  it makes me feel much better knowing some arent just skimming the pics
> 
> btw, hows the array in the golf coming along? i may go back to burgh for a visit sometime soon, love to take a listen to that.



Very very slowly. Haven't had a change to work on the car in weeks. Tossing up the idea of picking up an extra 20 independent channels for individual gain control.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

cdub: i wish i took some pics of the car, but i figured you had some hahaha...i absolutely love the color as well  and the wheels perfectly compliment the car.



pat: damn...20 independent channels...that sounds like something for a custom DSP program on a computer. are you going to school there or workin? i certainly remember trying to build a system in my truckw while in grad school, lol, took me a year and eventually gave up and sold it. back when i was ultra serious about it all and molding kicks on axis in the floor vented to the out side haha oh this brings back memories


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## pwnt by pat (Mar 13, 2006)

Actually, it's just two channels, but each individual speaker would be on it's own channel so I could adjust relative output within the array. This is a maybe.

And a bit of both. Leaves me 4 hours to sleep a day.


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## s14akouki (Aug 26, 2010)

this build is amazing love it


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## GoinSleekG (Aug 27, 2010)

sickkk


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## WLDock (Sep 27, 2005)

simplicityinsound said:


> Just put the finishing touches on this one week project. Back in college, what was then the newly released E36 BMW M3 SEDAN was one of my dream cars...really wanted one after graduation.  now finally, after all these years, i get to work on one! yes!!!


 You as well? I lost count how many hours I used to spend at BMW dealerships....I wanted a Techno Violet E36 M3 SOO BAAD!! I ended up with a 1996 318Ti Sport that was a dealer demo with just a few miles on it. I spent a year gathering equipment for what was supposed to be a daily and competition install. I had the idea that I could get a 3-way Focal Expert drivers in the kicks....tweet, 4", 5"-subs. Well, that system got off the gound but was never finished as the car was sold. 1996 BMW 318Ti SPORT pictures by WLDock - Photobucket

Nevertheless, I really appreciate nice E36 M3 installs like this as that car is on the top 3 list of cars that I really wanted to own. The silver Alpine M3 is on my list of all time favorite demo installs.

Great work once again Bing...you make the simple stuff look easy but we all know that once one starts to cut, glass, and connect that it is not as easy as it looks. This is a classic M3 install, simple yet classy in looks and performance!


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## veleno (Sep 16, 2006)

Old thread but what happened to the pictures?


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