# 05 WRX install (to date)



## Daishi (Apr 18, 2006)

Hey guys, 

Here's my ongoing install in my WRX. It's nothing special, but I thought I'd share what I've done so far. I need to make up quite a few trim panels, install a pair of CD changers and maybe do something cool for a system diagram 

Anyways here's my less than stellar install at this point (minus the awesome gear I got from Audio Integrations...great company for any Impreza, EVO or Civic owners who don't want to take the time or want something that works REALLY WELL). They're the only shop I'd take my car too...if they weren't on the opposite side of the country. Yes, I'm giving them a huge plug because they are a great group of guys and make some serious quality products.


Phantom HU here...I didn't have the faceplate handy at the time. Underneath is a door that houses my iPod for the time being (something cool gonna be done with that over the winter).









Here's a shot of my battery area right now. Pardon the ghetto tie-wraps right now I'm planning on fabbing up a custom ABS holder to attach the holder to and also make a new mounting unit for the circuit breaker in the background...oh and techflex the two 8 awg wires that are exposed right now.









Here's a shot of my amp rack I had made by my neighbor (I can't weld ). It's made out of 3/4" hollow square tub aluminum powder coated black. I had two 4" 1/4" thick aluminum plates welded on stands at a 30 degree angle where I mounted a cut and polished (really need to flame polish it though) 3/4" thick piece of acrylic where I mounted the two amps (C400.4 and C500.1). As you can see I need to make a trim panel to cover up the base of the rack so really give the amps the floating look I'm shooting for. Also, above the rack is another amp on an AI prototype underdeck rack for Impreza's. It's a really nice unit that gives one plenty of room to mount an amp relatively hidden. I need to make a cover panel for that as well to make it completely stealth.









this is where my CD changers are gonna go. They fit perfectly into the gap there. Probably going to make up a fiberglass back mount for the area and then fab up a nice cover panel as well. This is gonna happen in the spring though...not enough warm weather left. I replaced the carpet with another AI item that I'm testing out for them. It's a really nice trunk mat with their logo and it's custom cut to fit around my sub enclosure.









Speaking of the sub enclsosure...another somewhat custom part from AI. They made it with a custom mounting ring for the Alchemy RX sub and wrapped it in black carpet instead of the standard OEM matching stuff. I had toyed with the idea of having it prepped and painted black but decided against it. I had built my own fiberglass enclosure last year and it's nowhere near as nice as this unit. The thing fits perfectly, looks really nice and has a decent internal volume and depth so it'll accommodate most subs.









And here is where my own work really starts LOL. This is my power/ground distribution block display. it's hidden behind the pull down in the rear seat . Excuse the grommet that's popping up...forgot to push it back into place before taking the pic.









Here's where I stashed the DQS and DCX units. I'm making a cover panel to hid the units and protect them from the rare rear passengers I get.









My Blue Sea fuse block is stashed under the passenger seat. Also going to make up a cover panel for it.









Now we get to the messy stuff  Just a few pics of the floor and some of the rewiring I did a few weeks ago. I didn't have the time to rip all the smaller wires apart and twist them all up so it's a tad messier than I would have liked. I think I may replace all the power wire with Kicker stuff anyways as it's so flexible compared to the Knu in there now I'll just have to do it then. Don't worry, the back seat area got really cleaned up.

























































FINALLY we get to the fun project. My a-pillars that are holding a DLS Iridium 3 Domed Mid and a Lotus Reference RT27F tweeter. Here are some basic positioning shots I did. Don't worry...the mid is not angled down. Optical illusion and my dumb ass not actually fully putting the pillar in place.

















































This was my first attempt at using a two part urethane foam. It's some really cool stuff, though I'll do a better job with it next time. Word of advice...use a mold release if you don't want it to stick to something.

















After sanding down the foam

















Fiberglassed and tweeter mounted.

















Body filler added and sanded down. I missed a few spots that I didn't notice until I left where I was doing the filling...not driving 120 miles again to fix two spots this fall. 

**edit** I forgot to mention that I used a SEM product called flexible polyester putty that supposedly will bond to the plastic pillar and not pop up a year from now. We'll see if it's true. The stuff featers as nice as Rage Gold does so it's a great product simply for the melding properties alone.

























After primer and paint. As you can see the one pillar is slightly off position to the other. I didn't notice this until I mounted the tweeter (which is correct) and had to completely redo the mounting ring to get the mid to fit. Not my smartest move to date. I don't think it's going to make a huge difference to my ears and I don't compete so I really am not going to worry about it. Nobody would ever notice unless they pull the pillars down and put them side by side...one friggin' inch off...

























Random shots of the outside of the car


















Well, that's it for now. Any comments or suggestions would be great!!!!


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## MidnightCE (Mar 5, 2007)

Looking good. I see you also put the forester center console door in upside down


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## Daishi (Apr 18, 2006)

Oh, forgot to say earlier that all RCA's are custom made from Canare Star Quad and decent RCA connectors. All cables are shielded toward the source side to help reject any noise that may pop up.


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## kimokalihi (May 27, 2007)

I love your car! Very clean and nice choice of wheels/color. Not really a fan of those gold wheels. Gold just isn't a nice color. But black...now you're talkin!

Nice clean install too by the way.


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## Daishi (Apr 18, 2006)

MidnightCE said:


> Looking good. I see you also put the forester center console door in upside down


Yeah, I like it upside down much better for some reason.

ha, gold wheels are good on black and blue Subaru's only...other vehicles/color they look like crap.


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## LastResort (Oct 24, 2007)

Nice pillars! I've got just the car for them.


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## MidnightCE (Mar 5, 2007)

Daishi said:


> Yeah, I like it upside down much better for some reason.
> 
> ha, gold wheels are good on black and blue Subaru's only...other vehicles/color they look like crap.


did you paint it the stock silver pieces? The color looks different than mine.


I like it upside down, too.


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## Daishi (Apr 18, 2006)

LastResort said:


> Nice pillars! I've got just the car for them.


Ha, you wish  Glad to see you're over here now after the BS on the OTHER forum  



MidnightCE said:


> did you paint it the stock silver pieces? The color looks different than mine.
> 
> 
> I like it upside down, too.


I actually "painted all the silver trim pieces with Plasti-Dip. I had originally spent 1 1/2 weeks sanding, prepping and painting all the pieces black and I ended up scratching the crap out of them from simply running my fingernail across it...after that I just hit them with Plasti-Dip and called it a day. I like it much better Black.


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## avaxis (May 23, 2006)

Daishi, good job, i love the amp rack, looks clean. maybe add some neon lights in there? or a few dimmer LEDs. 

by the way, I like that blue sea block, if I'm not mistaken you're only limited to 30A per circuit, 100A max for the entire block right?


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## khail19 (Oct 27, 2006)

Nice work Alex, those a-pillars look really nice. Well, everything else does too! It must sound great, do you have it up and running yet?


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## Daishi (Apr 18, 2006)

avaxis said:


> Daishi, good job, i love the amp rack, looks clean. maybe add some neon lights in there? or a few dimmer LEDs.


Actually on the list of spring "to do" items. I was going to actually ring the entire underside of the acrylic with some blue or blue/white LED's to aid in that floating appearance. I will also figure out how to get the trunk light out of there while still giving my alarm a signal that the trunk gets opened. I found out the expensive way what happens when you try to simply jump the thing  Blew up the integrated module and did something with a relay (we think). Alarm hasn't worked correctly since then.



> by the way, I like that blue sea block, if I'm not mistaken you're only limited to 30A per circuit, 100A max for the entire block right?


Bingo on the fuse ratings. It's being used right now for a relay, HU, Sirius tuner, iPod adapter, DCX and DQS. I'm going to put another one in the trunk below where the changers are going to go most likely as I will have a bunch of items back there that will need power and I like to keep things individually fused...tapping power wires just isn't my thing.

Khail - I hooked everything up super quick just to make sure nothing would explode but that's it. It is in some serious need of tuning on the DCX side of things...I think it'll take me most of Saturday to level match the darn thing and then play with crossovers and slopes. The one problem of having everything under the seat is I have to take the bolts out, fiddle with things, listen, roll the seat back and fiddle with things again and repeat LOL. I hope to have a real rough tune done by the end of the week so I'll post up results then 


thanks for the comments so far guys!


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## LastResort (Oct 24, 2007)

Daishi, I finally found the fuse holders for under the hood. But I can't post it up yet, I are a n00b again!


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## Babs (Jul 6, 2007)

Sweet!! I love the bugeye body-style WRX's. Nice color too.

What is that head unit??


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## Daishi (Apr 18, 2006)

LastResort said:


> Daishi, I finally found the fuse holders for under the hood. But I can't post it up yet, I are a n00b again!


Mr. Guru is back to being Mr. Noob 

Babs - my car is a blob eye...Khail's is a bug eye. Both are cool looking in there own right. It's an Eclipse CD7100...I'll get a shot of the unit in the car in the next day or two...


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Dang, you've got a really nice start on this project.

I do have a question about your Blue Sea fuse block. Is that for remote turn ons? And if so, how do you have it set up? Is it a remote turn-on in, and then however many out you need? 

Or am I completely off here...


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## Boostedrex (Apr 4, 2007)

Very nice install thus far. And I really like the way your Suby looks. Nice Volks on there as well. Is there anything done under the hood?


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## Whiterabbit (May 26, 2006)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE those fuseblocks. The week after I saw them here in another car for the first time, I went out to West Marine and bought two of them. Worth every penny and more.


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## khail19 (Oct 27, 2006)

Boostedrex said:


> Very nice install thus far. And I really like the way your Suby looks. Nice Volks on there as well. Is there anything done under the hood?


I think those are forged Prodrive wheels, not Volks. Very nice rims, either way. Too rich for my budget!


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## Daishi (Apr 18, 2006)

Nah, it's not a remote turn on block...I have a relay that takes care of two of the amps and the DCX takes care of the DQS and the third amp. if I need more remote turn ons though I will be modifying one of the Blue Sea's to do it. I could actually do it on the ground side right now as I'm not really using it, so that might be the route I go.

As for the car...thanks guys. Khail is on the money...Prodrive wheels (wrapped in Advan Neova's) not the TE37's from Volk. The Prodrives are actually made by Bridgestone Japan which I think might actually own Volk in some way. It becomes so hard to actually figure out who owns/makes what for what anymore in the car world.

Nothing done under the hood. I care more about handling and stopping than the power side of things. Once I finished the suspension (aluminum control arms and roll center adjusters) and the brakes (R180 conversion in the rear so I can throw on Brembo's) I'll start on the transmission and THEN the engine . A friend down the road has an STi that I get to drive every now and then...gives me enough of a power trip to be happy with my car.


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## Boostedrex (Apr 4, 2007)

Sorry about the wording, when I say under the hood I meant any performance mods. Glad to see that you think like I do though. Suspension and brakes come first on all my RX-7's. Great car bro!


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## Babs (Jul 6, 2007)

Daishi said:


> Mr. Guru is back to being Mr. Noob
> 
> Babs - my car is a blob eye...Khail's is a bug eye. Both are cool looking in there own right. It's an Eclipse CD7100...I'll get a shot of the unit in the car in the next day or two...


I'm a subie-newb! duh.. Thanks for the edumacation. hehe


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## mvw2 (Oct 2, 2005)

Show off...  

I've been wondering if I want to attempt that route with the pillars. Either everything's going down in the doors or I'm going to do some form of 1" + 3.5" mid up in the pillar. You have more pics of the pillars in the car?


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## Daishi (Apr 18, 2006)

Babs said:


> I'm a subie-newb! duh.. Thanks for the edumacation. hehe


Haha, sorry, it was actually directed at LastResort. He's a Guru on the Subaru board he, Khail and myself frequent.



mvw2 said:


> Show off...
> 
> I've been wondering if I want to attempt that route with the pillars. Either everything's going down in the doors or I'm going to do some form of 1" + 3.5" mid up in the pillar. You have more pics of the pillars in the car?


No new pics yet...raining for the last couple of days  I need to pick up some mounting hardware tomorrow for the mids (half the screws disappeared) and then I'll have pics this weekend....and hopefully a review of the darn system.

Boosted - sorry about that. Almost everyone in the Subaru/EVO world seem to care about engine performance in the US. It really is a shame, which is why I assumed that's what you were referring too. I could give a full list of suspension stuff that's been done, but I think it would overshadow my mediocre install LOL


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## fastev (May 28, 2007)

Is that the stock hood scoop? It looks different to me for some reason. 

I really like the look of those pods. I'm anxious to see them finished and mounted.


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## bobditts (Jul 19, 2006)

you should put a dual 4" components as the center channel in place of where your clock is.


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## Daishi (Apr 18, 2006)

Updated Pics for you guys 
































































Bob - I'm gonna have enough issues getting the 3-way up front dialed in...adding in a center channel is just gonna make it that much more of a PITA 

fastev - stock hoodscoop. I think it looks different because I took the pic pretty much above the car so it looks shorter than it really is.


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## MidnightCE (Mar 5, 2007)

jdm hazard switch?


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## khail19 (Oct 27, 2006)

MidnightCE said:


> jdm hazard switch?


Nice eye.

Alex, those pillars look outstanding! Really nice work!


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## Daishi (Apr 18, 2006)

Thanks guys.

I would like to fix some pin holes and knock out a bit of the waviness that's in the pillars right now. I'll probably do that in the spring when I get a spray gun.

Now I'll be spending the next 3 months tuning the damn thing LOL


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## Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX (Oct 24, 2007)

So much for "stelth" with that front stage... lol... 

Why is it that them mids look like basketballs? lol...


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## drake78 (May 27, 2007)

Nice job, are those prodrive rims you are sporting?


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## BrokenBC (Aug 12, 2007)

How is the staging as is? I'm going to be installing my IR3's in my Q45 soon and am still debating if its worth my time to pull the dash out to get them in the front firing up or just sacrifice the path length and put them in the doors.


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## Daishi (Apr 18, 2006)

Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX said:


> So much for "stelth" with that front stage... lol...
> 
> Why is it that them mids look like basketballs? lol...


Probably cause they're domes, so they are beach balls underneath the Grills. If I could get another set of grills without having to buy another pair of speakers I'd try modifying them to look a bit better.



drake78 said:


> Nice job, are those prodrive rims you are sporting?


Yessir



BrokenBC said:


> How is the staging as is? I'm going to be installing my IR3's in my Q45 soon and am still debating if its worth my time to pull the dash out to get them in the front firing up or just sacrifice the path length and put them in the doors.


Staging is awesome. I have my midbass cutting out at 250hz and my mids start picking up around 350...both on 24db slopes and everything is nice and high.

Imagining on the other hand is way off. I've spent the last two days working on that. I finally think I got the drivers level matched for the most part, but I am having a bit of trouble blending the left and right sides together. Other than that it's amazing. I figure by next week I'll have it squared away for my non competing ears 

I also have to deal with what appears to be a spotty RCA for the right midrange...either that or the input stage on my amp is screwed  Every now and then it cuts out and all I get is crackling. Another thing to do next weekend.


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## Boostedrex (Apr 4, 2007)

Very glad to hear that things are coming along. Those pillars look really nice. You could always pull the grills off of those speakers and simply SEM coat them to match the pillars. That would help with them blending in a bit. Just a thought.

Zach


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## Daishi (Apr 18, 2006)

I was considering doing them grills the same color as the pillars, but with the tweeters not being able to be color matched I thought it might look at bit odd. I may give it a shot in the spring just to see how it looks. Do one only and have a direct comparison


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## MarkRx (Nov 3, 2007)

<knock-knock> can i come in?


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## Daishi (Apr 18, 2006)

OMG there is a Subaru presense here that is becoming scary. At least it's all the guys who actually want to learn stuff and know stuff that are here...let's not let the morons from NASIOC find out about this place


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## Babs (Jul 6, 2007)

Yeah.. wassup with dat? What's it with subaru's and audio.. I guess they lend themselves well to easier installs.. plus subie turbo folks love messin' with the sound as well as the stuff under the hood. 

shameless plug..
http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23176


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## drake78 (May 27, 2007)

Daishi said:


> OMG there is a Subaru presense here that is becoming scary. At least it's all the guys who actually want to learn stuff and know stuff that are here...let's not let the morons from NASIOC find out about this place


Nasioc happens to be the one of the best subie forums if not the best. There are some really smart dudes on that forums. I haven't been on there the past year or so maybe it change.


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## Daishi (Apr 18, 2006)

I think it's because those of us who actually have a clue on some stuff and like to learn are tired of dealing with the HUGE number of morons and assholes on our car specific boards who insult anybody who actually gives out decent advice. I took a month hiatus from posting in the audio section of NASIOC because I got tired of answering "why doesn't my antenna work anymore after getting my windows tinted" or "why speakers fit my door?" or "what HU should I buy?" threads, when there are literally 1,000's of those threads...and a few just one or two posts below LOL. Or when someone posts REALLY bad advice politely correcting them and getting attacked by 10 or so dipshits who say that physics only works in books. Sorry, a bit of a rant there.

I wish our installs were easier. We have no depth in the doors, 04- owners have to use pin extenders to keep the door cards from killing the speakers, no room for kick panels and some of the noisest doors on the planet LOL.

BUT, you're right...Subaru guys like to tinker...no question about it.

Drake - I was referring to the audio section of NASIOC. All the guys that are pretty intelligent are posting or lurking over here now it seems. Now, in other sections such as suspension and whatnot we still have the most intelligent guys over the other Subaru forums no question about it.


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## Babs (Jul 6, 2007)

hehe.. There should be a snigglet for it.. Forum-fatigue or something like that.  

Yeah this 07 is my first soob' and having some friends with them, and I'm amazed at how much I've learned at the forester forum and nasioc (reading and learning and just trying hard to only post when I can actually contribute humbly of course). The guys on the forester forum are truly great folks. Haven't been too present on nasioc as it's just sooooo dadgum huge.. I figure if it's ever been thought of, it's been said there, numerous times.

I agree, I find it hard to see why folks attack on forums.. It's such a great tool and service and resource for us now, why taint it with such nonsense and detract from all the great info sharing. I'd say what I know about car audio I've learned from these forums, including learning that there are infact some guys in the business that are really great folks.. Which is nice as I griped once here about my local dealer that left a bad taste.. Different perspective now after learning and talking with the pro's here. Good guys. Glad I have alternatives here for dealers to possibly do business with.

The real deal is what will the 07+ forester AP do for my 4EAT whenever the guys at Cobb get it rollin' Supposed to intro it at SEMA soon.


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## Daishi (Apr 18, 2006)

Dude, swap out that 4EAT with a 6-spd  Kartboy did it in his old 05 FXT...friggin' awesome. I'm more of a PPG guy myself...200lb weight savings and stronger gears. Let's me get away with the audio gear in the car and still be the same weight as an STi from the factory hehehe.


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## Babs (Jul 6, 2007)

Daishi said:


> Dude, swap out that 4EAT with a 6-spd  Kartboy did it in his old 05 FXT...friggin' awesome. I'm more of a PPG guy myself...200lb weight savings and stronger gears. Let's me get away with the audio gear in the car and still be the same weight as an STi from the factory hehehe.


Oh man.... If I thought it could be done without spending a fortune, I'd be stashing a piggy bank away for it.. I've been told (yeah maybe I shouldn't listen to them) but they say it would cost a fortune to swap. I'd really love to know exactly how painfully expensive it would be. How I'd love to lose that D on the dash. But that's pretty extensive surgery isn't it.. almost like a sex-change for a car. hehe 

PPG? (admitting grotesque ignorance)... nevermind.. I googled.. sexy looking gear-sets. Reminds me of all the 6-speed bakers I've been looking at for the bike.


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## johnny52 (Sep 7, 2007)

I Daishi, I am the one who have some problems with my CD7000.

Here is a pic of my mid and tweeter install. I am looking for a dome midrange too. I know that the enclosure of the mid is a bit strange but the sound quality is excellent with a 2 liters enclosure for TG9.


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## tard (Jul 13, 2006)

i've been thinking of getting a granny forester or outback. something with enough room for playing audio, good on gas, and able to plow through the snow.

looks great. much more effort than what my bro-inlaw did in his WRX. but he's not as into it as we are. i'll have to show him your pics, maybe it'll spark some idea's for him.

we put an in dash dvd, comp amp under front seat, and dropped seperates in stock locations. knocked out a quick box and just dropped it in raw and ragged for now. the only thing i grabbed pics of is the box i built for him. down fired the subs (8") so they don't get beat up by the things he throws in the trunk....

fairly small, 15" D x 26" L x 12" H (+/- from poor memory)


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## Daishi (Apr 18, 2006)

That is a strange enclosure Johny, but if it works that's all that matters. I have to say that the Iridium 3 dome mids are just amazing units. Really nice sound, easy to work with and don't need a real big enclosure for them at all (mines way bigger than it needs to be..if it wasn't it would look like poo). If you decide on snagging some talk to dual700 here on the forums.

Tard - that box is really well constructed and great protection for sure. If you get a Forester the newer ones have full sized spare tire wells (old ones might too). Talk about a nice stealth install in one of those guys


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## schuey_1 (Nov 11, 2007)

Looking good Alex post more updated pix.

Rj


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