# 1997 Volkswagen Golf Budget Install / learning experience



## brianalexander (Aug 2, 2009)

Hi guys,

I'm new to this website (well semi new) I got this car for the purpose of being a stealthy photo gear carrier in LA (that and my dog really needed her own back window) It's not supposed to be a flashy car, I just wanted a unassuming car with a comfortable ride and some decent tunes...that I could throw all my gear in and get to the job.

I am going to be honest and say that I didn't buy this car with the intention of 1) learning how to install a sound system and 2) doing a major audio install in it. Most of the cars I've had in the past I've just done a HU upgrade and replaced the stock speakers. This time, this hatchback, this design of vehicle.... didn't allow me to do any of that and come away with something acceptable even to my untrained ear. 

So, the end result is...I spent a lot of time learning about car audio, I've probably spent way too much money on materials and parts (having to do things a few times over) and I still have a lot to go. This is my first real install. A major learning experience. I'm going to outline what I have done...and all the mistakes included. Hopefully no one will have to repeat them, and will get a leg up if they end up in my situation.


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## vwtoby (Oct 28, 2005)

pics 

would love to see what you ended up doing to your front doors?
as in the same boat


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## brianalexander (Aug 2, 2009)

So, what I started with is the stock system, 8 speakers and a tape player. I swapped the head unit to a Sony Xplod (I know...I know) BT-2700. I installed some used infinity speakers I bought off craigslist. Components in the front (without crossovers...i had no clue what a crossover even was) and coax's in the back. And big surprise. it still sounded really really bad. 

Having this really bad sounding system is what lead me to DIYMA. I started learning about what was needed to create different types of sound. I figured out that 1) not having a rear deck was a major difference that I never even fathomed would change my car audio 2) the way the initial speakers were installed didn't really help the stock speakers very much. Here is a picture of a stock door w/ a stock speaker bracket. You can see the speakers are infront of the vapor barrier w/ no baffle and some foam against the vapor barrier. (this isn't my car, but this is what it looked like in each door minus the tape)









Take the vapor barrier off (this picture was taken a bit later...I didn't even know what deadener was yet..) and you get amazing gaping holes


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## brianalexander (Aug 2, 2009)

So after a lot of great insight that I couldn't even begin to understand with practical application (thank you bbfoto) I started to plan my stealth system. Using factory locations and attempting to not lose any storage space.

I decided on the following gear.
1) HU: keeping the sony xplod bt-2700
2) Alpine PDX-5
3) front stage. using the infinity 60.5cs components I already had
4) dayton audio passives from parts express
5) rear fill infinity kappa coaxs

- my future plans were to add a subwoofer.

I planned on installing my PDX under my passenger seat. Deadening the floor and trunk and doors. 

I started by deadening the floors and doors. I enlisted the help of my wonderful girlfriend who helped me through the bulk of the deadening (she is a complete trooper)

Here are a few shots. We used a bulk pack of dynamat on the floors and a roll of rammat everywhere else (doors ect.) and a few sheets of ensolite.









Now in hindsight I wish I had used the deadener in the largest pieces possible as to minimize the seams where the butyl can get exposed.


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## brianalexander (Aug 2, 2009)

Now these doors were really difficult for me to seal. I asked a few questions around here on DIYMA and fiberglassing the holes seemed to be the best solution.

A few challenges that I came across were 

1) My first time fiberglassing
2) The stock door panels recess into the door openings









Here you can see the curves on the inside of the door card and the foam.

I went to a local store that catered to making fiberglass resins in Santa Monica and picked up a lot of laminating resin and fiberglass mat. Looking at the door, I initially decided that I'd use the interior of the door panel as my template.

Here is a picture of my first attempt. You can see I used too much resin in some places and not enough in others 



















I test fitted it, but unfortunately it improved bass response (because most of the holes were closed up) but didn't fit well enough for me to 1) enclose the area in which I was going to create a baffle for 2) create a really good tight seal.


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## brianalexander (Aug 2, 2009)

vwtoby said:


> pics
> 
> would love to see what you ended up doing to your front doors?
> as in the same boat


I'm getting to it toby! Tomorrow I'll post what I've settled on!


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## F1Audio (Jun 5, 2009)

I am on my second MKIII GTI and they are pretty easy to work with IMHO. I have not started on the install for this one yet, but it will not be fancy either. Have you ran new wires to the doors yet? If not, I can tell you the easy way to do it.


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## brianalexander (Aug 2, 2009)

hey F1Audio,

I'd love to see the installs you've completed! let me know if you have any pictures of them. Particularly any A Pillar Tweets. I already snaked the wires through the molex, but would love to know the "easy" way.. I gotta go back to my passenger side molex and adjust...i've got a small vacuum lock leak I need to repair.


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## avences (Jan 23, 2009)

I do have a golf like yours (mod 97), I used to have a Boston Pro60 mids in door locations and the twt in the dash. Truly i experienced lack of midbass, then a friend of me created like a shell behind the speaker (using that metal speaker holder), and it improved on midrange...but still midbass was a trouble.

The i switched to DLS iridium 6.2, midbass increased a little bit but still didnt fullfil my needings, now i will be using Dynaudios MW162, i will create a door panel using all the bottom panel of the door and giving a little bit extra form like "simplicityinsound" does with those doors. That must work


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## glidn (Apr 21, 2007)

stick your amp under the rear bench seat, they fit in easily in there, if you are driving by yourself or two people flip the back seat up with out tilting it forward.

I have done this on about 9 mk3 golfs now. No issues yet,
Plus you get to keep complete stealth look and if you build a fibreglass enclosure into left rear of hatch, most 10" even 12" will fit in there.

I have managed to get 0.85ft3 in that corner. Without going past the boot board plastic recess panels in the rear of the car.

In regards to midbass, it does become a little peaky but can be EQ'd out.]
Run silicone bead around the speaker pocketto insure all sound is going into behind the door card.
And if you can use some dacron behind the speaker too. Have had great success this way too.

but i must say the way the speakers mount in the US appears to WAY DIFFERENT,
ours and pretty much every where else in the world have them factory mounted to the door cards.


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## brianalexander (Aug 2, 2009)

Sealing the doors:

So, my 2nd attempt was to directly use the door as my fiberglass mold. I pulled off any deadener I had installed on the front of the doors....which was a really fun project....

Because this was my 2nd full attempt I felt a lot more comfortable with the materials. I also found out that if you sharpie the painters tape, anything you write on it will transfer over to the fiberglass (totally awesome for when I had to cut it down) Sorry about not having to many process pictures on the fiberglassin' (it's hard to do when u got resin setting on ya. End result. The doors sound good! I had a few rattles that i was able to quell w/ some foam. I want to go back and add more sound deadener and ensolite to give it a more solid feel but there is an amazing improvement. While I was working on this I decided to scrap the infinity components for PPI 356cs. I'm sure you can see them on the doors. I really like the tweeters much better and having the proper crossovers was a definite plus.










Here is the door all taped up. All the major holes in the door covered. I fudged a little and added more interior space so the door card would be still be able to fit. 









I also made some nice MDF baffles w/ a cheap router. Learned a lot about burning MDF by moving too slowly...and about stressing the bit by trying to cut too much too soon. Made my own circle jig ect. ect










Here is the finished product. I cut down all the parts, added the MDF baffles and using bondo hair and bondo sealed up the baffled area down to the fiberglass panels. I then lined the inside of the panels with weather sealer so they wouldn't rattle. I am about outta budget at this point so I'll have to come back and deaden the fiberglass panels and outer door...as well as add more ensolite to bring down outward noise (I've already got a 2 layers of dampener inside the doors as well as a layer of ensolite)









here you can see how it's sealed all the way to the panel. I wish I had better sanding tools to get a prettier finish...but hey at least it'll be hidden.









This is what the inside of a smaller fiberglass panel looks like with the weather stripping foam.








close up. works quite well.


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## brianalexander (Aug 2, 2009)

glidn said:


> stick your amp under the rear bench seat, they fit in easily in there, if you are driving by yourself or two people flip the back seat up with out tilting it forward.
> 
> I have done this on about 9 mk3 golfs now. No issues yet,
> Plus you get to keep complete stealth look and if you build a fibreglass enclosure into left rear of hatch, most 10" even 12" will fit in there.
> ...


The speakers were factory mounted to the door card..But the infinitys and PPIs wouldn't find behind the factory grills. So I decided to modify it and remove the door card equation all together. 

As for the sub. I'm contemplating 1) a side mount fiberglass box like you were talking about or... 2) doing a false floor and having a sub in the spare well. 

As for the amp. I test fitted the PDX and it fits perfectly under the passenger seat. It also allows for a lot of air flow....hard to see and damned near imposible to get out. (I'll be showing that part later on)


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## vwtoby (Oct 28, 2005)

awesome progress Brian...how was the midbass improved?

cheers


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## thatvan (Aug 29, 2006)

Dude! You have come leaps and bounds! Good Job. 

Ian


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## tintbox (Oct 25, 2008)

Right on. Welcome to the forum. It's a great thing to have. I've learned so much and still learning.


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## glidn (Apr 21, 2007)

brianalexander said:


> The speakers were factory mounted to the door card..But the infinitys and PPIs wouldn't find behind the factory grills. So I decided to modify it and remove the door card equation all together.
> 
> As for the sub. I'm contemplating 1) a side mount fiberglass box like you were talking about or... 2) doing a false floor and having a sub in the spare well.
> 
> As for the amp. I test fitted the PDX and it fits perfectly under the passenger seat. It also allows for a lot of air flow....hard to see and damned near imposible to get out. (I'll be showing that part later on)



hey man,

just keep in mind, The seats can be adjusted up and down, could end up damaging the amp. So be careful.

Honestly i would still recommend Amp placement as per previous post, Done 6 Mk3 golf/Jetta's like that no issues' what so ever.

As for the spare wheel well, i have built a system in there.
I fitted a Sundown SAZ-1000D and Image Dynamics IDQ10v2D4 in there.
i have only managed around 0.4ft3. So the PDX amp being half the size of the Sundown Amp. I would think you could squeeze out to around the 0.5ft3ish or little more. So if you subs can play in such a small enclosure go for it.

If you mount the Amp in the boot, and raise the floor you could end up with around 0.8ft3 to 1ft3 in the spare wheel well. Easy.


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## vwtoby (Oct 28, 2005)

any updates Brian?


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## brianalexander (Aug 2, 2009)

i've got the amp in and been level matching. i'll have pictures up soon. Luckily the passenger side seat doesn't adjust height so no worries about it falling on the amp.

I just lowered the car.

before










after


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## vwtoby (Oct 28, 2005)

did you get the racelands Brian?


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## brianalexander (Aug 2, 2009)

yep toby, still trying em out. they work very well but are a bit bouncy.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

i have a 2003 GTi, thats what brought me to this thread. ive done lots to it (just check my signature if you are curious to see).

at first, i was hesitant at your 'first time fiberglassing, and sealing the doors' - i was actually scared to see what was about to happen lol. but after i see your progress pictures i am happy to say that is one of the best 'ive never used fiberglass before' projects on here in a long time. i am very impressed. all i would recommend is putting a layer of dampener over the door area and a layer of ensolite. other than that, things seem to be progressing for you quite well!!!

i look forward to your final result! sweet ride!


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## rollininstyle2004 (Nov 30, 2009)

I love MKIIIs 

Good work so far!


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## vwtoby (Oct 28, 2005)

cool..im about to rock them on the daily...cheap as chips so worth a try...

if you need a set of wheels LMK, as i have a very good set for ya 

questions, would there be better "sealing" using this fiberglass method compared to say using the corragated plastic (cant remember what its called, they make outdoor signs out of it ) with deadener over it...both should lend themselves to a much better increase in MB rght? guess it all comes down to if its sealed?


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## brianalexander (Aug 2, 2009)

vwtoby said:


> cool..im about to rock them on the daily...cheap as chips so worth a try...
> 
> if you need a set of wheels LMK, as i have a very good set for ya
> 
> questions, would there be better "sealing" using this fiberglass method compared to say using the corragated plastic (cant remember what its called, they make outdoor signs out of it ) with deadener over it...both should lend themselves to a much better increase in MB rght? guess it all comes down to if its sealed?


thank you all for the compliments! I'm was really frustrated for a long time, but things are looking up...it's starting to sound good finally!

As for using coroplast (corrugated plastic...i used to work at a sign shop), the rough part about the doors is that the rear of teh door cards actually fits into the door openings. That's why I 1) removed that Styrofoam backer and reenforced the door card with some extra fiberglass 2) used fiberglass to make a barrier in between the door metal and the door card.


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## vwtoby (Oct 28, 2005)

did you find a good way to remove those little white clips in the door? they seem to be a PITA to remove...

guess i should try pushing from the inside...humm...


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## brianalexander (Aug 2, 2009)

vwtoby said:


> did you find a good way to remove those little white clips in the door? they seem to be a PITA to remove...
> 
> guess i should try pushing from the inside...humm...



Are you talkin about the large clips? or the receiver clips? The large ones just slide off..the smaller ones need to popped out the back. I just worked around them.


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## vwtoby (Oct 28, 2005)

the ones in the door..

ahh...ic see you just taped over them and worked around...nice..


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## brianalexander (Aug 2, 2009)

vwtoby said:


> the ones in the door..
> 
> ahh...ic see you just taped over them and worked around...nice..


make sure you don't tape too tightly over the tabs, or when you are pulling the fiberglass you'll pull the tabs off as well (i pulled off one)  

i'm hoping to get my car apart later this week to start documenting more that i've done. I've been kinda busy with finding a job.. yay for changed priorities.


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