Done with install
Hi All!
A couple of weeks ago I wrote:
>All of this is still somewhat hypothetical; darkness and snow overtook me yesterday, and it's awfully cold/snowy/windy today with more on the way. As soon as it warms up enuf that the tools don't stick to my hands I'll finish things up and let you know how it went.
We've had a few warm days, enuf that I finally finished the install. Here then is a summary, refer to the earlier post for particulars.
I fabricated spacers for the front speakers from 1/2in delrin plastic. Plywood would have worked as well, but I HAD the delrin . . . I used some 1/2in wide double stick foam tape (originally intended for weatherstrip ?) and appropriate sheetmetal screws to seal/mount the speaker to the adaptor, and the adaptor to the door using the original mounting positions. Additionally, the screws that mount the speaker to the adaptor must be short enuf that they don't penetrate the adaptor and hit sheetmetal. The Infinity tweeter came with mounting adaptors that allowed the use of the stock tweeter bracket. The stock tweeter is screwed and glued to the bracket, but the glue isn't very strong, and it's pretty easy to remove. The stock tweeter's crossover is a tiny capacitor mounted on the tweeter its' self. As I didn't want to try and stuff additional wires thru the rubber wiring boot I had to find a place on the door to mount the Infinity crossover. After a few false starts, I decided to mount it at the back of the door "pocket". I accomplished this with some 2in wide double stick velcro tape; wooly side in the pocket, hook side on the back of the crossover. Works great so far, but we'll have to see how well it stands up to the summer heat. I pulled the stock woofer wiring loose, clipped off the connector, and removed the plastic "stiffener" and clips. I isolated the wires going to the tweeter and cut them close to the wiring harness, leaving just enough wire to enable re-installing the stock setup if desired. I soldered a 6ft length of 18ga speaker wire to the woofer, and installed the stiffener and clips as per the original. This routes the wiring neatly away from the window mechanism. I soldered a shorter length of speaker wire to the tweeter leads and applied heat-shrink tubing. Use electrical tape if you can't find heat-shrink, but I'm pretty sure you can get it at Radio Shack. I also soldered a length of speaker wire to the remaining two wires that used to go to the woofer; these are the speaker output leads from the head unit. I gathered all three cables up near where the original woofer/tweeter wiring exited the wiring harness, and bundled them together for about 2ft using electrical tape. I then wrapped a length of the double-stick foam tape around the bundle in a loose spiral. At least in theory this will keep the cables from rattling around behind the plastic. I drilled a 3/8in hole in the bottom of the door pocket, routed the cables up thru it, wired the crossover, and velcro'd it in place. Upon inspection I determined that some of the molded ribs on the inside of the door plastic were very close to the rolled surrounds of the woofers. I trimmed them flush with a sharp knife, determined a suitable routing for the wire bundle between the vapor barrier and the plastic, stuck it in place with the double-stick tape, and snapped the door plastic back in place. Nice, neat, un-obtrusive install; looks stock xcpt for the crossover.
The install for the rear speaker is straightforward; the Alpine 4in driver fits right into the factory adaptor. I soldered on about a 4in pigtail, as the stock wires were pretty short.
The Infinity BassLink Sub requires either a line-level (RCA plug) or speaker-level input, and a 12V 20A DC power connection. As the stock head does not have a line-level output (well, maybe on that connector for the factory sub . . . who knows), I ran the enclosed speaker-level input wires forward beneath the cargo area flooring, under the rear seats, under the carpet, thru the console, and up behind the head unit where I tied them into the speaker wires right behind the plug. (carefully strip 1/4in of insulation with sharp knife, solder subwoofer input lead, tape) While installing a bypass switch for the ABS I noticed an unused circuit (at least on my WRX wagon) that was destined for rear seat heaters/cargo power outlet. Input (always hot) and output wires were already in place, as was a 20A fuse. The output wire (red/black) was a bit longer than the rest of the wires in the harness, and ran up to an un-occupied relay socket. I clipped this wire, leaving a short length still connected to the relay socket (ya never know . . .), and soldered on one side of a 16ga extension cord cable (you'll probably want to disconnect the battery). The negative side of the cable received a crimp terminal, and connected to one of the studs holding the fuse box in place. This cable was run back along the right side of the floor beneath the plastic trim pieces (grab 'em and pull up to release), under the rear seat, cargo floor, etc. to exit beside the input connectors. Right now I have the sub sitting horizontally, held against the right side of the cargo area with a bungie cord, but eventually I will cut a piece of plywood to fit in and mount the sub vertically on it. Then I will be able to access the spare tire/tool compartment without having to move the subwoofer.
My original plans included upgrading the head unit as well, but the improvement over the stock speaker setup was SO monumental that I have decided to spend the money for performance goodies instead, and do the head if and when the stock unit starts to give trouble.
I hope this helps to answer some questions raised in this forum. Feel free to e-mail me directly if you have additional questions.
ByeBye! S.