2016 EX-L. New stereo.

[schmiddr2]

So far I'm pretty happy with the car. Good road manners, not too loud, and I'm averaging about 37mpg. This is a work car I drive a lot, so it's time to upgrade. I like the HU and it's tied into everything so I'm going to keep it.

My plan so far: High level signal --> MS-8 --> 900/5 --> GS60 and 3" mids.

No tweets - I've lived without them just fine for years. I'd like to put the 3" in the sails and I've already bought a spare set of sails to work with. I'd like to hire this out, but I will probably end up doing it myself due to time and logistics.

So I've started the install and found a good place for the DSP and amp. Removed the rear speakers and used some of the exiting threaded holes (M5 screws).

I used two 9 conductor cables. One to get front 4 speaker signal + REMote turn on to MS-8, and other to get 900/5 signal back to speakers . Pretty easy wire routing so far.

So once I got the cables to the front I realize there is no amp behind the passenger kick panel. I was under the impression from all my reading that there would be. So, I guess my next step is to check continuity from the radio speaker harness over to a speaker and see if it is amp-less or not. I guess it doesn't really matter, the signal will still be screwed up and probably have volume dependent EQ. Hopefully the MS-8 can fix some of that.

 

[87elco]

I'm glad you have patience...id have to revert back to smoking cigarettes if I did this lol

 

[schmiddr2]

I'm glad you have patience...id have to revert back to smoking cigarettes if I did this lol

Lol. I go from enjoying it to hating it every few minutes. But for work I deal with industrial control panels so I have decent skills with planning and wiring.

 

[schmiddr2]

Sail panel, with tweeter mounting ring removed and a little trimming. The opening is 58mm.

I have 2 fullrange on hand. The Faital 3FE22 and TB W3-1053SC (now a Dayton speaker). I'm leaning toward the Faital. It needs a 72mm cutout and only about 40mm depth. The published FR graph looks pretty good. And a lot of people have spoken favorably about them.

 

[schmiddr2]

Sail panel trimmed, speaker angled and glued in place.

Sail and speaker just after vacuum forming.

Plastic trimmed.

Test fit.

It's very hard to prevent webbing, which you can clearly see in the second picture. Overall not too bad for 30 minutes of work and didn't ruin the speaker. It seems pretty well attached - the plastic vacuumed up around the edges, making it a perfect attachment. I think I'm going to give it a test run just as it is. Not sure I will like the looks even if I do some smoothing with fiberglass and Bondo, so I may scrap the whole thing, but it was easy.

Had to cut the door, but not too much. Fits the GS60 with ring.

Foam around grill, plus some CLD on door card and outer door skin.

OEM door insulation. I taped the edges of the plastic sheet to the door frame.

Then some CLD and MLF on inner door.

 

[schmiddr2]

Next up, power wire.

Grommet I ran power through. It's directly behind the battery, so you have to take the battery out.

Power wire, termination, and fuse holder.

Power ran next to backseat. Just like the cables I did earlier, just on the other side.

When reinstalling the C Pillars, this little clip was a pain. I used a forked interior trim tool to flex the clip away from me to get it into the molded receiver, then used a piece of wire to pull the clip firmly into the receiver.