Rep Power: 787

Greetings all,

I recently picked up a 2004 Civic LX (Canadian version) and I am wanting to get my system in there. It is a fair sized system consiting of a single 1000wrms amplifier (100 amp peak), and 4 awg wire all around.

I was wanting to attempt the install myself, but am concerned about tearing into my new car. Even more so since I read a magazine article on DIY that was more or less convincing me that I should leave it to the pros.

My system is going to consist of an aftermarket CD player, CD changer, a pair of 6x9's for the back, 2 10's in a ported box, a single amp, and lots of 4 awg wiring. My traditional method is to upgrade the "Big 3" (alternator -> battery +, battery - to chassis, battery - to engine block all upgraded to same size as amplifier power wire).

I have a few (lots) of questions about the install, any answers are appreciated.

1. Is this a doable DIY? I have experience with installations with my old car, which was a 1982 Toyota. I realize that lots has changed since the day that my car was built, but having a look under the hood, it seems that the wiring is similar in ways.

2. What are obstacles that I am going to run into? What are things that I should look out for that will cause me problems both immediately and down the road?

3. How should I attempt the Big 3 on this car? I noticed that there is only a single ground on this car as opposed to 2 seperate grounds on my old car. I have not traced this ground, but say it is going to the block, should I add another on my chassis? If the stock wire goes to the chassis, then should I add a second ground wire or just leave it alone?

4. What is the best way to go about upgrading the alternator wire. Previously, I added a 4 awg wire in addition to the stock 8 awg that was there, I would like to do the same for this car if I could. What is the best way to get access to the alternator wire?

5. My stock battery is quite small (410 CCA I believe). I have a larger 650 CCA battery in my garage that I would like to put in, but as I'm sure many of you know, the space around the battery in my car is quite tight. It looks like I can probably get a slightly larger battery in, but not too much bigger. Is there a specific high output battery that will fit in my car that will work better?

Seems like that should be enough to get me started. If you have any other advice or information that might be useful to me, by all means let me know. Sorry for the long rant, but I want to make sure I get this thing right the first time! Thanks for any useful replies, I appreciate it!