stslimited84

speakers are in hand, w00t!

Parts List (those already acquired):

Headunit
Speakers
Dash Kit

Weigel21

Not a problem, I'm sure you'll be able to do it correctly. Did you do any reading on BCAE? It really is a good read for anyone interested in learning about car audio, how it works, how to install it properly, and can even pointers on tuning it (to a lesser extent).


As you should be. While a great amp I'm sure, it is used and unknown if it was abused, besides that, there is a lifespan for amplifiers. A general rule of thumb, if you get 10 years of daily use out of an amp, you're doing good. Electronics ultimately fail, after so much use it's bound to happen. Not entirely sure how old the amp in question is, but if it's near or over 10 years old, it likely doesn't have much time left. IF you were abe to fix the amp on your own when it fails, then it wouldn't be so much of an issue, but being new to all this, it's too much of a gamble if it's an old amp.


Yes and no. While you won't be using the speaker wires, you'll still need to provide a power source, switched power source, and ground to the HU for it to even work. On top of this, if the car has a power antenna or illumination/dimmer lead (which would tell your HU to dim when you turn on your lights, if set to do so), you'd have to wire these wires to the HU as well. A wiring harness takes all the guess work out of it and will allow you to reinstall the factory HU when you sell the car. Cutting the factory wiring to install the Pioneer is a bad idea, I personally HATE it when people do this. For one, the OEM stereo won't go back in the car now. Second, if they removed their aftermarket HU, you now have a mess of loose wires that are random colors, as automotive manufacturers don't follow suit with using, for example, yellow for power, black for ground, red for switched power source, White, Grey, Green, and Purple for speakers, Blue for power antenna, orange for illumination, etc, etc. Now if you wish, you can skip on the wiring harness and just run new wiring for the HU, including power and ground wires, but this is not a route you'll like, it's more work than you'd be up for IMO. Nope, instead, I'd use the power wires of the harness, run a new ground up to the firewall, and then if the car supports illumination/dimmer function, that wire as well as if the car has a power antenna, In other words, use all but the ground and speaker wires of the harness. The reason to not use the ground, the factory ground for the HU is usually poor.

stslimited84

Updated parts list:

Parts in hand:
Headunit
Speakers - front and rear
Metra Brackets for front speakers
Metra 99-7896 Honda Civic Kit Dash Kit with Pocket 99-00

Parts on order:
Metra 70-1721 Radio Wiring Harness Honda/Acura 98-Up Power 4 Speaker - should arrive mid week
Plugs for amp - should arrive mid week

Parts needed:
all wiring needs - awaiting recommendations

Weigel21

Sorry, I kind of got off track with looking into wiring for you. In truth, either of those two kits you found would work. The last time I bought wire I bought through eBay from a guy who was selling older 4GA StreetWires wire that was in fact PURE COPPER. This was probably close to 6 years ago. I ended up buying 30ft of it(figured it'd be enough for 2, maybe 3 installations) and used the last of it a couple years back. Sadly I really haven't looked into wire recently as even back when I bought mine, it was hard to find PURE COPPER wire, most was CCA at that point already. So that being said, given how difficult I figure it'll be to find reasonably priced copper wiring, buying a 2GA or 4GA CCA kit with an included fuse large enough to support your amps at full clip (not implying you want to run them into clipping, bt if the fuse is the same rating (or more) than the combined fuse ratings for the amplifiers you'll be running, then you'll be good. I can't fathom a kit being sold with a larger amperage fuse than the wire can support, I mean it'd be their fault if your car burned to the ground if the wire were to catch fire from too much amperage.

As for the HU wiring, your choice if you wish to run new wiring for powering it, or just buy a wiring harness only to use a few of the wires from it. My choice, I'd opt for the harness and do as I said earlier.

As for speaker wire, I'd honestly look into thicker insulated car audio specific wiring. I mean if you're 100% sure that you'll be able to run it without it coming into contact with anything that could eventually cut or wear through it (within a reasonable time), then by all means go with whatever wire you like. Given you're a bit new to all of this and the entire installation process, I feel a thicker insulated wire would be in your best interest. I've used StreetWires Ultra Cable™ speaker wire in the past and liked it's durability. It can be a bit of a..., well you know, to put it in a car, hiding it under the carpet and behind panels as you should, but it's definitely the most rugged speaker wire I've ever used. Only problem, it's defiantly not cheap.

stslimited84

The streetwires cable looks great, but that is outta the ballpark for me on price right now. I had been researching 16 gauge speaker wire and was under the impression that was what i should get. Is that inaccurate and should i get a thicker gauge?

was thinking about this as it got good reviews:

But if its worth the extra money, i could bump up to this:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_211SC16...er-reviews-tab

As far as the amp kits, I know you were impressed with them. What kit would you recommend? If its not astronomical in price, I'd probably go with it.

What else aside from the wires will I need? Any type of connection pieces, such as terminals? (i know you guys mentioned it, i could use some pointing in the right direction here)
Is there anything else I'm missing for installation pieces? Looking to have all parts in hand this week so I can start the install on friday.

There will be no addition of subs in this car and this will be the it as far as audio goes in the vehicle.

Weigel21

The Monster speaker wire should work perfectly fine. In fact, I'd opt to use it over the StreetWires 16GA you linked, mostly due to it's thicker insulation and yourself being new to installation. It will likely prove to be a bit of a pain to run in tight areas, but that thicker insulation is going to be a blessing, even with the hassle associated with installation it.

As for an amp kit, I'd personally prefer to use Pure Copper wire, but I'm sure it's difficult to find and expensive if found. Really, there's not too much reason for yourself to opt for it over CCA wire. You're only goinng to run one moderately powerful 4-channel amp, so pretty much any 4GA CCA wire will be heavy enough for you. If you add up the fuse rating for the on-board fuses, don't even know for sure if it has any, make sure the amp kit you go with can support that amount of amperage.

As for terminal connectors, I'm not sure what the amp utilizes for it's speaker connections, so I can't exactly recommend anything. In truth, so long as the method you use allows for a tight, secure connection, it'll be fine.

When it comes to the speaker terminals, the speakers utilizes female quick disconnects, but until you measure the positive and negative terminals, a guy likley won't know what size connectors you'd need. For instance, I just recently helped install a set of Hertz Components and they have the same size positive and negative terminals, which where .25" if I'm not mistaken. The Polk db691 may have that size for the positive and uses a smaller for the negative or maybe even a different size all together. The Polk db6501 components have the crossover you'll be wiring to, which the spade connectors you linked to earlier should work well, but you'd have to measure the connection terminals on the crossovers to be completely sure they'll fit.

stslimited84

Ordered the wire. I took some pictures so we could verify what I need for connections so I can be clear and concise on whats needed for install since you won't be there .

Crossover -


6x9 -


6x9 -


6x9 -


6.5 -



Links for the amp connections:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Blaupunkt-PA...item337d881c3e

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LM-4065-4035...item3367c24a5a


Do those pics help?

Was doing some research in the mean time and picked up two packs of these ---> http://www.crutchfield.com/p_120FQS1...ck-Slides.html
Those are what I need right? and then just a standard crimp tool?

I will need 2 rca cables correct?

Weigel21

If you plan to power the front and rear speakers off a 4-channel amp, you'll need to run either 2 pairs of RCA cables or a 4-channel RCA cable. Either way, it will accomplish the same thing, getting both the front and rear channel signals to the amplifier.

As for the speaker connectors, the crossover looks to have a 3/8" width for each terminal. I want to say a 1/4" spade connector is what you'd want to use and I believe it's known as a #8. Easiest thing for you to do is run down to a hardware store and check what fits.

As for the 6x9's, the positive looks to take a 1/4" female blade connector (AKA quick disconnect), while the positive looks to be approx 1/8". I'm going to go out on a limb and say .25" for the positive and .187" for the negative, but again, your local hardware shore should have some and you could easily carry the crossover and one speaker into the store to check the fitment of the connectors, or perhaps one of the employees would be able to quickly tell you which size you'l be needing for each connection.

stslimited84

So the quick connects from crutchfield will cover all of my needs except for some spades which i can just grab from the hardware store, correct?

rca cables are freakin' expensive! This is what I've found ---> http://www.crutchfield.com/p_211ZN54...er-reviews-tab

seems to be the best option
or

this --->
am i crazy or are these cables super expensive?

The connectors just get crimped on with a standard crimping tool correct? Is there anything else i need to do to secure the connection?

ps. weigel, you rock!

Weigel21

Guess I don't recall seeing a link to these Quick Disconnects from Crutchfield to which you speak, but if you are referring to the small pig tail wiring harness that should have came with the Polks, Yes, they'll do fine, just use a butt connector or solder/heat shrink them to the Monster wire you'll be running to the amp. Using the included pigtail harness will simplify the install for you as tracking down the proper quick disconnects for use with your speakers and wire may prove time consuming. The voltage loss in the short run of the pigtail (being a smaller gauge wire than the Monster you bought) will be next to nothing, so it's all good.

As for spade connectors to connect to the crossover for the components, yep, any you find that'll fit the crossover and crimp to the wire you'll be running will work. They don't need to be gold plated or anything fancy, I doubt there's anyone who could tell a difference time and time again in a blind test.

Yep, patch cables can be pretty pricey. You don't need to buy anything claiming to be top of the line with a huge price tag attached, but you don't want to cheap out in this are either with a couple $3 cables. And yes, I can find cables for that.

Not entirely sure why the cables you linked are so long. I mean you are installing a system into a Civic and not a Limo right? Might want to do some measuring and find out if you can use a shorter cable, I mean a 5 meter cable seems a bit excessive for a Civic. Heck, my Cutlass Ciera is likely longer and I had plenty of length with a 12FT cable. It'd cut down the cost some and besides, where would you plan to coil the extra cable up at? If you'd prefer running a single 4-channel cable instead of two 2-channel cables, that's fine, either method will work.

Sonic Electronix has reasonable prices and a fairly large selection. They're trustworthy seller as well, I've probably bought $1000 in car audio from them overall. So go ahead and click on the hyperlink and it'll take you to their 7-12' 4-channel Interconnects/RCA/Patch cables.

stslimited84

Happy New Years!

Here is the link to the quick connect from crutchfield: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_120FQS1...s.html?tp=2610

Weigel21

Yep, there should be the needed sizes included in that assortment.

One very last thing I'd like to get set straight is gain setting on the amp. Are you familiar with how the gain is supposed to be used/set on the amp?

Many people new to car audio tend to believe it's a volume control, but that is incorrect. You need to set the gain to match the input voltage of your HU. Now your HU, I believe, has 4V preamp outputs, but the output is only 4V at max volume and at this point the output of the HU may very well be dirty. Often the gain is set with the HU at 3/4 volume, but I have my own method I like to use(read that as an alternate method I learned of in the past). Many people set the gain by ear, and with full-range speakers it's not too bad as the average persons ears can detect distortion in higher frequencies much more easily. Still, there is a risk of feeding your speakers a dirty or even clipped signal if you don't know what you should be listening for. I strongly suggest reading up on BCEA1 on setting gains of an amplifier. The method I have come to rely on is the use of a DMM and test tones. I'd like to get an O-scope of DD1 for more accurate setting of the gain, but with out using them to do installations on the side, I can't justify their cost. Now the use of either of these two items will allow you to set the gain on the amp for maximum clean output. However, there are times when maximum clean output is too much and you risk over driving the driver, for instance, lets say a person is using 60RMS speakers but a 100RMS amp. If the gain was set for maximum clean output and the listener tended to crank the volume to the level at which the gain were set, it'd ultimately result in the failure of the driver. In cases such as this, setting the gain with a DMM and test tones can prove more useful.

stslimited84

The amp plugs came in:





Looks like they will work, wouldnt you say so?

I'll read up on bcea1 for the gains and refer back to you if i need clarification or help.

How about the high pass filters, they are set at 135 I believe. that sound about right?

TiggerDX

iTrader: (1)

135 is pretty high. I usually set mine around 70 or so. It depends on the sound you like. I like my subs to play the low frequencies. I don't like to hear voices in the subs.
Also, since you aren't running a sub, you will need about every level of freq that your speakers will provide. You may just want to turn it off or all of the way down.

Weigel21

The plugs do appear to fit and be correct, but testing the amp out will likely be the only way to confirm 100% that they'll do the job.

As for the HPF, it's really personal preference, but 135Hz sounds plenty high for them. Don't happen to know the roll off slope of the crossover do you? The crossover won't completely block frequencies below the set frequency, it merely reduces the output/strength the further from the crossover.

For instance, lets say it a 12dB/Octave slope (quite common with full-range amplifiers), at 67.5Hz it'd be 12dB lower, at 33.75Hz it'd be 24dB lower.

Given you don't plan to have a sub to pick up the lower end, you'll likely find the bottom end lacking and the sound somewhat lifeless, or at least I usually tend to when I turn off my sub. However, I have a different car, different speakers, HU, preferences and hearing than you. With my car, I have 3.5" dash speakers and so I have 800Hz bass blockers to keep them from distorting. My rear speakers are 6x9's and HPF'd at 100Hz, partially due to being ran off HU power and since I have a sub to pick up my lower end. Now my 100Hz HPF is through my HU and set for an 18dB slope, and it is applied to both my front and rear speakers, so my 3.5" dask speakers are likely reduced as so; 400Hz -6DB, 200Hz -12dB, 100Hz -18dB, 50Hz -42dB.

Anyways, since your speakers can easily play lower than mine, partially due to being wired to an external amplifier and your front speakers being larger, I'd likely try turning the HPF to around 60-80Hz. You'll have to listen for the speakers to sound muddy and turn the HPF up more until the output clears up. You might find you prefer the HPF lower around 60Hz or be perfectly content with it at it's current 135Hz. Or you my like it best anywhere in between those two. It's purely personal preference. Granted, there are some extremes that while you may prefer how it sounds, really aren't very logical choices, such as allowing the speakers to try and play all the way down to 20Hz or setting the HPF at 1,000Hz, effectively cutting all bass and much of the mid-bass from your enjoyment. If the HPF on your amp is variable with a ****, play with it at all frequencies while playing various music, you'll likely find a spot where the speakers produce enough lows to keep you content while still remaining clear.

Weigel21

I have my sub LPF'd at 80Hz with a 24dB/octave slope.

stslimited84

This is the amp power kit I went with and itll be here tomorrow -
The only thing I'll be waiting on is the rca cable which will be here monday, but I plan on starting it today.

here is the rca I went with - http://www.crutchfield.com/S-RbK71VI...16-4-feet.html

Feeling a bit overwhelmed, but I think I'll be fine. Took a look at the gain info on bcea. Think ill be referring back to you for some help when I get to that point.

Let me outline my plan and let me know what you think:


Remove stock head unit
Remove stock speakers
Install amp power kit and run wires to trunk
Install new h/u with dash kit
run rca cable to the trunk on opposite side of car from amp power wire
mount amplifier
run speaker wire to all four door locations
install speakers and front crossover
mount tweeters

Weigel21

Well, let me chime n a little on your choices.

With that amp kit, Rockford is a pretty decent brand overall, or at least they used to be. However, with that kit, according to Amazon, it includes a 60AMP Maxi fuse. This is an awfully low amperage fuse for a supposed 4GA amp kit. Typically 8GA kits come with 60AMP fuses. Looking up the model number of the kit I found, according to actual car audio retailer sites, that it comes with a 100AMP fuse. That is still smaller than what used to come with 4GA kits, but quite common with kits of today, mostly due to not being made with 100% copper.

Now according to reviews on Amazon, only the power wire is copper, the ground wire is CCA. Honestly, if you end up with enough power wire left over, I'd use a piece of it for the ground as well, just be sure to mark which is ground and which is power, since both would be red. Now the reason I would use the Copper wire over the CCA, well, I believe I've already covered that previously and the ground wire is just as important, if not more so, than the power wire. More often then not, if a person runs into an issue with their amp not working, it's a grounding issue.

One more note on that kit, if it happens to come with a 60AMP fuse, don't replace it with a larger one. While it should support more than 60AMPS, if it was packaged with a 60AMP, I wouldn't take any unnecessary risks. However, does your MMATS have onboard fuses? If it doesn't, it might not be such a bad idea to use a lower amp fuse such as a 60AMP. Overall though, not a bad choice.

For the RCA cables, should be a good product, although I'm a little surprised you went through Crutchfield given you could have saved $15-25 buying from Sonic Electronix that I linked to. Granted Crutchfield has excellent customer service and an excellent return policy, not to mention they stand behind everything they sell, but there's really not much that can go wrong with a set of interconnects. they'll either work or be a manufacturer defect, which you'd immediately notice and Streetwires would replace them. Also, which length did you choose? I hope you didn't opt for the 16' length, that'd be a bit excessive and you'd likely have fun coiling up the extra length and finding a spot to stash it if you did.

As for your plan of action, seems like it covers the gist of it.

I would like to point out that with the order you listed it, it would cause you to remove the HU again to run the RCA cables. You'll want those ran from the spot you'll be mounting the amp all the way to the dash where the stereo inserts before plugging the stereo wire harness and RCA cables into it and inserting it into the dash. I'm sure that's what you planned to do anyways, but nevertheless.

Oh, and that brings me to mounting the amp. Where and how do you plan to mount it? It is not wise to mount it upside down to the rear deck or to the back seat. The reason not to do either of these, the heat sinks of the amp will not do their job properly and overheating could become an issue. It is best to mount the amp as it was meant to be with it facing upward and on a flat surface, this allows the heat sinks to do their job as designed and intended. The down side, if the amp is mounted to the floor of the trunk, you'll loose some cargo space. I would recommend making an amp rack of some sort. At the very least, I would construct a shelf that places the amp off the floor of the car allowing you to utilize more of the trunk, especially if you tend to use your trunk. At the same time, this would keep you from having any screws securing the amp grounding it to the floor of the trunk and possibly creating a ground loop of sorts. If you plan to mount it to the floor of the car, I would at least mount it to a board and then secure the board to the floor of the car isolating the amp and reducing the off chance of a ground loop. Unlikely or not as it may be to develop a ground loop if mounted directly to the car trunk floor, having it isolated from the floor cuts out the possibility and that will make fault isolation easier, if any issue do arise. Now I wasn't trying to discourage or scare you, just trying to help you avoid any future issues. Doing things right the first time, or taking a couple extra measure first should drastically reduce the likelihood of an issue.

That's my 2 cents, for what it's worth.

stslimited84

Hey,

I very much appreciate your 2 cents! I did order the cable from sonic, itll be here monday. I dont know how to tell if my amp has onboard fuses or not. Everything will be here by tomorrow with the exception of the rca cables. Was planning on atleast starting to remove everything and run the cables so its ready to go when the rca's gets here.

How do i get the remote wire back to the amp? do i need to buy a specific piece of wire, cut it to length, crimp it together and then run it to the back or am I missing something?

Thats really the most daunting thing to me right now...wiring up the head unit. The instructions from the head unit were a bit confusing.

The rest seems really straight forward and easy as its just running some wire and removing panels.

Weigel21

No problem, I don't mind offering it.

As for your amp having onboard fuses, did some more looking and it doesn't appear to have any. Your amp is the same as the one on the left, but the one on the right, a 500.2, has two 20AMP fuses.


I was unable to locate an owners manual for the amp and given it's age, little information is still around on it. looking at some other photos I found I seen it says they crossover has a 24dB slope, which in your case should prove very beneficial as you'll have to rely on your full-range speakers for your low end response. looks like the lowedt setting is 60Hz, which given the sharp slope, sould do well for the 6x9s. The components may very well do fine set the same, but going up to 80Hz or so wouldn't hurt. Just use your ears and set where it sounds best. You might even find that you like the filter turned off for the 6x9s.

Given the amp is a class A/B and rated at a hefty 70RMSx4@4 ohms, I wouldn't be surprised if it were to draw quite a bit for current and amperage. It's likely to be capable of drawing more than 60AMPS, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that under the conditions you''ll be running it, it'll likely never demand such.

As for the remote turn on lead, the amp kit you bought comes with a 20' blue 18GA remote turn on lead. You can run this wire along with the RCA cables from the amp to the HU. While it is a power wire and will be carrying a 12V signal, it's only going to be 300 mA (0.3AMPS), so it's not likely to induce distortion.

for the rest of the wiring, what's the issue? Did you buy a wiring harrness/adapter for your car or get one free with the purchase of the HU?
If so, it's as easy as matching the colors. Well, you only need connect the wires you'll be using. That means connect the yellow, Red, Blue/While, and if your car supports it, the Orange/White wires. The Black wire is the ground and it really ought to be connected to bare metal of the car, preferably a spot on the firewall. If you feel this will be too hard, you can use the factory ground by connecting to the black ground of the wiring adapter, just be fore warned, the factory ground is typically poor and if you should end up with issues of feedback in your speakers, I'd try an alternate ground for the HU.

The other wires from the stereo, White, Gray, Green, and Purple are speaker wires, since you'll be running external amps, there's no need to connect these, just wrap some electrical tape around each one so they don't happen to make contact with a metallic surface or each other and short out the HU.

Now the HU does support Bluetooth and includes a mic, so if you plan to utilize this feature, you'll have to connect the mic and run the wiring to wherever you locate the mic.

Not entirely sure what else there is, or if there's anything else to worry about as far as wiring. Really you only need connect the yellow, red, and black wires for the HU to power up. then you'll need to connect the Blue/white remote turn on for a signal to power up the external amp. Other wires such as the Orange illumination wire are purely optional, the Hu will work without it being used.

Any more questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Weigel21

And looking at the internals of your amp, there's no internal fuses to protect it either, so be very carful when wiring it up. Be sure you have the ground wire to your car's battery disconnected and double check that all connections are correct and securely connected before reattaching the negative battery terminal cable and placing the inline fuse in the power wire to the amp. That's right, remove this fuse before you route the wire throughout your car and connect it to the battery. After you are sure all connections are correct and securely fastened, then connect the ground wire to the battery and reinstall the fuse for the amp's power wire.

Oh, and if you are curious, here's photos of your amp's guts.

TiggerDX

iTrader: (1)

Not sure of the year of the car but I do know there are certain years you do not want to hook up the illumination wire. It will blow the dash lights. A quick search on here should tell you the susceptible years.

stslimited84

Update:

I have all equipment/pieces except for the RCA cable which should be here monday. I've removed the stock head unit and front door panels. I have a couple of questions and issues I need help with.

1) I have the pioneer headunit successfully in the mount kit and it fits in the removed dash/bezel without problem. That being said, the screw holes on the metal bracket to secure the headunit and the hole on the headunit dont match up so I cant screw the headunit to the bracket. What do I do here? see picture --->


2) How do i route the speaker wire through the door? I see the tube that goes from the door into the passenger cabin, but am not sure how I'm going to route speaker wire through it.







3)I'm going to mount the bracket's now like kenny has above right now.


4) Where should I mount the crossover at and where should the tweeter be mounted?


I'm working on the car as we speak so any info you guys have would be great!

Weigel21

That's a very helpful bit of info, thank you. Hopefully the OP will have read it and do his homework to see if it'd affect his car. He might just want to opt to not wire the dimmer and just live with adjusting it manually, if it's too bright at night/dim during the day.

Now on to the OP's Q's.

1. I'm not familiar with Civics, so I'll likely be of little help, but I do know many/most imports do not utilize the mounting cage for installation like domestic car do. Instead, they have two brackets (usually) that attach directly to the case of the HU via screws and these brackets hold the HU in place. Again, not familiar with your specific install, but many of times a guy reuses the brackets from off the OEM HU. In the sides of the Pioneer there should be various holes for screws. Two or more of these should line up with the mounting bracket that was on the OEM stereo or mounting brackets included with the dash kit.

2. Running the new speaker wire through the preexisting tubing you see in the photo you took. The issue, as you have found, is how to go about snaking it through this tube. Depending on the car and your abilities, the tube can be unattached to make running the wire through it slightly easier. most likely, it's going to be a bit of a... well you know. I suggest running a fairly flexible, yet rigid piece of single strand wire or plastic through it, once you have it through, securely fasten (tape) the end of the speaker wire to it and pull it back out. I suggest pulling an end of the wire without any connectors attached as they'll likely catch and make it harder, not to mention, the increased diameter would make it a little tougher as well.

3. Good luck, but you really shouldn't run into any issues with this step.

4. I would mount it in the cabin of the car and not the door to reduce the chances of the weather getting the best of it. After all, the door isn't sealed off from the elements, water can still enter the interior space of the door and if the crossover were to get wet, it could cause issues. during this time of year, water could enter the casing of the crossover and freeze overnight breaking it. Or water could enter it and short something out. Or, over time, the connections of the crossover could rust. Again, unlikely or likley as any of these scenarios, it's easiest to avoid the possibility. If there's enough space behind the trim around your kick panel location, I'd likely mount it there.

Hopefully Kenny will chime in with some pointers and details with his installation procedures, I'm willing to bet his hands on experience with a similar installation will be of more value than my hypothetical guess work. Wait, is that how I really want to word it... not really, but the word I'm seeking are eluding me.

stslimited84

Update on progress:

-Front dash disassembled - ready for headunit to be reinstalled and wired.

-both front door panels off and ready for brackets/speakers/tweeters

- Rear speakers removed

- Amplifier power cable ran from battery to trunk on driver side through firewall grommet and beneath the floorboard plastic trim. Cable is not hooked up to the battery.

The trim was a pain to remove but I got the cable underneath with the help of my father in law. The rear trim piece is not completely flush but I'll mess with that later.

I need to find an optimum space for the amplifier to be placed as well as a good grounding location. Have read to use the rear seat bolt.

Weigel21

Seat bolts and seat belt bolts are often poor choices for the ground, but speaking to Civic owners will reveal if there isn't a better location.

Now some of the reasons for it being a poor location is that it's contact with the body of the car is minimal, often just a few threads making contact and the threads of both the bolt and the body of the car they may very well thread into are likely to have a buildup of dirt and or rust reducing the strength of the ground connection. If you insist upon using the seat bolt, at least be sure to remove it, clean it off really well with something like a wire brush, Dremmel, etc. Then be sure to clean out the threads as well.

I personally would opt to picking a floor location out of the way in the trunk, near a fender well and the back seat, to sand down to bare metal and attaching the ground there. The floor of the trunk is likely to have a far better electrical connection to the chassis ground going to your battery. Which reminds me, follow the ground wire off the battery to the body/chassis of the car, remove this ground and clean up the body where it makes contact, be sure it's free of paint for the best electrical connection.

If you like, and have a DMM (Digital Multi-Meter), you can attach a wire to your battery's negative post, leaving all other wires originally attached to the ground attached as well, and running this wire all the way back to where you plan to ground the amp. Just run this wire externally of the car, it's just for testing your ground location. At the point you plan to use as the ground for the amp, use your DMM to measure the resistance. Do this by touching one probe to the wire attached to the battery ground, and touching the other to the location you plan to use for the amp ground. With the DMM set to measure resistance (ohms), test the location. The display would zero out if it were a perfect ground location, but I wouldn't have my hopes set that high. Still, the less resistance you measure, the better the spot is for the amp ground.

Sorry if that confuses you, I'm not the best at explaining what I mean. Perhaps Kenny or another member will understand what I meant and explain it further or in simpler terms.

Weigel21

I'd like to back up a little, back to the HU installation.

The single photo yo posted does little to help me understand the issue due to not being familiar with your car. Kenny likely knows exactly what the issue is, but is currently MIA.

The photo looks like the side of the area of the dash where the HU mounts. I'd like to see a photo of the stereo in this dash kit to which you speak.

The two holes look like they'd allow the HU to be directly bolted in place, but that one photo speaks little to me.

Here's a photo I took this morning of an OLD Pioneer from 2001 and an Alpine CDA-9833. Both units have holes on the side of the case for 8mm screws to screw directly into. The Alpine is on the left, Pioneer on the right.



The holes that should work for mounting the HU in your application are a little easier to see on the Pioneer with them being countersunk into the unit. Two of those should line up with the holes in your dash.

stslimited84

The top is the OEM headunit and pocket. The bottom is the new pioneer in the mount kit. As you can see, the pioneer screw hole is slightly ahead of the oem h/u hole. This causes it to be off enough so the screw holes dont match up and i cant insert a screw in the metal bracket to secure the pioneer.

hope that clears it up the issue. I understand exactly what youre saying, but its just not lining up and its frustrating the heck out of me.

I ordered some kick panel enclosures for the front components to make life easier.


***edit: for some reason my picture is posting upside down. the top is the pioneer and the bottom is the OEM

Weigel21

If I may, how are you going to place two screws into the Pioneer HU on both sides with the mounting sleeve still attached? In a couple Toyota's I've place HU's into, you have to remove the HU from the mounting sleeve as it's not used in the installation process of Imports.

From the look of things, even if the back screw hole lined up, you'd only have half of the screws to secure the HU in place. That to me would allow the HU to jiggle up and down which isn't how it's meant to be when installed. Is there a way to have the HU bolted in place where the OEM HU was without being attached to the mounting "kit" and then a way that the mounting kit itself is fastened to take up the remaining space/gap.

What mounting kit is it if I may? Perhaps i can look up the model number of it and find more details on how the setup is meant to be installed.

Edit*
Oh and the photo is correct, the OEM is on top and the Pioneer on bottom with your hand holding it.

Second edit*
Went back through the thread and found the model of installation kit, so I'm looking further into it now.

Weigel21

According to Metra, there should have been mounting brackets attached to the OEM HU and they should be attached to the back of the Metra bezel, not the Pioneer HU, to later hold the stereo, factory bezel, and climate controls in place in the OEM stereo location.

So, the screw holes on the Pioneer are not used in this case.