I'm pretty sure you've had it up to here with install progress threads, but this has been a long time coming for my own personal progress, so yeah. Follow along if you'd like.

I'm no car guy. And further from that, I'm no car audio guy. But thanks to SL, Elemental Designs, and a day off, I'm able to pretend that I am both! Yay! So behold, my progress thread of my installation of audio stuff. Being that I work a lot, I only get to do stuff on my days off, so expect this to be updated every weekend or so. Maybe not within the next couple weeks because I might be starting my new job soon and I gotta get settled in there. I still have to buy my components (most likely eDi 6500s, but I'm not sure yet). I'm still thinking of buying Eu-700s for the rears, but I think I have my hands full right now regarding all these installs, so I might hold off until that bank account gets filled back up.

First off, the goods:
- 9kv.2 D2 attached to the custom enclosure made by Harmonic_tC here on SL (buy from Doug! He's a good guy)
- Nine.4 amplifier (if I get those 6500s, then this will be three channels, with the sub being bridged)
- 8 gauge amp wiring kit
- Wal-Mart brand red speaker wire (18 gauge)
- my very dirty room
(not pictured: three buckets of eDead v3, purchased back when eD was having their BLUE BUCKET CLEARANCE™ earlier this spring Also not pictured: my new headunit -- Pioneer DEH-P6700MP. PAC SWI-PS installation whenever I have time...kinda want to get the main grunt work out of the way first)


I started around 10am and started with the disassembly of the interior. Used Mandos' guide here on SL, and it helped so much. Even bought me a label maker for marking what parts go where. hehe

Took me about two hours. I got sidetracked with trying to install those purple short shifter bushings underneath my shifter cage. I cut my finger open and I couldn't get the bolts to catch in the holes, so I took out my anger on the rest of the interior. Namely, those bolts holding the rear seats down.






Stupid bushings. Damn those bushings. Damn stupid bushings.




Some of the remnants. A lot of the stuff was moved inside my room. I'm actually typing this post from my passenger seat sitting in the middle of my room.


75% gutted. It's my daily driver, so I haven't taken out the main carpet yet. I'll run the wires and stuff after it's all deadened.




v3 application. My giant stir stick of doom sure came in handy stirring this tough bucket of deadening. The stuff has been settled for quite some time in my room, so a good five to ten minutes of stirring was needed to get it to the right consistency.


See?




The painter's plastic wasn't really necessary, but I'm pretty messy and it was there just in case. Didn't accidentally want a Blitz Blue Flint Mica tC.




Second coat finished.


Third coat.




Didn't do too good of a job inside those little corners by the taillights. My back hurts just thinking about it all.

Anyway, yeah. Trunk eDeading is complete. Used half of a bucket for just the trunk area. Fun stuff. I'm pretty sure the rest of the interior might be easier on my back. hahah

Job transition phase might take a week or so. So expect maybe an update on the 4th of July. I don't do the whole fireworks thing, so I'll probably spend my day deadening.

Upcoming: wiring, amp placement in the right side styrofoam box, driver's side panel cutting to accomodate the enclosure, installation of the speaker(s), tuning, and enjoying.

And just for fun, here's a picture of my wash bucket for when I wash my car. Adds +5 HP to my washing skills.



Yay long thread! =D

 

Wow--you are really doing a great job. I have GOT to get some of those Solar Yellow washbuckets for my RS2 xB!! Keep us posted on the results!

 

yeah, that bucket is off the chain.

 

More pics of the bucket please

 

nice

 

Thanks guys!

I was gonna get the Hot Lava bucket at Home Depot, but I kinda had my heart set on the Solar Yellow. I'll try and take some pictures tonight. Maybe even a rolling picture. Those in-action shots are always the best. =D

 

looking good so far man reminds me of how mine used to be, all blue with the goo lol. eDead works wonders, keep up the good work bro

 

dude, "go the distance"

haha

 

That's what mine will probably look like when I'm done. Hahah

How long did it take you to get everything deadened? I'd imagine two weekends maybe?

 

im still debating on this 1.

 

I was debating on taking out my interior too so I could deaden stuff. Let me tell you, this was easier than it seemed. Coming from the IT field, I'm not really that keen on how to disassemble a car's interior. Thankfully, this is a Scion. Everything practically falls apart ... but not in the sense you're thinking of. I just mean that everything is easily removable once you get the screws/bolts off.

All I needed to remove everything was one phillips and one flathead screwdriver, and a ratchet with a 10mm and a 14mm socket. And a bit of testicular fortitude as well. Hehe and Mandos' DIY guide helped tremendously. I followed his guide word for word and it took me about as long as he said it would in the guide.

 

i'd say it took me a day to do..the day before i took out all the panels n seats etc. i started in the early morning, i think at 7:30 lol and had thick slabs of edead, so i had to wait a while to dry.

 

Happy 4th! I didn't light fireworks, and I'm not out partying. But I did finish up the deadening. =D Four coats of v3 on the floor, and three coats in the rear speaker area/wheel well area. I'm gonna try and do some wiring this Saturday, depending on all the plans my parents have.

Funny story I had today. Everytime I get something for my car, I sometimes need my dad's help on getting it put in, and he gets kinda disgusted when he has to help me out. But this is just deadening, so there's no real need for a hand. My dad kept sitting outside near my car, asking if he could help. He was kinda itching to help. It looked like fun, I guess. So a couple minutes into deadening the floor, out from nowhere he comes with a paint brush. He helped me get the floor painted and he got really into it, even started asking me questions about my car, the xB, and I introduced him to the wonders of sound deadening. Father/son bonding. =P

 

Looks good

 

Thanks, bud. I can't wait to actually start running wires, install the sub and amp and actually put everything together. =D

Oh, and no rolling bucket pictures this time around. Didn't take the bucket around for a spin today. hahah ...although with all the kids around here lighting fireworks and my car outside in the driveway, I'd imagine there will be a need to wash all that ash off tomorrow. =(

 

lol, reminds me of hercules... the disney movie.

 

Did the wiring today. Oh man what a mission. Now I know why installers charge so much for these kinds of stealth-type setups: to cover their chiropractic bills.

I won't bore you with the intricacies and all since most of my wiring was pretty close to how Mandos had his in his tech article. Just know that wiring hurts. hahah


I didn't elect to lay the RCAs in those cable holder things because I know they'd take up the most room and I wanted to be able to still run the speaker wire there.


So it turned out that with where I've mounted/placed the amp, the power cable in my amp wiring kit wouldn't have been long enough to dress cleanly enough down by the drivers side door sill and back to the interior, so I found an alternate route. Down the center console. =D


From behind the center console, I followed the wire that leads to my gas tank thing under the back seats. Fished the wire up and through the black beam on top of the seats, out the back and through the holes on the corners.


If you look real close, on the floor is the power cord and it's coming out underneath the black beam and routed over to where I've put my amp.


I haven't purchased the components yet, but I will. So to avoid having to take out the interior again when that happens, I went ahead and ran two lengths of speaker wire into each door. I ran two lengths because I plan to mount the crossovers in the rear with the amp. Taking out the grommets was more of a chore than the whole running of the wires. It was kinda hard for the wires to through the grommet going into the car and out of the other one that goes into the door, so I lubed the wires up with a bit of vaseline and the grommets gave me $100 and their phone number.


Here's a side view from the inside of the cabin where the grommet holding the factory speaker wire/plugs go into. I pulled the grommet out to point out the hole. Not sure if you can make that out. It's a pretty decent sized hole.


That wiring will be cleaned up when I finish everything. The RCAs that are coiled up are going to be for the components, and I'll be probably fabbing something up so the crossovers can sit above the wiring going towards the amp. Right now, I just wanted to get everything mounted so I could feel the bass and stuff. My dad didn't want to do any wiring today, so he went ahead and cut into the styrofoam cubby so the Nine.4 could fit in it. He cut about 3/8" out of the leftmost side. It's lost a lot of strength on that end, but I doubt the amp will move anywhere.


Haven't cut the back panel there yet to secure the enclosure; that'll probably happen the next weekend or so.

The eDead REALLY made a difference! This stuff is no joke. I can't even feel the exhaust drone when I had the car started and idle in my driveway and the engine noise was almost non existant. I might take apart the hatch so I can deaden that, because I had crazy license plate frame rattle. ...I might just take it off. But...how else would I promote SL? =P

 

wow, not bad!

 

Nice write up so far...Progress looks good!

 

Looking good Lee.

Fun, isn't it

Good call on popping the rubber out of the door/car. Makes it a lot easier than sitting there jamming it with wire for a few hours while bleeding