Complete WS stereo install

trento · 08-05-2010, 06:35 PM

After months of thinking and reading international forums I have finally decided on how I am going to improve the stereo in my CL fez. Keeping in mind that I dont want a massive booming doof stereo, rather a well balanced stereo put together on a budget of approximately $750

Quite simply I am going to replace it!!!

So here's my plan.

I will be running one 4 channel 600W sony xplod amplifier using high level inputs straight from the factory headunit.

The amplifed channels will be used to power a set of 260W sony splits in the front doors as well as a 300W Blaupunkt reference subwoofer in a band pass box.

The speakers in the rear passenger area will be Sony XS-GTX1641 75W 4ways running off the standard headunit.

I will also be using a dynamat like product to give the spekers more of a platform to project from.

To my great excitement most of the equipment I ordered from a well known electronics "dot com" store in parramatta were delivered within seven days(yesterday the only thing I am waiting on is the rear 4 ways and a few led lights for mood lighting with are due in this week.

I will be doing most of the install myself with help from a friend who's first ICE project involved fitting an 8 track

Feel free to ask me any questions and PLEASE offer any insights you have!!!

fiestars · 08-05-2010, 07:02 PM

dont forget to put up pics when u done

trento · 08-05-2010, 07:10 PM

i'll post some pics later tonight of all the pretty sony components, my goal here is to give a step by step guide to how I did the install. There will be pictures galore!

dannyhilton · 08-05-2010, 08:34 PM

Fella, that sounds like a great unit you'll have there. Again, be sure to show us how you did it. Just out of interest, you're keeping the standard head unit in tact, not modifying it or anything like that?

I've attached a link below if you wanted to go 'the whole hog' with your Sony plan, a fully integrated Sony head unit made to suit the Fiesta! I found it on the German Fiesta brochure I downloaded, I have done a screen dump of it (excuse the whole screen, I'm still figuring out Snow Leopard and Apple). It comes with a grey backlit HMI (Human Machine Interface) and piano black fascia. Very nice. Not sure if it was a special edition, where to buy, no doubt it'd be expensive, but hey it looks tops!

Personally, I'm quite happy with the sound from the standard unit. It seems to be a common link in my Fiestas, the standard unit is very good. Of corse, it's going to sound like Paris Hilton attempting to sing in comparison to your plans, but still very good for a standard factory fit!

http://yfrog.com/b6screenshot20100508at825p

trento · 12-05-2010, 09:10 PM

yeah danny i'm going to keep the factory headunit for the moment, although I may uprgrade to the bigger zetec screen if the opportunity presents itself. Unfortunately i've been sent to echuca for work for two weeks so the install has been put on hold until i get back.

trento · 24-05-2010, 04:34 PM

hey guys and gals, sorry for the lack of posts but my boss (in his infinite wisdom) decided to send me to Victoria and South australia for fieldwork for 2 and a half weeks!!! Needless to say the install is on hold until I get home but as a bonus with the overtime from this trip i'll be able to install a second amp and new sony subwoofer. still Haven't decided whether or not to build a ported or sealed enclosure or possibly have a bandpass professionally made. Opinions???

GoesLikeAZetec · 24-05-2010, 06:12 PM

you can get some awesome prefab sub boxes now.

some are really, pretty small which means u'll have heaps of room left in the boot and still sound killer, but depends what size sub you get too.. you might have to listen to a couple of subs before you decide...

also does the factory headunit have a set of rca preouts? if it doesnt then you'd need a seperate box to get a signal to the amp wouldnt you?

trento · 15-10-2010, 09:38 PM

UPDATE: Well I know it's been a long time in the making... but if you're going to do something... do it once!!!

So the specs are as follows.

Headunit: Factory unit (with high level outputs)

Front Speakers: SONY GTX2021 270W 6Inch splits with twqeeter mounted in factory position.

Rear Speakers: SONY GTX1641 250W 6Inch 4 ways mounted in the rear passenger pods

Subwoofer: SONY XSGTX120L 1000W 12Inch Sub in custom SONY 12mm MDF Enclosure (sealed)

Amplifiers: SONY GTX6040 4 channel (powering front and rear speakers)
SONY ZRM 600W@ 4ohms monblock (powering sub)

Also I will be building a false floor in the boot to house the amps, I am planning on having a perspex window showing off the amps and the neons that will be fitted in the floor (planning on hooking them up to the boot interior light so they only operate when the boot is opened.)

Starting the build this weekend.... Will post piccies as I go.

trento · 15-10-2010, 09:39 PM

UPDATE: Well I know it's been a long time in the making... but if you're going to do something... do it once!!!

So the specs are as follows.

Headunit: Factory unit (with high level outputs)

Front Speakers: SONY GTX2021 270W 6Inch splits with twqeeter mounted in factory position.

Rear Speakers: SONY GTX1641 250W 6Inch 4 ways mounted in the rear passenger pods

Subwoofer: SONY XSGTX120L 1000W 12Inch Sub in custom SONY 12mm MDF Enclosure (sealed)

Amplifiers: SONY GTX6040 600W 4 channel (powering front and rear speakers)
SONY XM-ZZR3301 600W@ 4ohms monblock (powering sub)

Also I will be building a false floor in the boot to house the amps, I am planning on having a perspex window showing off the amps and the neons that will be fitted in the floor (planning on hooking them up to the boot interior light so they only operate when the boot is opened.)

Starting the build this weekend.... Will post piccies as I go.

Fi.ES.TA · 16-10-2010, 10:15 AM

cant wait for the finished product,will look the ducks nuts.

Franco Cozzo · 16-10-2010, 10:33 AM

I'm curious on how you go about the rear speakers, also mounting the tweeters in the factory positions! Keep us updated!

vegabass · 17-10-2010, 06:59 PM

Why have you decided to go all SONY?

trento · 17-10-2010, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vegabass

Why have you decided to go all SONY?

I wasn't looking for a competition quality stereo and for the Dollars I've had to spend I've gotten a lot of bang for my buck... Plus S.C.A. had a deal for the sub with the front splits for free.

Also my cousin had an Xplod stereo in his 2 door eskie and i always thought it went alright.

trento · 21-10-2010, 08:35 AM

UPDATE: Started building the false floor for the amplifiers. my god what a pita that was... Will post pictures soon, still have to create the window for the perspex as well as wire up the neons. (were finally shipped yesterday!!!) Then the only challenge left will be to convince my cousin to wire up the speakers for me before the chrissy holidays!

trento · 22-10-2010, 07:16 PM

Some piccies for your viewing pleasure... the whole thing is going to be sprayed black... Also bought some black auto carpet to cover the top, give it a super spec factory look. plus i'm going to have a go at covering the back of the seats... hide that unsightly metal.

Sub Enclosure

False Floor

Rear View

Twinpiston · 22-10-2010, 08:28 PM

Looks good.

Just a quick q, how do you get to the spare if the need arises (like it has to me in the past 3 weeks)

trento · 22-10-2010, 09:07 PM

hehehe... still haven't figured out an easy way. But it can be removed with the use one screw driver(have to remove the sub enclosure as well as the top pieces)

i've got it down to less then 5 min... lets just hope it's not raining.

trento · 26-10-2010, 09:40 PM

UPDATE: Spent sunday building the rest of the floor as well as carpeting the whole thing. Rahter happy with how it matches the factory trim.

Also my LEDs turned up yesterday and got those wired up quick smart.

Few photos for your viewing pleasure. Although I apologize for the framing as it was rather dark and I couldn't see anything through the viewfinder until the flash went off.

Carpet Match

Moody Amp

trento · 04-11-2010, 06:59 PM

Hey all... project has stalled a bit whilst I wait for the sound deadning to turn up... quick question though. has anyone pulled the door cards of a WS fez??? my mate isn't coming up until after christmas to wire it all up but I figured i'd get all the speakers and watnot fitted before he gets up.

trento · 01-01-2011, 06:39 AM

UPDATE!!!!!

Spent 12 hours yesterday pulling the car apart and soldering up al the wires. My GOD that was a **** job!!! Will post pictures once i get them in order but as I type this the rear seats are out, every interior trim panel except for the dash and roof lining are sitting in my spare room and i still have at least an hour of soldering to go!!!

A few things haven't gone according to plan.

The factory speakers are FoMoCo 6inch speakers but the surrounds are more like 7 thus requiring me to knock up some custom MDF rings, here is so much factory sound deadning and the door cards are so solid I wont be using the dynamat I bought and finally I have decided to put the front speakers into the rear as fill as they are a straight fit and i cant be bothered soldering and running another set of wires, plus they're damn god speakers.

Things that have gone according to plan.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Damo

I'm curious on how you go about the rear speakers, also mounting the tweeters in the factory positions! Keep us updated!

The rear panels were relatively easy to get out all I had to do was remove the rear seats and the front seatbelt rail.

The sony tweeters fitted straight in to the factory position, just a few dabs of silicon to hold them in place.

We only broke 2 clips! (i'd budgeted for 5)

Pictures and more tomorrow!!! Happy New Year!!!

trento · 01-01-2011, 07:27 PM

It's Finished!!!!!!!

GoesLikeAZetec · 03-01-2011, 11:58 AM

so come on bud, show us it all

Franco Cozzo · 04-01-2011, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trento

We only broke 2 clips! (i'd budgeted for 5)

Not bad, I've been completely stripping down all the interior trim inside the new Territories at work and I can't do it without breaking 50,000 clips.

GoesLikeAZetec · 06-01-2011, 04:22 PM

when are ya putting the photo's up trento?

im hanging to see what you've done

trento · 07-01-2011, 10:00 AM

Well here we go!!!!

All in all the install went according to plan, except for the weird FoMoCo speaker size.

The first step was to strip the car of most of it's interior panels, this was a step by step process starting with the door sills, then rear seats, rear panels and then front kick panel leading up to the glovebox/dash.

Next we removed the stereo from the dash, first we removed the top cover over the screen levering it from the back with a padded screwdriver, next we removed the panel below the main unit and above the temperature controls.

This is done by carefully placing flat blade screwdriver along the top edge, the catch that holds it in is located at the middle of the top edge. Lever this very carefully so not the break the catch.

Finally to remove the main unit we had to first undo the four screws at the top of the unit. Two of them are 7mm hex head bolts and two of them are torx size T25.

Once the bottom panel is out you can then pull the main unit surround out. The catches that hold this in are along the bottom edge. You can pull these straight back, no need for any tools at this stage, the catches are quite stiff but it is only them (after the top screws have been removed) that are holding the unit in.

Next we ran the 2AWG power cable through the firewall on the passengers side (just behind the glovebox) there were no spare grommets so we tapped in to the large factory grommet that allows the wiring loom through the firewall. ATM I'm using a 180A fuse that is sitting just behind the battery in the battery box.

The power wire was run down the passenger side through to the false floor. you can see it coming out from behind the glovebox.

The high level input and speaker wires were run down the drivers side of the car and attached to the back of the multiblock and factory speaker wires respectively.

For the earth I used one of the bolts for the seat catch, just had to sand around the bolt hole to ensure a good earth.

The speakers were a regular PITA!!! The factory FoMoCo speakers are 6 inch speakers but have a rather large surround which means that custom speaker rings were required. I knocked these up out of some 9mm MDF.

*
To wire up the front speakers we spliced the factory speaker wires with an input for the crossover. We had to do this as there is a multiblock connector in the door jam and it was just to difficult to run a separate speaker wire. Also it will make it easier to take the stereo back to stock if the need arises.

I decided to use the factory front speakers in the rear enclosures because they bolted straight in and the factory plug fitted (base model CL rear speaker wire sitting in bottom of the door skin wrapped in some foam)

For the sub high level input we spliced in to both of the rear channels at the rear speaker. This allows me to turn of the sub by fading the music to the front speakers.

Then it was just a matter of wiring up the two amps and setting the levels.

Once that was all done the car was put back together and we took it for a cruise

Fled74 · 07-01-2011, 10:10 AM

Nice work!

dannyhilton · 07-01-2011, 11:20 AM

Absolutely awesome. I bet it rocks. Top post Trent.

paulo7 · 17-01-2011, 08:12 AM

Trento, looks great, bet it sounds fantastic. Just a little question, how do you get the main grab handle off the front door trim?
I have managed to almost remove the front door trim but not the grab handle and I suspect you have to do this to remove a bolt/screw to remove the trim completely?
thanks

trento · 17-01-2011, 08:57 PM

hey, you need to carefully lever of the painted silver part of the handle, i did it with a padded screwdriver on the back edge, from there, from memory there was three t25 bolts. then the whole doorcard just lifts up, providing you've unclipped the clips along the bottom.

ALSO!!!! UPDATE!!!!

Have found the midrange a little lacking so i have decided to add a set of 6x9's in a custom parcel shelf along with some more frosted perspex work and a few more led's for that sexy mood lighting :P Going to take a few months as i'm planning on glassing the new shelf which i've never done so i'm going to once again take my time and plan it all out and do it slowly once, instead of rushing and muffing it multiple times.

paulo7 · 17-01-2011, 10:57 PM

Thanks for that Trento, will give it another try.
I'm actually trying a little sound proofing and have slowly done different sections. In case it helps for your sound system: I've applied some dynamat type stuff on the inner door skin but without having to remove the whole electric window door subframe or subpanel if you know what I mean - the black panel in your photo. I simply removed the bolts, pulled the panel away at the bottom just enough so i could reach in underneath and stick on the soundproofing to the inside of the door skin. I'm also thinking of removing the speaker (after reading your thread) next time so as to have more access. I've only done the left rear door so far so can't comment on its effectiveness. will see...