InnovativeSound
Member
- Car
- FRS
Hi everyone, I wanted to share a build I did for a friend a while back in his 05 FX35. His stock system had a blown speaker and a dead sub and he was in the market for an upgrade... without losing any space or his climate controls. I copied and pasted this from my site so hopefully everything copies over cleanly. Thanks for looking!
For this project, a new receiver will be added along with the replacement of the front and rear speakers, and a new subwoofer in a custom enclosure. Since the factory climate controls are displayed through the factory screen, it had to be retained and relocated. Custom panels and LED accent lights dress up the trunk area which are hidden under the stock floor piece until it's ready to be shown.
Under the hood, a simple fuse holder mount was made by welding a small steel plate to the battery tie down. Holes were drilled, tapped, and painted, and then the fuse holder was mounted.
A new hole was drilled for the power wire to run through the firewall. The power wire was terminated with a 4 AWG lug and ferrules, soldered, heat shrink was applied around the connections, and wrapped in Techflex. A grommet was added to protect the wiring from the surrounding metal. It was then sealed with silicone to ensure no water or debris could come through. The rest of the power wire and speaker wire were ran to the trunk and zip tied every few inches.
Next, speaker rings were made from MDF. They were copied from the original speaker housings on the router, and coated in truck bed liner to protect them from the elements.
Sound damping was applied to the insides and inner faces of all 4 doors. New speaker wire was run from the Sony receiver to each speaker. To get the wires inside of the doors, the speaker wire had to pass through the existing molex plug and boot. This was done by drilling out the empty pin housings and running the wire through it. It was then soldered to each speaker terminal and heat shrink was applied.
For the tweeters, instead of mounting them in the stock location on the dash, firing up at the windshield, they were mounted in the sail panels above the door. Starting with MDF, the initial shape was created. From there it went to the router where the cut outs were made and a decorative chamfer was added.
They were secured to the OEM panels using epoxy and filled and sanded smooth. After the sanding/shaping was done, they were painted with light OEM texture matching paint.
The tweeters were mounted in place using ABS that was heat formed, and secured with screws. The pressed grilles were also made and wrapped in grille cloth and mounted to each pod.
The new wire for the tweeters were run with the existing wires, wrapped in Tesa tape for a more factory look, and each side terminated with Molex plugs for easy removal.
On to one of my favorite parts of this build- the radio. Where to relocate the screen was a bit of a concern. There wasn't much room anywhere else on the dash and making sure it could be seen easily was something to be kept in mind. I've seen some units relocated below the factory radio which looked nice, but it took the drivers eyes off the road. Since the Bose system was no longer being used, that meant the center channel area was free... which made it the next best option.
First, the new Sony AX-100 needed to be installed where the factory unit was. This meant modifying the factory dash kit to accept the new receiver. It had to be cut a little wider and then filled so no gaps were visible around the unit. This was achieved by cutting out the opening and then replacing it with ABS and smoothing it out with filler.
A small round indentation was added near the volume knob. Once it was all sanded smooth, it was prepped and ready for paint. Sprayed in a factory matching texture and then black paint.
Now that the new receiver has it's home, it's time to relocate the stock display. It will be going into the center channel area. I had a rough idea in mind of what I wanted to create. I cut out small pieces of MDF and pieced it together until I came up with something I was happy with. I started off by making the hood. After I glued it together, I used filler in the gaps and then sanded it evenly.
I used a template that matched the curve of the dash for the bottom portion. Then cut out the center of to make room for the other pieces.
The face of the screen is pretty simple. I made a cutout and then added a chamfer around the opening.
The screen is held in place by an ABS bracket that was heat formed to cradle the unit. An additional bracket attaches to the bottom of that and to the the chasis.
ABS was added to each side to help achieve the angle seen below, from the outside edges into the screen. Then more filling and sanding
In order to add the new screen into the dash, the foam underneath the vinyl needed to be cut away to give it the look of a "step down". Once that was cut away, the vinyl was reglued. Now the dash and new screen piece look almost flush.
More filling and sanding was done. Many coats of primer went on and then a base. The top half was filled and sanded as well, but it will be getting wrapped in vinyl. The accent piece was originally silver, but all the silver trim pieces in the vehicle are getting wrapped in a brushed vinyl.
For this project, a new receiver will be added along with the replacement of the front and rear speakers, and a new subwoofer in a custom enclosure. Since the factory climate controls are displayed through the factory screen, it had to be retained and relocated. Custom panels and LED accent lights dress up the trunk area which are hidden under the stock floor piece until it's ready to be shown.
Under the hood, a simple fuse holder mount was made by welding a small steel plate to the battery tie down. Holes were drilled, tapped, and painted, and then the fuse holder was mounted.
A new hole was drilled for the power wire to run through the firewall. The power wire was terminated with a 4 AWG lug and ferrules, soldered, heat shrink was applied around the connections, and wrapped in Techflex. A grommet was added to protect the wiring from the surrounding metal. It was then sealed with silicone to ensure no water or debris could come through. The rest of the power wire and speaker wire were ran to the trunk and zip tied every few inches.
Next, speaker rings were made from MDF. They were copied from the original speaker housings on the router, and coated in truck bed liner to protect them from the elements.
Sound damping was applied to the insides and inner faces of all 4 doors. New speaker wire was run from the Sony receiver to each speaker. To get the wires inside of the doors, the speaker wire had to pass through the existing molex plug and boot. This was done by drilling out the empty pin housings and running the wire through it. It was then soldered to each speaker terminal and heat shrink was applied.
For the tweeters, instead of mounting them in the stock location on the dash, firing up at the windshield, they were mounted in the sail panels above the door. Starting with MDF, the initial shape was created. From there it went to the router where the cut outs were made and a decorative chamfer was added.
They were secured to the OEM panels using epoxy and filled and sanded smooth. After the sanding/shaping was done, they were painted with light OEM texture matching paint.
The tweeters were mounted in place using ABS that was heat formed, and secured with screws. The pressed grilles were also made and wrapped in grille cloth and mounted to each pod.
The new wire for the tweeters were run with the existing wires, wrapped in Tesa tape for a more factory look, and each side terminated with Molex plugs for easy removal.
On to one of my favorite parts of this build- the radio. Where to relocate the screen was a bit of a concern. There wasn't much room anywhere else on the dash and making sure it could be seen easily was something to be kept in mind. I've seen some units relocated below the factory radio which looked nice, but it took the drivers eyes off the road. Since the Bose system was no longer being used, that meant the center channel area was free... which made it the next best option.
First, the new Sony AX-100 needed to be installed where the factory unit was. This meant modifying the factory dash kit to accept the new receiver. It had to be cut a little wider and then filled so no gaps were visible around the unit. This was achieved by cutting out the opening and then replacing it with ABS and smoothing it out with filler.
A small round indentation was added near the volume knob. Once it was all sanded smooth, it was prepped and ready for paint. Sprayed in a factory matching texture and then black paint.
Now that the new receiver has it's home, it's time to relocate the stock display. It will be going into the center channel area. I had a rough idea in mind of what I wanted to create. I cut out small pieces of MDF and pieced it together until I came up with something I was happy with. I started off by making the hood. After I glued it together, I used filler in the gaps and then sanded it evenly.
I used a template that matched the curve of the dash for the bottom portion. Then cut out the center of to make room for the other pieces.
The face of the screen is pretty simple. I made a cutout and then added a chamfer around the opening.
The screen is held in place by an ABS bracket that was heat formed to cradle the unit. An additional bracket attaches to the bottom of that and to the the chasis.
ABS was added to each side to help achieve the angle seen below, from the outside edges into the screen. Then more filling and sanding
In order to add the new screen into the dash, the foam underneath the vinyl needed to be cut away to give it the look of a "step down". Once that was cut away, the vinyl was reglued. Now the dash and new screen piece look almost flush.
More filling and sanding was done. Many coats of primer went on and then a base. The top half was filled and sanded as well, but it will be getting wrapped in vinyl. The accent piece was originally silver, but all the silver trim pieces in the vehicle are getting wrapped in a brushed vinyl.
