NEED UPDATE!!!!

 

yes update please

 

I just shot him a PM, hope he will get back and update the thread.
He is also active on motorlegend.com under 'Colin' but that's a french message board and my french stops at Bonjour.

 

Ha, found the thread over there ! Still in French but as most of us prefer the pictures anyways, it might help :P

http://forums.motorlegend.com/vb/showthread.php?t=30057

 

Colin responded. He will try to update it on the weekend.

 

nice cant wait.

 

Nice instal so far!

 

I am currently installing a system (new front and rear speakers, subwoofer, two amplifiers, and a head unit) in my 2003 R53 and I have followed some of the tips from this install. A couple things are important to note about Colin's method that I have learned from my install so far...

If you plan on using the "rubber snake" to run wire to the doors from the cab you need to make sure you have some time to waste. It took me between 3 and 4 hours to do both doors. Running the wire through this piece can be frustrating and, as always, lube is important . Also, in order to clip the "rubber snake" back onto its in-cab adapter piece you have to reach your hand inside a small hole in the cab. There is a large rubber grommet behind the glove box or steering wheel on the door-side of the car. This must be removed. Then you have to stick your hand into the cavity between the interior and exterior of the car to grab the adapter piece. Basically, if you have large hands this is a risky method to try. After doing this my hands look like I have been playing with fully-clawed kittens.

Anyway, I have removed most of the interior pieces (besides the upper dash area) of my car at this point and have learned a lot about installing a stereo in a mini. Feel free to bring this thread back alive and ask me some questions.

 

Thanks for the feedback, I'm still to scared to start my project.
I really want to put different speakers in the doors but running the cables really scares me.

 

Running 2 sets of wires is going to be a pita to do. Doing 1 is fine. I did 1 wire only and it was cake then I decided to try 2 wires on the advice of my friend. 45 minutes later and no luck connecting that thing in between the doors was frustrating. Pulled out 1 wire and closed up fine.

I think it's better to have a female or kid help you if you have big hands.

That "rubber snake" is called a boot. What i did is pull the boot off from the door and used a piece of wired coat hanger and taped it to the wire i wanted to plumb. Some wd40 helped a bunch. With that boot popped out, you can pull out the entire boot out some and make it as straight as possible.

The bigger obstacle was that boot in the cab that was killing me.I popped that out so I could put a hole in it and plumb the speaker wire in the cab. It was a pita to pop back in. Big hands, tall guy, and cramped area don't mix.

 

Yes rcantu, you hit the nail on the head. Snaking the wire through the boot sucks, but re-attaching the boot to the car is the worst part. The good part about getting a single wire snaked is then you can tape your next wire to the midsection of your already snaked wire and just pull it through easy. Using wire lube helps too, I think the stuff I used was called Clear Glide.

To re-attach the boot to the car, I plugged the boot into the open hole, and then crammed my hand in the small opening inside the car behind the second boot/grommet. Working inside the hole I was able to plug the two pieces back together.

Volker, if you want new speakers in the doors you will definitely have to make brackets for them to mount to. Mine were much more primitive than ColinBrussels's were. I basically used a block of wood cut so it would miss the tabs in the door. The block mounted to the original holes, and my new speakers mounted to the block.

 

anybody ever see Colins sub install?

 

His subwoofer install starts on page 5 of that link.
His work looks very clean, and his english wasnt that bad. Its a bummer he never finished posting it here.

 

There are no pics of the subs installed, page 4 shows the rears and page 5 is about wiring the amps.
now page 1 shows the sub on a table but that is it.

 

OK my friends...

The subwoofer



The box finished



The amp for the sub



Into the boot







The cover finished with leather



The box had leather as well, i can't find the final picts, I'll look for them and post here soon.

BONUS

 

i wired my speakers in that same exact way through the factory harness, and dremeled out the un-used part

very clean install for sure, and i have the pioneer 880 HU as well, my favorite unit by FAR..i will never sell it!

 

Thanks for sharing very nice work

 

Nice and clean.


The exterior looks tight and clean as well. What kit do you have installed? And how much did you lower the car? Coilovers? or Drop Spring?

 

Looks great. I have the same headunit and love the thing. Nice exterior as well.

 

Nice comments, thanks !

Speedy 1213 : About -2 inches with coilovers (KW).

 

Nice system. I like my alpine PDX amp. I got the PDX-5 so I could keep the install simpler and like it running my 12" type S sub so far. I like your amp location. I wonder if I should abandon my false floor install in the boot and just put my box back there and make it bigger and put my amp under the drivers seat.

Sweet work. I did the same thing to get my speaker wires out of the PITA doors.

 

Very nice, no pics of the finished product.