[peejglass]

So I haven't yet started in on the car audio portion of this build as I am still waiting on a wiring harness and LOC to get started. But I did some things today!

First step was to plastidip the front grille. I've never done this before and unfortunately left a tiny bit of chrome showing when I peeled off the tape. I don't think I waited long enough but it works for now. It will definitely be redone sooner or later though.

Second was to figure out the removal of the trim around the shifter to run wires for my footwell LEDs. This was super easy. Take a trim tool to the E brake and pull it up towards you. There's a few clips that pop out really easily revealing 2 Phillips head screws. Remove those and start pulling the whole thing up from the back by the console. There are a few wires here so be careful not to pull too far but it comes out easy enough.

I then plugged into the cig lighter power and popped the USB and Aux Jack casing out too feed the wire down into the opening. Mounted the box for the LED strips out of sight here and ran the wires back under each footwell.

Any questions feel free to ask! I'll post a video up of the LEDs tonight when I can see them finally!

 

[John86]

Nice start! Love the amount of prep you did for the plastidipping though in regards to masking everything off. But I also would like to see how the footwell lights look in the night time.

 

[peejglass]

Nice start! Love the amount of prep you did for the plastidipping though in regards to masking everything off. But I also would like to see how the footwell lights look in the night time.

Thanks!! Oh yeah this is a brand new car I wasn't about to mess around haha. I had a cappy ford focus before this where I didn't care about a clean install. This time around I am doing everything right. Took about 45 minutes to fully mask it off haha.

 

[peejglass]

Next step for today was to install the bass knob. I wanted to have it somewhere easily accessible but also rather tucked away. When I saw the location for the stock heated seats I knew it was perfect for what I was trying to do.

While I had the console trim out I unscrewed 3 screws and popped the button trim panel out. I then took a 10mm socket and heated it with a butane torch and pushed it through the plastic. There was a little lip of melted plastic that I cut off with a razor blade and then I used double sided tape to secure the knob in place. I let the RCA cables hang out the side of the trim for now but I'll probably take everything off again when I take the radio out to install the splicing harness and LOC to run to my amps.

The only thing I need to do with the knob now is to get a white sticker with a hole in the center (something like those stickers that protect a 3 hole punched piece of paper from ripping out of a binder) and cover up the hole because it's not the prettiest. I'm already going to be vinyl wrapping some of the trim panels white so it will look pretty good.

 

[peejglass]

https://youtu.be/IjKhxg-v_I8
Here is the video of the LEDs in the footwells. They look awesome! I definitely have to add more

 

[John86]

I love it! Definitely has the right amount of brightness for if you drop anything down there or whatever the case may be. Can you link or let us know where you got the LEDs from ?

 

[peejglass]

Absolutely! I got them at Autozone. They are the Type S Plug and Glow 24" starter kit. It is app controlled and a bit pricey at 50$ but very expandable so it was worth it for me

 

[peejglass]

The splicing harness is in from auto harness house! Despite having already melted through some plastic, it is a cheap part to replace and I didn't want to start cutting wires. This harness will make my life a lot easier and it even has an extra fused power and ground which will probably run my LEDs once I hardwire them to free up my car socket in the center console.

 

[peejglass]

Well my LOC came today. Almost time to get amps installed but first I have to get my AGM battery in there and work out a good place for it. Might have to move the spare tire to the back seat (I don't have enough friends to care about losing one seat in this car lol).

 

[peejglass]

Haven't had much to post lately because I have been driving a loaner car but I just finally got my Impreza back and just in time for the new subwoofer recone to come! I have a TON of work to do to get everything playing...box needs to be sanded, primed, and painted and lined with LEDs. Subwoofer needs to be reconed. Need to install the LOC and my second battery along with some sound deadener. Then the amps and the mids and highs I am getting for my birthday on Monday...So much work to do and so little time. Well here's some pics of the subwoofer recone kit with my glassblowing logo on the dustcap. Oh and I got some white vinyl coming to wrap some of the interior trim (steering wheel and air vent chrome as well as the carbon fiber trim panels).

 

[peejglass]

Lots to do, lots to do...First of all my birthday is tomorrow and I celebrated on Saturday! What that means is that my amazing girlfriend bought me a set of mids and highs pictured below. I spent today working on the car and got a good chunk done. The tweeters fit perfectly into the stock tweeter location with only a tiny bit of plastic trimmed out so I am really happy I get to keep the car looking stock. Ran wires under the trim to the trunk and got it ready for the amp to be installed. I then took the old box that I had and gave it a complete makeover. It was plain wood when I started today so I sanded, primed, and painted it and WOW it looks great. I'll snap a pic of it with the new subwoofer recone where it will sit because this thing is going to look amazing!!!

 

[peejglass]

Man she really looks great!

 

[ImprezivBoxer]

What brand of speakers are you using?

 

[C J]

Lots to do, lots to do...First of all my birthday is tomorrow and I celebrated on Saturday! What that means is that my amazing girlfriend bought me a set of mids and highs pictured below. I spent today working on the car and got a good chunk done. The tweeters fit perfectly into the stock tweeter location with only a tiny bit of plastic trimmed out so I am really happy I get to keep the car looking stock. Ran wires under the trim to the trunk and got it ready for the amp to be installed. I then took the old box that I had and gave it a complete makeover. It was plain wood when I started today so I sanded, primed, and painted it and WOW it looks great. I'll snap a pic of it with the new subwoofer recone where it will sit because this thing is going to look amazing!!!

Peej, you are going to put that huge box in your car?

 

[peejglass]

What brand of speakers are you using?

The midrange and tweeters are made by Alphard Audio and after a quick test before they go in the car they sound amazing! The subwoofer is made by Soundqubed and has a recone kit made by PSI.

Peej, you are going to put that huge box in your car?

Yea I got a hatch in order to have more space for the box! I had a ford focus sedan before this and that box fit in the trunk there lol.

 

[C J]

So...what do you do when you need to put stuff in the back? A set of golf clubs will certainly not fit with that giant box back there. lol

 

[peejglass]

I have back seats for anything large but honestly I don't have much of an issue there. If I REALLY needed it my girlfriend has a Forester so I could use that but 3 years without a trunk and you get used to using the back seat for groceries

 

[peejglass]

Alright so I have finally gotten the subwoofer up and running! The box didn't fit exactly as I would have liked so I have to re-evaluate my plans. I think I am going to have it standing upright but I need to pick up some brackets to make that work so the box doesn't move around. For now it is working and doing a **** good job of it. Here are some pictures of the install and a video of what it is doing to my rear view mirror :/ Gotta figure out a way to reduce the rattles because this is still on low power and the mirror looks like its about ready to fall off already. I do plan to paint the rest of the box and the floor once I figure out exactly how I am going to have it permanently. Still have a good deal of work to do to get the mids and highs in but it is coming along nicely. It is REALLY nice to have the bass knob mounted where it is because I can move my hand from the shifter to the knob in a second.

 

[coletrain]

Wow, that is massive. Does it add a lot of weight on the backend?

 

[ImprezivBoxer]

That's huge. The subs in my home system are smaller. And I thought I lost a lot hearing at a young age. Are you keeping the same head unit?