[A_P]

Do not forget to relocate OBD ports!!!!

[MEGA]

I did that over 2 months ago?

[MEGA]

Collected the HDP4 last week.

Ordered a Dynamat bulk pack and 30 meters of Audison speaker cabling today. Already have all my RCAs and power cabling from the last install ...

[MEGA]

Goodies:

[P 5UML]

jeez mate! when is it all going to start??

[MEGA]

Soon

[P 5UML]

Originally Posted by MEGA

Soon

ergh mate! what the hell! come on....mines getting done first week Jan and i still have no idea what im doing with it

this boot install is proper stressing me out! i feel pressured lol!

[MEGA]

Thats why I have split mine in to two phases.

1. Get all gear in, tuned and singing.

2. Do something with the boot.

Phase 1 will be completed as a Christmas present from me to me

I'll buzz you when it's in mate, maybe catch an Ace breakfast and give you a demo

[P 5UML]

Originally Posted by MEGA

Thats why I have split mine in to two phases.

1. Get all gear in, tuned and singing.

2. Do something with the boot.

Phase 1 will be completed as a Christmas present from me to me

I'll buzz you when it's in mate, maybe catch an Ace breakfast and give you a demo

100% up for an ace breakfast! sounds good to me

maybe you can help me with some ideas for my install! lol

[MEGA]

Build starting tomorrow, will get pics up ..

[MEGA]

Bigger update today.


So it was time to get started on the build which we have split into three phases..... Speakers, Signal, Boot install.

So. "Speakers".

This consists of fitting the HSK 165 XL component set and ML300 mid from the Hertz range into the front of the car, in short.


Some of the goodies:






So we started by stripping down the door cards, one by one ..






In order to fit this bad boy in the door




.. Any particularly eagle eyed may notice that the above is now how the 3 inch Hertz mid usually looks. Indeed it looks a whole lot bigger than 3 inches? Well - we bastardised the stardard (or should I say sub standard) BMW 4 inch driver to make a mount for the ML mid. Why reinvent the wheel eh?

That said. Any audiophile will be in pain at seeing the below:









..BUT NEEDS MUST!


So, that part done:



Ahh. I love OEM+.. Who would ever know the mid had changed!

Next job, the tweets.



We then set the HT 28 tweeter in the BMW individual audio mirror triangles which I picked up from Berry BMW yesterday. Now, the tweeters weren't even NEARLY going to fit in the stock tweeter insert, so we had to get creative again.







After bonding the HT28 units to the triangles, a fair amount of sound deadening was applied all around the speakers to make sure they can only fire out and don't cause any distortion up the B pillar.


These fitted (I don't have a pic, but I'll get one! We moved on to the 6.5" underfoor mids.

First job is to lift the seats








The stock 6.5 underseat can then be removed. For some reason on the LCI cars the speaker is glued into the housing, not screwed like the older ones. But after some persuasion, all of the parts can be separated





Comparing old and new drivers:






Next then, onto fabricating a custom baffle for the drivers to screw into (Hello Andy!)





LUNATIC: You only get one crotch!!! :




And the new mount slotted in (But obviously not yet sealed up. We got the sillicone on her for that!








Tangeantially, I took the opportunity to get a shot of the "gangsta lean" whilst the seats were unscrewed




And lastly for today, some shots of the woofers in place under the seats:









The crossovers are mounted in the doors within the door cars (good side of the weather shield). So it's all sorted. The wiring has been run into the car and for now joined back to the stock wiring: So, before I get amps: I've still got sound in the mean time

What I would say it's immediately obvious that these speakers are going to be very impressive. Time will tell if it beats the 4 6.5 mids I had in the front of the E90 for sheer output volume, but the clarity is very high. I consider the speakers worth the (expensive) outlay I think.

I can't wait to get them amped up. To have a 250w RMS mid only putting out a measly 25 or so off the head unit and still sounding pretty decent? Suffice to say I can't wait to get them amped up, (Worthy of repeating myself too of course).

The next update will follow in a week or so.

Rgds

Dave

[AWBimmer]

Good work mate, I see you went with Silent coat too

[sheps]

Looking good, Dave.

[MEGA]

Originally Posted by AWBimmer

Good work mate, I see you went with Silent coat too

Necessity. Put the order in for Dynamat Xtreme bulk pack but the guy couldn't get it till next Tuesday. We both had today planned to get started so what the hell. Hear alot of good reviews about it. I'm not totally happy but fingers crossed...

[AWBimmer]

Originally Posted by MEGA

Necessity. Put the order in for Dynamat Xtreme bulk pack but the guy couldn't get it till next Tuesday. We both had today planned to get started so what the hell. Hear alot of good reviews about it. I'm not totally happy but fingers crossed...

I'm sure you'll learn to live with it once everything is installed and I don't think there's a big diff between the two, marginal in fact

[P 5UML]

top work as always with your audio installs dude!
the only progress made with mine so far is dynamating my whole boot! im not taking any chances lol!

whens the speakers getting amped up? bet you cant wait to get your HO box in

[MEGA]

Originally Posted by P 5UML

top work as always with your audio installs dude!
the only progress made with mine so far is dynamating my whole boot! im not taking any chances lol!

whens the speakers getting amped up? bet you cant wait to get your HO box in

Amplification is happening this weekend ... I have the Silverstone trackday on Friday so wanted to wait until afterwards

Dave

[makkan00]

Excellent work going on Mega.

Across the pond, one guy used the OEM speakers to make spacers. You are the second person doing it. I really liked that creativity.

What is your installer doing with OEM sub enclosure and Jigsaw?
Has he openede those enclosures from the bottom to accomodate your woofers?

F30 in blue is looking kool in your photo.

[MEGA]

The F30 belongs to my mate. I'll get some more pics next time of the F30. It's beautiful in Estoril blue.

We opened the OEM sub enclosure in order to fit the XL woofers in there as the cone is about twice the depth of the enclosure. We cut away the bottom and then sealed it back in place around the floor so it's still a ported unit in the same way as stock. We silliconed the mounting blocks (12mm MDF) into it as well and mounted the driver there.

The stock grille went back in place with about 1mm to spare! We were thinking we might need to space the stock grille back up slightly. And similarly from the bottom of the magnet to the sound deadening on the floor of the car was less than 2mm I guess :-) It was close!!! But it worked well.

[MEGA]

One interesting thing, is for some reason underneath the stock underseat woofers is a big rubber bung. Remove that... And you're looking at the floor!

I've heard this is new for the LCIs and never used to be the case.

So obviously my woofer would not be sealed very well with this big hole (About the size of a 2p!)

We sealed it up with a generous amount of sound deadening in the end.

But I really don't understand why they have implemented this strange bottom porthole. Maybe good if I want to go ice fishing some time in the E92 ??


Dave

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by MEGA

The F30 belongs to my mate. I'll get some more pics next time of the F30. It's beautiful in Estoril blue.

F30 is growing on me and especially in Estoril blue.

Originally Posted by MEGA

We opened the OEM sub enclosure in order to fit the XL woofers in there as the cone is about twice the depth of the enclosure. We cut away the bottom and then sealed it back in place around the floor so it's still a ported unit in the same way as stock. We silliconed the mounting blocks (12mm MDF) into it as well and mounted the driver there.

Dave, would it be possible to post a pic for this mod?
XL woofers seems deeper and I wonder how was the enclosure sealed from the bottom?

Originally Posted by MEGA

One interesting thing, is for some reason underneath the stock underseat woofers is a big rubber bung. Remove that... And you're looking at the floor!

I've heard this is new for the LCIs and never used to be the case.

So obviously my woofer would not be sealed very well with this big hole (About the size of a 2p!)

Dave
Pre-LCI cars have same holes. I wonder why have they left it there?
May be to fit those rubber bungs in those holes so that enclosures do not hit the body.

Just imagine, passing through flooded roads in E9X and you will be destroying your under seat subs.

And I always avoid flooded roads...not that I get a lot of choice.

[MEGA]

Maybe it's an anti vibration thing for enclosure and body. I guess it's possible.

I've sealed the enclosure using silent coat so nothing will be able to get in, in any case.


Unfortunately I have posted all the pics I have! So don't have one of the underside of the stock enclosure to share now. I got disatracted on the day having a chat and missed a few pics of the completed underseat enclosure

In effect though we have used alot of sillicone to seal the new unit in place!

If we need to get down there to apply any more sound deadening I will make sure to take a pic..