Today I started my installation of front components (Polk MM6501's), rear deck (CDT M6's) and a soundstream amp (RUB4.600). Also I have sound dampening material for the doors an rear deck.
Im including pics as I go for others and if anyone has suggestions feel free to respond.
First job is the components. I took off the inner panel and plastic. The glue holding the plastic on is a bitch to get off. I cut my speaker spacers out of 3/4" MDF. The polk woofers still hit the skin of the door so my choices are go to a 1" MDF or grind the skin a bit. Im choosing to grind the skin and treat with a epoxy zinc primer for rust protection.

First question so far, the opening on the door, should I cover it with a sheet of aluminum or Thin MDF wood?

2nd, whats a good battery terminal for the amp wire and oem wires?

3rd, sound dampening material on the outter skin of the doors, wont it trap moisture an posibly corroid the skin?

 

it would be good to cover the hole with some rigid material. sheet metal will work.
what size wire are you running for the amp?
the dampener should not trap moisture. but I am not sure what you mean by outer skin.

 

go to 1'' or 1 1/4 . you can go ahead and dynomat the door inside and out . make sure you have a good amp kit . run your power wire straight to the pos side of your battery with fuse block. if you are putting the amp in the trunk run your power wire on one side of your and your ground wire and speaker wire on the other side of the car , this will help eliminate motor noise . make sure you have a good ground , and good audio jacks. don't go cheep on your amp kit , if you are going to put a 500 w amp , then you need a kit that will handle at least 750 , it will help you out in the long run . I have been building car audio systems for over 30 yrs. if you need any help just hit me up . bonez1968

 

the most common cause of motor noise or alternator wine, is going to be a ground loop. while it is always good practice to seperate your wires, good wire, with good interconnects shouldnt bleed into each other unless you have a pretty high current draw.

and 1 inch steel plate may be a little overkill, helping with dampening not stopping bullets.

 

1 '' or 1 1/4 plex or mdf board to make spacers for the back of the speaker so it will not hit the inside of the door, the reason I split my wires is I don't leave anything to chance .I am a little old school .

 

ok spacers, makes sense. I thought you were talking about covering the opening in the door with a 1 inch metal plate.

and I always run my wires opposite too. just in case he does everything right and still ends up with alt wine.

 

My wires are from knukonceptz and there great. So far the rear seat, deck and pillars were removed in about 30 minutes. Were running the power wire thru a unused bulkhead fitting above and right of the throttle. Haven't ran into anything puzzling yet.

 

End of day one, about 14 hrs of labor between two non automotive mechanics. Rear speakers installed. I made the spacers a little thin but I didn't want to cut any more so I just installed them. Power wire, remote turn on, and left speaker wires installed. Tomorrow Ill mount the amp and dampening material on the rear deck. Knukonceptz amp install kit didn't come with enough speaker wire for the job so I'm stuck until I get more wire.
Enjoy the pictures.

 

I am thinking you mean you will mount the amp, and apply the deadner to the rear deck, and not planning on mounting the amp to the rear deck.

but just a heads up if you were planning on mounting the amps to the underside of the rear deck. if you mount the amps upside down they will over heat.

 

The amp manual didn't note any mounting cautions. Also I noticed the amp has a mesh on the bottom side, noting that, I plan to cut cooling holes in the mounting board. If I have a heat issue I can rotate it. Where its mounted no one will see it anyway.