modest 98 M3 install

Post by **Bfowler** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:00 pm

Since many of you gave me advice for what to put in this thing, i thought it was only fair to show you how it worked out.

first off the deck. no real install pics to speak of here, pretty standard harness. although the bmw's do have a ABS shelf that keeps the deck separate from the other components that makes it very difficult to run RCA's and other cable so i cut that out with a dremel (sorry, no pics. i was working solo)

the sony deck looks and works great. very easy menu's. my mom was thrilled with the little "EQ" animations also.

My main goal in this was to improve the sound without permanently altering the car (which other then the shelf in the dash that had to be removed, i did. who will notice that anyway

everything else can be returned 100% to factory. )
and to retain as much precious trunk space as possible

Gear going in was a:

sony CDX-F605X
RSD 5.25 (front and rear powered of the deck)
JL W18 SVC
xs2300

Post by **Bfowler** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:05 pm

Next we got the fronts. first off we got a shot of the door panels stock.

I forgot to show pics of the kick panels in the front...but i assure you you aren't missing much. the speakers mounted in the factory holes and covered by the factory grill.

Post by **Bfowler** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:08 pm

Now we move on to the tweet which i put in place of the factory midrange.

pics below show the transformation. very similer to how i did my own car.

the mid (the one with "HK" on it) has a ring that unscrews from behind and releses the "tube" that holds the driver

Post by **Bfowler** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:13 pm

I secured down the rsd tweet to the clip that pressure held the factory speaker. i then snapped the factory clip now holding the RSD tweet into the "tube" and re-installed into the door pannel (pic 135, i posted it in the wrong order...meh...its late and i dont care right now

)

Post by **Bfowler** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:14 pm

and done with the tweet. you can see the RSD tweet in the grill if you really look for it, but to the casual observer, its completely stock

Post by **Bfowler** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:21 pm

the rear speakers were fairly stright forward too. i poped out the rear factory tweet and used hot glue and pressure to hold in the RSD tweet (it was damn near the exact same size)

Post by **Bfowler** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:24 pm

a quick shot of the RSD passive crossover tucked in the pannel. its sealed in a ziplock, wraped in foam and ducktape, and secured with zipties.

next is the passive's for the front installed in the little nook directly behind the driver side rear seat. also sealed in ziplocks and held with zipties.

Code: Select all

Post by **Bfowler** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:27 pm

A couple more shots of the wire being run to the trunk and passive crossovers. i tried to use the factory wire ties when possible.

you can also see the rear of the factory sub "BOX/baffle" as well as the factory amp

it has a ABS "Moon shape" protective "arc" that covers the magnet, but despite what the picture looks like, its not sealed. you can also see the area where i havnt yet secured the Passive crossovers for the front's

Post by **Bfowler** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:32 pm

Shot of the sub installed. (no trunk carpet has been re-installed yet)

it looks nice....but hardly any output. i am going to design a custom box for it. the IB setup just aint doing the sub any justice at all.

but thats for another weekend. also notice the factory cd changer cover next to it....yeah... thats got to go.

Post by **Bfowler** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:35 pm

here is where the cd changer used to be. those two factory bolts are about to become a amp rack mounting point.

in the second pic you can see the test fit of my new rack. i would later ad a couple more layers of paint. when the dark grey carpet goes in, it blends extreamly well

Post by **Bfowler** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:38 pm

Here are some build pics of the "rack"

i used the bottom metal mounting braket from the changer (comes off with spring clips. so i used bolts throuh those holes, and then birtch plywood to build the rack

Post by **Bfowler** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:39 pm

more to come next week!

brenzbmr@sb · Post by **brenzbmr@sb** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:52 pm

sell me that motor...............................................pls.

gkitching · Post by **gkitching** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:07 am

Nice write-up!

Post by **Rold Gold** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:30 am

NICE............

Pedi · Post by **Pedi** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:34 am

brenzbmr@sb wrote:sell me that motor...............................................pls.

I just finished the last work on the M3-convertion on the E36 in my garage today... BTW... Its the 3.2 litre 321HP (S50 b32) engine

I guess you'd wanted that one aswell, hehe

Sorry OT...

Post by **Rold Gold** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:36 am

brenzbmr@sb wrote:sell me that motor...............................................pls.

Drop a 2jz in the Lex..............

Post by **stipud** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:56 am

Haha. Ziplocs... That's cute

Do you plan to seal that sub off somehow? You could probably strip out the ABS in the back, and FG over the whole thing from the looks of it.

Post by **Bfowler** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 7:58 am

FuzzyHoNutz wrote:
brenzbmr@sb wrote:sell me that motor...............................................pls.
Drop a 2jz in the Lex..............

hes got a awesome 325 project too

Post by **Bfowler** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 8:07 am

stipud wrote:Haha. Ziplocs... That's cute

Do you plan to seal that sub off somehow? You could probably strip out the ABS in the back, and FG over the whole thing from the looks of it.

I am just going to build an mdf/birch box that fits into that factory hole. i want to fire the sub into the cabin rather then the trunk. with all the convertible components and extra seals, i dont think much sound would make it back to the front seat if it stayed firing into the trunk

Post by **bdubs767** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 1:58 pm

sweetness fowler.

dedlyjedly · Post by **dedlyjedly** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 7:11 pm

looks really good Brian. how did you and your mom end up liking the Sony deck?

Pedi · Post by **Pedi** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:24 pm

Yeah, I did forgoy to say this: Sweet!

ydnap · Post by **ydnap** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:42 am

Yeah very nice.. When I saw 18 on the JL I got excited

Is that one of those cheapish 13" things? I considered one of those a few times.

Post by **Bfowler** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 7:37 am

haha, no no, its a JL W1 series 8 inch sub

she really like the sony deck. the menus are very easy, and the illumination matches the outside of the car! (they get excited about the silliest things...)

they only thing i dont like about it is the beeping when you trun off the car....