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Upgrading the Accord iCDTi ICE. Many Questions (& hopefully Answers too!)

Hi James, nothing external, the install is pretty stealthy so it won't attract attention when parked, plus any external or performance mods are on the back burner till the warranty runs out. As for the Lexus, I sold the Supercharger last year along with some HKS parts (exhaust, pilar pod gauges etc), then sold the car when I bought the Accord. The diesel is respectably quick, and faster than the std Lexus plus gives me approx twice the fuel economy so it's win win really. Coilovers & stiffer ARB's would be nice, but being FWD it's never going to really handle & it's a relaxing car to drive so all good.
 
I'm not this year, but hoping to do a few next year. :)

But for anyone who has the chance to go, get yourself down, as its the best car show I have been too.
 
9 RHS Speaker RCA's plus Speaker Cables


10 Cable Glands fitted to ensure no leaks


11 Closed Cell Foam in Wheel Well to stop the spare from vibrating


12 LHS Cable holes


13 Factory Insulation going back in


14 More LHS Cable access


15 LHS Spaghetti Junction


16 A Little More Organised


17 Bolting Battery Down


17A MDF Battery Clamp Machined Sanded & Carpeted. A T-Nut was installed on the other side of the battery, where a standard Battery clamp is fitted & bolted down into the MDF Battery Floor


18 Fuse Box & Ground Block Cabling
 
19 Covers On


20 Box Bolted into position behind the rear seats


21 Sealing the Perspex Window


22 Screwing in too early.... The Box is secured by 2 large brakets into a crossmember, the Amp Rack is bolted into the Sub Box via the captive T-Nuts, & we had forgotten to bolt it down before putting the window on. With the Subwoofer already in, there is no access except thru the Window Cavity, so off came the window and the Amp Rack was bolted in, then the window went back in..


23 Final Cable Installation


24 Amp Rack Bolted Down plus Beauty Board screwed in
 
25 Subwoofer Lit


26 Subwoofer Lit Close Up


27 Boot Install Arty Shot


28 Friggin Front Speakers :(


We were out of time for JAE, working under a floodlamp for the final picture there. It would have been great if it was finished...

Problems arose due the boot taking much longer than expected, which goes along with pretty much every detail on this complete install. So much so in fact I want to rename this thread as "Mission Impossible"!! Once the time was ticking along yesterday it was "ok well lets ingore the rear doors sound deadening & rear door speakers for now" as that was the only way were going to get the Head Unit in & Front Door sound deadening & Front speakers installed.
Once the Front Door Panels were removed it just went from bad to worse. I mean much worse. For starters the Door Speakers won't fit, the rear spiders on these expensive speakers will simply not fit into the current aperture as the Honda OE Speakers had a Neo Magnet which is tiny in comparison, which allowed for the Honda speaker frame to have a much much smaller spider. .

Honda Speaker rear view


JL Audio Spider & Magnet


This will need cutting out (google pic)


We need to make something a little bit like this (Google pic)




I thought the Lexus was a pain, that car was easy compared to EVERY single thing on this car!! We have got to construct unique MDF spacers (no eBay 165mm MDF speaker spacer rings here) that will need loads of fettling to fit inside the door panels, the Honda Speaker is approx 150mm in size (a pretty unique fitment) with the plactic mount taking it out to about 155mm in total, but my woofers are an industry standard 165mm across, the area inside the door panel will be very tight and require a lot of messing around just to get the speaker inside, let alone the MDF Spacer. This kind of custom work takes ages & we simply ran out of it for the car to be finished in time for JAE.

The bad news doesn't stop there however. The rubber conduit carrying the cars electical gubbins into the front doors is not just a hollow sheath like it is on the Lexus. Honda ( in their infinte wisdom) have chosen to instal connector blocks at each end where it connects to the door frame & to the actual door itself. At first glance even drilling into these connector block & feeding my chunky speaker cables thru is a no go as there is no simply no space left available in the block. Looks like it's a front doors off job just to run the speaker cable!!

I could short cut this by using the existing Honda wiring, but tbh I'm not keen on doing that. A set of components worth nigh on £400 driven by and amplifier (similar existing model) that retails at £500 with a signal from a Head Unit that costs nigh on £1,000 deserves to have HQ speaker cable all the way from Amplifier to crossover to woofer without any joins to cheap stuff along the route. If I can find an easier way of doing it then i will, but I might as well put some £50 components in if I was going to splice into the existing Honda wiring.

I have a few things to do in the mean time, I need to construct a cover for the battery and order some perspex for the front of the amp rack. I just need a few days away from the car to gather my thoughts and recover some enthusiasm before it gets a full on attack. It might have knocked me down for JAE, but anyone that knows me understands that I am never beaten, battle will recommence in a week or so, with hopefully 1-2 more full days until EVERYTHING is 100 completed.

"Mission Impossible"?
Nah mate, Mission nigh on Impossible!!
 
This is unreal!!! I'd love to see/hear this one day. If we have a meet in the the South or London, you have to come man.
 
For sure mate I'm just really deflated as getting meningitis & the still continuing medical issues has stopped me from getting to JAE with the car finished. I'm also (just in my head ATM) toying with the idea of ripping out the amp rack & redoing the cables so they run out of sight beneath the board then come up individually thru it. Hmmmm I'm not sure as it was tough enough getting them all in place the first time around.....
 
The last 4 month saga of zero progress has drawn to a close, I've finally binned the guy that was originally helping me. Nothing but BS excuses, & he has had me over a barrel as all my install tools, front components, sound deadening etc was all at his. After being what amounted to being continually mugged off, I called a halt too it. He had been ignoring my texts & phone calls for 3 weeks, so I tried a different tactic. It's called a "shock knock". I had to do it twice today, but he got the message & finally answered. His undertone was about how long it had taken etc & I could see he just wanted more money than he had already been given.

So he's now getting all my bits together, and at a mutually convenient time in about a week I pick up my remaining gear, shake hands & part ways, and can then crack on elsewhere with it.
 
crikey I just read through all of that, and my gast is flabbered :eek:

I think you were using the wrong script, it sounds more like "Scary Bridge Too Far" :(
 
Did a few minor bits at the weekend, door cards off taking speaker measurements etc, nothing of note picture wise tho. This morning I had a chat with another installer, this time a very highly respected professional install shop. Due to current health issues (improving but not improving as fast as I would like), & not having a nice warm double garage to use, and my sheer desperation @ getting the install finished after 4 months of delay, it really leaves me little option but to get a pro installer shop to finish off the last day or two of the install. Now after all the hard work, the planning, the DELAYS, I just need it finished!!

So with some additional funds, I should be up & running within the next month or so, deffo by the end of February so it's all ready for the upcoming season of Car Meets.

One final question, anyone want to buy a kidney??
 
You done awesome job for audio system.
 
And about car meets,one this weekend.Maybe you want join?
 
LOL

there's been so much hassle for Hamid to organise it, I don't think he'll want to change the date again :lol:
 
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