Something old, something new... The free install

So I've had this 1995 Civic EX. Top of the line back then, I bought it new in 1995 - it's been my baby. Over the years it's been supercharged and given a full track suspension, autocrossed, and been an audio demo car.
...and anyone who has dismissed these as "economy cars" or seen the worst "ricer" mods doesn't realize this is possibly STILL the lightest dual-unequal-length A-arm chassis suspension in a world filled with primitive linear-motion McPherson struts... until you get near $80k. And the Civic with the A-Arms is not just cheaper, but lighter.

Eventually even Honda couldn't justify the extra expense - my 2017 Civic (which I do love - but don't/can't race) has a simpler strut suspension.
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But I found a car I wanted to replace my motorcycle with... And it turned out to also check all the boxes for finally replacing my Civic, also. And it happened I knew someone who was really into old school Civics and the timing was right for him.
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Years back I'd ripped out a system with OG Alpine V12 amps and first gen 10W6s, with goals of stepping the SQ and demo capacity up again, but then the car sat as life happened and I couldn't get back to it. This is what I ripped out (spare was under the circle)
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This last pic showed how it last week when I sold it:https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...58a41396c4.jpg

BUT there's a catch...
I liked this guy. I want to see my car carry on.

So not only did I sell him the car a grand (or two) less than I could have, I told him I'd give him a working system...

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So...
My goal was to give him something impressive - for free - just with stuff I have been sitting on in storage.

I thought it would be cool to play with a bit of a vintage vibe - so nothing in storage was off limits. Even older stuff.

And still - I had to keep it simple. This is a freebie.

For sure I was re-using the fiberglass tub. Note that old install with the three JL 10W6s was vented. They had plenty of room, even with another fiberglass tub on top for the spare - and was tuned to about 32hz.

Without that upper tub, there's even more airspace, and it'll be tuned even lower. A single sub in that much space will hardly need any power.

It happens I have an OG 12W0 lying around... Late 90s vintage but like new.
The sub itself doesn't handle much power - perfect for an install that won't need much.
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It happens that I have a Xetec Gravity 4g-600 mk2 that I'd lost the removable trim plate that covers the gains and Xover controls... Still an awesome amp, 100x4 and bridgable so I can run it 100x2 and 300x1:
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I actually had a top panel started, of Birch ply, from the original rebuild plan that stalled out.
I was able to cut a portion of the panel out and created an opportunity to make a subtle sort of double step-down in the baffle that I thought might look neat:
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Oh - and nothing fancy here. 100% just jigsaw cuts, working quick - using my old drill hole spacer template I made decades back and the old trusty countersink flip-to-screw bit. It was like going back in time. Fun.

By the time I was mounting the sub, I was thinking "he'd probably like to use his trunk" and I'd mentioned to him that I'd be glad to teach him how to make trim panels. It might be cool to do a totally stealth install.

So - for my 2017 Civic, I'd bought this plastic mesh that matched the pattern on the fake exterior vents on the car - but never ended up using it.
So I made a 1/2" MDF frame and bonded a piece using JB Weld and a fancy gel CA glue that bonds to plastic. Total thickness - 3/4"
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Then I had to rip a ton of old wiring and RCAs out, since I used to have processors up on the trunk lid. Had to find the wires that went up front. And had to pull the head unit and undo the change I made to power the front speakers from the head unit, when I'd ripped out the old install.

But finally I got the Xetec amp wired up, on a semi-hidden amp rack. Not quite a "floating amp", but same technique.
And should look cool once I show him how we can trim out the cosmetics.
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(ignore the wires over the vent - those were cleaned up - I didn't take a finished pic)

Hey - I forgot I had a legit old school neon light as the trunk light [emoji38]
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Up front was simpler...
But thought I'd share this pic:
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Granted this was in here for about 15 years and that was never the plan, I thought I'd be rotating my install every few years - but these are JL Audio XRs, their first high end component set - and I loved them.

The speakers are fine but the spacers - I made those from MDF. I knew even back then that MDF and water/humidity don't mix, so I primed and painted those and even clear coated them - thought that would have "weatherproofed" them.
Well... Over a decade, sure that's a long time, but...
Yeah. Don't use MDF. Had to knock up a new set - nothing fancy, Birch ply, jigsaw. Didn't have time to paint or seal them, so I will show him this pic and have him do it - at least he won't have to make them.

And the doors were already prepped inside - pretty crappy compared to how I did my '17 doors, but good enough. A few spots I found my Dynamat peeling, but I have plenty of CLD so I replaced it in a few spots.

Outside, these are factory locations - the plexi shields I made. They block the near side a bit, equalizing things, centering the image.
The grilles below I made, to give a little more excursion room.
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I don't have a better pic of the head unit, but it's a nice Pioneer before the days of Bluetooth - detachable face and all.
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I thought I'd show one of my old school mods...
It's a little worse for wear after all the years, but I'd cut the face off my factory head unit, and glued things into a fake faceplate. The Pioneer is slightly recessed
That way, I could pop off the Pioneer face, and press the factory face, stealth-like.
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I don't think anyone these days thinks about security (or head units) but... It was a different time.

Anyway - he came over with an FM Bluetooth adapter that plugs right in the cigarette lighter - problem solved. And this head unit actually has nice features like time alignment, sub control (even phase), crossovers (variable freq and slope), equalizer, and a neat DSP feature called BBE that actually worked great with this install.

Happy camper - especially for free, on top of a bargain. :cool:
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I actually liked how it sounded too, even with not much setup or tuning time.

Mostly it was fun just doing a simple, fast old-school install. My '17 install still isn't in, taking forever (despite being pretty much ready) so this was great to get in.

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