FRONT DOORS
These were pretty typical but it was just a pain in the ass. No matter how many times I do an install I still lose my shit when stuff is just harder than it needs to be.
Anyway some pictures....
This is the passenger door...hold up...
Not sure if I have mentioned already that I live in Australia...where the driver sits on the right hand side of the car. So I haven't mirror imaged my photos...just bear that in mind as it does have some implications later on.
OK so this is the passenger door with the door trim removed, the plastic weather proof sheet removed, OEM speaker removed, cleaned up and Dynamat applied to the outer metal panel. Note that in this photo you cannot see the wiring harness; this is on purpose! INSTALL TIP Wherever I could I tried to place the existing wiring loom inside the cavity rather than on the surface of the inner panel. This was to make it easier down the line to put Dynamat and especially MLV over the inner metal panel. I highly recommend you do this. In this photo I was a little too keen and forgot that a window might want to come down at some point...so some of the wiring loom had to go back on the surface; but you will see this in photos that follow. Yes I am a dumbass; don't bullshit me that you've never done it!
EDIT: yeah I’m having a shit of a time getting pics to upload correctly, I’m not used to the system sorry, but I’ll sort it out in the morning. It shows the pics directly there properly and then they don’t show, the link is dead, and it says that the pic isn’t even in my attachments...bear with me.
Attachment 13995
Having a few issues with photos I am uploading being rotated...doesn't matter, just taking some time to get them to import properly!
This is a truly terrible picture but shows parts of what I did to the outer metal panel after the Dynamat. I added some butyl to the cross beams (only to the front doors as I didn't have enough for the rears) and also added some adhesive backed Closed Cell Foam CCF. The piece of foam that I put along the inner door cross beam I was hoping would wrap around but it didn't...so I removed it.
Another photo of the outer panel treatment...behind the speaker I put a piece of MLV as it is much thicker than the CCF. This is because...nah you should know why; I'm not writing an encyclopedia.
Note is drawn to the new length of speaker cable for the door mid bass that can be seen...and that was just FUCKED. Sorry, but of all the installs I have done I have never had to try every trick in the book to feed the speaker cable through the rubber grommets that go between the door and the main cabin. I did one on one day and the other a few days later because it cut my hands up to shit and I lost my shit in a big way. No other way to put it than to say what it is! INSTALL TIP In the end I had to break both grommets off and feed a fairly solid piece of wire through it. Then I did the normal electrical tape the speaker cable to the wire and pull/push/swear/wiggle/curse/whatever to get the speaker cable through. It is so bloody tight in there (teehee). I have heard other guys used a zip tie (which I tried at first but that wasn't going to cut it). Regardless plan on that just being a prick of a job. It can be done for sure...it just sucks ass.
I do not actually have a picture of the treatment to the inner metal frame...but it is much the same as the rear doors that I have detailed above. Just Dynamat most of the surface and seal up the sections of the panel that are open. INSTALL TIP Just be SUPER CAREFUL to make sure that when you seal over the gap that the door lock cables come through; you make sure that they can move freely afterwards!!! Three tries on the passenger side door...that pissed me off as well. The front doors were really fuct to be honest.
Final picture for this section is of the Mass Loaded Vinyl layer that I put OVER the inner metal panel and UNDER the door trim. As per typical I had to make some cuts for the wiring loom and bracket...nothing too difficult here. Typical velcro across the top to hang it from and then replace the door trim.
INSTALL TIP I don't know about everyone else...but I always break a few door clips. A few dollars from FleaBay or Amazon for a pack of 30 is a given to me.
I will cover the speaker brackets and speaker installation next...you may have picked up that I found the front doors to be a total pain in the ass. That is true...but after that everything else was a piece of piss. I had a few specific issues because of the size of the Phoenix Gold amplifier; but aside from that if you have done an install before and have half an ass you should be able to do an install to a WRX pretty comfortably.
2:31am local...I'm out, I'll continue ASAP. Hope it helps some guys or was at least an interesting read!
Peace