Please do not attempt to install your own ICE if you are not familiar with audio equipment or the wiring involved. If installed incorrectly you risk the chance of a fire hazard which will cost you more than the money saved by installing yourself. If in doubt, seek the help of the professionals from your local ICE shop or ask a friend. (But don't blame him if he burns your car down!). Before starting you must have an assortment of tools that are required for the removal of certain parts in your car such as door trims.
This page is only intended for your reference only as with all other pages. There may be mistakes in the provided information below. Read and use at your own risk! I will not be responsible for any damage caused to your car or equipment.
Tools required:
T-xx screwdrivers in various sizes.
Philips and cross head screwdrivers in various sizes.
Electrical tape.
Cable ties.
Cordless drill with assortment of bits.
Crimper for terminals.
Pliers.
Stanley knife.
Wiring:
Power: From 4 gauge
to 8 gauge.
Ground: From 4 gauge and 8 gauge.
Earth must match the size of the power cable.
Remote-on: Normal blue electrical wire around 18 gauge or so.
Speaker: Depending on
what speakers you have, 16-18 gauge should be more than sufficient.
REMOVAL
Removal of head unit:
As the standard head unit in the HK version is a typical Sony, removal was
straightforward. Using the supplied key to release the lock on the right
and then left the unit came out with ease. As for the units that do not
have the normal sized DIN, I don’t have the faintest idea. Updated, OE unit is held down with two clips which you must remove.
Removal of front door trims:
To remove the trims first take off the tweeter section by gently pulling at the
top and bottom. You may remove the tweeter by twisting it out of it’s
housing and removing the wire. There you will see a “T-xx” screw which
you must remove along with the one found along the front side. Also remove
the door pull T screw and pull out the cup from it’s housing. Now lower
the windows and then pull off the part at the front where the drink holder is.
You should hear the white poppers (correct term?) pop off. The part around
the door pull will drop out once you remove the trim by pulling up. The
top part sits on the rubber seal at the top of the door where the windows drop
down. Now the complete trim should be off door.
Removal of front speakers:
The tweeters have already been removed from the above step. The mids are
taken out by unscrewing the T screws (4) and then gently remove the speaker
connector. The OE speakers in the HK version are crappy 25W Goodsmans!
You will now see the housing of the speakers which is made of plastic with a
grill feature at the back. For larger speakers you will have to cut out the grill part. Along with the grill
you may also have to cut along the sides to compensate for bigger magnets.
The best way I found was to drill small holes and the use a
Stanley knife to cut them out. Be careful of the part that is curved as
there is metal under there.
Removal of rear door trims and speakers:
I have not removed the rear speakers yet but from my experience this is how you
would remove them. The rear seats must be completely removed by unscrewing
the 4 bolts. Take out the seats and then unscrew both front and rear
seats. Then you may pull at the area around the front seat belt to expose
the speakers. To completely remove the black trim panel which is held on
by 2-3 screws. The complete white trim panel must be removed. To
save the the hassle and work of these many people has just disconnected the rear
speakers at the head unit and installed new speakers on the rear parcel
shelf. If you plan to use the head units channels you must somehow connect
up the wires from the OE speakers. In that case, I might as well use the
OE position for that standard look. Speaker size is around 16.5 cm I
think.
Removal of doorsills:
The part under the doorsill are removed by first pulling out the rubber door
strip. Then remove the small plastic plug at the front of the carpet by
pulling out the middle part first. Then the carpet is held at the
front by a small metal clip which you can remove or get the carpet out of.
You should see several black plastic clips which you can release by pushing back
the last one. The carpet trim should now off the black trim panel and
access the wires below.
Installation
Layout of wiring:
Power: Wire should be run directly from the battery to the amp/fuse block. If you decide not to you may run the wire from the OE fuse box which has a spare slot. The wire can run through the firewall through a hole you must drill in the black plastic area on the RH side. If you look under the glove box there will be a black rubber grommet which you can pull out. Take this as reference and you will know where to drill the hole for your power wire. The best way to drill the hole is to take a hand bore to make a small hole. Then will a tamper bit slowly bore out the hole by hand. Run your wire through this hole and fit the the rubber grommet back after you have a hole for the wire. Try to make the hole the same size as your power wire so that rain/heat can be kept out of the car. The wire can then be run down the middle of the car to avoid any interference with signal cables.
Ground: The ground wire will come from your amps or whatever other audio equipment you have have in the car. Try to make the ground as short as possible to avoid any noise pickup. You may screw down the ground on the back seat or use the bolts that secure the seat. Remember to sand down the paint so that you have bare metal exposure and rust proof. Remember the ground wire size should be at least the same size as the power.
Remote-on: You can buy RCA cables that have a remote-on included so that will save you running another wire. If not, you may acquire some plain electrical wire (blue for looks) for this purpose. The electrical current is very tiny for the remote-on but you may fuse it at the head unit side with a 0.5A fuse just to make sure. The wire is run down the sill sides to your equipment. You can connect up to 2-3 units on the single remote-on. Anything over you should consider a relay.
RCA: These may be run down one side or both sides through the sills to the rear of the car.
Speaker wires for the front
doors:
The connector used for the front door is a one-piece design. You CANNOT
get any kind of wires to go through the factory connector. You have two
choices here for the wiring. You may use the factory wire and connect up
at the head unit or you may run your own cable through the doors. The
difference may not be very noticeable when using the OE wires but it's personal
opinion. To run your own wires first I
take out the white plug and then cut out the middle part and
stuck a grommet to it. Then I cut a hole in the grommet for a piece of
plastic tubing which would be used to hide and protect the speaker wire.
The wires should then be fed from the rear through the sills to the doors through the
plug and tubing. Then you must drill through the rubber seal on the door
and fed the wire through to the door.
Speaker and wire layout:
Please read the above before this part! Note:
Make sure there is enough clearance from the speaker magnets so that the windows can
open and close without any interference.
Replacement speakers of 6.5" can be installed after the necessary
modification work of removing the plastic trim. To fit new tweeters you have
have to drill out the hole from the plastic around the mirror section.
Then the wires from your amps may be fed through the
sides into the doors. You will have to remove parts of the white plastic foam
backing to get to the parts. There are ditches in the doors where you may
hide the speaker cables and tie them down. If you have a Xover for your
speakers, follow the manual and wire them up. The position of the
Xover can be installed in the area below the hand rest or in the back storage
pocket for looks. After all the wires are in place and screwed down you
may replace the door
trim and test for any problems.
Page last updated 12/04/01