VE splits install - wiring question

[neevo]

Having a crack at installing my new splits on the weekend, cheers to Joe Bellissimo, what a great guy with great service!

Trying to be as neat as possible so here is what I was planning. If anyone has any thoughts let me know.

Going to pull the door trims and dash panels off.
Take off the side panels to the centre console.
Unclip the front speaker cables from the back of the head unit.
Run new cables from the back of the head unit to the crossover under the dash.
Run new cables from crossover up through dash to tweeters.
Run new cables from crossover through doors to mids.

Plan is to leave existing wiring in place should I decide to return to stock setup.

Do I have the right idea?

[Hsv is king]

hi you could check out this link from excessv it may give you some inspration

EXCESSV stereo upgrade in VE SSV

The trims should come off fairly easily,there is a post somewhere on jc that tell you how to remove them all

You will prob have to make up spacers for the speakers as they wont fit in the factory spots but the tweeters should fit in the original spot in the corner of the dash

I think that the crossovers are installed in the kickpannels

I prob best if you run some better cabeling ,assuming that you will be using an amp for these if not the factory wire may not be to bad


attached are some images from my car

[neevo]

Awesome. Thanks for the pics too. I actually got better wires with the speakers so the plan is to use them. I assume you can easily run the cables through the dash to where I am going to locate the crossovers?

How did you get the dash trim off? Remove centre speaker cover, middle panel with light sensor, then peel side sections off?

[Hsv is king]

I had go at trying to do this myself then i started to get a bit tricky and to time comsuming and my car was fairly new so i had FHRX studios install it,this is where the pics came from

All the cableing runs down the side to the amps and the under the carpet in the floor

When it was installed they removed most of the stuff insde including the seats

I did ask them how it all comes apart as the had it all apart within abot 20 mins ,some of the edges of the dash are screwed but the rest has little plastic clips whoch you have to be very carefull with

I have posted something that dakan wrote on how to remove the centre speaker below,My centre speaker was disconnected as i asked them to but my bluethooth did not work then i had i reconnected again,i thought that i would affect my qualitly but bit didnt.

There should be enough room to get the cable and and crossovers through in the dash,i have attached a pic of the side od the stereo which may help you

I would like to tell you more but i did not install it ,i hope that this helps you if i you need more help i have found this forum is very resourcefull and holdenboy seems to kow a great deal

Posted by dakman 24-04-09

dakman

hey mate i just removed mine myself a fewdays ago, you have to take off the parts on the side of you roof above your window/ by removing the tab and undoing the allan key bolt and then pulling it off. then you have to remove the part covering the splits and then the centre part. (these only have tabs not bolts to undo, so you have to pull up on it gently so you dont break it.) then you can get to the speaker grill, put your fingers under it and lift up, once agian there is only tabs there and no screws so you will need a little bit of force. then when you remove that you have got to your speaker. i cut a speaker wire either side of the speaker as there is 2 sets of wires comming in and i taped them up, instead of pulling out the speaker and leaving the wirionng there as it would rattle and make an awful noise. then all you have to do it put all the bits of plastic back and your done. the centre speaker will not affect you bluetooth when disconnecting it or cutting it. hope this helps =]

[neevo]

I thought I would give a run down on how the install went. I am not sure if there is much detailed info on how to replace the front speakers in a VE so hopefully this serves to helpl those that are tackling it in the future.

Stage 1 - The doors

This is very easy and there is a great pdf located here ((Click Here). Process is to remove the screw in the armrest, 3 at the bottom, 2 on the side closest to the hinges, and then lastly the torx screw inside the handle. A small screwdriver removes the clip and away you go.

A quick sharp tug of the armrest and the whole thing comes off.

I have an SV6 so aparently no wiring plug at the bottom of my trims, all I had to do was unclip the handle and lock cables (like a bikes brake system) and then the trim comes away.

What you are left with is a speaker attached to a plastic pod. I was keen to keep the pod but as I had bought a set of 6.5" splits I couldn't get it to fit. Luckily I bought some MDF spacers, so these were screwed into the door frame (3 new holes and 1 floating screw).

I was keen to run new cables as the kit came with them. This meant removing the rubber cable cover between the door and the car (from the door side). This allowed me to run the cable out of the door whilst I started on the inside.

Stage 2 - The Dash

Thought I would attack the dash, this is where I made the only **** up of the install. Ripped the right tweeter cover section up from the dash (no need to take out the centre speaker cover or centre dash strip) and unfortunately its made of 2 parts. The top section is not directly attached to the clips but is attached to a frame, pulling too hard breaks the clips that attach the top part to the frame and requires glueing to fix... oops. The left side I was a bit more careful. If you lever up the section closest to the centre section (where the light sensor is) you can start to see the white clips. Get under the plastic section under where the clips are and gently but with a little bit of force start working it up towards the dash. They should unclip all along the section until you get to the side near the door where the air vent is.

[neevo]

Stage 3 - Underneath the dash

There are 2 panels underneath the dash where your feet end up. Both of these (if I remember correctly) have 5-6 clips on them each, 3 at the front. Start at the edges at the front and give a swift tug, the panel should start to come off. Once these are removed I took the section underneath the steering wheel out, once again starting at the edge and pulling sharply pulled the entire section off. The only thing to be aware of is the cables to the light switch, these are easily removed though as it has a clip.

Next thing to come off was the end panels to the dash (nearest the air vents), easily removed with a sharp pull. These and the side panels nearest the floor near the doors had to come off as I needed access to where the rubber boot that went to the door came into the car. This is the toughest part as getting access to where the cables come into the car is a total pain.

Stage 4 - Removing the bottom sections near the doors

These sections are bolted to the frame of the car with 2 silver torx screws, the first is at the top and the 2nd is underneath the strip that runs along the bottom of the door next to the seats. The section next to the seats can be pulled up easily and bent slightly out the way to gain access to the 2nd torx screw.

Stage 5 - Removing the side sections for the centre console

Pretty easy really... once again more pulling of plastic. The side sections are held in place with 2 white clips, the one nearest the engine is fixed which allows you to rotate the section to clip or unclip it. Once removed from both sides there is plently of room to feed wires and I put my 2 crossovers in this section.

[neevo]

Stage 6 - Feeding wires

I found a great piece of equipment to help me with this, a gigantic cable tie!! The square end was perfect to lock the 2 ends of the wire in whilst I used the pointy end to feed wherever I needed it to go.

Tweeters - Unscrew the tweeter, unplug. Prepare new tweeter and feed the cable tie through the old hole. You should be able to put your hand up through from the bottom at the same time and feel the end of the cable tie. Once you have it pull! Hey presto, one fed cable through the dash.

Doors - This is a little tougher but same principle. Cables in the square end of the tie, feed into the rubber door boot and wriggle around moving the rubber boot at the same time to get it to pop out the end (inside the car). To get access to where it comes in on the drivers side you will need to move some of the bits around, fairly easy. The passenger side is a little tougher as the fuses are in the way. The fuses are able to be twisted from the top down though to get access behind.

Stage 7 - Head unit

The pic above is of the head unit drivers side. If you look closely the wires top left are for the speakers. Front drivers side (dark green / light green), front passenger side (brown / grey). If you look at the bottom of the whole black cable block there is a clip, unclip this and there is an arm that swings from underneath the clip (like the handle of an esky), this removes the entire cable block which makes it much easier to work on.

I used some female / male connectors to join the ends of my cables to the head unit.

[neevo]

That was it!!!! Quick test to make sure it all worked and then buttoned it up.

Very happy with the result, clarity is greately improved, there are parts of songs I am hearing now that never were visible with the stock speakers. Not only that but the 6.5" bass speakers deliver a much deeper note and handle the power much better.

Next up is an amp and a small bass box for the boot.