just another small update.
When purchased the stock passive system had been upgraded by a previous owner with a Sony head unit and new door and rear speakers.
But to my ears the sound was a bit thin.
My first move was to fit a new Kenwood head unit with a bit more power and a better range of controls.
When I started fitting this I found a hidden switch wired to the aerial motor but tucked up under a trim panel.
Unfortunately there was no free space on the fog light panel for another switch, so it was time to reorganize this again and replace the rear fog warning light with a small led fitted to the left of the panel, and use the free space for a new aerial switch.
Whilst all the trim was off I also decided to fit a few leds.
First up the heater/aircon controls.
Just the easy ones, didn't fancy having a go at the row of illuminated switches in the middle.
I've gone for wide angle blue on the main switches and white on the slider.
Next came the ciggy lighter.
A pig of a job that I'm not entirely happy with, followed by the hazard light switch.
I also fitted a couple of led panels in the interior light whilst I was at it
- what an improvement from the yellow glow I had before.
Funny how you start doing one job, and then find yourself doing others
"whilst you're at it".
Any way back to the ice.
I also wanted to boost the bass a bit, but didn't want to go down the route of fitting a big bass bin behind the seats, especially as it's a t-bar and like to keep the roof panels there when I take them off.
So I purchased a second hand stock sub box for the passenger side, which I cleaned up and lined inside and out with sound deadening material to try and lower the box resonant frequency a bit.
I also managed to purchase a couple of new Vibe Slick 5 woofers and fitted one of these to the sub box.
With a s/h stock grill in front it all looks pretty tidy.
I then set about fitting a small Kenwood sub amp in the frunk and running all the necessary cables.
I've also now swapped over both high level rear speakers for a pair of Vibe Slick 4s.
These have made a big difference as well
I'm not going to pretend the bass is now earth shattering, but then I never wanted to join the thump thump brigade, just wanted to acheive a fuller sound.
"whilst I was at it" I've also smartened up the frunk a bit by replacing the split trim panel around the wheel with a very tidy second hand one, and refurbished and fitted a second hand Cusco brace.
So the frunk has gone from this:
to this:
Finally I've made a start on the engine bay.
I've replaced the stock air filter setup with an Apexi unit purchase through Nengum.
The car was already fitted with an unbranded after-market side mount intercooler, but retained the stock fan.
I've now replaced this with a spal fan kit from GTS Chris.
At the moment I've had to unplug the temp sensor to make this run, so I suspect the sensor needs replacing at some point.
Finally I've replaced all the intercooler hoses with SFS ones in Blue, and
fitted a Berk pipe cold pipe.
The previous aftermarket cold pipe was a bad fit and was actually touching the hot pipe in one place, which can't be a good idea.
With the Berk pipe I've actually got a nice gap between the two now, though it doesn't really show that in the photo.
So the engine bay started out like this:
And now looks like this:
Still quite a bit to do, including refurbishing and fitting another Cusco brace, fitting a catch can and replacing the remaining red hoses and perhaps a few more.
But I'm generally pleased with the progress so far.
](./images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall"){kind=small}
