If you dont know what a stealth car stereo install is, its just what it sounds like, a stereo system installed so t doesnt even look like its there. Its not the easiest thing to do but my friend Eddie is an old skool pro at this stuff. So good in fact he has done some pretty big cars of the stars, Jim Carey was one. Eddie did the entire install, still a few ends to tie up such as under hood wire work but thats all icing on the cake.
In the end, it all looks just as it did before he started but its whats hiding that rattles your teeth loose!

These are some after shots:
http://i51.tinypic.com/1r83r6.jpg

I always roll with some ferni pads in my car. They are the duct tape of blankets:
http://i55.tinypic.com/5460s1.jpg

and whats under there, this is still a work in progress but im happy with it as is. The new floor seems as strong as the plastic one. The grill area support is a thick aluminum grill plate from some industrial computer system I found at a salvage yard covered in dense speaker grill material.
http://i51.tinypic.com/294rn8h.jpg

and whats under that upper false floor layer and in the spare tire well, Alpine PDX4.150, PDX2.150, Polk 10" subs, a few octopuses of wire and cords hiding under there too:
http://i56.tinypic.com/2hfp7h3.jpg

The Pioneer AVH-P3200DVD head unit, parking brake bypass Eddie hooked up via a hidden rocker switch. Also he has it so the reverse camera is set to engage in both reverse and as an input meaning i can watch people pick their noses at red lights or look you in the eye as you tailgate.
http://i56.tinypic.com/106yk3n.jpg

The new battery and electrical. Eddie still wants to touch up this area by redoing the factory cable system (alt, pos and neg wires...) but I like it. Thats the larger Red Optima 75/35 battery. 910CA / 720CCA. Believe me I didnt want to go with this type of battery but being on the West Coast, we dont get high cranking batteries unless we go for the big boys that just wont ft in the stock location on an E.
http://i55.tinypic.com/243n3mx.jpg

This is what it took to get there in as basic as possible picture telling:

Old parts out:
http://i53.tinypic.com/2nghfnb.jpg

Door speakers gone, factory amp out:
http://i51.tinypic.com/a46fpi.jpg

Factory tweeters gone:
http://i54.tinypic.com/k0272v.jpg

New parts going in:

Test fitting the main amps and subs:
http://i52.tinypic.com/2gx04t2.jpg

Laying down the glass for the sub box floor and sides:
http://i53.tinypic.com/29vml1v.jpg

Testing the new upper floor, flush with the factory floor. The factory handle pull / lock works just as it should!
http://i53.tinypic.com/jfepg8.jpg

Skipped the boring stuff but lots of MDF cutting and routing, some f'words and a little blood spilled in the process and we end up here, testing clearance:
http://i52.tinypic.com/314uypu.jpg

Eddie tried the Kicker CVT 6.5" woofer everyone here seems to have swapped their factory sub out with but had no luck. It was distorted, not clear. Tried with multiple amps, no luck so he went with one out of his stock, a Cadence 6.5 4ohm.
http://i54.tinypic.com/2ez1yyf.jpg

After hearing it, I know why, it seems much better than the Kicker:
http://i56.tinypic.com/2ls7bs.jpg

Sealed, deadened and installed:
http://i52.tinypic.com/6yny9u.jpg

Door speakers front and rear are PPI Art A2.65c Components. I picked them up cheap and they sound pretty damn good. Reason I went with these is they are convertible meaning the tweeter can be mounted in the speaker as a coax or in its own pod as a separate.
http://i56.tinypic.com/2woinoo.jpg

The rear doors were kept in the coax format since this was a stealth install. I was toying with the idea of tweeter pods in the upper rear window area but that negates the stealth install. Some sound deadening and "CLD tiles" installed in all four doors makes the E sound solid. Those CLD tiles were a sound investment and cheap too.
http://i56.tinypic.com/ac97xt.jpg

In the front doors the tweeters are run up to the stock tweeter location in the pillar. If you didnt notice Eddie had to cut some mounts for the new speakers. The factory speakers simply mount onto the door panel itself. Not good when they are getting hit with 150 watts RMS. In place of where the tweeters could mount, a turned aluminum spike is supplied, oooohhhh, tough guy and my seats have tribal on them, oooohhh....
http://i52.tinypic.com/ogjeqg.jpg

The other challenge Eddie had was routing all that new wire and cables out of sight and from under foot safely and stealth like. To make his job more difficult, all speaker wire is 12 gauge, lol. I ordered 16 gauge, parts store sent 12 gauge. Its about as thick as a good RCA cable! That red stuff is 4 gauge power cable.
http://i54.tinypic.com/688z1w.jpg


You can see the 8 gauge power cables showing below getting dog piled on:
http://i56.tinypic.com/142zgoz.jpg

He cut out some ridges in the floor underlayment to run those hoses of wire in areas, pretty sneaky.
http://i54.tinypic.com/ws43k4.jpg

So if you didnt catch it, there are two amps running 6 channels to four door speakers and two 10" subs so then how is the factory sub enclosure with that Cadence 6.5" woofer getting any juice? This is hidden under the passenger seat, an Alpine MRP-M450 mono 220 watt amp.
http://i55.tinypic.com/verfj5.jpg

Shown here with the passenger seat back in and all the way forward. With it in normal position, the amp is invisible:
http://i54.tinypic.com/x6ct8p.jpg

The rear view camera was routed and mounted under the third brake light.
http://i55.tinypic.com/143hrbr.jpg

All in all, I am digging this set up. Lots of bass when you want it or turn it down a notch if you dont. Those old skool Polk subs are great with sound quality. Im not a boom boom rap guy but I do like my music to sound good. Those two tens hit super hard. I cant even turn it up to 11.

Wow! That's an awesome system! Enjoy! :)

Wicked! I love stealth installs! That's why I went with the stealthbox. Those who don't frequent Elements don't even know it's there. So mine is stealth-ish. Again, great install!

Great looking clean install. 8) Curious as to why you choose not to use the 34R Optima.:?

No place local had the 34R Optima battery. That and the 34R has less cranking amps :) The 75/35 plops right in there with a little plank of wood on the tray or bend the lips down.

At the moment im trying to figure out where Eddie mounted the rather large speaker crossovers. If anyone local in SoCal needs a system installed by someone who listens to what you want and knows what they are doing, Eddie's your guy.

No place local had the 34R Optima battery. That and the 34R has less cranking amps :) The 75/35 plops right in there with a little plank of wood on the tray or bend the lips down.
Actually the 34R has more cranking amps. ;-) I have one and it also fits just as easy as your model Optima. 8)

ahh your right, it has 1000ca, I had seen the 800ca number.

^^No biggie, it's not like it's a huge difference between the two of them.:)

Nice. I like having a spare so no custom enclosures for me but I do have a question about the factory sub. What's the factory sub's/amp's specs (rms and wattage/ohm)? Lastly, does the amp get crazy hot at all?

I like the factory sub, but at times I wish it had a lil more oomph...at least a little bit more range. But I assume one can only get so much out of a 6.5 haha.

The Cadence 6.5 blows the factory sub out of the water but its also getting much more power. The amps havent heated up much, the PDX's are digital amps and the MRP isnt working very hard so no heat there either.

Since im going with 20" wheels, a spare would be somewhat worthless. That and AAA has 200 miles towing :grin:

I doubt the factory sub is getting more than 20 watts rms but I could easily be wrong. The factory amp is supposed to be 270 watts between a total of seven speakers. Thats four in the doors, two tweeters and a sub. The factory amp is tiny so I suspect, and again im probly wrong, that the speakers may be 2ohm. The easiest upgrade is simply to bolt on new speakers but the factory system just didnt impress me.

You think replacing the stock sub w/ that Cadence (or equivalent) will blow the stock amp? Is it actually a tiny 270w 5-channel amp? :laugh:

I'm afraid to rip apart the stock components because the car's still uber new haha.

Btw, maybe you could answer this for me since I didn't want to start a new thread. I (obviously) have the upgraded OEM system w/ the aux jack up front. Does the aux jack connect to the OEM head unit via male plug?

i.e. female aux jack > male plug > female jack at the back of the OEM unit?

I have these ideas for semi-stealth installs but have no idea what the schematics look like.

Ive no idea about the AUX OEM jack. My friend did the entire install.

No the woofer upgrade will not blow your amp. The only issue you may run into is blowing the woofer with too little power going to it. Sounds crazy but it happens. As mentioned people seemed to have had luck with the Kicker 6.5 and the stock amp, but, I dont see what they Cadence 6.5 wouldnt work either. If memory serves, Cadence and Kicker are from the same factory or were at one point. One issue you will run into using the Cadence 6.5 is it doesnt fit well in the factory E enclosure. The factory enclosure is curved. Notice in the picture Eddie deadened and sealed the E enclosure. This was so the woofer would properly seat and seal as well as sound better. That guy really knows his stuff. If you want him to do your stereo let me know. He can answer all your questions and unlike 99% of installers, he actually listens to what your after.

My friend did the entire install.

That guy really knows his stuff. If you want him to do your stereo let me know. He can answer all your questions and unlike 99% of installers, he actually listens to what your after.

Rob,

Really nice system and install. Wish I lived closer to let your friend install for me. Would you mind asking him if he knows a good installer in the Seattle area?

Thanks,

Scott

Ill ask but doubt he knows anyone in Seattle.

a nine month update, still no complaints or issues with the system. In fact its still the best aftermarket install and system ive ever had. Ive had some people question the no spare tire issue. I then remind them I have 20" wheels and have only had to ever use a spare once, maybe twice in near 30 years of driving. The red top Optima did go sour after only six months but the replacement went smooth, no problems. A fresh battery took 5 minutes to get and install since it was purchased around the corner at the local Pep Boys.

This is a light day of my E loaded for a work project. No way this could be possible any other way. A speaker box would deem the cargo area unusable or the stereo itself the same by having to remove said speaker box. Its always nice to load up and still have the stereo system there for a good listen. Even better to see the surprised looks on faces when they hear the stereo and start looking for subs.

http://i56.tinypic.com/2dl7mh1.jpg

Wow...nice looking install!