Fenix
Well-Known Member
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- #1
Installed the JL Stealthbox and JL XD300/1v2 Amp... WOW does it sound good! A little bass really evens out the stock system.
Just wanted to make a thread with some tips for those who are looking install the stealthbox.
My car is a premium so I decided to go the route of grabbing signals pre-amp. It was easy enough to get to in the drivers foot well. To do this I purchased the Molex connectors that are used in the factory audio harness (Thanks [MENTION=20499]mumbles[/MENTION]!). The harness is really just a pass through, all pins are loaded, and has female RCA's spliced in for the amp signal input. The RCA is ran from the kick panel, down the driver side sill to the trunk. Connectors and pins I used for the harness are below.
Running the power cable is pretty straight forward, I used the grommet in the passenger side wheel well like a lot of guys do. Basically get the car off the ground and remove the passenger wheel well liner and the grommet is right there. Lucky me a buddy has a lift (and a '66 Fastback). I put some butyl rope on the cut grommet to seal it up. Also wrapped the cable with Tesa tape for a factory look. Once the rear seat was removed by depressing the two clips under each seat, I followed the factory harness into the trunk with zip ties along the way.
One tip I have for running the power wire is to attach a socket extension to the wire end. It helps a lot to have something to push through the grommet and past the insulation and carpet.
The ground is the same as mike2017gt's thread. He has a great thread so check it out for more details. It uses the tie down bar for the spare tire or inflation kit. The thread size is M6x1 and utlizes the left side thru hole. Just grind the e-coat away and clean it up with some alcohol. I used a lock washer to secure the terminal.
I tapped into the back up camera power wire for my 12v remote signal. It is a blue with white stripe wire found under the rear passenger speaker harness. Easy enough to get to. I was originally going to use the factory amp remote but discovered it was on a different connector (I think it was in the brown one if you look at the amp). It's 6v if anyone is wondering. The JL XD300 amp turns on right at 6v.
I searched for where guys were mounting the remote level control for the sub and there were a lot of different places. I eventually settled inside the console as it was out of sight and easy to get to if I needed to adjust the sub. I decided to remove the 12v plug and re-purpose that hole for my level control. The whole panel that houses the USB port and 12v plug just pops right out. The plug itself was kind of a pain to remove even though it's just held in there with a couple small tabs. I cut a small hole under the console carpet and the phone wire for the part just runs under the carpet back to the trunk.
Installing the stealthbox itself is a complete pain in the ass to be honest. The thing is so tight I had to grab a prybar, wrap it with electrical tape, and have a buddy pry it around until all the holes lined up. The instructions say to just "Guide it in place"...yea guide it with a pry bar! Other than that part the install manual is spot on and everything ended up fitting really nice.
Overall the install wasn't too bad. I'd say it took 6 hours total. Some of that time I spent wrapping the power and ground cables with Tesa tape to make everything look a bit cleaner. The sub is paired nicely with the 300W JL amp. I thought it would be a bit under powered but it really sounds great.
Just wanted to make a thread with some tips for those who are looking install the stealthbox.
My car is a premium so I decided to go the route of grabbing signals pre-amp. It was easy enough to get to in the drivers foot well. To do this I purchased the Molex connectors that are used in the factory audio harness (Thanks [MENTION=20499]mumbles[/MENTION]!). The harness is really just a pass through, all pins are loaded, and has female RCA's spliced in for the amp signal input. The RCA is ran from the kick panel, down the driver side sill to the trunk. Connectors and pins I used for the harness are below.
Running the power cable is pretty straight forward, I used the grommet in the passenger side wheel well like a lot of guys do. Basically get the car off the ground and remove the passenger wheel well liner and the grommet is right there. Lucky me a buddy has a lift (and a '66 Fastback). I put some butyl rope on the cut grommet to seal it up. Also wrapped the cable with Tesa tape for a factory look. Once the rear seat was removed by depressing the two clips under each seat, I followed the factory harness into the trunk with zip ties along the way.
One tip I have for running the power wire is to attach a socket extension to the wire end. It helps a lot to have something to push through the grommet and past the insulation and carpet.
The ground is the same as mike2017gt's thread. He has a great thread so check it out for more details. It uses the tie down bar for the spare tire or inflation kit. The thread size is M6x1 and utlizes the left side thru hole. Just grind the e-coat away and clean it up with some alcohol. I used a lock washer to secure the terminal.
I tapped into the back up camera power wire for my 12v remote signal. It is a blue with white stripe wire found under the rear passenger speaker harness. Easy enough to get to. I was originally going to use the factory amp remote but discovered it was on a different connector (I think it was in the brown one if you look at the amp). It's 6v if anyone is wondering. The JL XD300 amp turns on right at 6v.
I searched for where guys were mounting the remote level control for the sub and there were a lot of different places. I eventually settled inside the console as it was out of sight and easy to get to if I needed to adjust the sub. I decided to remove the 12v plug and re-purpose that hole for my level control. The whole panel that houses the USB port and 12v plug just pops right out. The plug itself was kind of a pain to remove even though it's just held in there with a couple small tabs. I cut a small hole under the console carpet and the phone wire for the part just runs under the carpet back to the trunk.
Installing the stealthbox itself is a complete pain in the ass to be honest. The thing is so tight I had to grab a prybar, wrap it with electrical tape, and have a buddy pry it around until all the holes lined up. The instructions say to just "Guide it in place"...yea guide it with a pry bar! Other than that part the install manual is spot on and everything ended up fitting really nice.
Overall the install wasn't too bad. I'd say it took 6 hours total. Some of that time I spent wrapping the power and ground cables with Tesa tape to make everything look a bit cleaner. The sub is paired nicely with the 300W JL amp. I thought it would be a bit under powered but it really sounds great.
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