I know it pales in comparison to software magic, but here's a pic of my V2 reinstall in the WRX. This time, the Empeg sits on top. Rather than grind the bezel with a Dremel, I carefully nibbled the required plastic away using, well, a nibbler (a small plier-like cutter), and cleaned it up with a flat file.

I was able to add the sled at the vary last, thus hiding some of the cuts in the bezel. I did follow my plan to secure the sled to the Subaru brackets by epoxying some nylock nuts to the brackets with good ole' JB Weld. Brad, taking the connector off the sled until the very last really helped as well. I did use 2 out of the 4 little white bezel lock thingies to hold the bottom of the bezel firmly in place; the top is pinned in place by the sled.

I've put some additional pics at http://www.drizzle.com/~jimhogan/EmpegInstallV2 No real index, sorry, just pics.

Among other things, the pics illustrate my gawdawful harnmess that connects Kenwood + Empeg into the factory Subaru connector. It did accomplish its objective, though, of pulling the whole stereo out without cutting anything. Made for a tight fit back there....but no humming noises yet!

Jim

One more pic, with the Kenwood faceplate flipped and my DIY black pocket in place.

You did a nice job there. I feel bad for you having to deal with that rat's nest.

Thanks! The rat's nest was mostly of my own making... but it'll make it a hell of a lot easier to rescue the Empeg when they come to repossess the car!

Jim

(I hate cutting into factory harnmess!)

Jim, that looks great! How abotu a nighttime shot to show the illumination?

Putting the sled on the top, did you have a real tight fit? Did you leave that black wire on the plate? I am gettting alternator whine at low volume and am not sure if it is a bad ground or rca cables....

32GB Mk. II in a WRX
Detroit, MI USA
www.PfeifferBeer.com

SE_Sport_Driver: "Putting the sled on the top, did you have a real tight fit? Did you leave that black wire on the plate? I am gettting alternator whine at low volume and am not sure if it is a bad ground or rca cables...."

Hella tight fit. Not sure if it obvious from the sequence of pics I popped up on the Web, but some of what I did was:

-- In a bench vise, I bent the angles back on the top edge of the Subaru brackets so that the sled could ride a bit higher in the brackets (I thought about grinding them off, but the brackets fit in the hole without doing that).
-- I bent the forward edges of the top half of the brackets (where the Empeg sled goes) outward so that I had a wider entry point to jam the sled in.
-- I used only the bottom four of the 6 screws that secure the brackets. This allowed me to fix the position of the Kenwood pretty well (critical if that face is to be rotated/removed) but allowed the top part to flex outward when I jammed the sled in there.
-- If you remove the upper cup holder and vent trim, you can reach in behind the Empeg and help move the wiring out of the way.

I was able to get the black ground connector on the passenger-side bracket as I slid it in place. I have been very fortunate, hum-wise. My amp power cable is led to the rear under the driver's side door sills. All other cabling (RCAs, returning front speaker wires, blue amp activation) are led through the center console, under the rear seat, then through the same driver-side hole I bored in the styro behind the rear seat that the amp power cable uses.

The green AR lens that I finally got is a little yellower than the non-AR green I had before, but seems to match WRX dash a bit better. Not sure that it is any more visible during the day than the non-AR green.

I'll be out late this weekend. I'll see if my digital camer will cooperate on a flash-less night shot.

Thanks,

Jim