Over the weekend, I had the chance to do some work on Hugo. There were three things I wanted to accomplish, and I got halfway there.
First, I went to install an amplifier for the stereo. Anyone who has driven with the top down knows how hard it is to hear music at speed, so I purchased an Alpine amp. It’s not big or fancy, just a little two-channel 50W job, but I figured it would give a cleaner signal to the speakers.
I spent about 20 minutes trying to find a place to put the amp – these cars are tight! The amp wouldn’t fit under the seat or behind the seat, so it had to go in the boot. The best place I could find for it was attached to the false floor above the jack. (Apologies for crap photo quality - I had to use my phone's camera)
I screwed the amp into place, and then ran the speaker wires from the amp with the RCA leads and the remote turn on lead in behind the driver’s seat. There was a small crack through to the main cabin, so I was very lucky I didn’t have to drill any holes.
After feeding the cables through, I mounted the ground cable. I drilled a small hole in the body, hidden under the carpet. A self-tapping screw held it in place.
Then I ran the power cable to the battery, which is of course in the boot! This made for a very simple connection.
I had purchased an amp wiring kit, and it came with the RCA cable, the ground cable, the power cable, and some plastic tubing fro hiding the wiring. After running the power wire to the battery (but not connecting it yet!) I used the tubing to hide the wires. The previous owner had an alarm/immobiliser installed, and the wires were dangling loose, so I tidied them up at the same time.
Next came the connection to the stereo.
I removed the middle armrest/gear lever cover, and then the center console. This exposed a real mess of wires from the previous installer!
The head unit is a Clarion CD player with a detachable face. It has three sets of RCA outputs, but they never bothered to label them…I did some exhaustive research on the internet to try and find out which one was the front set, but couldn’t find anything. I figured I’d just have to try each one.
I don’t really care for the Clarion head unit. The buttons feel cheap, and the menus aren’t very intuitive. I purchased a used Alpine CD player, but after testing it before installing, I discovered it didn’t load CD’s. Not very useful. It also had the Japanese antenna connection, but the car has the standard connection, so I wouldn’t even get to use the radio. I put the Alpine off to the side to see if I could repair later.
I checked the factory speaker wiring, and it was a mess. It took me ages to trace the wires back. I had a wiring diagram for the original connection, but they didn’t match what I had. It was rather frustrating tying random wires together to see if I could get a signal! I also installed some 1 inch tweeters in the factory holes in the dash for the outer vents. I had to pull out the eyeballs and wedge the tweeters in, but I figured this was the least invasive way of installing – no cutting or smashing! It doesn’t look perfect, but it does the job for now.
Eventually, I found the right combination for the wiring. I turned the key, turned on the radio, and yay it works!
I had already replaced the factory (!) speakers with Pioneer 6.5” whizzers in the doors. They aren’t brilliant, but they do the job. I tested it out in the car park, and it sounded quite good. The highs from the dash tweeters are a bit harsh and blurry, so they will need to be replaced. The amp does give a cleaner signal, and the music is much louder (with no real distortion). I had to wait a day to try it out on the road, to see if it was any better at speed.
After I did all that, I thought I’d have a go at installing a push button starter kit. I removed the cover from under the steering column, and peeked up inside. It’s a real contortionist’s job getting in there, that’s for sure.
The cigarette lighter was removed, and the female part of the plug was hard wired into the adapter for my GPS. No more wires hanging all over the dash when using it, like in the picture above. The chrome metal switch that came with the kit was put into the hole in the dash. It wasn’t easy, as I had no washer large enough to hold the switch from behind. I got out my rotary tool and carved some thick plastic into shape – did the trick!
The switch connects to a relay that handles the current for the starter. I ran the ground wire and the switch wire, but I couldn’t figure out which was the starter wire. At one point in my hack job, I could start the car with the push button, but the starter stayed engaged, and turning the key to the off position did not stop the engine from running! That wasn’t right...
It was getting late in the day, so I gave up at that point, to return to it later after trying to find some more detailed instructions. So as it sits now, I have a switch that clicks the relay but does nothing else. It will work, I swear!
Whilst I had the cover off down there, I wired an LED light to the courtesy light in the dash, the one that points at the driver’s left knee. I drilled a small hole next to the key slot, and ran the wire. Now, when it’s dark, I can actually see where the key goes!
The third thing I wanted to do was some paint polishing as it's starting to go pink, but I ran out of sunlight.
All in all, it was productive, but frustrating at the same time. I’ve done amp installs before in less than an hour, but this took several due to the messy wiring left behind by some other installer, and also trying to find a place to fit the amp. Next weekend, I’ll have another go.
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