I finally decided that it was time to upgrade the stereo in my 2000 Corvette. This thread will detail my progress, start to finish, over a series of posts.

DAY 1

Tonight I started by running the power wire for the amplifier. I opted to use 0/1 gauge KLMX wire from Knukonceptz.com. It's a copper clad aluminum wire, so while not as efficient as a pure copper, higher-quality wire, I think it should be sufficient for my application.

This is the existing firewall grommet behind the battery that I'll be using as my entry point into the cabin.


Power wire threaded through the grommet. I found that glass cleaner worked well to lube the wire as it I pushed it through.


Grommet taped up and zip-tied.


Here's what's left of the power wire. I'm still not sure where to mount the massive fuse holder. Suggestions?


Kick-panel removed and wire routed along the passenger doorsill.


Wire routed next to existing wires toward back of car and behind rear speaker.


Rear speaker removed (and it will stay that way!). Plenty of wire to reach the amplifier which will be mounted on the rear wall.


Took me about an hour and a half to get the power wire run from the battery to the rear of the car. Tomorrow's plan is to remove the door panels, speakers, and factory head unit so I can run the rest of the wires (speaker wire, remote turn-on lead, RCAs, amp ground).

 

Day 2

Completed a few things today:

Ran the ground for the amp, secured it to the passenger seatbelt upper mounting bolt.


Ran the remote wire along the passenger doorsill, same route as power wire. (not pictured)

Removed the door panels, speakers, center console, radio bezel, and radio. (not pictured)

Routed the RCAs and speaker wire along the driver doorsill.


RCAs and remote turn-on wire routed to the radio.


I plan to mount the crossovers for the front components under the dash on their respective sides, so I terminated the left channel speaker wire under the driver's side dash and ran the right channel under the dash and over to the passenger door.


For now I'll be installing some older MTX Thunder8000 6.5" components. Here's a look at the crossover.


Sucks I have to work tomorrow...off to bed!

 

DAY 3

Tonight was very productive...sick of my car being torn apart and I need some tunes!

Applied eDead to driver door. Covered 80% of outer door skin and just a bit of the inner door skin.


Put two layers behind the speaker and also ran wiring for the midbass and tweeter.


Installed the driver's speakers and replaced the door panel. Finally, one panel is back on!


I cut a 20" x 10" x 3/4" piece of MDF to secure to the back wall to create a solid mounting point for my amp. It is mounted through the rear tub using four machine screws.


I removed the rear taillights for easy access.


While I was back there and had the taillights out, I figured I put the plumbing in place for a rear-view camera.


The wiring for the camera is routed through the vent in the driver's side of the rear tub. I suppose I could have drilled another hole, but I didn't see anything wrong with this method.


Tomorrow I hope to get the passenger door deadened, speaker in, and door panel back on. If I have time I'm going to try and get the amp mounted as well.

 

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looking good, how much power are you running that u pulled 0ga in?

 

I'll be running an MTX Thunder1004 to power my front components and a single sub. It's 90 X 4 RMS, so 0ga is probably overkill, but at least this way I should have room to go bigger down the road.

 

haha 0ga is way overkill but atleast ur set for the 1000watt sub stage

 

I just finished my install today, I started about 3 weeks ago. Got everything in and had to wait on my Bezel. Would have been in better shape if I had ordered it prior to but I was trying to be cheap and do it myself. By the time I had all the wiring done, amp installed, new speakers, and the HU mounted I was just about over it.

I called up Dennis with DDMods and he took care of me. I sent him my bezel, he worked his magic and got it all mounted up today. Dennis does great work and is a super nice guy, can't say enough about him! I couldn't be happier.

Keep plugging, it's all gonna be worth!

Edit, need to give a big thank you to Pentavolvo and everybody else that answered my many questions along the way.