BOoStEr

I've been led to believe that the R32 has a booster amp on the rear antenna from the factory. I think it's in the boot, at least that's what I've been told by a number of people.

I had to fix the headlight switch when I bought mine. Climate control fades out and scrambles a bit. I heard these are common problems.

Don't run an earth wire back to the battery. Best practice is to run the positive from the battery to the amp and run the earth from the amp to the chassis.

reecey There may not be as much usable space as there appears. Before you start make sure you lower the window while watching where the speaker magnet goes. In particular watch the quadrant rack part of the winder mechanism as it intrudes into the speaker area. Also watch the stop on the lower window channel as it passes the back of the magnet. Make sure the doortrim doesn't touch the surround as there's not a lot of front clearance at the top of the speaker. Good luck with it.

If you want to keep the factory grilles you will need to chose your speakers carefully. Boston and Eclipse both make pretty decent 4" x 6" coaxials that will screw into the factory pods with little or no modification. Most 5.25" speakers can be fitted to the factory pods with a 3mm mdf spacer/filler plate. Anything larger will probably need a custom baffle to replace the plastic pod. Some 6"- 6.5" speakers can fit but some need to be spaced out so far to clear the window/winder mechanism that the doortrim won't go back on. The top of the speaker can't be spaced out much at all because the top of the factory grille almost touches the inner door skin at that point so you will probably need to mount the speaker at a bit of an angle to get enough clearance behind. It just depends on what sort of sound you are after vs how good you are with tools. I'd recommend taking the doortrim off and taking the plastic pod with you when you go to buy speakers. The rain shroud on the back of the pod is a good indication of how much clearance you have inside the door as it uses nearly all the available space. The other important thing to watch is making sure you have enough clearance in front of the surround when the speaker is operating as there is not much room behind the top of the grille.

What do you want to know about it? Do you want to know if it's any good? What do you want to run with it? 40wrmsx4@12volts or 40Wx2+120Wx1 to run efficient splits and a sub. Versatile amp getting a bit old now. What $ did you pick it up for?

Pity I didn't hook that wire up before I fitted my custom anti-thieving b*stard security brace. It takes an hour to remove the h/u. Where is the amp? Chris, Do you know if the amp boosts the front or back antenna or does it boost both? Does the adapter connect the front or rear antenna? Sorry for all the Qs. I guess I'm never happy until I understand how something works.

Thanks Chris, yes I bought an Aerpro AP348A adapter. I just have a few Qs. The male aerial plug is only hooked up to one diversity pin while the other pin is hooked up to a female aerial socket Why does the AP348A also have a female socket? Are you saying there is a factory antenna amp in all R32s? If so, does one of the wires at the back of the h/u need to be hooked up to power it? Could the wire be the black/red one that is taped with the diversity antenna coaxes. Either way it seems to me that with the AP adapter that you only get to use half of the diversity system ie. either the front or rear windscreen antenna but not both so surely the reception must be inferior to factory. As I live in an area where all the good radio stations have a weaker signal I need very good reception.

R32 owners, Hows your reception? How did you hook up your aftermarket H/U. to the antennae? Is there an antenna amp in R32s?

No, it's just a black/red wire that runs with the antenna coaxes from the factory. It has a joiner where it comes out of the antenna wiring and then runs into the loom. My Q is does it then run in the loom to the plugs for the H/U and need the power antenna output to be connected to it.

I spent this afternoon fitting a new headunit into my R32. Just as I was tightening the last screw I thought about this black wire with a red trace I saw that was taped to the two antenna coaxes. Does anyone know what this wire is for? I did a search to find out but all I found was a thread with a deleted pic labelled "R32 Antenna box". Is this an antenna amplifier? Where is it and what does it look like? Does this black and red wire power it? Was there a wire on the back of the stock H/U that should have been connected to the power antenna output on the new H/U? I haven't tried the radio yet because I haven't wired the amps. Damn, I screwed the H/U in the hard way to make it difficult to steal.

Why post this in the na forum?

I'm not sure about the 33 specifically as my car is a 32. You will need to throw the plastic sheet away and clean the outside of the inner doorskin and the inside of the outer doorskin with prepsol so the deadener can stick. Measure your chosen speaker for mounting hole size and depth. Watch the space where you are going to put the speaker while you wind the window up and down to make sure the window and winder mechanism won't hit the magnet. Check the clearance behind the speaker with the window wound down. If the original speaker was in a plastic pod you could reuse it if the new speaker will fit but if it can't be modified to take the new speaker remove it and cut an MDF baffle with a hole for the speaker and screw it to the door sealing behind it. It should be at least 12mm thick but may need to be thicker so the magnet can clear the window. Refit the doortrim at this point to check position and clearance between the speaker and factory grille. You can probably use the factory grille for a steath install or remove the grille and use MDF to pack behind it and mount the new speaker through the hole over the outside of the doortrim. The most important thing is you mount the speaker solidly and seal any gaps. Apply a sound deadener sheet like Serenity max or a sprayon deadener to the inside of the outer doorskin. Cover as much as you can but it's not essential to do it all. Bang the door with your fist to find any rattles that need special attention. Seal up all your service holes in the inner doorskin with 3 or 6mm MDF. Coat the back of the MDF panels with resin or estapol to stop them getting wet. Hold them in place with a few small screws and Sikaflex 227. It's hard to seal up the holes the rods come through. It's most important to seal the holes closest to the speaker. Unclip wires etc but note where they go. Now cover the whole inner doorskin with deadener. If you have any deadener left over it might help to put some around the speaker area on the backof the doortrim to reduce vibrations. Put it all back together and enjoy.

Are you going to amp your rears or run them off the headunit? Do you intend to run a sub? What's your budget?

What sub is it? Does it suit a sealed or ported enclosure? Where does it have to fit? What sort of music do you listen too?

What condition is it in? Has it been modified to fit the Silvia?

No kickpanels? Is the centre console surround black plastic or vinyl covered and are the clips intact?

Yeah I could have fitted some 6x9s but I'd ratther not. It's 8"s now or nothing. I've bought the glass and resin and made the baffle and mounting ring now I'm waiting for some spare time to get my hands dirty.

Pull out your front speakers and go looking and more importantly listening to speakers in your price range that will fit the factory hole. It's usually better to use the largest speakers that fit if your after some bass. There would be much better speakers out there for what you want.

Sometimes noise can enter through the crossover if it's placed near a power cable or the ECU.

If it just started out of the blue it could be an earth screw come loose. Maybe HU earth? I don't know why the 4wd light would come on. Is the power wire to the amp run close to the 4wd electronics?

You may have hooked the power antenna to the amp remote wire (blue/white) instead of the power antenna wire (blue), otherwise some CD headunits are just designed that way.

Nice work. I'm installing a system in my 32 at the moment so it's very interesting to see how others have gone about it. What front speaker have you fitted and what are the boxes in the door pockets? Well done!

A friend that races in a pump fuel class told me everyone runs Ultimate because it's better I run Optimax though because I can buy it 9c a litre cheaper where I live. IMO If your car doesn't ping on Optimax going to Ultimate is pretty much a waste of money.

It sounds like alternator whine. These get into your system via ground loops that are usually caused by dodgy earths or having RCAs too close to power wires. They can also be caused by cheap gear or a faulty alternator etc. Have you just had new stereo gear fitted or did the noise just start up for no reason? What type of system do you have?