I have owned my 08 Civic since Dec 2013. I bought it with the intention of having a solid daily driver that I could still have fun with. So far it has met that request pretty well. I do not have an real intentions of modifying it extensively but I will update this with what has been done and future updates.

Here it is a day after I bought it from a dealer in Dec 2013. I picked it up with 96k miles for right at blue book OTD, free oil changes and inspections for life. Not too bad of a deal.




At the time I purchased it, I knew I was going to do a pretty high end audio build since the platform is worthy of having something. The car was relatively rattle free and the noise floor is surprisingly low for a civic. Audio build will go into the folowing post(s)

 

Instead of doing any perfomance or appearance mods first(which is my usual route) I am focusing on the audio first. This car is a great platform for an audio setup and I am going focus on sound quality while having the ability to play loud. My goals are to have a great center image, tonality, and impact. Depth will come second.

I already have some gear from my previous civic and have purchased some for this new build. Here is a rundown of what is being used(could POSSIBLY change but for now its pretty set)

Source:

Pioneer DEX-99PRS

Power/speaker/rca cable:

Stinger HPM 0/1 awg power wire
Stinger Pro series 14 awg speaker wire
Stinger 8000 series 17' RCA (2 runs of 4 channel)

Amps:

Phoenix Gold Elite.5
Phoenix Gold Elite.4

Speakers:

ScanSpeak D2004/6020-00 Tweeter
ScanSpeak Revelator 12M/4631-G00 4.5" Midrange
Dynaudio MW172 8" Midbass
Stereo Integrity BM MKIV 12" Subwoofer (x2)

Noise/rattle/vibration control:

40 SDS Tiles
9 yards SDS MLV
1 roll SDS Butyl Rope
10 ft 3m thinsulate
26 sq ft Second Skin Damplifier Pro
5 yards RAAMaudio peel n stick CCF

The following was from 1/09/14:


Finally made some progress, went over to Russ's(eg9) house. We started on the deadening.

Sorry for the shitty pics, I forgot my camera(which isnt much better anyway)



The man, the myth, the legend, eg9 Russ



SDS rope on the safety bar, Second Skin Damplifier Pro on the outter door metal, close to full coverage as possible





giving Russ moral support while working his side. SDS Tiles at close to 100% on the inner skin.



being lazy, we "sealed" up the door with second skin pro(i got 26 sq ft during their black friday sale at 40% off) we didnt have anything to brace the opening with, but the motor assembly provides enough support in the middle of the opening(its the non-moving part of the window assembly)



started getting a little sloppy towards the end (drinking vodka on an empty stomach isnt the best idea while working on stuff, but it sure is fun ) applied RAAMat ensolite peel and stick over the deadener



Russ finishing up his side, a little cleaner than mine for sure




also picked this up today. group 34 platinum. Great battery

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1/18/14:

couple of little updates from the past few days...

Got a few odds and ends in(the little stuff that adds up in the end):

Oem honda dash kit for double/single din install - I am very particular about using oem as much as possible, simply for fit, quality, and in this case, it matches perfect as well. It ended up being about 3x as much as a metra/scosche kit but it is worth it to me.

PAC steering wheel module - decided to do this as well to retain my controls, once again, i like having everything work like it should

speaker ring adapters - I decided to take a chance on these. They are from PVC Speaker Adapters - CNC Machined - In Stock or Custom Made and ended up being $35 shipped. If they will fit the anarchys then great, if not they will let you return them. If they do work, the owner of the site emailed me and said if you take 10 pics of the install they will refund half the cost, which isnt bad. They looked to be well made, 3 layers of pvc, totaling 3/4" thick, and are "bolt on". They are not "sealed" but that is nothing a few pieces of butyl rope wont fix.



one my cats (Hulk Hogan) trying to figure out wtf im messing with






I also did some more sound proofing work to the car on Wed and Thur. Russ was working on his car and helping his daughter with her new car purchase so I was on my own but he was nice enough to let me work at his house and steal his fine silverware while he was out.

Here is the SDS MLV. I was quite surprised with how easy this product is to work with. It is very high quality and Don did his homework with coming up with this vs a standard mlv which ive heard is sometimes difficult.

Started laying stuff out and cutting(razorblade works awesome, was doing all this freehand and my first time)



started to seam it all together. Instead of the vinyl glue he offers, i used a thin, strong ducting tape. I want to be able to remove/adjust if i ever need to, and I already had it. All cuts/seams had pieces to make sure exposed areas were covered.







after this was done, I was definitely interested in seeing if i could notice a difference. I had a few hours labor into it and the cost of the product. I can say with certainty that this is definitely worth doing if you want a quieter ride. I was extremely pleased with the reduction in noise from the rear of the car, and will be doing the whole floorboard once I order more MLV.

Made sure it all buttoned up like stock with all push clips and screw clips in place





And lastly, I stuff the **** out of the doors with 3m Thinsulate Acoustic that SDS sells as well. You simply cut it and apply with hot glue. This is another product I was interested to see the benefits of, and once again I was not disappointed. With the oem SI system, it sounds awesome. No rattles, I get a midbass thump surprisingly, and no buzzing.

The only thing I want to attempt at some point on the doors is a layer of MLV. I spent a couple hours trying to make a piece work but I couldnt quite get it. If i cant get MLV in there, it wont be a huge disappointment, but if I can work on it enough to fit it, then great.

 

2/24/14

]a few little teasers mark sent me of the box build. EXCELLENT so far as I expected. The pretty opening on the back is 3/4" plexi. Front has not been cut for the subs just yet since Im waiting on the SI BMIV, but should have them next week

 

 

5/13/14



the lame oem opening on the door card



test mounted for fitment....how did that even get in there?



with grille on, perfect look and fit!

 

5/18/14

some refinements were done to my doors. the throats from the speaker to the opening were redone and carpeted, the grilles were hand made









the trunk is pretty much wrapped up.

stainless mesh sub cover



fitted



carpeted




3/4" plexi for the sub enclosure window. drilled and countersunk, masked and painted, 36 screws




and illuminated

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6/21/14

 

6/23/14

 

6/30/14








At this point since I had the car back, I also installed my wheel/suspension setup that had been sitting for 7 months:

17x8 +45 Mugen MF10 with Tein S-techs on Koni Oranges

 

My fabricator took a ton of pictures of the process for doing custom work for the audio. It takes a bit of patience and skill to pull it off. I have tons of pics but here are some:

 

7/19/14

My tein s tech/koni orange suspension combo has broken in and settled. I had a chance on my days off this week to do some paint correction as well. Did wash/clay/polish/gloss enhancer/sealant/wax. I mainly use chemical guys products. It came out great. Paint has felt rough since I purchased the car but still had a nice look in my opinion. After the correction/detail it REALLLY pops and looks wet.









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8/10/14 got a chance to put my HFP front lip on.

 

after some time I started getting the itch to play with it again. I browse the 8th gen forums for parts occasionally and a Mugen catback popped up for a very reasonable price. It is pretty much the only exhaust I considered for this car, just out of reach price wise for new. I went ahead and pulled the trigger and picked it up. I am very happy with the sounds. Cabin noise is maybe 5% louder and only at certain RPM. Outside it sounds great. No rasp, very sporty. Typical Mugen for sure.



I checked the classifieds a week later and ran across some Mugen visors for a decent deal. I went ahead and pulled the trigger for them. I really enjoy the way they change the look of the car, and they actually do seem to make wind noise go down while driving.



Lastly, I saw a Flashpro come up for sale locally. I was originally just planning to get a reflash at a local Hondata retailer but this ended up being about $100 more. Ive got a stock tune from flashprotuning.com on it right now. It lowers VTEC and should get a little better mpg(to be determined). It definitely smooths out the power band and midrange is improved

 

Very nice!
Getting the rest of the HFP Kit?

 

wow that audio build made me feel like i was back in the 90s/early 2000s

props for actually doing a quality setup, aftermarket car audio is almost dead nowadays

car is looking great as well, the paint correction did work!


ps
i have an old raggedy '00 si, any particular tips on how to quiet down road noise that's cost effective? My main concern's are the doors tbh

 

Thanks Avi, I havent ruled it out at this point if they pop up. The sides and rear have been discontinued in Galaxy Grey. I dont feel like the car needs them as much as the front lip so its not a super high priority, but if they come up for a reasonable price Ill probably snag them.



Thanks for the compliment. Id agree that real car audio is pretty dead, but there are still people that are serious about it. This setup isnt meant to break any SPL records, just have great sound quality, staging, imaging, impact etc etc.

What in particular are you trying to quiet down? Road noise itself? Buzzes, rattles? Usually the best way to quiet road noise is a good set of tires, then mass loaded vinyl(MLV) which is the thin black rubber I put in mine and showed pictures of in the trunk. Downside to it is it weighs a pound a square foot so it can add some weight. Constrain layer dampener (CLD) is good for metal vibration. Most common brand is dynamat but its over priced and there are less expensive better products out there. As for panel buzzes and rattles between plastic to plasic or metal, closed cell foam (CCF) will be the best way to prevent

 

wtffff is this....the Casey I knew years and years ago (pre ITR) would not be doing this...