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I need some advice here (and please forgive if this is a redundant post, didn't find much in the search)
The previous owner had some pretty extensive stereo equipment installed in my 993. Most of the stuff is pretty straight ahead like an Amp in frunk, some aftermarket speakers, nothing too serious. That is, until you slide the front seats forward revealing two hideous, oversized sub-woofers that have been jammed under the rear seat. (see pictures below)
No offense to anyone if this is your thing but this bothers me on several levels. First, it's ugly. Second, they don't work. Third, I am sure they are heavy and most importantly, they take up all the precious little leg room in the back and don't even allow the front seats to go all the way back. As you can see, they protrude a good bit from the end of the seat hitting the front seats. When my little girl is big enough to ride in the 993, I want her to have at least a little leg room! As you can see, this a vexing problem.
My question is, after I rip these boat anchors out of the back of my car, how can I set it back to stock? They drilled holes in the support structure / subframe underneath the seat (not sure what that's called) to fit the woofers. Is there a stock item I could use to replace it? What's the part #?
Whom should I have do the work? an upholsterer, a car stereo place, my mechanic, me? Will I need to replace the carpet?
He also put in a terrible 90's era Car-Phone holder... but that's a different post for another day. As always, your wisdom and guidance is always appreciated.
Side note: the previous owner left some sweet tapes in the car for me to find. Pink Floyd, Live at Pompei was in the tape deck when i got the car, so he can't be that bad of a guy...
Those sub enclosures are made by Car Audio Innovations (CAI) and are considered some of the better ways to install a sub. I have 1 enclosure installed in the passenger side of my car because it really does help fill out the sound profile in the 993.
They are slip-fit so you can just jiggle them loose (unless the previous owner did some strange install). Look under the enclosures and see how they were installed. Personally, I did not want any non-original holes so I have some semi-unsightly wires but they are hard to see. If the PO drilled holes in the cabin then Im not sure what you can plug them with that, would be OEM Porsche.
You should be able to do this yourself instead of paying someone, but it would help if you had some photos of whats under the enclosures.
Also, you might be able to sell them for a bit of cash, they are spendy from CAI. The 8" subs they accept arent too heavy, so if you like the sound you could keep one. The subs are worth a little money also if they are the JB 8" ones that CAI recommends using.
As for the stereo, there are a huge amount of options out there. I really like the aftermarket radio because I can use bluetooth for Pandora and hands-free calling. Or you could find an OEM or OEM-like radio to replace with.
The HiFi optioned cars had a small Nokia amp that was installed under the front passenger seat. My car did not have the HiFi option, so I installed my sub amp in that location.
I guess you need to figure out how much you like music quality. You could pretty easily gut all that aftermarket stuff and put any radio you like in the DIN slot. Putting Fister exhaust in provides an extremely nice exhaust note, but I like listening to radio/podcasts/etc. when I drive also.
Phoneyman for the WIN! Thanks so much, this is great info!
I will see what's behind the enclosures and let you know what's back there. Hopefully no holes in the OE.
I don't think I would change the head unit though, I am one of those weirdos that actually likes the old school tape deck. I have a tape adaptor for my iPhone so I can listen to podcasts and stuff on long drives.
As for the amp and subs, maybe I will try to hook them up and give them a listen. If I don't like it, maybe that will pay for a set of Fister II's! Thanks again.
No problem, Conor. Obviously there is a huge amount of information on this site. But also I have done a medium amount of work on my 993 after purchasing it in 2013. Everything from broken door handles to upgrading the stereo to performing a major service, all to understand how these cars tick. If youre a DIY'er, its really fun to work on these cars. Ask away with questions as you learn about your car, either on Rennlist or you can PM me.
Had the same issue in my car when I bought it. I would pull them out, sell all the gear including the enclosures (they are desired and can fetch $200-$300).
After that I would buy a new OEM style carpet from Lakewell Designs. Everything will go back together and you'll have new carpets so no matching issue.
For a radio - if you can swing it the Porsche classic radio is an awesome option but isn't audiophile.
Okay, so I pulled the enclosures out and did some digging around with the wiring etc. I probably should have tried that before I posted but oh well. As Phoneyman pointed out, the installation was done by CAI and to a very high standard; the wiring is nice and neat and the dude who did the install even signed and dated his work back in 2002! (see pics) I even found an aux cable hardwired to the system that had been hiding under the floor mats.
I think I am going to pull the enclosures and sell them but get the rest of the stereo working. (right now only the rear speakers are working) I tried to get them going today but didn't have any luck.
Thanks again for the advice guys!
I've owned my 993 for over a decade and just a couple weeks ago I finally removed the high end, professionally installed aftermarket system installed by the original owner. The amp was located under a hinged panel in the bottom of the frunk and while the look was first rate, it robbed me of 4" of valuable trunk depth. I am so happy to have my full storage capacity back, such that it is. And since the car is so much lighter now it must be faster, right?
So many of the panels within the car pop off very easily, you should be able to remove the wiring if you wish with minimal effort. Wiring running into the front is harder to deal with, but I managed to find existing grommets that I did not have to alter the OEM setup. I hope you find out the same with your car.
That was the first thing I took out of my car. It comes out fairly easy and is super easy to sell as well. Most of the wires lead to the amp under the passenger seat.
Okay, so The local car audio shop wants $300 just to take all this crap out so I am gonna try it myself. Got the amp and subwoofer boxes out pretty easily but there is a whole mess of wiring in the frunk. See pics below. Any tips or how to's here in rennlist? I know each system is different but it looks like this car had a mobile phone, an aux cable input and a bunch of other crap. Any advice would be helpful.
Rod Birch is the owner, back when he started out, he did mobile installs. Did a lot of Rennlister cars, actually, we were porschephiles back then, circa mid 90s. Rod specialized in 911 installs initially, and grew a very good reputation as the guy to guy for Porsche installs.
I had him install an alarm system in my 911 SC. Great guy too.
@johnconnorlynch: Assuming you want to go back to the original setup for the car, the way I would do it is carefully analyse and trace all the wiring that looks like it was added to the car and slowly disconnect and remove each one to take it back to the original factory setup. It is tedious, but seems to me to be the only way to do it right. Or, pay your local shop the $300 to do it. The benefit of you doing it yourself is learning more about your car and all its nooks and crannies. And if you find yourself ever needing to run wires anywhere, you'll have a better understanding of possible routes.
Good luck. It can be satisfying cleaning up stuff like this and learning more about your car at the same time.
@johnconnorlynch: Assuming you want to go back to the original setup for the car, the way I would do it is carefully analyse and trace all the wiring that looks like it was added to the car and slowly disconnect and remove each one to take it back to the original factory setup. It is tedious, but seems to me to be the only way to do it right. Or, pay your local shop the $300 to do it. The benefit of you doing it yourself is learning more about your car and all its nooks and crannies. And if you find yourself ever needing to run wires anywhere, you'll have a better understanding of possible routes.
Good luck. It can be satisfying cleaning up stuff like this and learning more about your car at the same time.
$300 is no guarantee it will get done right.
recommend doing it yourself, it will be tedious, but NO ONE will be more careful with your car as you.
05-30-2016, 05:38 PM
uninstalling subwoofers / aftermarket stereo
