Hey whats up guys! I just bought a black '94 SC400 with 105k last month and I am LOVING it. Saying the car is amazing is a definite understatement. I've been lurking and searching through the forums the past couple weeks just trying to learn about my car.

Anyways, for my first upgrade I want to install my old Alpine deck and two 10's with amp. My SC has the Nakamichi system in it and I would keep everything else stock for now (speakers/amp). The stereo shop wants to charge me $430 for labor; not including another $100 just to disconect the Nag sub. The guy said that the SC is one of the most difficult cars to work on.

So here are my questions for you SC experts:

1. Is the SC too difficult to work on myself? What are the chances of me F'n up anything inside? I installed a head unit, speakers, sub and amp in my last car (Accord) by myself which only took about two hours.

2. Could I at least take the Nak sub out myself?

3. $430+ for labor?

4. Are there any problems in general with the new setup I'm going for? Is there anything I've forgot or overlooked?


Any help or nudge in the right direction would be awesome, thanks guys!

 

This could be really difficult or really easy. if you just want to add your subs and amp, it'll be a snap as you can use the speaker level input. The Nak is a free-air sub, so unless you have free-air subs, youre better off using a separate box, although some have dropped subs into the deck with success, though I've never heard them. Unfortunately, as far as I know, if you use a new head unit, you're going to have to get aftermarket CD changer and amps for all speaker as the communication between the Nak head and amp is pretty complicated.

Our SCs pretty much have an all or nothing audio system. The most you can do is add amps and change speakers without replacing everything.

 

I'm an installer, and I hate working on mine.

Factory amp is in the pass. side rear of the trunk. You will have to run 4 sets of speaker lines all the way back to that harness and tap in back there. This will envolve at least pulling the rear seats to gain acess to the gromit to push these through the fire wall.

If you want to remove the Nak sub, it envolves taking off the rear deck, to get that sucker out you will need to pull the back seats, rear seat side pannel on one side, and the front apillar pannel. they all sort of inter lock. Also 1 seat belt will need to come out. I would sugest pulling both rear speakers, the block off plates, the sub and possibly the gas tank acess pannel to help get bass inside the car- Mine loves to eat bass.

the head unit is a pain to take out, you must push down the trim peice on the bottom of the shifter, take out the 2 screws holding it on, take out the shifter trim plate (with the gear selector in it) take out the cup holder, take out all screws holding the radio trim peice out (about 8) then the radio/hvac cluster have about 4 screws, 2 bolts holding it in (4 phillips, 2 10mm). once you get that all out, you'll need to custom make a dash kit (as I haven't seen an off the shelf peice work yet).

if their bid includes all of that, then its an ok price. most shops are 60-80$ an hour, and its a good 5 hrs of work (if they're rushing).

 

Big ups for the relpies!

-My two 10's are already in a box.

- So I have to get a new amp for the speakers if I put in a new head unit? Is this a black and white issue? Do I have have to get new speakers, too? The guy at the shop actually owns a SC and said neither were necessary.

SpinAll4: Holy Jebus! Doing all that is just a little more complicated than working on my 90 accord. After reading that I think I will leave it in the hands of semi-professionals. Wow. Thanks.

 

You DO NOT have to buy a new amp or speakers. You DO need to run 4 sets of speaker wires to the back of the car to tap into the speaker leads leaving the amp back there. This is how I have my car currenlty set up. The stock speakers are a 4 ohm load, and any head unit should be happy pushing them.

 

SCs aren't that bad. I've had mine apart more times than I can think of.

if you're going to replace the deck...just do the speakers at the same time, it will save many headaches. There's a walkthrough in a sticky thread in this section that will tell you exactly how to take the whole car apart when dealing with the stereo.