97 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport Wagon

[chrispy35]

Hi all,

I'm new here (been lurking for a month or so) and I've just started installing a Yaesu FT-8800 in my car. There doesn't seem to be a lot of photographic info regarding installs in Imprezas so I'm going to post things as I go for others to see and also so I can get help/hints/advice as I go along.

Right now, I have the radio + separation kit, power cable, antenna mount and a plan. The antenna is on order and the rest of the connection bits and pieces are TBD. The plan is as follows:
- radio transceiver mounted on piece of MDF attached to the back of the rear seat in the hatch.
- 8 AWG power wire direct to battery.
- radio head/mic/speaker somewhere up front (not sure where yet).

I picked up the power wire from Wal-Mart (40' for $40 CDN, seemed like a good deal) and I have ordered some Littelfuse MIDI bolt-down fuse holders (http://www.littlefuse.com/cgi-bin/r.cgi/en/prod_series.html?SeriesID=626&LFSESSION=PRW3bk36gb) for mounting near the battery. For connecting power to the transceiver, I was planning on using Anderson Power Poles (trying to find a local distributor before I order online).

Looking forward to feedback,

Chris P.
VE7PKR

Here are a few pics to start...
1. Dash view...opinions on where the head should go would be nice. The two spots I'm considering so far are right in front of the shift boot or making a bracket for on top of the dash. The dash mount seems safer...the mount by the shift boot would look cleaner.
2. Transceiver mounting location on the back seat. There's quite a slant there so I don't have to worry about the radio getting crushed when I throw my hockey gear in the back as it will butt up against the top of the seat and leave a nice gap near the hatch floor.

 

[LukeB]

Not sure how big the head is but why not above or below the stereo?

 

[kc7vtr]

What I did for my FT-8800 is buy the front piece of the radio that the faceplate snaps into directly from Yaesu parts. It's less than $5. It's considerably stronger and better looking than the sep kit bracket. I made a couple of brackets out of sheet metal and bent them to fit over the top of the console section that corresponds to where your radio and several cubbies are. In the Explorer my top cubbie is taller than yours. The faceplate covers just the top quarter inch or so of the the opening.

 

[chrispy35]

The above/below the stereo locations are too handy for storage. Right below the A/C controls is a cup-holder so that location is out too.

I was looking at it again today and, the more I think about, the head should fit nicely on the lip that starts as the guage-cluster visor and then stretches across to the passenger side. The lip is almost vertical and is just under 1" high. This way the head won't be sticking up from the top of the dash.

Chris P.
VE7PKR

 

[chrispy35]

Power wire

I started running the power wire. It's going quite smoothly so far. I've got the back seat out, the centre console and the 'DIN-rack' that the stereo is mounted in.

Subaru definitely deserves a little credit here. After the trim is off, the frame containing the stereo, lighter and the 2 cubbies comes out as a single unit with four screws. This makes for easy access to get the wire all the way alongside the transmission tunnel from the back seat right to the firewall.

Speaking of firewall, more credit for Subaru. I'd heard of Subies having a pre-drilled hole that's filled with a rubber plug but I didn't believe it until I saw it. All I can say is, "What a hole!" It'll fit more wire than I'll ever need and, on the cabin-side, it's right above the gas pedal.

Chris P.
VE7PKR

Pics of the factory firewall hole with/without the plug. Nice. Let me if you're interested in pics of anything else I've mentioned.

 

[SCPD]

My 1992 Legacy has a hole on the passenger side that is easier to get to. It has a wiring harness going through it but that only takes up a fraction of the hole. I just punched a hole through the rubber with an awl to run the wires through for my FT-8800. I have mine mounted, complete with the radio, on the right hand side of the console in a vertical or sideways fashion. I don't like it at all as it takes some concentration to read it and use the dials and buttons. The console on the Legacy has an ashtray on the bottom that I removed a few days after buying the car new in 1992. I have my PRO-2067 mounted into the DIN rack, in place of the CD player that I did not order with the car. It had a nice little storage container with a flip up door where the CD player would go. I gave up this handy place to put my sunglasses and mounted the scanner into the dash.

The next project will be mounting the FT-8800 below the scanner. There is a metal backed piece of hard plastic running horizontally below the DIN rack that served as the top support for the ash tray, which was removed a long time ago to make room for the BC-760 that I originally mounted in the car. I'm going to make my own mounts to hang the control head of the FT-8800 to this horizontal surface. I plan to mount the radio itself inside on the passenger side of the firewall, as high as I can before running into some stuff behind the dash. This to keep the power cables as short as possible and to allow easy visual inspection of the wires, except for where they run through the firewall. I'm going to replace the Comet mounts I installed on the rear door and drill holes in the roof and run the coax down the front windshield side frames. The cable from the rear door was relatively easy to run up to under the dash by removing the plastic door threshold panels on the front and rear doors. I'm going to try to run the coax down the front windshield area to avoid the seat belt apparatus that is probably inside the post between the front and rear doors.

I would rather have a longer run of coax than a long run of power cable that would be needed to mount the radio in the trunk area. I have enough emergency gear and tools in the area you show in the picture (the wheel well area) that I don't want to have a radio reduce my storage space. I'm afraid that the radio would get hit or would not have enough ventilation when I pack the car with lots of stuff when on long trips.

 

[chrispy35]

Bump...

I've finally been able to get back at it for a few moments now and again and here is what's happened since my last post:

I wrapped the power wire in split-loom, cut a hole in the existing firewall plug and passed the power wire through to the battery. I never could find the fuses I had originally selected (couldn't find any distributors that would sell in small qty) so I went with a MAXI fuse holder with 8 ga leads to connect with the power wire. I think it worked out better this way as their really is no room under the hood to mount bolt-down fuse holders anywhere near the battery. To stop the fuse holder from flopping around, I've attached some cable-tie mounts with double-sided tape to the washer fluid resevoir beside the batter. The location is ideal but I think the double-sided tape will not be sufficient as temperatures rise.

All other wires going front-to-back in the car have also been run (remote lead, remote speaker, extra wire for ??? in the future (relay??). Unfortunately, I pulled the wire and then decided to wrap things in split-loom. Luckily most of it was still accessible and the parts that I couldn't wrap were already well padded from abuse or are protected by obstacles like the seats.

Slow and steady...

Chris P.
VE7PKR