Week-Before EMMA Checklist: Install Quality Points

Install Quality points get won and lost in the week before the event, not in the car park on the morning of. By the time you're standing next to the judges' table, there's no time to re-terminate a wire or track down a missing fuse. Here's what I actually check for as a judge, broken down so you can run through it yourself with a week to spare.

Fusing and electrical safety

This is the first thing checked and one of the easiest places to lose points for something that takes ten minutes to fix.

• Main fuse fitted close to the battery — judges look for it right at the start of the power run, not metres down the loom.
• Every component on the power side — head unit, amplifiers, DSP, any accessory — has its own visible fuse, not just one fuse covering everything.
• Fuse values match the cable gauge feeding them. An oversized fuse on thin cable is a fail waiting to happen, and judges will flag it even if nothing has gone wrong yet.

Wiring and cable management

From the driver's seat, a judge shouldn't be able to see loose wiring anywhere in the cabin. That's the practical test: sit in the seat, look around, and be honest about what you can spot.

• Terminations are clean — no frayed or exposed strands at any connector.
• Every termination is covered with heat-shrink or an equivalent non-conductive sleeve, not just twisted and taped.
• Anywhere a cable passes through metal — firewall, boot floor, seat rails — it's protected with a grommet or sleeve so vibration can't wear through the insulation over time.

Mounting and component security

Every component needs to be mounted in a way that matches its size and weight — a small DSP zip-tied to a bracket is fine, a subwoofer amp resting on a shelf is not.

• Exposed speakers and drivers need rigid protection, not just a cosmetic grille, so nothing can make contact with the cone.
• The car still has to function normally: pedal clearance, foot room and your sightlines out of the car all get checked. An install that compromises how the car drives loses points regardless of how good it looks.

Cleanliness and first impression

This is scored before a judge even opens a door, and it's the one category that's entirely within your control the night before.

• Wash the exterior — a dirty car creates a bad first impression that's hard to shake for the rest of the judging.
• Vacuum the interior and boot, and wipe down any dedicated audio components so they look cared for, not just installed.
• Check craftsmanship details: even gaps around panels, consistent finishes, and wire runs that follow a logical, tidy path rather than the shortest one.

As a judge, I score what I can see and touch on the day — not what you meant to finish before you ran out of time. A week's buffer is what turns "nearly there" into a clean sheet.

If you haven't already, run this alongside the key EMMA install rules and the rules competitors get wrong most often — most of what costs people points shows up on both lists. Once the car itself is sorted, switch over to the competition day kit checklist so the morning of the event is just about turning up. And if you're doing the install yourself rather than through a shop, our DIY install guide covers the same fusing and wiring basics from the build side.

---