[hollatchaboy]

Had a buddy help me replace my alternator a few weeks ago from the stock 150amp to a 270amp XS Power alternator (Thanks Telos!) and caught the build bug! I couldn't wait to finish my new garage before starting this build since the weather has been so nice, so I jumped in deep! I've spent about 40 hours on my stereo the past 5 days and have another full day or 2 left to go.

First off, the alternator replacement really was a huge pain in the ass. Good thing my friend is an awesome mechanic and only took 2 hours for the whole procedure.

This is what I started with in the back of my truck, the setup I've had for the past few months. 2 12" Sundown SA 12's in 4 cubic feet @34hz with the port running under the rear seat with a big mess of wires thanks to having 3 amps:

Now, after a re-running all new speaker wires under the carpet, dozens of zip-ties, and a few feet of split loom I was able to make the wires more presentable:

Another shot. Here you can see the Sundown 2500 up-close. To the right up-top is the Sundown 200.4 (2 channels for midrange and 2 channels for midbass) and a Crossfire xp6004 for the tweeters. I also re-wrapped the board running above the amp rack held in with the factory bolts from the factory cover:

 

[hollatchaboy]

Another task I had to tackle was replacing my double din head unit (Pioneer Premier fh-p800bt), cleaning up the radio wiring, and fixing my switch panel and repaint some trim pieces after my storm damage during Hurricane Sandy:

Another shot of the damage:

What it looked like yesterday morning during the revamp after pulling some trim pieces:

Installed a Pioneer Premier 800PRS with copper chassis, high-voltage RCA preouts, 16-band EQ, and 3-way active capabilities allowing me to run my amps on full-pass by fine-tuning my crossover points on the radio. I also re-made my damaged switch plate, and painted it (along with the radio trim, and the Audiocontrol Epic-160 trim) with some rubberized undercoating for a nice rugged look:

 

[hollatchaboy]

Now, all of this stuff I've already posted is just the tip of the iceberg... and here is where the real fun begins:

These were my door panels at the beginning of the project after removing the fiberglass pods I had made last summer:

Here is a pic of the pods after I removed them. Each front door housed 2 Kicker RMB8's for midbass and 3 Sundown NeoPro 8's for midrange and 1 Beyma CP12 tweeter. They were recessed for a large removable grill:

Next step was to do a wood backing agains the inside of the door (after adding another layer of Audio Technix 60mil deadener to the insides):

Then, I spent half a day cutting speaker rings and 1/8" PVC plastic sheeting in 1-1/2" strips. Since I will be running (2) 10" speakers for midbass, (4) 6-1/2" speakers for midrange, and (1) super tweeter per front door, I needed to make 28 rings. 14 rings were made with 3/4" birch ply (for the speaker mounting rings) and 14 rings were made with 1/2" MDF for flush grill inserts:

 

[hollatchaboy]

Next, I spent about 2 hours figuring out the layout and getting it to all stay in place, all while making sure the doors would still close along with cutting holes in the base wood for magnet clearance:

Fabric was then stretched across the wood and PVC rings and stapled along all edges in preparation for fiberglass resin:

2 coats of fiberglass resin were applied to the fabric while the panels were attached to the doors to ensure no warping during curing:

After the 2nd coat of resin dried thoroughly I cut the openings with a razor blade:

As you can see, the speakers go into the openings and are covered with the 1/2" mdf grilles:

 

[hollatchaboy]

That's as far as I've gotten with the doors, but tomorrow will be another 10-11 hour day to try to get as much done as I can before the weather turns shitty this week.

Another task I tackled was dropping the headliner and deadening the roof. I had my awesome girlfriend help me with this part and she couldn't resist photobombing me:

Here's the roof after applying almost 20 square feet of AlphaDamp sound deadening (1 layer and the roof was rigid):

Obviously, this image just shows the factory roof, but underneath the plastic roof storage I placed small strips of weather stripping everywhere the plastic made contact with metal to eliminate vibrations and rattles. I also placed weather stripping inside the overhead storage fold-down containers to stop the plastic-on-plastic vibrations, as well:

This is where I'm at now with progress and I will update hopefully tomorrow night if I'm not too tired after working. Any questions, please feel free to ask!

 

[hollatchaboy]

I don't know why everyone is so impatient asking for the subs he still putting the mids in the doors. Dude was that covered by insurance? If so, how much did you get to do new system and what is your budget. Also, I don't think you have quite enough speakers planned for your front doors.

The stereo was actually fine. This rebuild is just something I've wanted to do for a while. The only thing damaged was the switch plate I had made myself, which was composed of some ABS plastic, bondo glass and plasti-dip . Insurance covered the windshield, replacement dash pieces, center console, and the roof damage (a huge branch dropped on my roof causing the smaller branch to snap off into my windshield... as seen in the pics).

Yea, I don't think 16 speakers total is enough either. The tweeters on the dash weren't includuded with the 14 speaker tally above.

 

[hollatchaboy]

Thanks guys! It's been a lot of trial and error over the years. Let me repeat... A LOT of trial and error. It took me 3 years of owning my truck to finally get the balls to do something like this, so it didn't just happen overnight, haha.

 

[hollatchaboy]

Insane!
Can't wait to see it a Carlisle this year!

Oh yea! I'll be there. I'm actually shooting to get this done by this weekend because Carlisle Performance & Style is always Mother's Day weekend.

 

[hollatchaboy]

Another 12 hour day today. Doesn't look like much progress but a lot was done.

Started with rounding over the edges on the box and a few coats of primer:

This is how you brace a box properly. 45's in each corner, and a big 2x6 cut at 45 degrees on the bottom for bracing and re-directing the air flow into the external port. Also, mounted the first subwoofer baffle:

Fiberglass mat and fiberglass resin in all corners for an air tight seal and extra rigidity:

Some sanding, some wood putty, some more sanding, and rounding over the exit of the port:

Wrapped the top baffle (the sub will be recessed and flush mounted with this baffle) with black vinyl and lined it up just to see how it will look in the end:

Another view of the box almost done. Another coat of paint planned for tomorrow:

Then, did the first coat of bondo hair and added A LOT of elbow grease and did some heavy hand sanding. More sanding and bondo tomorrow; it was dark when I was finishing tonight:

 

[hollatchaboy]

So is the plan to sport a 2 seater D/C? or do you have plans to add a half bench in the back

The 2/3 bench actually fits back there, no problem So, technically a 4-seater still!

 

[hollatchaboy]

Nice, have you looked at black widows for your door speakers?

Nope, haven't even heard of the black widows until you mentioned them. I googled em and if they're what you're talking about they're PA/guitar cabinet speakers made by Peavey. They would work in an application like mine, but the continuous power is 500 watts and program power is 1,000 I do know plenty of guys who run EV speakers and push 500+ watts to each speaker, so it's not unheard of... just not my style.

My sundown 200.4 4-channel is hefty, but not 500 watts per speaker hefty! It can squeeze out 450 watts x 4 channels @ 1ohm but the Black Widows are only 8ohm. My sundown neo pro 6.5's are 100 watt RMS (4ohm each) so 4 in parallel per side lets me see 1ohm, feeding each speaker 100 and change. The neo pro 10's are each 200rms and 4ohm also, so paralleled at 2ohms per channel gives me about 350 watts per pair.

Sorry for a lack of update pics, but the last 2 days have been non-stop primer-bondo-sand... primer-bondo-sand... primer-bondo-sand. Final primer coats went on tonight, so expect a hefty update tomorrow night!

 

[hollatchaboy]

Painted it last week and had it hooked up and playing for carlisle but I wasn't happy with the finish so I decided on wrapping. First, I secured the panel to a makeshift table to make sure it didn't move while stretching the fabric. Then used some 60 grit to scuff up the painted surface and taped off everything I didn't want glued:

Cut the vinyl for the wrap and tacked it some plywood then sprayed both the vinyl and the panel with Welwood Landau & Vinyl Glue:

Put the panel back on and secured it to the door. Wired up and mounted all speakers. I ran out of vinyl, so tomorrow I'll be making the grills and then Friday I should have more vinyl to do the other door:

Another angle before grills:

 

[hollatchaboy]

Thanks for the good words. I know some people were skeptical once they saw some of the hacking and removing parts, but I promise not to disappoint with this build!

 

[hollatchaboy]

Another update. Turns out my vinyl won't be arriving until Monday or Tuesday, so still only one door is wrapped. But, got to make the grills today, and that was a fun process.

Started with 14 1/2" MDF rings (8 for the 6's, 4 for the 10's, and 2 for the tweeters). Used my amazing toolmaker machined router jig:

Then, hit em with a roundover bit:

Next came some primer (note: LOTS of primer was used for the grills thanks to MDF being so porous and soaking in paint like crazy:

Let them all dry, then filled in any holes. I brad-nailed the rings in the above steps so I could safely router them without and funky/sketchy hand action. I also hand sanded the rounded edge to a smoother finish, as well:

Tough to see in this pic, but I routered some holes into the back sides of the grill rings for the grill bars then followed up with some fill primer:

 

[hollatchaboy]

Next, I cut some 1/4" steel rods down with a grinder for the grill bars, and CA glued them into the routered grooves in the back of the rings:

Then, of course primer over the backs of the rings:

Then some black primer:

Then came the first layer of Plasti-Dip on the front:

Here's after the full first coat. Notice some edges with primer still poking through thanks again to the super porous MDF. I applied a total of 4 coats and tomorrow I will see how they look on the doors:

 

[hollatchaboy]

And, one door completely done! What do you guys think???

 

[hollatchaboy]

You do this for a living? Looks more than just a hobby.

A little bit of both. I install home theater acoustics (family business) for a living but I do make extra income doing car audio, as well. It's been a hobby for about 10 years now and it's slowly turning into my main source of income.

 

[hollatchaboy]

And, now for the sub stage. Did a little night-time detailing after putting the back seat in (minus vacuuming... a little late for that since the neighbors have little ones). Here's the setup; an 18" Sundown Zv3 in 5 cubic feet tuned to 34hz on a Sundown SAZ-2500. The top board (of the 2 baffle boards) was cut to fit around the sub and rounded over, then wrapped in black vinyl:

The view from outside the rear passenger door. I'm still trying to decide how to finish the sides of the box. For now, just painted black:

View from the driver's side rear door. Larger bench still functional:

Got port? Decided to max out on port area for the most efficient airflow possible. Also, left some room behind the port and between the amps for extra batteries (possibly, in the future):

 

[hollatchaboy]

I'm still fine tuning and the sub is still breaking in, but this is honestly one of the cleanest sounding setups I've ever heard. I haven't tuned the doors for max volume, but more for clarity. And, the sub is extremely well-rounded and seems to hit any note I throw at it.

 

[hollatchaboy]

Thanks! That box was bad-ass, but it wasn't exactly the way I wanted it. Looks-wise and sound-wise it was great. But, the airspace was goofy and constricting and one of the subs kept having issues with unloading thanks to being right near the port opening. It was too good to be true, lol!

What happened to the 4 8" speakers you had? I remember reading that build log a while ago... that was bad ass also...