The First “Rebuild”
So the last install from 2002 was good enough to win 4th place at Spring Break Nationals (my first show ever) , and went on place at Steel Valley Regionals as well. I even got some pictures published in a side bar section of Car Audio and Electronics while they were covering the Steel Valley show.
But, this would be the beginning of a very sick and un-treatable disease. Before the 02 season was over, I decided to turn down my invitation to IASCA Finals, and instead concentrate on rebuilding for 2003. I wanted more dynamics up front, bigger drivers, more power, and the ability to run an active front stage. So that meant more amps.
I got a 3rd Tube Driver, so that gave me 150 watts x 6 channels total. Staying with the TLR tweeter, I swapped out the 4″ Utopia mid for the 6″ Audium mid range. Now this was a great mid, but it’s know for not handling mid-bass very well. No worries there, we’ll just put 8″ subs in the doors!
For the front stage, this meant new kick panels to hold the 6″ mids. Rather then making an actual kick panel that holds the speaker, like my last ones that held the 4″‘s were, I made pods that sealed up to an opening in the chassis, that vented into the side subframe of the car’s unibody structure, effectively making a free-air mounting, sealed off from the interior of the car. Then, a cosmetic kick panel covered this and held a grill.
The doors took a bit of work too, the stock speaker setup is a 6 1/2″, so the plastic housing that it mounts to was removed, and a re-enforced fiberglass pod was attached the the door frame to hold the 8″ JL free air subs. Ton’s of sound deadening were applied inside the door and on the frame, and a new map-pocket / speaker pod assembly was built to cover the 8″ sub and hold it’s grill.
For the rear, I decided to start from a clean slate. The rear seat was removed, as were all rear trim panels. An amp rack frame made from mdf was build that went over the gas tank area, and down to where the rear seat used to be. This area was built into a storage cubby, housing a Rockford Fosgate amp that powered the JL W7 sub in the rear, as well as housing an Alpine DVD player and 6 disc changer, and all fusing and distribution. The lid for this cubby area housed my EQT’s.
Moving back, on the flat area, the 3 Tube Driver amps were lined up side by side, I removed the top mounted fans from the amp, as well as left the top covers off, and made an air duct that blew air across the heat sinks from a squirrel cage fan. Below the amps were 3 Audio Control active crossovers to split the signal 4 ways.
The rear well had a tub that wrapped around the sub, using the same sub and enclosure from the previous install. Finally, all new trim panels were made from fiberglass, using my standard approach I detailed in my last install, of making a plug first, then taking a mold, and making the final fiberglass piece from this mold. One most of my larger trim panels, I opted to use epoxy resin over polyester, as it offers some flexibility, making installing and removing panels easier. They were finished with texture spray and painted to match the stock plastic panels.
The end result ? Well, after some tuning assistance from Chris Kane at AudioControl, I placed 2nd in IASCA Pro Street 601+ ! Now, you may be wondering why I titled this post “Spring Break 2003 Install”, and not “2003 Season Install”… well, this install as it is presented here, only lasted one show… but that’s a story for another post.
Unfortunately, I don’t have many build pics of this install, but the final pics are here.
