a seller called fuzzyletters on da bay. he's in the US.
It's 3/8" "carbon" techflex over 4 AWG cable. There's also one with a gold stripe...
installation for 4AWG: Cut it to the same length, push the most frayed end over first (try not to catch it on anything!) then tape down the one end - where you started from - and push the heatshrink on. Both ends' worth, then remove the tape and the tape over the copper to stop it catching.
make sense?
Why the most frayed end? because you'll fray the other more when pushing the cable down. 1/2" heatshrink worked fine for me last night, I'm getting some 3/4" for the other stuff (2:1 means it's good down to these diameters).
Here another shot: note the crappy soldering (200W iron!)
Too bad Christmas is already over; you need a good soldering station Brett!!
Overheating the solder is, as you point out already, not desirable.
When soldering large diameter cables, I use a very small flame-torch; the solder flows fine, and the heat is only applied for a very short time ,and at the right place, leaving the cable flexible.
When using a soldering iron that's too small, the solder will flow into the wire, making it rigid for some lenght.
Looks cool though with that techflex!
so, now I have the lid on both sides; the one hole for the CBR is done and essentially it's looking a lot better.
This lot of soldering for the new cables went really fast; no screwing around and i'm pretty sure I didn't overheat the solder, either. Helped using some new stuff...
What else? The cabling now needs to be fitted into the car, I can't do much else now without the car and it's -3 and snowing. So I'll probably try and make a start tomorrow night - I'll clear the garage so I can bring the car in, even if I can't leave it in there overnight, it can stay there for a while.
Next to sort is a laptop with some software: I'll start installing a spare Dell D600 after I go for a quick shower and that will play guinea pig for a few days, I want choones on Thursday as I have to drive to work and out to a conference.
The cabling never got finished; in the mean time I just got a 350.2 from the UK for a nice price, so I will stay two way, use the phase 26 and then 350.2 the mids and 90.2 the tweets. The 180.2s and 100.2 will come out. I want / need the space, we will probably be going to one car soon.
Also means I need to rethink the sub .... grr....
got this done, this week, but I need to redo as the LEDs are too big; it fits but the keys are now stiff and not very positive. It's from a Dell keyboard.
finally, the base is in. It's too tight, I might have to do some surgery to get it out again, but it's in.
The car's also empty again so we can take it tomorrow / Thursday to the summer house; the ideas for the amp rack simply don't fit because of the folding seats (grr!). Anyways, progress.
I'll be taking all three amps, soundcard, a laptop, powersupplies and all the related stuff up with me, too, so if the resin turns up I can completely redo one doorcard and create the new tweet housings, whilst I also get the opportunity to replace the horn, add headlamp washers, soundinsulate the floorpan and maybe techflex some more. We'll see. Lots of stuff I could do, four days of pure work should mean - if the weather plays ball - lots done.
that weekend away never happened due to work-related issues.
In the mean time I have been so busy in the office and at home that I simply haven't had time to do all sorts of things.
I've just spent around four hours dropping two wheels and damping behind the wheelarch liners. Tomorrow I will try and get the opportunity to put the car on axle stands as I need to do both front wheels and take the bumper off for the horn and the headlamp washers; if it's as warm as today, it would be great as it meant the damping was drying (second skin spectrum) in about 15mins
Surgery this week to get the baseboard back out, the car is going up North on Thursday or Friday, depending if I get Friday off or not.
- birch for the doors is cut roughly, needs lots more sanding and shaping. Maybe get round to some of that tomorrow.
- got the base board sorted and the seats back up
- first of the new sidepanels in the trunk is started - depron and butyl. It will get another layer of sound isolation on and then some glass.
- the rear section needs the same treatment, will have to work on that tomorrow / Tuesday. Rain's stopped play for tonight...
- sub box is almost sorted, needs oiling and some other stuff needs doing, i.e. the hole for the sub itself. Since I have another project ongoing that needs sorting, too - I'll probably take this with us to the summer house to be oiled, glued, screwed and then resined (with sand) on the inside.
- tomorrow's list is to get the other side sorted in the trunk and the rear. Monday it's time (weather permitting) for the wheels to come off - a rail strike means I'll be working from home and therefore have 2 hours more work time.
Car needs to be usable by Thursday evening. Let's see...
naaa, I'll do some when it's even remotely sorted, i.e. tomorrow.
The sub box is in one piece now, I need to sand / screw the top on and make the sub cutout (made a new jig tonight). Tomorrow is replace Droplinks, damp, and then bumper off time. New horn, new washer fluid reservoir, headlamp washers in place, then Tuesday it's time to start filling the bed we just made so it can be painted over the weekend.
I want the other side done and Butyl'd, along with the part below the trunk lid, before we go on Thursday. Working, installed amps would be a huge bonus.
update: I've ripped it all out again, even though it never got working.
I now have another new plan.
THe SDX10 is going in front of the passenger seat. The baffle is made (ish) and needs to be sealed into place; the remaining holes need to be plugged, though it is already nearly an aperiodic encloseure, with the rear wall being thick carpet and closed-cell foam. I might leave it and see what happens.
The trunk... I have thought through all sorts of ideas with amps and positioning and the sub and enclosures and it's all crap, apart from this one.
The board I took out on Saturday was an absolute pig because it fits perfectly. However, it wasn't bolted down and it was way too heavy. So...
The battery is in the trunk under the floor. I'll create a new false floor. This will have a center section of 900x500mm - and this section will be on a hinge.
On that section will be 2 x 350.2s, each bridged for midbass and linked with a link.
The second row will be a 300.1 and a 90.2, linked with a link, and then the Streetwires combo distro. I'll try and run all cables under the links (raising the amps from the floor) so that they are invisible. Maybe some games with acrylic? Don't know, will have to see if I have the time.
The floor will be 2/3 sections of oak / alu, the 18mm blocked, oiled, wood being held together with T sections of alu, so 300+300+300 with the Ts on the outside holding the central section in place.
I'll be supporting the false floor with some 15mm ply supports, including one between the amp rows - and that should mean I can screw the false floor into place onto those.
there's only four going in. No space for any more The others will have to wait their turn. The 100.2 was an option for mid / tweet but I'd already had to clean the connectors once and I know that the 90.2 has never been installed.
I tested all of them last night and tonight and they all work. The 350.2 is seriously loud when bridged, too. Only stupid issue is having to create RCA cables which are mono for midbass.
I have no idea what the output of this soundcard is, either, so that might also still cause some problems.
issue I started trying to deal with tonight is cabling. I have significant space constraints and I saw on the failed build just how tight things should not be, so I think this time I'll be surfacing pretty much all the cables. Might create a beauty panel later, but this will all be under wood most of the time and therefore the use is minimal, as is the idea of putting LEDs in somewhere.
I'm also racing against time here. The guys are ripping the outside of the building apart (taking insulation off, breaking balconies and such like) so as of a couple of weeks, I can't work outside any more. So I need to be close to done already at that point. Oh-oh....
Tweets / mids will be point source 2" Peerless BBs I have had running in 0.6l - so a pint - for a year or so and work really nicely. I will put them on Ply baffles... but the question remains just how low to try and cross them? Their Fs is 150Hz. I think I will test it, as the ERs can go all the way up to 4k.
So... wood is now cut. I have to glue, though, as I got 6.5mm not 15. The question is whether I need three boards at the bottom or just two - three is good as it means I can hide cables underneath, which would be very cool. I can then also screw the bottom two layers to the floor. Will work on that one logically tomorrow if I get the opportunity.
Lots to cut and deal with over the weekend (the workmen are here to nearly eight meaning I can't get access until then). Glueing the side sections together, routing cable access and then drilling holes. Screwing the supporting sections into place; sawing the alu, oak and then screwing that into place, too. Then oiling a shitload of wood (I think there are 5 pieces for the front plus all the oak)... that will have to wait another week, I think. I want to do it all at once as it will eat time.
The oil needs to be wet for half an hour on the wood and then there's "enough".
I've been too busy working. I have to get this moving; the scaffold comes in three weeks or so and I need to be done in four. That means working every night, even if it's only thinking.
I have my camera with me at work today so there should be something interesting from this afternoon, and maybe some build pics tonight.
ha. No build pics. too hot, stressed wife, idiots left their toys in front of my garage again <grrr> .. so I measured up, instead. The top board now has markings for all 3, 6, 10 and 13mm holes. The two 350s are at the top (left one may need right angle RCAs, but that's another story), the false floor height is 85mm and pretty much everything else makes sense right now.
Tomorrow I'll glue'n'screw the side boards, so that they can be glued'n'screwed in place at the weekend. I'll then need to router some cable paths out on the bottom, but that's relatively simple when I have the holes. But first the baseboards will need to be glued together - and they'll be partly held in place by the uprights.
lots of holes drilled and guess what? the amps don't line up perfectly. ARGH!
There's 1mm in it. It's obvious, though, so I think I will be redoing a couple of holes in the morning.
Also realised I wasn't going to do it quite this way, but I have a cunning plan.
Need to fill some other bits anyway. Will also raise it off the original floor at the same time and hinge it, too. Don't need access to the battery very often, but the possibility without taking half the car apart would be nice.
Sub will have to go in tomorrow, need to brace the baffle and fill in some more holes. Will get the floor done first, cabling will have to wait till I can borrow the 200W iron again and have some more cable.
Then it's about the making of the mid baffles, next week on to software and hardware installation and oiling all the damned wood.
sooo. the baseboard is now built, glued, screwed, and in the car. there's some fine tuning to be done (which I am not surprised about in the least) but the seats are back and click into place.
I re-drilled the holes for one amp row this morning and then they screwed back into place something like correct. It's not perfect, but then I'm not looking for perfect, I'm looking for "it looks so damned good, you don't notice the problems until someone points them out".
Right now I have a sick daughter, though, which is a problem-ish. Just means less time outside tomorrow, maybe. Been out for three hours this morning and another three this evening.
Tomorrow's plan:
- finish the second peice of 6mm, then the 15mm feet so that the cables can be thought through
- cut the oak I have to size and fix in place so the amps can go in, waiting for connections
- think about the sides, essentially re-do them with cotton and MLV.
- make a space for the soundcard in the left side
- think about the rear section / maybe get some alu for this to make a start on it
- start thinking about the door pods as they are next
The others will have to wait their turn. The 100.2 was an option for mid / tweet but I'd already had to clean the connectors once and I know that the 90.2 has never been installed. 
