Building setup Cavalier 97 **NOW WITH RSD65CS**

Post by **ttocs** » Thu May 20, 2010 6:05 pm

I highly recomend you don't leave the tape on for any longer then you need it and certainly not exposed to extreme summer heat. I had a project delayed in my truck so I left the tape up for the summer and was amazed at how hard it was to remove. Now this was a summer in the phoenix sun where it is 110 in the shade but it the adhesive stuck only to the interior the tape became hard and brittle so it took a couple of hours with goo-gone and a scraper to get it all off. I can't imagine it will come off of trunk liner any easier....

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Thu May 20, 2010 6:17 pm

ttocs wrote:I highly recomend you don't leave the tape on for any longer then you need it and certainly not exposed to extreme summer heat. I had a project delayed in my truck so I left the tape up for the summer and was amazed at how hard it was to remove. Now this was a summer in the phoenix sun where it is 110 in the shade but it the adhesive stuck only to the interior the tape became hard and brittle so it took a couple of hours with goo-gone and a scraper to get it all off. I can't imagine it will come off of trunk liner any easier....

Yeah saw this before, but lucky as i am it waesn't that bad.

I plan on doing it in like 2 weeks, when damage from surgery won't be a matter anymore, so it should be all good!

Simao · Post by **Simao** » Fri May 21, 2010 1:26 am

the box of the MTX is fantastic!!!

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Sat May 22, 2010 8:58 am

Was looking around the forum, and found topics on making my own RDDP and LPL, so i ordered the necessary material to make them! Dunno where i'll mount them, but i'm sure they will be a nice addition to this project!

gridracer · Post by **gridracer** » Sat May 22, 2010 9:32 am

I have unlimited access to the bass knobs that come with MTX amps I am notsure what value the pots are, but if they work I can have as much as I need for cheap.

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Sat May 22, 2010 9:46 am

I ordered 5x50k for less than 10$

I buyed everything in 5 pack, total cost less than 50$ for lpl so i might end up selling custom made one for like 10$

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Sun May 23, 2010 4:44 pm

Girlfriend was mad at me since it's not even 48hrs after surgery, but i did it anyway... I was tired of staying in bed or just walking in the house, so i asked her to mix the resin and hardener, got the mask and all thoses nices tools i bought last week out, and did this :

Will be ready to unmold tomorrow morning

Gotta say one thing, the resin i bought this time is kicking ass! It's fresh, mix well, apply well, roll well, it's perfect! Took me about 30mins to do both side! And damn gotta say working with a mask is nice! No odor whatsoever! Was not sure about the roller since it doesn't have pick on it, but ended ud making a very good job!

Can't wait for tomorrow to see the result! (and to see if pain's gonna let me know i sould've waiting at least 72hrs after surgery to do this

)

jbob0124 · Post by **jbob0124** » Sun May 23, 2010 4:47 pm

Im sure its well worth it.

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Sun May 23, 2010 5:09 pm

Yes me too

Just went to check if everything was curing well, and one side was already ready to unmold! Yep, i'm definitly sticking to this resin for now on!

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Mon May 24, 2010 7:44 am

Here is the final layers of fiberglass of the driver's side mold :

There is now 5 layers on it, and it's now drying prior to cut. The passenger side one needs another layer before unmolding, it's too soft and i don't wanna break it. I'll probably do the 5 layers in the car, less trouble than doing one, wait for it to dry, then make the others one. I'll just wait for this one to dry, so i can clean my mixing cup prior to finish passenger's side

jbob0124 · Post by **jbob0124** » Mon May 24, 2010 2:01 pm

Probably better doing it with it fit in the car anyway. If you were to pull it off and then put the extra glass on, the part might flex and might not fit as snug as if you had glassed it all in the trunk.

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Mon Jun 07, 2010 7:32 pm

Man i'm so tired of waiting for parts to come in! Every morning i wake up and i look at this ZX475Ti and my XS124 waiting to be installed and it's freaking long! Come on UPS guy all i need now is the battery posts and terminal!

By the way i finished fiberglassing one box tonight, i will probably install the new MDF rind on the second one and fiberglass it tomorrow now that i have a place inside the sheed! Expecting to be able to install the amp and the boxes before week-end!

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 3:22 pm

Ok here is finally some advances in my install!

I stripped the old install and started by trying to put everything on a plywood that i was about to screw on the backseat. Decided to install the amps and the cap like this :

Then it was down to put carpet on the plywood, and fix it where it goes. I used 9 self-tapping 1 1/4 screw and it is now securly holding :

Then i started to install everything, after a while it was starting to look good! I then started to wire everything up. But in the middle of the process, the girlfriend arrived and asked if i wanted to go eat somewhere. So end of the day. This is my progress so far :

Comments/suggestions are welcome! I plan on screwing the wires attach cuz 3M and carpet = no good!

Tomorrow i'd like to pass the 1/0 wire from front to back, and probably finish everything else, but if weather is too nice i might go fishing!

Post by **ttocs** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 8:15 am

just an FYI, staples and glue are much better for carpeting. if you do not mount this flat on the ground I am willing to bet that after some time the carpet will stretch from the heat and start to hang down where it is not secured. I would pull out the screws, and use some 3m supper77 or something similar with some staples around the corner and it will look better and last longer.

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 8:18 pm

I used cement glue for the carpet, should hold well!

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 8:48 am

Ok after another 5hrs non stop work on the system, i was finally able to hook the ZX475Ti to see how it sound with a XS124!

First impression is... WOW! I used to think my sub sounded hard as hell with the kenwood amp, so imagine how impress i was when music started!

Everything went smooth, the 1/0 was the longest part of the job. Found a good spot for ground was fairly easy too. As stated, i was worried at first for the PODBI terminals, but they are truly great!

Now all i have to do is to pass new wires for the rear speakers, hide them behind the existing carpet, install the LPL44, double my remote wire so the 2 amps comes up, set everything to sound great, then done for today!

I still have to finish thoses subwoofer boxes, which should takes no time, cuz since i've heard the system sound with my new amp, i honestly can't wait to install the two XS to hear it! Might as well finish them tonight!

Pics are on the way, i'm charging the camera right now, since i think the final result deserve better pictures than the ones took by my phone!

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 12:36 pm

Man i'm exhausted! But at least the result was well worth it! Since my boxes aren't finished, i'm currently running only 1 XS124 in my old MDF box. I like the fact that all the wires moving to different locations of the car are stealth. You can barely see them, but i plan on making a wood bar with carpet to hide them. I really like the overall look of the install! So much better than the last one where my 2 amps were screwed on the MDF box! Here are some pictures :

The ZX475Ti all hooked up and working!

Here you can see my fused distribution block, my ground distribution block and my Blaupunkt amp that drives all the speakers in my car

A Pyle 1.7 Farad Cap. I taped the top of the poles to avoid any shortcut!

Another angle, where you can see the Blaupunkt amp running and all the adjustements knob.

A shot from the trunk, when the seat is in normal position

Another shot of the trunk

General view, so much cleaner than before! Can't wait to see it completed with the fiberglass boxes installed!

A view of the PODBI terminals. They look nice and worked well! My car's original positive wiring had a 4ga cable and a 8ga cable, so it was an easy fit! Used 1 1/0 spot for the amp, that leaves me another one to upgrade the big 3 when i get more cable! The negative one only had a 4ga cable, so i could've keep the original terminal, but i prefered changing the two, looks better and will be cleaner when big 3 done!

So that's it for today! I forgot to take a picture of the main fuse holder, but it's basicly a 1/0 ANL fuse holder with a 150amp fuse. I didn't connected the distribution block's display as it stays on even after i close the car. I'll have to use a relay, probably hooked up to the remote on of my radio to make it turn on, or maybe i'll just leave it as it for the moment. I used a total of 24ft 1/0ga cable, and 12ft 4ga cable, plus another 15ft 12ga cable.

jbob0124 · Post by **jbob0124** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 12:41 pm

Progress is always good. How much do you have left on the glass boxes?

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 12:51 pm

jbob0124 wrote:Progress is always good. How much do you have left on the glass boxes?

One could be stated as done, but it's not looking good enough to me. I'll go get some bondo tomorrow to make it look a little better before carpeting, and i'll probably add just one layer of mat on the inside, where the cloth giving the form ends, just to be on the safe side.

The other one was nearly done too, but i didn't liked the result, so i took off the grinder and removed the cloth part to redo it and i broke the MDF ring by mistake. The new MDF ring is ready, so i have to glue it down, put some clothing on top of it and put a layer of resin of it, then the usual 5-6 layers, then bondo and 1 layer of mat inside.

I decided to take Eric D's advice and not use a terminal. I'm gonna drill a small hole to pass the wiring and then seal it. So not many work left, it's more that i was too much perfectionist on theses boxes so it took longer than expected! I'll concentrate my efforts on the almost done box, so if everything goes well it will be ready to install tomorrow night.

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 1:04 pm

Oh yeah, forgot to add that the LPL44 is gonna be installed soon, i just didn't feel like removing all the front dash to install the potentiometer today, so next time i have a little bit of motivation i'm finding him a nice place!

eulogious · Post by **eulogious** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 12:27 am

Good work man! It's always nice to see it come together, even if it takes forever!

Couple suggestions. Instead of running another remote on wire, just wire in a relay by your amps. That way you just run one wire from the HU, and the relay takes care of the rest. This way you also do stress your HU remote on circuit as well with multiple amps.

And you should use some heat shrink around your cap wires. Some nice heat shrink will make it look a lot cleaner.

Lookin' good though man! Can't wait to see the new box in there as well!

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Thu Jun 17, 2010 4:30 am

eulogious wrote:Good work man! It's always nice to see it come together, even if it takes forever!

Couple suggestions. Instead of running another remote on wire, just wire in a relay by your amps. That way you just run one wire from the HU, and the relay takes care of the rest. This way you also do stress your HU remote on circuit as well with multiple amps.

And you should use some heat shrink around your cap wires. Some nice heat shrink will make it look a lot cleaner.

Lookin' good though man! Can't wait to see the new box in there as well!

Went buying heatshrink tubes yesterday, will probably put them into place today!

Here is some updated pics on the almost finished box. It is now almost almost finished!

The cut was made so the trunk could close. I then installed a cloth to make the final curve form.

See how far it goes in the box!

Here is the cloth soaked in resin, and one layer of mat on top to give it a little strengh

Waiting to dry so i can test it

Installed in the trunk, hoping it will work!

Looking good!

Final adjustment before testing!

Don't see well, but this one is took with the trunk half closed to show it actually close all the way down without problems!

Knowing that it was fitting well, i then went into the trouble of making another 5 layers on the curve from the inside, and let me say that it was not easy to apply resin in the corners! But after one night of curing, it's now as hard as steel!

Here is a pic with the XS124, just to make sure everything is fitting smoothly!

And since i had too much resin prepared, i went into fiberglassing my custom pod gauge mold. Used 3 layers of mat of the center, 4 on the top and bottom.

Now i'm going to make a temporary install in the trunk to check cable lenght, then make the mounting holes, carpet it and probably install it! Then attack the other one!

eulogious · Post by **eulogious** » Thu Jun 17, 2010 4:41 am

Nice man, glad its coming together for you finally! Looking good! Glad you got the heat shrink, will clean that up real nice

What are you going to cover the box with when your all said and done? (Might have already answered that, I really don't remember...)

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Thu Jun 17, 2010 5:04 am

I have some carpet i bought in a local electronic store, but not sure if it will do as it doesn't stretch well. It's the same as i used for the wood piece that holds my amps. If it doesn't works, will have to check for another type of stretching carpet!

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Thu Jun 17, 2010 5:27 am

Ok this one is a c/p of another of my post, but it should really be here too since it's my LPL install :

Can't say about just like a real LPL, didn't heard one, but i know that when the knob is all the way off, no sub boom at all, and when it's all the way on, damn it shakes like hell! And that might sound dumb, but i totally love this little mod, since some tunes i'm listening to sounds wayyyy better with just a little more or a little less boom, so it's easy to adjust with this!

Here are the pics of the install:

The third one is just to show the actual size of the knob. The little white bar is nice on the knob. It looks clean enough to me!