Well, I figured I would just go ahead and start a picture thread. Just kinda snapped a couple quick shots, although I usually REALLY hate showing off work before it is finished. Right now everything is a general state of rough around the edges, but you can see it all coming together



This is the amp rack as it is going to be mounted. I still have a couple loose ends to tie up(blacking out some of the cable holes, straightening wires, etc). Its going to be bolted along the rear gate and I still need to knock out the trim panel for it.


Just a quick shot to show the back of the rack. I didn't bother going all out on the back as its a pretty tight squeeze space wise and is going to be completely hidden. Like I mentioned in the other thread I think there is going to be a good bit of equipment change as this evolves, everything is nice and neat but I didnt bother with conduiting everything like I originally intended.


This is the general form of how the doors are going to look without the midbass pod mounted. The map pocket had a small center platform built of MDF mounted with CA glue and expanding foam, and then polyester ponte was stretched around the edges and resined, and a couple layers of fiberglass matte were laid down to give the whole structure strength. Between the glass, MDF and foam that section of the door is ROCK SOLID. For the time being I am going to ditch runing things active and deal with that hurdle once the install is complete, so the platform on the map pocket will mount one of the Image Dynamics crossovers. Also shows most of the texture being knocked down. Once everything is finished going to shoot it with adhesion promoter, Evercoat Slik Sand, then SEM texture coat and finally a semi-gloss black and clearcoat. I also think I figured out how I am going to deal with the grommet issue. If I cant weasel all the speaker wire into the door, will update on that later


Quick shot of the flush mount Image Dynamics NX30 tweeter in the sail panel. A hole was cut in the sail with a hole saw, area built up to the desired height with kitty hair, the ring was ca glued in and then the whole deal was smoothed over with more kitty hair and body filler.



The door with the pod mounted/propped to show how things are going to look when done.


Quick shot of the door pod. The base is a lil more then 1/4" thick fiberglass. Mounting rings are cut of 3/4" MDF, braced with 5/8" dowels then covered in the ponte material and another 5-6 layers of glass. The inside has been sealed with a milkshake of resin, concrete and body filler to seal all edges and add some weight. The top of the pod was filled with expanding foam and the whole inside sprayed down with undercoat/sound killer. The tweeter mount is actually a PVC fitting that is sealed completely from the midbass drivers airspace. Going to vent it into the area where the stock speaker lives after sealing it all off to try and prevent any leaks. The whole shebang is mounted to the door panel with 12 1/4"-20 bolts with nuts/washers on the other side. They are mounted off axis after playing around with them for a while in the car. I may end up pulling the tweeter from the RF set out, and if I do that I will probably end up throwing a backlit plexi insert into the mount to keep things interesting



Another of the doorpod on its own, and the kick panel pods in process. They are being built using the same method, but I still need to smooth/glass/milkshake.


Backside of the door. 3 or so layers of EDead and a little big of extra bracing. The whole deal is VERY rigid/dense and isn't going ANY WARE.


The other hobby Just threw this up for poops and giggles, a scrimmage at our home field a while back. Have more of these if anyone cares.


Will keep updating this as progress is made. Also will go ahead and snap a couple of the sub box/sub amp rack once I get it out of the car/vacuum it out and get the carpet/coating on it

_________________
Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.

Image Dynamics, Alpine, MB Quart, Pioneer...

'03 Liberty Renegade
RIP WRX

Dude that is gonna be one BADA$$ SETUP!!!!!


I can't wait to see the finished product!


Mike

_________________
LIBERTY or DEATH

2005 Sport with "STUFF"

So tonight I sat down and knocked out a couple quick tasks but this weather is killing my ability to work on the car. There are 8 runs of speaker cable that need to be techflexed, heatshrink'd and run through the rear gate grommet. That is in addition to the two big RCA cables, 4 gauge power and 4 gauge ground that need to work there way in/out.



Chrome is darn hard to take a decent picture of!
First task of the night was throwing together a panel to mount 4 of the crossovers. It is going to be stuck under the rear passenger seat( I cut it out of 1/2" MDF and just tossed some carpet on it). Looks aren't a *huge* concern, but I wanted it to at least keep up the appearance. Since the ID components have the crossover mounted in the doors and the horns are only one run, I am throwing a barrier strip down there as well so i can change things up in the future but I have yet to cut a mount for it. Probably just going to mount both of them with hardcore velcro and be done with it.


With that out of the way, I decided to brave the temperature in the mid teens to get the measurements I need for the first leg of speaker wire. Got the measurements and a healthy dose of cold and then came inside to knock out some wiring. I managed to get three sets of RCAs covered, the speaker wire for the ID comps as well as the horns. I still have four runs that need to get bundled, but that is a project for another day. Unfortunatly I am kicking myself! I went out and braved the cold and got one of the runs of speaker wire in before snaping a picture Meh, this should be good enough for effect

Tomorrow the team has a scrimmage so I doubt I will be able to get much work done, I will be lucky if I drag myself in the door before 11ish
I am hoping I can get all the wiring done before this weekend and can get it run and the amp rack installed Friday or Saturday.

_________________
Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.

Image Dynamics, Alpine, MB Quart, Pioneer...

'03 Liberty Renegade
RIP WRX

Got home early today and have had a chance to work on the last bundle of wires but unfortunately I forgot the darn camera at work. I will try and snap a couple pictures tomorrow, but it is looking like weather permitting I can get the amp rack mounted on Friday. Hopefully will be able to finish the box, get the carpeting done in the back, and maybe even get some work done of the speaker pod.

_________________
Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.

Image Dynamics, Alpine, MB Quart, Pioneer...

'03 Liberty Renegade
RIP WRX

Workin pretty quick man!!!

Mike

_________________
LIBERTY or DEATH

2005 Sport with "STUFF"

Have you considered doing that as a profession? Looks great!

I have always been involved in the auto hobby in one form or another, and in a past life was a parter at a motorsports shop. That being said I think that this whole thing is a learning experience. While I don't think I am good enough to do this for a living, it certainly is a blast and taking on a huge teardown project teaches you a million little things. Who knows, once this is done I would love to help out and build something for a local if the opportunity arises.
Unfortunately no progress for tonight, just walked in through the door and I think bed>wiring.

_________________
Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.

Image Dynamics, Alpine, MB Quart, Pioneer...

'03 Liberty Renegade
RIP WRX

Well, I hit a roadblock today.
The wiring sheath/grommet that runs from the car into the rear gate is a pretty decent size, and there is only one little bundle of wires that runs through it. The problem arises when you have 12 runs of speaker wire(the current 8, and four for expansion/runing things active down the road), a 4 gauge power cable, remote on, and an RCA cable running its way in.
I still have at the very least another two RCA cables and a 4 gauge ground.
After spending an hour or two fruitlessly trying to get the last RCA's in the gate before cursing and giving up for the time being. I am left with a couple options. What I will probably end up doing is tracking down some RCA ends locally, hacking up the current ones, running it through and then attaching the new ends. When I end up rebuilding the system, I think the move is going to be picking up some multi channel studio cable and getting ALL the RCAs in one run. Likewise switching power cable over to something like 14/4 might be able to save some space through more efficient packaging. The weather was a killer, but I got some work done on the sub box as well as wrapping up some loose ends with detail work. Tomorrow I am waking up bright and early and going to try and knock out most of the work thats left on the sub box and if I can figure out a solution to the problem get the amp rack mounted up.

_________________
Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.

Image Dynamics, Alpine, MB Quart, Pioneer...

'03 Liberty Renegade
RIP WRX

WooHoo! Vicro tory is mine!
I ended up cheating a little bit. I went down to my local radio shack and snagged a couple replacement RCA ends and just chopped the current wire, ran it through, and will re solder and attach them when the time comes. This also has the side effect of allowing me to tailor the length of a couple of em to length. Also managed to squeeze in an extra RCA for expansion(I want to add a center channel for 5.1 in the future) and get my 4 gauge ground! Amp rack was wired up and mounted, and get the first coat of bedliner on the sub box. Want to give it a shot and see how I like it when its all finished. Pictures will come shortly, but it is siting on my desk at work and I didn't feel like driving in to pick it up.

_________________
Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.

Image Dynamics, Alpine, MB Quart, Pioneer...

'03 Liberty Renegade
RIP WRX

That looks great. Can't wait to see it when it's finished. One day I want to try my hand at fiberglassing.

_________________
____________________________
Jason

2003 Red Wrangler Freedom Edition

2009 Black Grand Cherokee Rocky Mountain Edition

Still need to clean it up and deal with a couple little details. I blanked on blacking out the area behind the larger wire holes out, and am back on forth on if I care or not. Still haven't really figured out how I am going to make the trim panel happen, but thats a small detail


Hopefully I can finish getting the sub box and the sub amp rack finished up and coated this weekend.

_________________
Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.

Image Dynamics, Alpine, MB Quart, Pioneer...

'03 Liberty Renegade
RIP WRX

No new pictures yet, it was kind of an uneventful weekend. I spent a chunk of time today working on the install, but didn't get as much done as I had originally planned on. Got another coat of bedliner on the sub box and it is starting to look good, a first coat on the top of the sub amp rack and a coat on the piece of trim that runs across the bottom rear of the storage area. Also started to cut and build the trim panel for the rear gate. Building it out of 1/4" MDF and a couple robbed bits from the chopped up stock trim piece. Just need to figure out how I am going to get it all assembled and looking good. The outside edge near the latch is the easy part. The top isn't a huge issue, I cut two panels to fit along either side of the window latch and I am building a skeleton that will get the fleece/fiberglass treatment to cover the latch area. I am kinda at a loss as to how I am going to go about the bottom of the rack though, it has a very hard curve to it that will prevent anything from siting nice and flush.

_________________
Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.

Image Dynamics, Alpine, MB Quart, Pioneer...

'03 Liberty Renegade
RIP WRX

Hey Larkin any more progress man!?

Mike

_________________
LIBERTY or DEATH

2005 Sport with "STUFF"

little bits and pieces but nothing huge This weather on my day off this week was a little less then optimal to work in, and the weather after work has sucked just as hard. I am probably 95% done with the sub box, I just need to finish installing all the t-nuts to mount the drivers and touch up a few areas that I missed and wire up a few odds and ends. For good measure I hit the inside of the box with some 3 cans of quiet kote spray, not sure if it will help anything or not. Also got the first coat of 'liner on the rack for the sub amp, just need to get the bottom and clean it up a little and it should be done. I am still plodding along on the trim panel for the rear gate, I have an idea of how to finish it but the practice of actually making that happen has been tough.
Still no progress on the test door panel, I need need to finish the priming/sanding but once again the weather...

_________________
Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.

Image Dynamics, Alpine, MB Quart, Pioneer...

'03 Liberty Renegade
RIP WRX

I was going to try and finish the box after work today. I say "was" because mother nature shat several inches of ice and snow on us.
darn northeast

_________________
Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.

Image Dynamics, Alpine, MB Quart, Pioneer...

'03 Liberty Renegade
RIP WRX

Project is STILL on hold, we got 6-7 inches of snow today and tomorrow isnt looking much better

Not having a garage sucks pretty hard.

_________________
Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.

Image Dynamics, Alpine, MB Quart, Pioneer...

'03 Liberty Renegade
RIP WRX