2001 Grand AM Build

[iApex 10+ year member]

It was about time for an upgrade and I had to do a project for school that required a project that took 15 hours so I figured it was a win win situation. I saved up $500 to cover everything but soon realized it wasn't nearly enough some how. I probably should have kept better track.

So the old set up was

12" MTX Thunder 6000

Kenwood KAC-7204 powering the MTX

MTX4240 powering the front

Alpine SPX-13REF for the front.

I took out the thunder and the MTX amp, put the Kenwood on the doors and picked up a Hifonics BXI 1610D and a 12" Type R.

40ft of 2ga welding cable

3ydx40" of grey automotive carpet

150A 2ga ANL inline fuse

battery post terminals

2/0 ring terminals

10ga wire for the speakers

2x 120mm fans

some mdf

plexi glass

and some other stuff.

Nothing in the trunk, other than the wiring for the mids and the old 4ga wire thats now on the kenwood

Lug on the side post battery, i bought battery post terminals then realized they wern't going to work so I went to my mechanic and he hooked me up with one of those battery lugs, worked like a charm.

4ga with a maxi fuse

Click to read more...

 

[iApex 10+ year member]

Nothing in the trunk but the speaker wire to the fronts RCA's and the 4ga for the kenwood

My friend's Honda and my GA in the shop because it was raining all day

I tried to get the battery terminal to fit on the battery lug but even when i tightened as hard as i could it was still super loose so i put it in the vice and 2 rotations later i snapped the bolt in half. Then I took the vice and closed the end to make the hole smaller, but ended up over doing it so i tried to open it back up and the thing just cracked in half, i was pissed lol.

Power wire running through the firewall

 

[iApex 10+ year member]

Just wired everything up, the grounds that were in a picture above were wimpy little 8ga grounds and those have been tossed, they were replaced by 2ga grounds.

I have some cathodes i'll be using later on that i wired up and tucked behind the trunk carpet

That's all for now, everything has been wired up and just tossed in.

The sub is in that prefab box as a temp 2 day thing until my custom box is ready, the one andy is working on. 2.25cf @32hz.

I just wanted to see if the sub and amp worked so i tossed it in that prefab sealed box for now, that thing slams in that box so I can't wait until i put it in the good box.

Everything is working fine but one thing, i can't figure it out. when the volume on the deck is low, the speakers emit this whining noise it's really high pitched like the ringing you hear in your ears and really annoying, but you can only hear it if you press your ear against the pillar. I was thinking it might be from running both of the power wire down the same side of the car? I have no idea, but i figured i'll trouble shoot it another day, it doesnt bother me right now and i wont be running it a lot.

On friday, the custom box goes in, along with the fans and the amp board to make it look all nice and neat. I'll be back with updates friday evening hopefully.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[thormxkid 10+ year member]

witch side did you run your rca's, could also be a bad ground, is your deck a pieneer?

 

[plumbcrazy 10+ year member]

for the loudest setup in that car would be sub firing drivers side port back

 

[mobeious 10+ year member]

holy rat nest

 

[Boomintempo 10+ year member]

Nice little upgrade. Could definitely use some cleaning up, maybe on another rainy day? Or when you put your next box in. Is that type r a dual 2 ohm? Curious as to how the sub is handling the hifonics!

Your terminal that you snapped looks very similar to the ones I bought a while back and just couldn't get a good grip on the battery posts. Very annoying, and ended up buying something else that worked. It seems that style of terminals are junk, just don't grip for crap!

 

[99grandprixGT 5,000+ posts]

should of went with two type Rs off that amp...

 

[TMali 10+ year member]

thats alot of wire just laying around in the trunk

 

[iApex 10+ year member]

witch side did you run your rca's, could also be a bad ground, is your deck a pieneer?

The RCA's are run on both sides, Sub RCA runs on the passenger side and the fronts RCA runs on the driver side. A bad ground is very possible. And the deck is an Alpine iDA-x100.

Something I noticed is when the Hifonics is disconnected from the battery under the hood, the whine goes away. Very strange

for the loudest setup in that car would be sub firing drivers side port back

Yeah that's the plan, that box is only in there until Friday when I go pick up the other box, like i said it is 2.25cubes @32hz

26 x 17 top

26 x 17 bottom

14 x 17 back

23.125 x 14 outer spk mnt

21.5 x 14 inner spk mnt

15.5 x 14 side

15.5 x 14 side

12.75 x 14 port

12.75 x 14 port

According to BassMechkanic

holy rat nest

Nice little upgrade. Could definitely use some cleaning up, maybe on another rainy day? Or when you put your next box in. Is that type r a dual 2 ohm? Curious as to how the sub is handling the hifonics!
Your terminal that you snapped looks very similar to the ones I bought a while back and just couldn't get a good grip on the battery posts. Very annoying, and ended up buying something else that worked. It seems that style of terminals are junk, just don't grip for crap!

Yeah it's getting cleaned up tomorrow i finished at midnight and had to type a 5 page paper, so i just tossed everything in. The sub is dual 4ohm, wired to a 2ohm load, and it handles the hifonics without any trouble. the hifonics doesn't get remotely warm, and the sub doesnt get distorted or smell like burning coils. Throwing around 750rms to it right now. I'll probably bump it up to 850-900 rms once i put it in the new box.

The terminals are junk, i got them off of parts-express, it was $14 for the pair. complete junk, i had to crimp the one i had left together with a vice, then take off the battery lug, and beat it to death with a hammer to get it to go on. it's on there though, it's really on there lol

should of went with two type Rs off that amp...

Didn't have the money =/ or i definitely would have.

Nice thing about it is when i get some extra, i can sell that R and buy 2 new ones for around $220 and be set. I bought the amp with extra power for good reason, i'd rather have too much than not enough, you can always turn the gain down //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

thats alot of wire just laying around in the trunk

You're telling me, it was a PITA to label all of that crap so I didn't forget what's what. it will look much cleaner by saturday, providing the box is done on time.

 

[Enellz 10+ year member]

Do you attend ca school?

 

[iApex 10+ year member]

Do you attend ca school?

nope, i dont even know what that is

 

[QuantumAudio]

One of the biggst hack jobs of wiring Ive ever yet to see dude

Thats horrible, connections look like shit, bare exposed wire at alot of them, button this up, and make an amp rack to tidy it

For the money you spent, you coulda done alotta better on both equipment and install

 

[iApex 10+ year member]

One of the biggst hack jobs of wiring Ive ever yet to see dude
Thats horrible, connections look like shit, bare exposed wire at alot of them, button this up, and make an amp rack to tidy it

For the money you spent, you coulda done alotta better on both equipment and install

lol, you must have not read the entire thing, it will be hidden within the next day or two. it's still under construction.

I finished at midnight and making it look neat at midnight was not on the top of my list. it will be cleaned up.

 

[QuantumAudio]

Even on my worst day just testing, I dont twist wires and have bare xposed connections and loose amps. Finishing at midnight is no excuse, if you cant do it proper and right, why do it at all

Do it right the first time, run wires neatly, use zipties and dont cut 1" of insulation when only 1/4" is going into the amp terminal, leaving the rest out to get shorted on