2014 Kia Optima SQ build

[BoogerMan]

Looking good man! Keep it up.

Can't wait to see what you think when it is all done. I bet it will be nice and quiet and sound great too!

I've got all of my Ensolite and MLV now so I need to get my doors and trunk done //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[tommymilan311]

Looking good man! Keep it up.
Can't wait to see what you think when it is all done. I bet it will be nice and quiet and sound great too!

I've got all of my Ensolite and MLV now so I need to get my doors and trunk done //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

I've been trying to focus on some of the main problem areas (front doors and trunk first) My trunk was really really weak and flimsy. I have it deadened and insulated and now its rock solid and it really changed the way my subs sound. They don't sound as "loose." The bass sound much more "tight." I'm really digging the way it sounds and the road noise has been brought down substantially with just the door speakers. I think because I'll have to keep my seats down I'm going to lay a layer of MLV over most of the trunk so road noise can seep in that way. I'm also making a fiberglass insert for the foam piece that I use as my amp rack to have a cleaner look with my new amp. I got a plan for the amp rack and as long as it comes together it should be pretty cool.

 

[tommymilan311]

So the rainy weekend ruined my plans. So I decided to go off on a new project. I started to fiberglass my amp rack. I've ended up taking out quite a few gussets in the foam and figured a hard shell couldn't hurt. This will also give me a decent surface to thread into. So without further ado. Some pics.

So. Here I am just making sure the new amp is going to fit. Looks like it will. The 4 channel goes in the spot under the Mono. Looks like space isn't going to be an issue for the 4 channel either. The foam has been pretty beat up. The fiberglass shell will sort or be like starting fresh again.





I also decided I would make a battery tray as part of this fiberglass shell.





And here it is after the fiberglass shell has been laid. I'm not the best at this, actually my first ever go with fiberglass, so it doesn't look the best but it'll do as intended.





A few questions tho

1. So I forgot to spray pam down first and i'm having trouble getting it out. I have tape down so it isn't stuck to the foam but I just can't get the tape to come up. Any suggestions? If not its fine that it becomes a permanent fixture.

2. So after the fiberglass was laid I realized that the surface isn't really flat. Is there an easy way of making this a nice flat level surface? I got plenty of fiberglass fabric left and plenty of resin and hardener.

I also plan on making a beauty cover for the amps that will also double as a duct system for the fans.

 

[Eggroll]

A few questions tho1. So I forgot to spray pam down first and i'm having trouble getting it out. I have tape down so it isn't stuck to the foam but I just can't get the tape to come up. Any suggestions? If not its fine that it becomes a permanent fixture.

2. So after the fiberglass was laid I realized that the surface isn't really flat. Is there an easy way of making this a nice flat level surface? I got plenty of fiberglass fabric left and plenty of resin and hardener.

I also plan on making a beauty cover for the amps that will also double as a duct system for the fans.

I'm not 100% on removing it from the original foam, but for #2 I know that you keep adding fiberglass until satisfied, let harden, then sand and add bondo until it's flat/level

 

[tommymilan311]

I'm not 100% on removing it from the original foam, but for #2 I know that you keep adding fiberglass until satisfied, let harden, then sand and add bondo until it's flat/level

Its actually on masking tape. I just can't get all the tape off the foam all at once. Like I said tho, it really isn't a big deal I can add carpet to the whole thing instead of just the fiberglass. And I was thinking of just adding more to build up a few layers and just sanding it down until it is as flat as I'd like. I didn't think of using bondo. That would probably be much easier to work with than the fiberglass resin.

 

[Eggroll]

Its actually on masking tape. I just can't get all the tape off the foam all at once. Like I said tho, it really isn't a big deal I can add carpet to the whole thing instead of just the fiberglass. And I was thinking of just adding more to build up a few layers and just sanding it down until it is as flat as I'd like. I didn't think of using bondo. That would probably be much easier to work with than the fiberglass resin.

I recommend watching the whole vid, but most relevant part starts at 19:20

 

[tommymilan311]

I recommend watching the whole vid, but most relevant part starts at 19:20

Okay. So he used lightweight filler with the fiber glass resin. That seems like a pretty good idea. My problem there is 2 fold. Its not flat so when I put the amp in it doesn't sit flat. Id also like to level it out pretty well so I think I'll be able to do this as well. Its tough because a lot of these guys are doing really a very different application. Like in this one he was working on something that is going to be pretty visible most of the time whereas mines generally going to be hidden 100% of the time, so a perfectly smooth surface isn't as important to me. Plus I plan on covering this with carpet to match the trunk when its all said and done. So I guess in short, can I use the filler in a way that I can fill in the very deep spots and valleys in order to get a perfectly flat level surface? Were talking maybe 1/8 of an inch to maybe even 1/4 inch.

 

[tommymilan311]

Not much for updating today. Last night I was merely prepping for work to come. So I removed my floor liner last night. Not a terribly hard job but I had removed some components that I have never removed before so there was a bit of a learning curve. Still only a few hour of work.

Here we have the seats removed, center counsel removed, most of the dash has been taken apart.





Floor liner removed



Like I said it was mainly prep work so I was just getting the floor liner out and making it driveable again. Unfortunately this is my daily driver so I can't just park it for a week or 2





There are also these foam inserts that go under the floor lining. To me it looks like they are used to help shape the liner behind the dash and at the bottom of the center console.





What should my course of action be on this? What I'm thinking is just put the deadening and insulation behind these inserts.

 

[tommymilan311]

So not much work done last night. Had some pretty bad storms yesterday, apparently a few tornadoes touched down near by. What a fun night, hail, rain, the works. But anyways.

With the car basically taken completely apart I thought I'd start working on cleaning up my wiring. I only got a little work done on the passenger side. My dog basically made me go inside because of the storm. Here is the soldered wires with some heat shrink that connect my feed from the amp to the 6.5" driver and the crossover for the tweeter. Before I just had some crimp things that would come undone pretty often, I'd rather just have a nice solder covered connection with some heat shrink and never worry about it again.



And then I just ran it down with the wires there, and held it in place with a little electrical tape. After that I packed the wire into the OEM loom. There is plenty of room so I don't think I'll have to run new loom on the passenger side for the speaker wire, bass knob adjuster, RCA wires, and I'm going to run the after market mic to the OEM position. I may need to run a new loom for the MS-8 Power cable. It isn't going to taking up a massive draw so I think I'm just going to use a 8 GA wire I have laying around and run from the auxiliary battery in the trunk.



I got more to come just didn't get a lot of pictures last night. Stay tuned.

 

[tommymilan311]

Also need a little feed back. So when I did my math and measuring what I wanted to do for my amp rack the numbers said it would all work out, now that I'm fitting it all together it doesn't appear like its going to work. I would really like to keep this location because it just works so perfectly. I was thinking of making a MDF monting surface here and either just carpeting over it, or adding a layer of fiberglass and resin to mold it to the rack and then carpeting it. Any suggestions?

 

[tommymilan311]

OKAY! Passenger side wiring just about done. I have some stuff that is going to need done once I get the dash completely apart and the headliner off. I'll be running the bluetooth mic and wire for the display up there. The I'm going to attempt to make a mold to fit the display in the sun glasses holder. Idea complements of KHA. So here we go!

Here we got RCAs to the processor, bass control wire to the amp, MIC wire, and the remote wire.





Remote, Power, RCA In, RCA Out, and display (plus everything above that just run through.



Everything going to the front, mic wire and display wire. Also have the Front speaker wire going to the back.



All the wires fit into the OEM loom.



Ran some new wire for the rear speakers. Solder and hear shrink again.



Ran under the seat belt

 

[tommymilan311]

All I'm doing is just following OEM wires and taping mine new runs to the old one. I was going to loom it all up but I ended up covering the wires just about completely in tape. I still might before everything goes back together but I think I'll need some loom with a bigger ID.



Ran them in the back through a OEM grommet. I had already cut the center out of the grommet to allow a little bass in as I try and solve my seats up problem.



Somehow I ran into a bit of a snag... So my path to the trunk for the RCAs and the Bass knob wire should have been shorter, much shorter for the RCAs, yet I'm short about a foot, two feet to be on the safe side. So I guess I'll have to by some extension RCAs and I might just solder in some wire to extend the bass knob. I really don't understand how this happened but it did and I'll have to work through it.



I put back on the panel that covers the seat belt guts to test fitment. Couldn't have been more beautiful!



Ay suggestions on what I should do about the bass knob control wire and RCAs coming up a little short?

 

[tommymilan311]

Its been a while. I've been going on with some personal issues in my life so I just haven't had the motivation to get up and do something. But anyways. I got 3 foot RCA extensions. I'm just going to solder in a 3 or 4 foot extension into the bass knob wire. I soldered my driver side speaker wires and led them to the back. Ran the 0 Guage. It was tough getting it to fit through the grommet so Im still brainstorming that. No pics, sorry. Its just been a little here and a little there when I can actually get up and get something done.

 

[tommymilan311]

After a little bit to myself I finally got back to work on my car last night. I've been wanting to but weather has been rough. I got my floor out last night, hoping to get the ceiling out this weekend and maybe get both treated. I'll have pics up once I start making real progress again.

 

[tommymilan311]

Okay. We got some ceiling work done. I am waiting for some replacement clips to come to hold the rear of the top up. And because of the rain test, I decided I want to add a layer of MLV to keep the sound out better.

So. The first part was making the after market MIC work well, and be hidden. I decided to replace the old factory Mic with the after market one.

I used the original MIC casing and just replaced the old mic with the new on. I I don't think I could tap directly into the factory mic because it turns out it has its own board. This works fine and integrates seamlessly.

I didn't feel the need to show deadening. Its been pretty much the same across the board. I used dynamat tape to hold up the denim insulation with a foil back.

I have noticed that my car stays drastically cooler when its warm out. It also has done a good job of keeping the outside noise out. Unlike with the doors, I can hear tapping on the roof. I think a major factor is that I didn't MLV the roof but MLV the Doors. So when I drop the roof again to replace clips I'm also going to throw up some MLV.