ejschultz' Build Log

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

Alright, here we go. I finally got out and got a couple new pics of the alternator installed on the Jeep and my tinted signals too. It only took 3 weeks...

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

Well, I made some progress yesterday and today. I decided to re-wire my car and get rid of that huge fuse under my hood. I picked up a fused battery terminal from Phoenix Gold and some StreetWires UF OFC 1/0 to accomplish everything. While I was at it, I decided to mount my box from the rear. I went and picked up a couple of heavy duty hinges and some sheet metal screws for that. I also decided I was going to run 4 gauge to my 4 channel like I wanted to since I put in the MRV-F345. The pictures you see in the trunk are from inside the car. The back seat does not fold down; I had to remove the back seat to mount the box. I also accomplished my "big 6" project. I ran 1/0 from the battery + to alternator, battery + to starter, battery - to body, and battery - to my block. I ran 2 gauge from the battery + to the main fuse box and from the battery - to my chassis. The new wiring completely replaced my factory wiring and it all connects to the side post of my battery. I'd like to thank Gary at Innovative Wiring for making this kit for my car. Lastly, I added my CS144 alternator. Voltage drops to about 12.8 volts now at full tilt. Not too bad. Pics...

Some shots of Gary's wiring:

new alternator:

new battert terminal, don't mind the other Kicker terminal. That's going to come off as soon as I can get a little black cap...

New wire, techflexed and securely mounted:

Box mounted:

And finished shot of the engine bay:

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

Alright, I went ahead and put my Type R in a box built to the recommended specs by Alpine in the manual for the sub for what Alpine calls "optimum" performance. The box is 19.5" wide x 16.5" tall x 20" deep. The port is 22.5" squared. It's 27" long inside the box. The box grosses at 2.9 cubes and nets at 2.25 cubes after the port and sub. Fb is 30 Hz. So far I'm liking the box, but I still can't pick up on the extreme lows for some reason. They're at least audible now, but they drop off pretty severely. I may need a little more power for the Type R. Hmm... Kicker 750.1? Anyway, on to the pics...

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

I had a little bit of time today before work so I decided to finally deaden the front doors of the Jeep. I had/still have a ton of Audio Wrap deadener. This stuff is super sticky. The backing on it isn't paper like other deadeners, it's plastic. That kinda ****** because it was tearing and stretching while I was attempting to pull it off. Other than that, I don't have any complaints about the product. I did my best to seal off the doors using the deadener. The only holes left were holes the door panels inserted to. I haven't listened to anything yet so I'll have to update you all when I actually sit down to listen to something in the Jeep to let you know what kind of difference it made. On to the pics...

I did slip my mind to get a pic of the passenger door before I started deadening. I guess you can imagine a mirror image of the driver door for what that looked like before I started.

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

The deadener made a world of difference. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that I had a new set of mids in the doors. They shine now more than ever before. This is the first time I was able to "A B" test deadener. When I did my car, I deadened as I installed the 720PRS components; I've never heard them in my doors without the deadener. I've been running these speakers for quite some time now with no deadener. The couple of hours I spent doing this today was well worth it.

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

I installed another MRV-F345 today. This time it was in the Jeep. I decided it was time to run my front stage in there active as well. I like it better already because I'm not able to attenuate the tweeters from the crossover without adjusting the EQ. Aside from that, I was able to give my mids a little more power and the tweeters a little less power. I didn't start messing with any TA yet, but that's on my list of stuff to do now that I've gone active. All in all, the actual labor wasn't too bad. It took me all of an hour and a half to completely rip apart my dash, run another set of RCAs back, hide the RCAs, install the amp, and do a little bit of tuning. Not only did I install the amp, but I also managed to locate a KWE-061M Amplink Y cable for my Amplink. Now I can control both my mono and 4 channel from the HU. I don't have any pics of the install because it's not clean right now. I need to finish up my amp rack that I've had in the planning stage since who knows when. When I get that completed, there'll be pics of everything.

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

Alright, I bit the bullet and built my amp rack today. Surprisingly, it was rather easy. It's nothing special; I didn't think I had it in me to build anything quite honestly. I'm proud of it and it allowed me to mount my amps to my seat. I did my best to clean up the wiring. I needed to leave a little slack for when the seat is folded down. The little white thing that's in there is a fuse that's inline with my remote turn on for my mono amp. I have that in there so I can pull the fuse, then disconnect my box and pull the box out of the Jeep, should I need to carry anything large. I've had that in there for a while but it really never did me any good because I still had my amps sitting in the way. Anyway, on to the couple of pics I took...

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

I just picked up a set of Tidal Audio TM12.4 subs for the Caprice. It turns out my box is perfectly matched to their specs. For those of you who don't know about Tidal Audio TM12.4s, they're rebadged Image Dynamics ID12V3D4s. I'm dumping the CVXs in favor of a little more SQ. I'll post some pics when I get them.

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

Well, here they are... Tidal Audio REF-TM12.4 OEMed by Image Dynamics (ID12D4V3)

So far I like them. They're a lot more musical than my CVXs. They play just as low, if not lower, they're a lot smoother, they blend extremely well with my front stage, and, I didn't turn them up too much yet, but they still get decently loud. I've got them wired for a 4 ohm total load. I'll eventually be giving them about 700 RMS for the pair. These were definitely worth the upgrade.

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

Well, I traded my Type R 15 to my brother in law for his, my old, Type X 10 back. I decided to put it into a sealed box rather than the large ported box it was originally in. It's nice having some cargo space, and when I need to take it out, it'll be a lot quicker, too. I'm running it in .7 cubes gross sealed which is .05 cubes larger than the Alpine recommended specs. Also, don't mind my crooked "amp rack." That'll get fixed in the spring time. I don't feel like freezing my *** off just to make that straight.

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

Picked this up today to replace the MRV-F345 in the Caprice to give the PRS components some real power.

MRV-F545

 

[Dtrom 10+ year member]

A 3 year long build log.

I like your style.

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

My wife's going to kill me soon. Between my Caprice and my Jeep, I've spent way too much money, money that I'll never get back and will never go toward increasing the value of the vehicles in which it was "invested." But hey, I could be spending the money on hookers and blow, right?

 

[Dtrom 10+ year member]

My wife's going to kill me soon. Between my Caprice and my Jeep, I've spent way too much money, money that I'll never get back and will never go toward increasing the value of the vehicles in which it was "invested." But hey, I could be spending the money on hookers and blow, right?

That's one way to look at it lmao

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

That's one way to look at it lmao

It's the way my wife should look at it. "I could either drop a couple hundred on a vehicle, or a couple hundred on hookers and blow. Which do you prefer, honey?"