Tat2bass' build log

[tat2bass 10+ year member]

So I made pretty good progress on her today. Gutted the front cabin. Took out the front seats and the carpet which was fairly easy. Was hard for me because I could barely lift the seats. Keep in mind I had a discectomy less than 2 weeks ago. I shouldn't even be doing any of this right now, but I have the time and want it done. I applied 2 layers to the whole floor and 3 under the drivers floor and passenger front floor. Still need to do under the passenger seat.

I also got the mids mounted in the doors the wire ran. Was a huge pain the *** because the runner grommet for the wires going into the door is tiny and my wire is huge. It's about as thick as running a cheap 0 gauge. I had to redo the drivers door. I fucked up and forgot to zip tie the wire down to something to keep it out of the way and when I rolled the window down to check everything out it ripped it right out of the speaker. I was pissed, but it was my negligence.

Anyways on to the pics

Going to be upgrading this tomorrow. It is like 12 gauge wire. Gonna run 0 gauge to it.

 

[tat2bass 10+ year member]

Look what came in tonight!!! My headunit, dash kit and amp kit were all supposed to come in tonight also but for some reason didn't. These thing is awesome. Very heavy for it size and typically RF fashion it is seriously under rated. It's only rated for 100 per channel at 2 but instead comes in at 150. This will be bridged to my Alpine SPX17PRO's and mounted under the passenger seat. This works perfect because there is an air duct that will blow right on it to keep it cool

Birth sheet

So I'm not 100% sure but I think this is to set the gains on it. The amp comes with both input and output clipping indicators. So it works great. I can get my max headunit output and amp output without having to borrow or buy an oscope. Will probably use one when at work one day anyways just to double check, but this will work for now

It's not as big as I thought it would be for being class AB and putting out the power it does

 

[tat2bass 10+ year member]

So I decided to change out the mids.

When I first got the Alpines I checked them very thoroughly and found a small tear in the surround of one of the mids. It is about an inch long. I'm sure the guy I bought them from didn't know it was there as it is only visible when the cone is pushed in and the surround stretched.

The second issue was after I ran the wire and got the speaker all wired up and heat shrunk, the negative terminal on the mid without the tear broke off. I used some JB weld and super glue and put it back on.

But I just decided to replace them now and be done with it. So I'm replacing the mids with the set below. They have nice specs and really good reviews. They will do what I want just fine. Will still be using the crossovers and Alpine tweets. Should get nice and loud and still sound good doing it. Can't wait to get them in. Will be posting the Alpine mids for sale very soon

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_43386_Rockford-Fosgate-PPS4-6.html

 

[Milk Mayne 10+ year member]

I had the same problem with the connectors breaking off my Type-X mids after installing/uninstalling a few times in different vehicles. Should've tried to fix them instead of chuck them, I loved the way they sounded. Great build, keep up the good work. I like the A pillars, never would've thought it would look that good without any glass work.

 

[tat2bass 10+ year member]

I had the same problem with the connectors breaking off my Type-X mids after installing/uninstalling a few times in different vehicles. Should've tried to fix them instead of chuck them, I loved the way they sounded. Great build, keep up the good work. I like the A pillars, never would've thought it would look that good without any glass work.

I was going to glass them and then figured I would try this first and see how they look and if I didn't like them then I could just glass over them. Glad I did because it saved me a lot of work

 

[tat2bass 10+ year member]

So yesterday I got in my headunit and wiring kit. I will start by saying that I am very impressed with the wiring kit. Great value for the price. Nice thick wire and I love that on the power wire they put tech flex on the area that would normally be in the engine bay. The ends are also heat shrunk. The speaker wire is nice and thick. It says 16 gauge but I had to use the 12 gauge setting on my site strippers. The power and ground are 4 gauge and is the same thickness as my knukonceptz 4 gauge. The fuse holder is nice and heavy as well. It comes with a 100 amp mini anl fuse.

The pioneer headunit is very nice also. Absolutely beautiful. Such a classy and smooth finish to it. The only better looking units to me are the pio d9 and the p99. I didn't get this stuff in the mail until 3 and had all the wire ran and headunit in by 5 and didn't have time to play with it. I will play with it some this afternoon and start getting into it and checking the features. So far it seems the same as the 80prs minus being active capable, doing time alignment and displaying vehicle voltage.

Today I will be cleaning up the wires. Just wanted yesterday to hook everything up and test it all.

I am LOVING the design on the Rockford 400x4. The Cd that you can use to set the gains is awesome. And I have the amp sitting now and could put on music and crank it till I get input clipping which is the headunit on 61 out of 62. Then turn my gains up till it turns blue and voila. I can switch between files and see the difference in the quality as one song may not clip and a certain gain level and the next might just a little. I will be doing a thorough review on it for sure.

 

[tat2bass 10+ year member]

Upgraded my ground wire from the battery. I only had one black and one red heat shrink that would fit

 

[tat2bass 10+ year member]

So need some help. I got the rockford pro audio mids in today and hooked them up using the alpine crossovers. Now whenever I turn it up to about 2/3 max volume the speakers start crackling and breaking up and going in and out. I know the crossovers work and all my wiring is good because I had the alpine mids hooked up and were working not even an hour before. My question is what would cause this? Can you not use pro audio mids with a regular passive crossover? I wouldn't see why not. Like I said, the alpine mids were handling it just fine all the way up to 61/62 and gains set correctly

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

keep an eye on your crossovers in the glovebox, I wouldn't have mounted them upside down tis all (heat distribution)

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

also you shouldn't run other speakers on a passive crossover unless they were built to be used with that crossover.

 

[tat2bass 10+ year member]

Ok, so weirdest thing I think I have seen in all my years installing car audio.

Yesterday when I put the rockford pro mids in I would get them starting to break up and the whole set (tweeters included) would cut in and out. The weird thing was I got an alarm on my dash that said "warning, place car in park and check hybrid system immediately". I tried putting the car into drive and it wouldn't move and kept telling me to put it in park and check the hybrid system. It was also causing every warning light on my dash to come on minus the low tire pressure light.

So I check the hybrid battery which is mounted under the rear seats next to the 12v bat and everything looks fine. So it was late and I didn't feel like messing with it last night so I put it off til this morning.

So this morning I go out and turn the car on and turn the radio up and I get the same crap going on. So I go and pull out the Rockford mids and put back in the Alpine mids.

I go and turn my car on and EVERYTHING WAS NORMAL!!! Seriously wtf!?!? How could putting in a different set of mids on a passive crossover cause my entire car to go to **** and not drive or anything. I have never seen anything like it before.

Does anyone have any idea what could possibly cause this? I was looking forward to using these mids. If you haven't heard them before they are awesome. A shop near my house had some and I went in there one day just browsing and listened to them and loved them and the tweets. If I hadn't gotten such a great deal on my Alpines I would have went with a set of them.

 

[tat2bass 10+ year member]

keep an eye on your crossovers in the glovebox, I wouldn't have mounted them upside down tis all (heat distribution)

Mounted them upside down wouldn't have any bearing on heat distribution only issue might be because they are in a closed area but I think they'll be ok.

 

[tat2bass 10+ year member]

Got nearly everything done today. Just waiting on my dash kit and antenna adapter to finish up. I'll be adding subs down the line but not sure when.

Did up the wiring harness. Used gold plated connectors for everything. Not cheap but work great. I didn't bother connecting any of the speaker wires since I'm using an amp. Everything was zip tied together every 3 inches or less. Used a lot more behind the dash to keep it all very clean. Hopefully I never have to undo it all.

 

[tat2bass 10+ year member]

Here it is all finished. I placed the fuse holder where I did so that if it ever blows a fuse, I can easily access it and change it out. It is a perfect fit under the seat. Another cm of width and it wouldn't have fit. If you look to the top you can see where the air duct comes and blows right on it. Being in California I use my AC very frequently and never really have to use heat so it'll keep it nice and cool during the summer and my long drives

How it looks from the back seat with the seat all the forward. When it is in its normal position you can't even see it. I'll take a clearer photo later