So I finally had some free time today to go and pickup some parts. I did not exactly intend on getting what I got, but...I think I made the right choice. I initially wanted to do an IB setup, but in the end I decided to just do a glassed setup in the tirewell. I will be doing a carputer setup and hopefully I will have enough information here by the time I am done to help out any others who are considering doing a similar setup.

These are the parts I will be running:

Focal 165kf 6.5" Components
Focal 130Ca1 5 1/4's
Jl 300/4
Jl 500/1v2
JL 12W7
Dell Optiplex Gx240
Dynamat Extreeme
Optima Yellowtop
















I will be starting all this tomorrow morning. Any questions, feel free to ask

 

kool man i am subscribed i wanna get a 12 W7 my self what kinda deal did you get on it and what amp are you gonna use to push it ?

 

Got the sub new for $409 plus tax from an authorized reseller. I will be running a 500/1v2 to it.

 

So I got some decent work done yesterday. Modified the stock front speaker enclosures, dynomatted the front doors, and took apart all the paneling for the rear.

Today's Ajenda:

-mount fronts in enclosure
-install tweeters
-paint front door panels (doing a tan-black conversion)
-make some rear speaker brackets
-install rears
-make new rear shelf with port hole in the center wrapped in suede to match roof which will be in same suede.
-paint all rear paneling



Here are some pics from yesterday:


For the fronts, I decided to cut the front half od the enclosure, add a 1/4" mdf, fill it somewhat with liquid nails to hold it, then dynamat the hell out of it.

 

These are the bad boys that are going in there.....Focal 165 KF's












Some dynamating

 

Evil,

There not going to fit like that. You need to seperate the front half form the back half of the enclosure. Use the back half of the pod. You'll need to cut away the bottom part of the pod to let the Focal have some breathing room into the door. Then attach the MDF to the front part of the pod. You'll need to dremel it down in some certain spots. If you keep it the way you have now the 6 1/2" is going to hit the door panel. Trust me, been there before. I've got to pull mine at the first of the week to run another set of speaker wire in my door to go active. I can post some pics of my pods then if you like. Can't believe when I started my build I didn't take pictures of my pods. It's a pretty simple process but one you only want to do one time.

Shane

 

Ill test fit them today, I cut out almost 4" from the top half so they are sitting quite a bit lower.

 

So I went to test fit the fronts yesterday with the panels on, and as shane said, they didnt fit. To be honest, I didn't like the way i did them anyway. So when I was looking at the enclosure I noticed that there was one flat part that ran across the enclosure, but there was a bunch of plastic trim pieces and find not allowing them to be flush, so OUT with the grinder! This is a much better route.







Heres a comparison of before and after what it should look like:












From them on, I just made a template with some carboard and used 1"4 mdf for the cover. I then used JB Weld Quick in between the mdf and the plastic, then I used liquid nails construction grade to seal all around the perimeter. I also decided to add a little 1 1/4 port thinking the space might not be big enough. Well see later if that was a mistake or not. Here's a pic of what it looks like with the speaker test fitted in:








They will be sanded down a little and Im going to lay dynamat all over it before I actually mount the speaker in.

 

I also completed Dynamating the Rear deck lid and upper backseat area. I used 2- 1/4" mdf spacers to get them to fit. Here are some pics:

 

Also did some painting of the door panels. It kinda sucked cause it was on/off showers all day and Where i was painting it was an uncovered area. Anyways, it came out actually greater than expected. The paint that was used was SEM in Landau Black. All I gotta say is this, if your planning on painting interior parts, TAKE YOUR TIME. This is one of those things that if you rush, it would look like you rushed, and if you take your time, it will look like you took your time. Enough blabbing, here are the pics:



Getting panel prepped"







Bottom Portion after 4 coats comparison:










Final Product Re-assembled:





Im probably not going to get a chance to work on it this week, but next up on the list are:
- mounting the fronts in
- wiring/mounting the crossovers
- painting all the rear panels
- make a new decklid with custom suade
- redo roof with same custom suade
- make the glass box for the 12w7

Any questions/comments, please feel free


-Malek

 

man I have to admit that the door looks nice...brandnew.

 

what kind of paint is needed to do something like that?

 

Evil,

Better, but you need to cut the bottom half of the pod out to let that Focal have more air space. Porting isn't going to help like what you did because of the tuning frequency of what you need. Most 6 1/2 drivers need up to 1.5 cubic foot of air space to operate in effeciently. Our doors barely make that. Your midbass is going to be almost non existent like it is. I had Focal Utopias in my old car and did exactly what you've done. Once I opened it up my midbass doubled up front.

Shane

 

I used "SEM" spray paint. You can find it online. color I got was "landau black" or something like that.

Ill definatly look into this and will contact Focal to get some more info. Think maybe i should Seal the front port up and open up the rear? Also how much of the rear did u cut exactly...

 

So i spoke to Focal today and these speakers require at least 1.0 ft^3 , so it looks like I will in fact have to open up the rear of the pods.

I got some free time today to do a couple things. Todays order of business includes:

- New rear shelf w/ black Claiborne suade (good stuff)
- Headliner w/ black Claiborne suade
- Painting most other interior parts minus dash
- finishing up fronts


I will post later on tonight with results. Wish me luck on that headliner!