# 2003 Maxima-Pioneer P01, Morel, AE IB, PG Xenon



## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Hello DIYMA.

I have been working on this project a bit as I built up funds to buy all the boring stuff (wire and deadening). The first couple of progress posts will come quick and then slow down a bit as I want to make sure I take my time on the install portion and do it right.

I have all the gear which is listed below (with a couple of pics) 

Source: Pioneer P01
Tweeters: Morel Supremo Piccolo
Mids: Phoenix Gold Ti Elite 5.25"
Woofers: Morel ADMW 9's
Subs: (2) AE IB12's
Power: (2) Phoenix Gold Xenon 200.4

The plan is to have the 9's in the doors, the 5.25" in the kicks, the Piccolo's in the dash, and the IB's....well, IB. 

I even have a plan of attack if things don't sound the way I like. I am shooting for a 2-seat car, so the tweets may go in the kicks before this is over. If they do and the stage is low, I have two thoughts. 1.) Buy an "upstage" type kit or 2.) replace the PG 5.25" with Morel Integra Ovation 5.25" and move the Piccolo's to the A-pillar. I have also always wanted to try rear fill. If I go this route down the road, I will be purchasing the mini-DSP Bikinpunk has shared with us and split one side to my tweeters on the PG amp and the rear fill side to the amp that came with the P01.

So, enough talk, here is the "box shot" of my gear:


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

While saving for the wire and deadening, I split my project into two parts and had my father help me a bit with one. I worked on building the baffle pictured above and he worked on the hardware for the amp rack I had planned out.

First up is the baffle build:

I started out by cutting cardboard out to fit the size of the ski-pass. After I got that done, I transferred it over to 4 sheets of 5/8" 11-ply birch and cut them out. I pushed all 4 sheets up against the ski pass and then screwed them together with sheeter screws. I had to do this since the floor is mostly flat but the ski-pass is at a slight angle. If I had just stacked them up they wouldn't of fit flush when I tried to install it. Since I would have to un-screw them to do my cutting and routing, I marked the top with an arrow for l-r alignment and I marked the bottom on the edge of one sheet and top of the next. So when I stacked them back up I made the triangle align and made sure that there was no wood seen between my top to bottom marks (the pictures in a minute make it clearer). 



















There was a gap in the baffle at the top of about 3/8" where the board was hitting a metal lip above the ski-pass hole, so on the top board I hand routed out some material so it would sit as flush as possible against the metal. Also, after some measuring, I realized the subs would need to face the trunk to fit in the ski pass. The subs were larger than the ski pass but the baskets weren't, so I could mount them this way no problem. So I started by routing a hole in the first two pieces of wood. I wanted the area behind the subs to be open, so I didn't want a circle in all four boards, so the two towards the cabin I routed out following the profile of the ski-pass but set 1/2" inward. Lastly, I wanted to make this removable and not destroy the wood over time, so instead of screwing it in, I installed t-nuts. I didn't want them visible so I drilled pilot holes, put them in the third board, used a washer and a vice to counter-sink them so the board would still sit flush, and got to gluing and screwing!





































After that, I used filler to cover up any differences between the boards, sanded everything smooth, resined everything together, and painted the baffle.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Gotta take a break, LOST is on with only two episodes left. I will post more tonight or tomorrow at the latest.


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## 94VG30DE (Nov 28, 2007)

I like your method of sinking the t-nuts into the wood. Subscribed


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## jorgegarcia (Mar 8, 2008)

pionkej said:


> Gotta take a break, LOST is on with only two episodes left. I will post more tonight or tomorrow at the latest.


haha, I logged on after the episode finished.

BTW, love the work so far. My mother has a '94 maxima that I'm looking to buy from her to turn into a 2nd car/project car. Maybe I'll learn something from your install.


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## Afronaut (Apr 27, 2010)

I like the attention paid to the baffle...BTW I have a 2K GLE...subscribed


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Thanks for the compliments so far. To pick up where I left off. I built the baffle based on dimensions I got from the AE forum since there is around a 1 month wait to get the subs after ordering them. They were off on depth by 1/8" which was enough for the very tip of the magnet to touch the back of the seat. So I had to add some rings made out of 3/8" birch. I don't have any pictures, but it fixed the issue and I now have a gap between the magnet and the seat back.

I also drilled a hole in the center of the baffle for my speaker wire. It fits inside of a 4 gauge firewall bushing, so the plan is to run the wire through the hole with a bushing on each side, silicone any gaps in the hole, and then press fit the bushings on both sides for a clean looking and air-tight passage. I already have that wire and the bushings, I am just waiting for some techflex to arrive to clean it up a bit.

I originally planned to flock the cab side and put cloth on the trunk side that matched the factory carpet. After adding the rings, I couldn't get the cloth to stretch right to look clean. So I ended up flocking both sides.

This is what the panel looks like as it sits, flocked and with the speakers installed. I used ss key headed screws to make sure I didn't slip and punch through the surround.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

So while I was doing this. I also built a false floor in the trunk. For anyone that has experience with the Xenon 200.4, you know they are HUGE. They are around 25" long. I wanted to be able to keep my spare tire and I wanted to keep as much trunk space as possible. They were too long to mount to the underside of the decklid in the trunk. I could mount them toward the taillights side by side, but again, that would eat up trunk space. So what I came up with was to mount them on top of each other in front of the subs. I spoke with my father and we came up with a plan to do this. 

First I made the false floor. I used the carpet in the trunk as a template. I cut off both "wings" and added piano hinges so I could fold the sides inward, lift the false floor, and remove the spare. 



















I wanted to make sure the amps were secure should I ever get in an accident, so the plan was to route out 3/8" of wood on the bottom side of the false floor and add steel plates to attach the amps too. 










From that point, the first amp sits on top of the false floor with the factory carpet between. The steel plate has been tapped so the amp could be bolted down. Making a rack was difficult because the mounting points on this amp are inside the footprint, below rubber grommets on all 4 corners that also cover the speaker wire, dual power inputs, and a blank cover.

What is done is this:

1.)The bottom amp is placed above the holes in the carpet and wood to reach the tapped plate. 
2.)Four pieces of all-thread with nuts at the same height are installed. In over to torque them down, two nuts are jammed together so it can be tightened with a wrench.
3.)After the first amp is locked into the false floor, the grommets are put on. Then an aluminum "beauty cover" is placed over the all-thread. This is what my father helped me with. The bottom half of the tube is countersunk to clear the nut and material was removed to not touch the amp board. The top is countersunk so a finishing washer can be placed inverted in the top and then a fender washer is placed on top of that to give a good solid mounting point for the top amp.
4.) The top amps is put on all four "legs".
5.) A spacer is placed on top of the all-thread that is sticking from the mounting holes to clear the amp board, and it is all locked down with a nut on top. Then the top grommets are placed so all that is seen in the end are the brushed aluminum "beauty covers".




























Here are some photos of the test fit in the car. I rode around for a week with this an had absolutely 0 issues. So thanks goes to my dad for fabricating the hardware to make this happen. Until he offered to help, I was just going to use the all-thread, attach it to a board for the second amp to sit on, and cover the all-thread with techflex or something. This turned out MUCH cleaner looking IMHO and I love that the brushed aluminum legs matches the amps.


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

The stacked Xenons look dope.


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## vrdublu (Apr 13, 2009)

I have an 03 SE Maxima, and the biggest problem I have had is deciding where to put the amps, nice build so far, I will definately keep an eye on this one.


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## buddhaV6 (Jun 14, 2009)

pionkej said:


> While saving for the wire and deadening, I split my project into two parts and had my father help me a bit with one. I worked on building the baffle pictured above and he worked on the hardware for the amp rack I had planned out.
> 
> First up is the baffle build:
> 
> ...


now that is how you make an IB baffle...damn!


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

So I have a few more pictures to add today before I reach a waiting point. I am currently removing the entire enterior and borrowing a car to drive for a week so I can do the deadening portion right. 

In that time I plan to:
-Foam fill the rockers, a/b/c pillars, rear deck and ski-pass, and the trunk decklid. (I am using Handi Foam which is designed for curing in closed spaces and not Great Stuff)
-After that I will selectively add deadening and put down some CCF.
-Next up is the MLV I have. I have 135lbs. of the stuff, so I plan to double up in places that I have the space/need.
-Finally I will go ahead and run my wiring. I have to make my kicks and such before everything gets power, but this way I can put the interior back together and SHOULD have everything ready to go.

So on to the pictures.

First up is the P01. I installed it and I am using the RCA's currently run to the factory Bose amp and front speakers just to have some tunes. One problem I encountered on the Maxima is that ALL dash kits look like junk. There are some that are silver that don't match the silver dash color and there are some that are black that don't match the dash color. So I bought the OEM non-Bose dash and added a din-pocket with a door from a 95-99 Maxima. I knew I would be removing this stuff to run my rca's, so I mounted the din-pocket upside down at first to make sure the P01 would clear it when opening. When I put everything back together, the pocket will be flipped over.










The last pictures are of the fiberglass plate I built to seal off the hole from the factory Bose sub. I need to make sure the trunk is sealed well for IB, so I made it out of fiberglass, drilled holes in the OEM locations, and butyl caulk on the bottom side for a tight seal and put a leftover piece of deadener I had on top. I don't have any build up pics of this, but I have to do the same thing on my doors, so for the people who have never done this before, I will take better progress pics.

First view is from the top, and second is from the bottom.


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## Afronaut (Apr 27, 2010)

I like what you did with the amps...very good idea and very nice set-up.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Late night update! I got some of my goodies in today and I finally got all of the interior removed. 

First up is the H/U again. The previous owner broke off the right side of the alignment tabs for my H/U, din pocket, and A/C controls to hook up to. You can see in the picture below the small gap on the right side. Now this probably wouldn't bother most people, but it drives me crazy to have something with fit and finish outside of OEM, plus the door on the din pocket catches when I open or close it. So I marked where it is and where it should be, and I'm going to drill out the right side bracket so I can raise it when I put the stereo back in after making my custom rca's (the gepco should get here in the next few days).










And the basic "I have no interior" shots are next. I'm not going to take the dash out, but instead just cover it in a drop cloth while doing all my interior work. Also disregard the hardhat, vest, and boots in the trunk, I forgot they were there and removed them after uploading these photos.

NOTE: For people following threads like this before doing there own build, please make sure if you have airbags in your seats that you disconnect the battery and wait around 20 minutes before disconnecting the airbag harness (it is yellow in all cars AFAIK).



















So on to the goodies I have for install so far. In the first photo is something I already had, 135 sq/ft of MLV. I drove to Alabama last year to pick it up for my 300zx build and never got to use it before selling the car, so under my workbench it sits, waiting for my deadener and CCF to arrive from Don at Sounddeadenershowdown.com. 










The next shot is of something not used often in build logs...Handi-Foam. Most people use Great Stuff from the local hardware store. Well, I wanted something better. This does not take air to cure, will expand to 8 times it's size, and cures within 30 seconds (so I don't have to worry about it bowing panels as the pressure builds slowly like or doing this in multiple passes like I would with Great Stuff) It is 2lb. per cu/ft. density and yields around 2-3 cu/ft. per bottle. This is the part that will get updated tomorrow. I plan to at least fill up my rocker panels with it which should use all of one box. The rest will go in the a/b/c-pillars, trunk lid, area around the ski-pass, and possibly along the roof line.










Again, keep an eye out for updates tomorrow on how this progresses. The memory foam I got locally and plan to stuff it in open places where I don't want the foam to expand to. An example would be the cross brace on my floor, I want to fill it, but I want to leave the open area on both sides open to run my wiring. If I have much left over, I plan to use the rest in my rear quarter panels and between my door skin and the door card.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

So the day started off well. I got everything taped off and covered in plastic to begin using the foam. I even had PERFECT results with the first two bottles of foam. Those two bottles went in the rocker panels and some went in the back ski-pass/rear deck area. 

Then everything fell apart. The third bottle was to be used in the rear deck, the trunk lid, and then move to the a/b/c pillars if there was any foam left. Well, when I turned the knob on to open both bottles so they could mix, a seal failed and one of the components started POURING into my trunk and on my rear bumper (which thankfully cleaned off). That bottle was scrap and I was livid. 

So I cleaned up and started with the next bottle. This did not go so well either. I got the trunk finished up (where *I* made a mistake and injected foam in the back trunk support not knowing it had holes on the top side, so I got foam up in the rear deck against the glass. Luckily I am re-tinting the car down the road anyway, so it shouldn't be an issue). Then I started on the pillars. Everything seemed to go like the first two batches, but when I went to clean up the excess that pushes out of the holes, some of it was dark yellow and very brittle and some was foamy but still very soft. It appears this bottle did not mix evenly so I got very mixed results.

Before I started this, I would have recommended this over Great Stuff 100% (even at the higher cost). Now that only 50% of the product I ordered worked properly, I say it may be a wash. When this stuff works properly, it is great, it cures quick, will not push even the thinnest metal sections, and completely eliminated noise through the chassis up to this point (I haven't drove it yet though). 

I plan to call the company I ordered this from Monday and see what they are willing to do about the problem. I really still need at least one more bottle to complete the car, so I will keep everyone posted on whether I recommend them or not if you do decide to go this route.

That's all, I'm done for the day. My stuff from Don should arrive on Wednesday, so that may be the earliest my next update comes. Thanks for tuning in and I hope you enjoy the destruction pictures below.

Car ready to go:










Uh-oh (you can see the break in the first picture, on the left nozzle, left side):




























My bad this time:


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## Afronaut (Apr 27, 2010)

Tough luck on the bad batches...hopefully the company will compensate you for the bad ones.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Afronaut said:


> Tough luck on the bad batches...hopefully the company will compensate you for the bad ones.


Yeah, I was pretty upset. Especially after the first two rounds went so well. I mean, the frequency change was dramatic when it worked right and filled voids. I may be pushing my luck trying to get both the batches that went bad. I'm sure that the improperly mixed one could be attributed to "user error" even though I had two go right before that. The one that busted open before I ever used it, that one I DO want refunded. 

I'm just glad that component didn't harden or anything since it go on the bumper. I also noticed that it is leaking under the car a bit where the 4th batch went bad in my a-pillars. I guess some of it never even got mixed before it became inconsistent.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Quick question. I noticed that my build isn't getting tons of views or comments. I'm not upset that it isn't (people may just not care about a build on a "boring" Maxima), but if I'm attaching pictures that are too large (they resize on my computer) or if I'm being to long-winded and it is turned people off to the thread, I would appreciate somebody letting me know.


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## Knobby Digital (Aug 17, 2008)

In being long-winded, you're probably answering any prospective questions. And unless you're doing something terribly wrong, many won't comment.

Nice build, BTW.


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## Afronaut (Apr 27, 2010)

I agree with Knobby Digital...your install looks great so far. I have a "boring" Maxima and you're giving me some good ideas.


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## schmiddr2 (Aug 10, 2009)

I subscribed 2 days ago. I want to hear it when done.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Thanks guys, I promise I wasn't fishing for compliments either. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't something that going on with my layout or picture size.

Also, I will have some updates before Wednesday. I got some pictures from my dad from where he made the brackets for the amp rack, I got some techflex and gepco in so I will be wrapping my wire and making my rca's, and I got some chop mat so I will be sealing up the doors. Stay tuned.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

I'm tuned in. Nice work here. Great detail.

Looking forward to hearing it, man. Hopefully we'll get a chance to chat in a few weeks and I can see the progress in person.

Take care. 

- Erin


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## jimlg28 (Apr 26, 2010)

I just picked up an 01, and the AE15 in IB is exactly what I would like to see happen, so I am tuned into this as well.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Well, didn't get as much done as I thought I would so far. I got the techflex on my power wire for the subs, and then the hole I drilled in the baffle was too small. So I will be fixing that later. Right now, it is time for the LOST finale.

I may get some more done tonight, but if not, here are some build pics I got from my dad when he was working on the amp rack.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

The rest:


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## fish (Jun 30, 2007)

I've been trying to come up with something similar with my amps if I do decide to go the IB route. I do like how they look stacked.

Very nice job on that sub baffle. How much would you say i weighs alone?


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

fish said:


> I've been trying to come up with something similar with my amps if I do decide to go the IB route. I do like how they look stacked.
> 
> Very nice job on that sub baffle. How much would you say i weighs alone?


I'm not sure on the baffle weight itself. If I had to guess, I would say around 15lbs. It may be a bit more or less, but it does feel VERY solid becasue I covered the entire thing in a couple of coats of resin before painting/flocking.

I may be able to weight it with the subs in and subtract the weight of the subs out to get an answer. I'll see what I can do.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Well, I got a bit of good news. The company (fastoolnow.com) that I bought the foam from is sending me a replacment package of the foam that was damaged. They did so the minute I said it was defective and after getting all my information again did they only as for details as to what happened so they could relay them to the manufacturer. Bravo to them for being so customer based. If you do go this route, I highly suggest you consider them for your purchase.

Hopefully I will have more picture based updates later tonight.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

It has been a busy week, but I got a bit more done. 

While I waited for the replacement bottle of the chassis foam, I got some techflex done. I did the speaker wires for one side of the car (the two longer wires are for my door and in case I run the tweeters to my a-pillar). I also ran the wire for my IB sub. Here are some pictures of that:


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

I got my replacement bottle of chassis foam yesterday, so I got that completed today. 

The area's I foamed where the a/b/c pillars, rear roof line, rocker panels, seat rail frame, ski-pass/shock tower, and trunk.

I also just had to see if the 25% coverage recommended by Don at Sounddeadenerdshowdown.com was true, so I tried it up on the roof (you can see it in one picture) and it really did work. No more "painting" the car in deadener for me!

I'm hoping to get the ccf I just got in and the mlv done this weekend. I need to get my car back on the road, so I am going to focus on the floor first and worry about the doors later. 

So here are the pictures of the foam (I still have some cleanup to do in some places):


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## trigg007 (Feb 24, 2010)

scribed


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## trevordj (Feb 22, 2009)

That amplifier mount is all kinds of awesome. Great work. Subscribed.


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## rdlkgliders (Dec 9, 2008)

really nice build A+ for Patience


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Thanks for the compliments.

So I got a bit more work done yesterday morning, and it is probably all I will get around to until Tuesday. It took about 4 hours or so to get done what you see below, and even I couldn't believe how little seemed done at the end, but overall, I'm satisfied. I would rather do this build right and slow than wrong and fast. 

The goal was to get the trunk back together so I could put my false floor in, set one amp down, and make sure my runs of wire were long enough. Before I could do that, I needed to know how much deadener I would have, so I did my passenger side door (front doors took priority since the Max already had a lot of OEM deadener on the floor and I have 9's going in the doors). 

It took six sheets (probably could have got away with four, but I wanted to be sure it was good because of the size of drivers I was using):










It took six total, so after that, I set aside six more for the other door, two for the outer skin, three for the rear deck, two for each rear door, and the rest went on the floor (which I think was four total). I don't have a picture of this part, so my next picture is of the 1/8" CCF I put down. I didn't put down any MLV in the rear since I had deadener, CCF, a heavy tire, memory foam on top of the tire, a false floor, the factory carpet, a baffle, and then the rear seats to all block sound coming from the trunk area.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

After this point, I started multi-tasking. The baffle I made had black flocking fibers on it but my trunk panels are gray, and the previous owner had a big stain on the carpet. I decided to fix both issues by using some carpet/vinyl dye and changed the color to black. It is subtle, but it makes a difference. 

While the panels were drying, I started putting the trunk lid together. I stuffed some memory foam in the areas near the lock mechanism. I didn't use the expanding foam here because I wanted potential serviceability there (you can't see the memory foam, so no picture). The Maxima also has a carpet panel on the decklid, but it is attached to plastic, so I glued some CCF to the back of it before attaching it.

After I got that done, the panels still weren't dry, so I painted the perimeter of my false floor black. That way if any of it showed between the factory carpet and the side panels, it wouldn't jump out at you.

Then I installed the panels. The only thing I have left to do in the trunk is install the false floor and carpet. Then, I have to cut a couple of holes in the factory panels around the ski pass for my wire runs and to route an OEM harness (you can see the harness hanging in the last photo).


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

A couple of notes from above:

- You can see the subtle color difference between the black trunk decklid panel and the still gray side panel in the second photo.

- I know there is a bit of injectable foam that got outside the trunk panel area that I have to clean up, I just haven't done it yet.

- I got my order wrong above, it was decklid, dye side panels, paint false floor, install.

- My dog is awesome!


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## IBcivic (Jan 6, 2009)

pionkej said:


> A couple of notes from above:
> 
> - You can see the subtle color difference between the black trunk decklid panel and the still gray side panel in the second photo.


black spray paint is your best friend,here. you just need to spray it lightly on the lighter carpet to match the darker shade carpet.


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## WLDock (Sep 27, 2005)

Nice build! Great equipment. Watching this one.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Well, I'm at about 80% bandwidth on Photobucket which is why I haven't posted lately, but I've been busy at work. If I hit 100%, all the linked photos will die until the 14th, so just an FYI. If I keep hitting my bandwidth limit, I may sign up for Photobucket Pro.

The first thing I did since the last update was I got the false floor, the carpet, and an amp in the car. The amp isn't mounted yet, but is above the mounting points so I know where to route the wires.










In order to get the false floor down and get the baffle in, I had to do something with the hanging wire seen in post #36. So I cut all the tape off and cut a few wires and re-soldered them so the harness could sit in the floor. I forgot to get a picture of this before putting the floor in, but you can see where it is routed downward and behind the factory carpeted panels below (it was the best I could do).



















I also decided that while the interior was out, it was the perfect time to remove the tint that had started to purple on the car. For this I used the "trash bag method". I really wish I knew this sooner because the last two times I removed tint it involved a heat gun, goof off, and a lot of time with a razor blade. Here all you do is cut a trash bag in half, on the outside of the car you spray soapy water and put the bag against the glass, on the inside you spray ammonia and put the bag against the glass again. Let it sit for around and hour, and then it peels right off.










While I was doing this, I put down the rest of my CCF. I'm sorry but I didn't take a picture of this. It really is pretty basic, and it is below everywhere that I put my MLV (which I do have a picture of) so you can still see where it went.

I was about 80% done with the MLV here. I only glued it at joints and a few select places in so it shouldn't be hard to remove should the need ever arise. I also left it open at the rear seat area so I can pull it back and get access to the fuel pump if it is needed as well.


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## perfecxionx (Sep 4, 2009)

it must be a tremendous amount of work taking the entire interior apart and laying mlv all over. does it really produce worthwhile effects?


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

perfecxionx said:


> it must be a tremendous amount of work taking the entire interior apart and laying mlv all over. does it really produce worthwhile effects?


I don't know yet. I sure hope it does!  Actually, the MLV has been easy compared to the foam filling I did. It cuts super easy with a sharp razor and leaves a white mark if you crease it. So I just cut a square, put it down, push against stuff below it, and then cut along the lines that show up. I cut reliefs in a few places too, and then I either glued it to each other or taped it down with flashing tape (aluminum and butyl tape from a hardware store).

I will be driving to get the windows tinted on Friday. I'm just putting in the driver seat and no other interior or carpet. So if is as quiet or quieter than it was before with the full interior, I think I will be happy when it all goes back together.


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## perfecxionx (Sep 4, 2009)

How thick is it? The thing i would be worried about is fitting panels back on top of the mlv. I'll be interested to hear how much it quieted the car though, because all i did was put it in my doors and i couldn't tell any difference.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

The other part I have got *mostly* completed is the rear deck. I decided to not "murder" this area with deadener. I am taking a little different approach.

First, I needed to seal all the holes for my IB setup. I showed earlier where I filled the factory sub hole with fiberglass (thought I would mention it since it was in the picture). I filled two large squares in the deck with abs plastic I cut that I had lying around. But there were TONS of tiny holes in the deck and I was trying to figure out the best way to seal them off. And then I had an idea...PENNIES! I put butyl rope on the bottom of some pennies and sealed all the holes. After that, I wrapped the wires on the rear deck in foam and I removed all the factory tie-down points, put butyl rope below them, and tied them back down. I ended up only using 1 1/2" tiles and...no more rattles!!!










Now I said I was mostly completed above. The deck doesn't rattle anymore, but it does flex. So I am planning to reinforce it from the bottom side with some hollow tube steel. I also plan to put a layer of 1" Memory foam between the deck and the factory panel to keep it from resonating. Those parts I just haven't done yet.

Another part of the rear deck that is bad about rattling are the factory seat belts. The sit in these plastic things I assume to keep moisture from damaging them? Maybe to keep them from getting tore up from the trunk? I don't know. What I did here is I put CCF on both sides to put and deadener on the front and back. I also put butyl rope all around the perimeter before bolting them back in so they don't rattle against the deck itself. 



















The rear deck area took forever because before I could do any of the above, I had to clear out my mishap I had with the expanding foam against the glass. That was a pain.

So the last thing I did was some work on the ski pass. I put down a bit of deadener and CCF. I also filled two small areas with non-hardening modeling clay. It took about 3lbs. worth between the two sides. I then put deadener around it to keep it from falling back out when it gets hot (I don't have pictures of this part, because I didn't do it initially, I did it after I came home one day and it had fallen out.  )


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

perfecxionx said:


> How thick is it? The thing i would be worried about is fitting panels back on top of the mlv. I'll be interested to hear how much it quieted the car though, because all i did was put it in my doors and i couldn't tell any difference.


It is 1/8" thick. Like I said, it cuts super easy, so if I need it back out, I will put the panel against it, trace the line with a marker, and cut that area out. So far the rear seat fits back in, so the only major concern is the carpet, and I'm not too worried about that.


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## fish (Jun 30, 2007)

Some pretty innovative stuff going on with deadening your rear deck. I'll have to remember the pennies & seatbelt holder thingys.


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## Afronaut (Apr 27, 2010)

It's coming along nicely...good work. How well did the tint removal process work?


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## matdotcom2000 (Aug 16, 2005)

Pennies!!!! wtf............ 

J/K 

good build love the ideas


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

fish said:


> Some pretty innovative stuff going on with deadening your rear deck. I'll have to remember the pennies & seatbelt holder thingys.


Thanks. I don't know what made me think of using pennies, but the nice thing is that they stick down well enough to not go anywhere, but not so well that I couldn't just pop them off with a flat head screw driver if I needed to. 



Afronaut said:


> It's coming along nicely...good work. How well did the tint removal process work?


The tint removal was super easy. I did the whole car in an afternoon. It actually probably took about 1 hour of real working time, and most of that is from it being windy and being hard to get the outside bag to stay in place. It probably only took 3 minutes per window to actually remove the tint and i didn't have a single one split apart into the two layers on me. 



matdotcom2000 said:


> Pennies!!!! wtf............
> 
> J/K
> 
> good build love the ideas


Thanks. I had read on here that sealing all the tiny holes wasn't really needed for IB, so I had already decided I didn't want to take the time to cut a ton of 1"x1" pices of deadener. I was trying to think of something easy, and the idea just came to me. Took all of about 10 minutes and 2 feet of butyl rope.

All the pennies are face up too!


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Got a bit more done today. Everything is moving terribly slow. It visually seems like not much is done at the end of the day, but I'm working hard to slow down and do it right. I have a tendency to get excited and rush through things, or halfway do stuff that I'm dreading.

The first thing I did, was got my windows re-tinted. My old stuff had faded which is why I removed it. It looks good except there is a small cut in the rear DS window, so I will have to get that fixed next week (you can also see how bad I need some rims, a small drop, and my trim blacked out).










After I got home, the first thing I did was hooked up my amp ground. Well, actually the first thing I did was remove the driver seat, so this was second. I cut a small slit in the trunk carpet and attached the ground to a bracket in the trunk. It is on bare metal, the resistance is the same as a loop on the negative terminal at the battery (I didn't test this under load though), and it is attached frame (I can see the bolt from the bottom side of the car)...so I'm hoping it is good. For now, that is the spot.










After that, I completed a part of the job I was dreading...running the midbass wiring into the door. The factory molex on this car is not friendly to running wire through it. It doesn't clip in, but has a bolt in the center, and there are not enough free pin spaces to make a pass through. Luckily there is a small grommet beside the molex. So I cut a slit in it, ran some 20ga. wire into the cabin, taped it to my speaker wire, pulled it back through, and then ran it through the factory boot into the door (the molex is only on the cabin side, not on the door). I only got a picture of the grommet, the molex is to the left of it, hidden behind the door.










Next step was to eliminate a bit of flex in my rear deck. There isn't a lot I can do because I am putting the factory panel back on top, and I'm not cutting out the trunk bars to add "shock" lifts. But I did have room for two braces on each side of the rear deck where the flexing was the worst. I cut two pieces of 1/2" extruded tubing 10" long and drilled them to match with existing holes in the deck (so I had to remove four of my pennies). On the top side I used fender washers and butyl rope again to seal the holes. It seems that most of the flex is gone. If it doesn't help much, I may drill a holes in the middle of both sides, add another piece of tubing bridging them, and add two bolts at quarter points to have 8 points of bracing total. I will have to drill holes while laying in the trunk for this, so I'm not sure if I'll do it or not. But here is a picture of what I did already on one side. Both sides are completed.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

The last two projects of the day were what made me the most happy. I got my rear ski pass in (I couldn't put it in until I got my ground in because the brackets share that bolt and got my RCA's because they route below the ski pass into the trunk) and I got my wires routed. These things will really set me into motion for getting all the interior back in so I can focus on the speakers themselves.

So I got the ski pass in first (I didn't take a specific picture of this, but it can be seen in one of the photos below). After that, I partially mock wired up my amp so I could know how much slack I would need in the trunk. After that was done, I started with the zip ties. 

The power wire and the driver side speaker wires route down the driver side of the car. The speaker wires follow the door jamb and the power wire is in the corner. I used red power wire with black techflex as I personally like this subtle indication better than different colored pieces of techflex.










The passenger side speaker wire is running the same way as the driver side (though I don't have a detailed picture of this). The RCA cables, remove turn on, and PG RMD (volume knob for subs--not 45hz specific like some) all come from the back beside the passenger side speaker wire, but they quickly turn and follow the rear seat and "trans" tunnel seen below.



















The plan for tomorrow was to install the sub baffle, headliner, carpet, and front seats. However, our A/C was out when we got home tonight (which is why I'm up--80 degrees inside and I can't sleep) so I don't know how much will get done. We also let my father-in-law borrow our SLR camera, so picture quality will drop for the next week of updates or so. Hopefully I can still get everything done and get the A/C working again...wish me luck!


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

A few observations I would like to share:

1. The car is much quieter with the MLV and the foam filling I did. The foam filling also improved feel over bumps and across uneven surfaces (like driveways) and improved steering feel. The sound is almost completely coming from my untreated doors and the front dash area (engine and a/c) and I will address those two areas later in the build. The handling improvement I would compare to adding front and rear strut tower braces.

2. I was planning to build my own rca's, but they were just going to be too long off the amp eating up more trunk space. I went with some from Monster Cable found here Monster Cable 401-XLN-4C-4M (401xln4c4m-bulk) - 13-18 Ft. (4-5 Meters) - Sonic Electronix. The nice thing about them is that they are the only cable I could find that had a true drain wire on them like Chad suggests doing when building your own. That makes them directional and you can actually see the arrow in the stock photo.

3. Do not disconnect your airbags (I side curtains in my seats) and then reconnect the battery without connecting all the airbag wires back first. I left the passenger side seat out of the car and now I have a light on that I will have to get turned off by the dealership. 

*IMPORTANT NOTE* Never connect or disconnect airbag connections without making sure the battery is disconnected first. There is a chance of accidental deployment. If you don't do this and it deploys, at best, a part of your car gets damaged from deployment, at worst...you get damaged. *IMPORTANT NOTE*


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Well, I got the A/C fixed. After I finished up this post, I started researching common problems. It turns out it was the capacitor. So I called a local supply company when they opened this morning and $30 and 30min. later, I was in business.

Look at how bad the failed capacitor had bulged out!










My father came up to help out with that project since I wasn't sure if there was going to be more going on than just the capacitor. While he was up, I got him to help me hold my sub baffle in place while I screwed it in.

Here it is from the trunk side:










Here it is from the cab side (the little silver things are fender washers I cut with some tin snips for clearance):










I also bought some Morel "Octopus" grills from Salad Fingers that showed up yesterday. I like them better than the PG Ti Elite grills. The mounting holes matched up (Morel made the Elites for PG) but the tabs were about 1/16" too big so the grill didn't sit flush. I taped off all the open areas on the speaker and gently put it to my bench grinder....and they now fit.


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## JayGold (May 12, 2010)

Nice use of space...i.e. amp rack.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Well, I got the carpet, the headliner, and the driver seat back into the car. I didn't get any pictures yet but everything fits back together fine, even with the wires routed and the all the CCF/MLV. I plan to get all the remaining interior panels in this week beside the doors since I haven't deadened them yet. I also plan to get the amp rack setup and all the wires routed cleanly in the trunk. 

Hopefully the first round of pictures showing the progress will show up tomorrow. Thanks for following.


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## jsun_g (Jun 12, 2008)

Nice to hear the acoustic solutions worked out well for you. I am debating whether to treat my car at this point as the miles are getting up there.

The amp stacking idea looks great. I'd like to see the final result.



pionkej said:


> A few observations I would like to share:
> 
> 1. The car is much quieter with the MLV and the foam filling I did. The foam filling also improved feel over bumps and across uneven surfaces (like driveways) and improved steering feel. The sound is almost completely coming from my untreated doors and the front dash area (engine and a/c) and I will address those two areas later in the build. The handling improvement I would compare to adding front and rear strut tower braces.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

I think cost/value for something like this is relative. I plan on keeping this car for several years, so the investment was worth it to me. I also think I gained the most from the foam. It cost me around $200 to get, but I also only ended up spending around $60 on deadener tiles, $30 on CCF, and $100 on MLV (and I'm going to have TONS of MLV left over) so my investment is still on par with what most people spend for a good deadening job.


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## blazron22z (Jun 15, 2009)

love that amp rack


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

blazron22z said:


> love that amp rack


Thanks, I was planning on getting it all put in today, but I decided to get my passenger seat and center console back first. The bottom amp is bolted down now, so I'm hoping to get the rest done by Wednesday.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Ready for some input if anyone is willing to share. I'm debating on how I want to power my 3-way front + subs. I have two amps putting out 200w per channel @ 4 channels each (so one 200w channel per speaker). 

I'm thinking either:
Amp #1: Subs & Tweets
Amp #2: Midbass & Midrange

-or-

Amp #1: Subs & Midrange
Amp #2: Tweets & Midbass

Option #1 pairs the sub, which will probably need the most power, and the tweeer, which will probably need the least power (except it's 6 ohm) together (they are also the two most efficient drivers and have the highest power handling) while option #2 pairs the highest power handling drivers with the lowest ones. I know I probably won't use full output anyway, so maybe I'm thinking too much, but since I haven't hooked it up yet, but will be doing so at both the amp end and the H/U end this week, input is appreciated.

Here are the specs for them:

Sensitivity/Power Handling/FS/Beaming
AE IB12: 94db/300w/24hz/1,150hz
Morel ADMW9: 88db/180w/44hz/1,510hz
PG TiElite 5.25: 89db/160w/74hz/2,620hz
Morel Piccolo (6 ohm): 90db/200w/800hz/13,750hz


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## fish (Jun 30, 2007)

I went back & forth with the exact same scenario for my setup. I figured your option #1 was the best way to go


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

fish said:


> I went back & forth with the exact same scenario for my setup. I figured your option #1 was the best way to go


That is how I decided to start wiring it up. I have the amp rack about 60% set up right now. I have to get the power run to the top amp and speaker wires run to both. Other than that and a few tie downs/tie wraps for cleaned up routing, it will be done. 

I'm off during the day tomorrow, so expect to see some actual progress photos sometime after lunch!


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Well, I didn't get as much progress done as I had hoped. We had scattered showers all day, and my garage was a wreck from the build, so I spent most of the day cleaning up. I did manage to get a photo of the amp rack progress I made yesterday. So the photo below is all I have for now, but expect some more progress in the coming days.


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## yermolovd (Oct 10, 2005)

Pretty funny, I also have 03 maxima, install is slowly going
AE 15 IB, One xenon and a couple more amps...

I try to minimize the space used though and it's pretty tough, I look at xenon and what a surfboard it is!

Good progress so far.


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## lucipha (Aug 5, 2009)

Very well documented and detailed. I use to have a 01 Maxima GLE. Very interested to see how this comes out.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

yermolovd said:


> Pretty funny, I also have 03 maxima, install is slowly going
> AE 15 IB, One xenon and a couple more amps...
> 
> I try to minimize the space used though and it's pretty tough, I look at xenon and what a surfboard it is!
> ...


Yeah, I was going to try and mount the amps under the decklid to keep nearly 100% of my trunk, but they were too long. The only other option was to put them side by side at the back of the trunk, but that would have left me with less usable space than this option.

I would love to see the 15 in there. I was going to try and do two of them but I couldn't figure out a way to fit them through the tiny ski-pass.



lucipha said:


> Very well documented and detailed. I use to have a 01 Maxima GLE. Very interested to see how this comes out.


Thanks for the compliment. Personally I'm hoping it turns out very well!


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## yermolovd (Oct 10, 2005)

pionkej said:


> Yeah, I was going to try and mount the amps under the decklid to keep nearly 100% of my trunk, but they were too long. The only other option was to put them side by side at the back of the trunk, but that would have left me with less usable space than this option.
> 
> I would love to see the 15 in there. I was going to try and do two of them but I couldn't figure out a way to fit them through the tiny ski-pass.


I only have one 15 (space reasons again ). Fitting it was very tough. I made my baffle and bolted it in place of the black metal piece you've taken out, so it sits \ along the seat line. I also had to take out the little corner black metal pieces out that are bolted down to the floor near struts, as the 15 barely fits that way, I have maybe 3/4s of clearance on the bottom of the basket. This info is for others reference, in case anyone wants a 15 in there. I've contemplated 12s, but wanted to have a bit more space left over, 12s are definitely easier to fit in.

Well, good luck with the rest, I'll be checking in from time to time to see the updates.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

yermolovd said:


> I only have one 15 (space reasons again ). Fitting it was very tough. I made my baffle and bolted it in place of the black metal piece you've taken out, so it sits \ along the seat line. I also had to take out the little corner black metal pieces out that are bolted down to the floor near struts, as the 15 barely fits that way, I have maybe 3/4s of clearance on the bottom of the basket. This info is for others reference, in case anyone wants a 15 in there. I've contemplated 12s, but wanted to have a bit more space left over, 12s are definitely easier to fit in.
> 
> Well, good luck with the rest, I'll be checking in from time to time to see the updates.


Yeah, the black pieces are all part of the reinforcing for the rear of the car. It basically "boxes out" the shock towers and the rear ski pass. I didn't want to lose any handling though it may not even make a difference with a huge baffle bolted in, but I didn't really want to remove it.

Do you have a build log? If not, feel free to throw that picture up in mine so people can see another option for how to fit a single 15" in the car.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Been working on stuff off and on over the past week, but it has been pretty hectic. I have a pretty good update I believe and hope to have more done by the end of the day (taken a short break out of the heat).

The first thing I did during the week was I got the CD player leveled out (I attached the original picture first to see the difference). Here is why I had the gap...the previous owner screwed up! The bracket that holds the h/u, pocket, and climate control is a two-piece design (typical) that screws in at the top and bottom. It has a hole in it on each side at the top that a plastic tab goes into for alignment. The previous owner bent both sides of the bracket and to get it back in, snapped the tab off on the left side bracket. I didn't notice this the first time I installed the P01. I simply took everything apart and put the bracket in my table vice and gently bent it back. I had a picture of this, but they accidentally got deleted, so you will have to take my word for it.  I also put the din pocket below the h/u which I prefer.

Before:










After (when sitting in the seats you cannot see the two small notches between the pocket and h/u):










While I had the dash apart, I took care of a few other projects. The first thing I did was I wired in a PAC steering wheel controller for the P01 and got my amp turn on lead and rca's connected (which I covered in tape after connected to make sure they didn't ground out behind the dash). I don't have any pictures, but it isn't really a big deal in my opinion either.

The other project I had while the dash was open was to stuff it with polyfil. The dash and the doors were the main locations of noise after my other acoustic treatments. I ended up using around 4.5lbs to get everything packed and it made a noticeable difference. While I still have some engine noise, it is reduced, and it nearly eliminated the sounds coming from my a/c unit behind the glove box.

Here are some pictures of areas I could get photos of:


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

After I got the dash stuffed, I didn't want it falling out, so I took a note from jbholsters fab write-up about under-dash pads...and made some of my own. I did this for both sides of the car using a blank sign from Lowe's made of corrugated plastic, some MLV, some memory foam I still had lying around, and some balck fleece.

The first step was to take a general measurement and cut the sign. After that, I started pushing it up where I wanted it mounted, noted where it hit first, cut that area back and test fit again. I did this until the piece followed the contour of the firewall. I then cut and glued the MLV on the dash side next, and after that, I cut the foam for the floor board side. I then wrapped the piece in fleece. I glued it on the face and zip-tied it on the back side to make sure the best I could it didn't sag. 

The driver side was much harder to get done. Towards the firewall, I had the clutch, brake, steering column, and gas pedal to all cut around; and towards driver I had to avoid my hood-pop and my ecu plug-in.

This part of the project has two benefits, the first is to help stop sound from coming from behind the dash into the cab, the second is that it also helps stop sound waves from going behind the dash since I plan on using kicks which can cause potential FR issues.

I didn't get a step by step process series of photos for either side, but you can see the total process between both sides posted below:

Passenger side:














































Driver side:


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## jsun_g (Jun 12, 2008)

Very methodical approach. I'd like to know how the baffles under the dash change the sound. I'm considering similar since I am using midbass in the kicks and may be sticking with mids in the A-pillars, which vent down into the dash.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

jsun_g said:


> Very methodical approach. I'd like to know how the baffles under the dash change the sound. I'm considering similar since I am using midbass in the kicks and may be sticking with mids in the A-pillars, which vent down into the dash.


Thank you, I took a look at some of your build threads and your work really looks great too. I am definately envious of the fiberglass work you have done so far, it looks really good. I'm hoping I have the skills/patience to do my enclosures right when the time comes.

I won't be able to really say how they change the sound simply because I have never had this or any system in this car before to tell the difference. Even if I pull them out for an A/B comparison, I still have my dash stuffed with Polyfil. I have heard it makes quite a difference though.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

So I am officially done working on the car for the day and I'm happy with the progress I made after my break earlier. I managed to get both rear doors inner skin holes fiberglassed. This probably won't end up mattering since I won't have any speakers back there, but I wanted to make sure I could do it on doors that "didn't matter" before trying it up front for the midbass. Besides, it can't hurt for stopping some noise.

So here are the pictures:


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## Mako312 (May 10, 2010)

I might getting a 01' so interested to see how this goes.


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## alachua (Jun 30, 2008)

Wow, nice idea. What did you use to attach the FG to the doors?


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Mako312 said:


> I might getting a 01' so interested to see how this goes.


They really are great cars. I sold a '89 Nissan 4x4 Truck and a 90' 300zx TT to get mine and don't regret the compromise one bit.



alachua said:


> Wow, nice idea. What did you use to attach the FG to the doors?


I used self-tapping sheet metal screws with a steel washer and a rubber gasket. I also used butyl rope around the entire perimeter to help seal it as well.


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## sydmonster (Oct 5, 2009)

progress!

and yes, your dog is probably awesome!


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## lucipha (Aug 5, 2009)

The fiberglass covers for the doors are awesome. I know cuz I did the exact same thing right down to the labeling with the arrow to my current car 2 years ago. It was the very first thing I did as far as installing the audio in it.


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## Afronaut (Apr 27, 2010)

Nice work with fiberglassing the doors. Everything is coming along nicely.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

So I have another mid-day update, I got my amp rack all wired up. It was a pain because of the wire covers on the Xenon amps. The bottom amp had to have the covers on before the rack, so I had to route the wires through it and bend them up out of the way to tighten the allen screws down. 

Note that the wires on the left side are all a bit too long except for two of them. I will go back and clean this up later, but it takes forever and I bought these amps used and I'm not going to take the time to fix it until I make sure they power up and I won't have to disconnect the wires anyways to get the amps out (I know I should have checked this before installing them).

So here it is:


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

And now for the work completed at the stopping point for the day. I'm pretty happy with what all I got done, though it does feel like one of those days where you look back and it visually feels like not much was accomplished.

First, I added some butyl rope between the outer door skin and the intrusion bars. This is a tip I picked up from Don @ sounddeadenershowdown.com. The butyl rope I got off of e-bay, 6 rolls for like 15 bucks or something. It has been great and I have gotten most the car done off of two rolls, all I have left is to trim my front door fiberglass panels with the third roll. Well, the stuff isn't thick enough to bridge the gap, so I stuck three pieces together. Each door took eight pieces. Pictures below (though the "in door" pictures were a bit hard to get).





































It seemed to make a pretty big difference when shutting the doors. The benefit is to tie the flimsy outer skin to the bars, but also decouple them to prevent resonance.

The next thing I did was started working on taping off the driver side door holes. I wanted to make it so I had to work around the wires going from the inner skin to inside the door as little as possible, so I cut one wire and ran it through a nearby hole and then soldered it back together.

Passenger side view of said wire (see the hole to the right and below it):










Wires cut, re-routed, and one soldered:










And ready for fiberglass:










I hope to get the other side done tomorrow and ready for fiberglass before the end of the week!


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## WardyTN (Jun 30, 2010)

Looking good from a fellow Middle TN member! (McMinnville, TN here)


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

So I thought I put my post up last night after ANT did his thing, so I didn't save it, and well...it disappeared. 

What I got done was basically everything up to the point of installing my drivers, but I'm pumped that is basically all that is left now. 

The first thing I did was I finished up where I left off with the fiberglass on the front doors. I learned that it is better to use many small square pieces of fiberglass than larger sheets if possible. It took longer than the rears, but it also turned out better. I did two other things different than the rears as well: I pre-drilled the holes in the fiberglass so I could better line up my marks and I used silicone instead of butyl rope. The silicone sealed the gaps a bit better and I can remove it easy still by scraping it off should I need access.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

I also got the rear doors back on. I used Gorilla Tape to hold up the MLV sheets and I used foam to press the door panel against the MLV to prevent rattles.


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

Great install - looking forward to seeing the final results. I would love to hear those subs!


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

looking good, man.

what kind of time line are you expecting now?


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

bikinpunk said:


> looking good, man.
> 
> what kind of time line are you expecting now?


Well, I took last week off for a family vacation, but I'm hoping to have the midbass installed in the doors by next week. Then I will get it hooked up and make sure I have no rattles from the subs or the midbass. If all goes well there (which I hope it does), I will test locations for the midrange and tweets and get those mounted up. I'm hoping that won't take more than a week or two, but a lot depends on how long it takes to get the aiming down before fabricating and if I get stuff fabricated right on the first try.

So on to what I have gotten done in the past two days. I decided I wanted to measure a bit and get the MLV/CCF a bit more exact up front. So I measured twice and cut once, and fitment does seem good.

Today I mounted a speaker ring for my Morels to see how they fit behind the panel, and the good news is they clear...the bad news is that my fiberglass panels, CLD tiles, and MLV/CCF have made it so the door panel is having a hard time sitting flush like it should. It hits right where the upper leather panel is around the door handle (same as the rear doors). I got the DS all clipped in, and I'm going to leave it like that until tomorrow evening to make sure it will stay put. You can't see any buldges, but it certainly fits tight.

Below are the pics...the More's are H-U-G-E!


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## Big_Valven (Aug 20, 2008)

May I just say, your install is very tidy. Doing it right the first time, and fantastic attention to detail.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

And the front speakers are IN!!!

I took some detailed photos of the process so I will describe them as I go along.

First, I marked the door skin with a red sharpie using the mock ring I had double taped in the above post. I then got out my dremel tool and started cutting metal. After I cut the metal, I used touch-up paint to make sure no rusting would happen.

While doing that, I also prepared the actual rings I would be using. I planned to mount the speakers to the wood using t-nuts, but they were too big. It's a good thing I have a table grinder as it came in handy here. I also planned to mount the ring to the door using rivnuts. Since I didn't want the screws for the door to ring connection to interfere with the ring to speaker connection, I counter-sunk those holes.

After I got the rings ready, I taped them to the doors and started drilling my holes. They mounted up perfectly. After they were mounted, I used some silicone to make sure the inside part of the rings that MAY get exposed to water and moisture were sealed. 

The last step happened while I waited for the silicone to dry, I put some lines of butyl rope on the door ( kind of like a deflex pad) and put a sheet of CCF over it....then I mounted the speakers.

I hope to get them powered up some time tomorrow, but Monday will be the latest and I will report back. So again, on to the pictures (they will probably take two posts).


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)




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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

looks nice, man. I like that use of rivnuts. Had never thought of that. I assume that the rivets are threaded and you attached the ring to the door via nut/bolt through the rivet?


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

bikinpunk said:


> looks nice, man. I like that use of rivnuts. Had never thought of that. I assume that the rivets are threaded and you attached the ring to the door via nut/bolt through the rivet?


You are correct in that assumption. I don't plan on changing gear anytime soon, but I wanted to make everything as "non-wear" as possible so I could remove things and change stuff out with relative ease. They seem to work very well at holding the baffle tight to the door so I'm hoping it reduces flexing a bit as well.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

cool!
good idea, man. I really like that. 


hopefully I'll get to see it in person soon.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

bikinpunk said:


> cool!
> good idea, man. I really like that.
> 
> 
> hopefully I'll get to see it in person soon.


Yeah, I'm hoping to have it done soon. I actually got my battery hooked up today and got the subs and midbass playing. I have a few rattles I need to take care of, but I was happy to finally get to this point. I was even more pleased that the amps and midbass all worked since I bought them used. 

I have a few pictures of getting the battery hooked up. Everything was rusted so I painted the tray and hold-down while I was getting everything hooked up. I couldn't fit the clamps on the standard battery (with the clamps toward the cabin), so I bought the mirror image version and went across the top of the battery for room to hook everything up. I am happy with how it turned out.

Old battery and rusty stuff:










Rusty nuts and bolts and their replacements:










Painted tray and hold-down:










And the finished product:










Closeup:


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## Mako312 (May 10, 2010)

Nice clean battery!

Big improvement over the rusted one! lol


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Mako312 said:


> Nice clean battery!
> 
> Big improvement over the rusted one! lol


Thanks. The only thing I'm disappointed in is that is the EXACT same battery recommended from Sears for my car except the terminals are on the opposite side, and it looks like I could have gotten a larger battery based on the space left for the same price. It means I lost out on some CCA and reserve capacity if there was a slightly larger size that would have fit (though I'm not sure there was anyway).


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## ReloadedSS (Aug 26, 2008)

pionkej said:


> Thanks. The only thing I'm disappointed in is that is the EXACT same battery recommended from Sears for my car except the terminals are on the opposite side, and it looks like I could have gotten a larger battery based on the space left for the same price. It means I lost out on some CCA and reserve capacity if there was a slightly larger size that would have fit (though I'm not sure there was anyway).


Still, it's a Die Hard Platinum, a very nice battery; I don't know if the larger size would have fit in the Maxima anyway (I think there's a larger Die Hard Platinum that will fit in trucks, but not in most passenger cars without modification of the tray and the surroundings...)

Nice work, btw.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Well, I have a have been working on the car for hours every day this week without much to show for it. I had MAJOR rattles and resonance in the doors I'm dealing with. The good news is that there is promise in my setup to be virtually rattle free. 

I will have pictures to document the changes but I will wait until everything is completed before posting it. I'm hoping to have the doors done by this weekend, but some of the work I'm planning involves silicon and epoxy so a lot depends on how quick everything cures out.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

And I'm now 99.9% rattle free! The doors are back on the car and I have one rattle/resonance I can hear no matter what I listen to. It is top half of the DS control switch, by the child window lock. I had a hard time getting the door panel back on because the foam is fresh, I'm going to give it a day or so to compress a bit and "settle" and then go back in and take care of that rattle.

So, before I start with what I did on the doors themselves, I'll show what I did to the door skins. First thing I did was put silicone all along the pocket at the bottom since it is simply plastic welded in from the factory.










Then I added foam between the metal leather insert and the door skin.




























Lastly, I added the last of my mattress foam to the door panels. This gave them a very good compression fit when I put them back up.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Now on to the doors themselves. To keep track of what I wanted to do, I made a list:










You can see on the list the part about bracing is marked out. I made some braces seen below but they actually made the rattles in the windows worse since they hard coupled the brackets to the panels. I was a little dissapointed by this. I also never added extra foam behind the speaker because it made absolutely no difference when I tested it before gluing it in.



















So the first change I made that worked was adding the butyl behind the window tracking. I just made a huge ball of it and stuffed it between the outer door skin and the center window track. This help reduce some of the vibrations. I couldn't even see what I was doing until after I took the picture below.










The next thing I did that made positive progress was I used wellnuts in place of the rivnuts. I found a post from A$$hole that suggested this. They did a good job of isolating the speaker from the door enough to reduce vibrations but not so much that I lost any measurable output.










Here they are press fit into the door (you can see where I tested the braces too, I broke them free shortly after this picture).










The only other thing I really have pictures of is the clay. I put some in on Friday and by the time I got home on Saturday, it had partially fallen into the floor (it was 105 here). So I helped it a bit to stay in the door.

Clay with bb's:










Now covered in aluminum foil:










And then covered in tape (which stuck to the foil but wouldn't have stuck to clay):










I let this sit as-is until around 2:00 today and played music and nothing budged, so I felt good enough to put everything back together. I finished up the rest of my list, and put the doors back on. If you think it looks like nothing ever happened, then I did my job!


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## Whitebread (Jul 5, 2005)

I've got a fully loaded 03' that is begging to have the bloze system removed. This build log is fantastic!


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## Jaloosk (Jan 13, 2010)

Whitebread said:


> This build log is fantastic!


Agreed. 

OP, I've got a Xenon 1200.1 and completely understand your pain as far as trying to find a place for it to fit.

Good work.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Thanks for the compliments guys. I have been waiting to post until I got my next part of the project done. First a comment though, the doors are a no-go. A lot of rattles have shown up since my last post so I am going to have to go back and work on those later. I'm thinking about trying some steel baffles possibly and more bracing. I just lost a lot of impact with my last attempt to decouple the drivers without much payoff in the rattles/resonance department.

But since my subs can play pretty high cleanly, I decided to move forward with getting the rest of my speakers hooked up and running a two-way up front until I can get the doors done like I want. At least that way I can have some music to listen to.

First thing I did was I got my tweeter rings ready. I bought a 2" pvc coupling pipe for this. The 2" pvc pipe was too narrow but the 2" coupler was slightly too large. The coupler does have a lip in the middle to stop the two pipes at the center of the piece when used for it's intended purpose, so what I did was cut the pipe right near that line and then used a belt sander till it was smooth. Then I had a nice good fit but the power wires wouldn't fit, so I used a small round file to groove the lip I created and now I have a perfect fit. Picture time!

Original coupler with lip in the middle:










Trimmed down:










Grooved:










Sitting pretty (you can see the white lip through the screw holes which I plan to drill and tap):


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

And now on to what I'm most proud of thus far...my kickpanels. I had never done anything like this before, so I'm happy it seems to have turned out good on the first try. I don't have pictures of every part of the process but I will fill out the steps I took to get them done.

1. Aim speakers. I aimed these slightly forward of the driver and passengers ears as it gave me the best PLD's and sounded pretty good from both seats without any tweaking.

2. Sand plastic on kicks (I used 40 grit for this) and drill holes around perimeter for grip and hot glue rings to the plastic.










3. Stretch cloth (I used ponte from Joanns which stretches a bit better than grill cloth) around form and glue in place (I used super glue and it worked great).










4. Apply resin and let cure.










5. Fill inside with "milkshake" (I used 12oz. Evercoat Light Weight, 7oz. resin, 5cc MKEP).




























6. Make sure nothing has pulled or warped.










7. Fill minor imperfections with putty glaze and high build primer (forgot to get any pictures after the primer).


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

So after this I was down to the final stage, the finish. I really wanted to wrap these but had some MAJOR concerns of getting it done right with some of the curves. I thought about using SEM texture coating and black dye to get it done, but decided to make the $50 investment to try vinyl first. Let me say that when I owned my 300zx I tried to re-do the interior with Super-90 spray glue and Joanns "whisper" vinyl and it failed after a week. This time I got Dap Landau ($30) glue and a half yard of "Allsport" 4-way stretch vinyl ($20) and it made a HUGE difference.

I didn't get any pictures while wrapping...since I was wrapping, but below you will see the finished product. I got this done with no seam and they have sat in my garage for the last two days with 100+ weather outside (90+ in the garage) and they have held strong. I'm planning on trying to get them installed by the end of the week. 

Note 1: The "dimples" you do see on the flat spots sit behind the door sill panel and are not visible.

Note 2: The kickpanels are two different sizes, but when stood up in the car they are within 1/4" or less from each other in both height and depth (the first picture makes them look like they aren't close to the same location).

Note 3: The discoloration you see is from the powder on my nitrile gloves I wore while doing all the work, I just didn't clean them well yet.


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## trevordj (Feb 22, 2009)

Brilliant work! Do you find the kicks feel pretty solid after just resin and milkshake? I have seen others do it and it looks like a real time saver.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

trevordj said:


> Brilliant work! Do you find the kicks feel pretty solid after just resin and milkshake? I have seen others do it and it looks like a real time saver.


Thanks. I do feel like they are solid. I used good body filler so it didn't shrink or crack on me. I hit a couple of good times before moving on and it felt solid and left it out in the sun for a while to make sure it didn't crack, but I certainly didn't put it through the "hammer test" to check for durability. I'm only running the mids down to 250hz or so, so I think it will do fine. I also filled any of the small cavities I had left with modeling clay and put butyl deadener over that which didn't add strength but did add a bit of mass.


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## sydmonster (Oct 5, 2009)

Nice work on those kicks! There's plenty of energy at 250Hz, so think about more deadning, it will be worth it I think.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

We have updates! I officially have the a-pillars done and it is all installed and running. I haven't done any tuning or taken any installed photos yet, but I'm hoping to get some interior shots tomorrow and start tuning then as well. Not much else to say, so enjoy the photos!

Tweeters with caps installed for protection below heat shrink and cleaned up with techflex:










Pillars marked out and partially cut:










Stinger Silver grill cloth with BMW Silver SEM Color Coat to match the Maxima interior (I went with #2 which was actually 4 passes with the dye):










I didn't get pictures of using the SEM bumper repair epoxy on the a-pillars, but here they are with Evercoat Light Weight filler and a bit of glaze for minor imperfections:



















To add some mass but keep them flexible I added silicon with bb's in it:



















Wrapped and dyed:


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Here is everything done and sitting together waiting to go into the car. The pictures look a bit yellow because I ran it high ISO with no flash as the flash wasn't showing any of the curves in the panels.


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## jsun_g (Jun 12, 2008)

Looking great! Very clean work. Are the midrange pods going to vent into the car somewhere?


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

jsun_g said:


> Looking great! Very clean work. Are the midrange pods going to vent into the car somewhere?


Thank you. It has been 100+ for the last couple of weeks around here and my car sits in the sun all day, so it is time to see if the grill cloth and vinyl hold up to the heat. To answer your question, there is a cavity behind the kicks that goes to the a-pillars and rocker panels. I filled both of those areas with foam, but there is still a good bit of volume available. I stuffed it lightly with polyfil and I figure I have around .25cu/ft volume. The kicks seal tight against the carpet as well, so it works out pretty well from my initial impressions.


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## JayGold (May 12, 2010)

_



5. Fill inside with "milkshake" (I used 12oz. Evercoat Light Weight, 7oz. resin, 5cc MKEP)

Click to expand...

_Can you enumerate on this concoction...Evercoat-check, resin-check, MKEP-???


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

JayGold said:


> Can you enumerate on this concoction...Evercoat-check, resin-check, MKEP-???


MKEP (Methyl Ethyl Ketone Peroxide) is the clear activator used with resin. When I mixed everything, I had the full amount of evercoat ready and I started adding small amounts of resin until I reach a good mix (adding around 1/4 of the amount then mixing), then added the MKEP, stirred for 20 seconds and started working.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

JayGold said:


> Can you enumerate on this concoction...Evercoat-check, resin-check, MKEP-???


MKEP (Methyl Ethyl Ketone Peroxide) is the clear activator used with resin. When I mixed everything, I had the full amount of evercoat ready and I started adding small amounts of resin until I reach a good mix (adding around 1/4 of the amount then mixing), then added the MKEP, stirred for 20 seconds and started working.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

It's been a while since I updated anything and thought now was a good time. The first couple of posts I'm pulling from another site, so bear with me if some of the typed info is a bit out of context...besides, most people just like to look at the pictures anyway. 

Let's start with the custom Denford:

The first project on my list was to take the RFX-8250 I got from azngotskills and make it match my interior better. This involves anodizing the aluminum black, silk-screening the lettering back on, and changing the silver buttons to a dark pewter color. So I got the face plate off and I discovered that the plastic "window" had some sort of silver heat transfer on it. I sanded this down with 1500 grit, worked my way up to 2500 grit, and then used a headlight lens restorer to finish it off. I then cleaned the plastic body, sprayed it with adhesion promoter, and painted it dark pewter. Since the face would be black and you can see the sides of the plastic body, I painted the sides black with a auto paint touch-up brush. After I was done, I reattached the plastic "window" using some clear silicone. 

I wish I would have gotten pictures of the process, but I didn't. You can see the plastic work is completed below. The "window" is perfectly clear and the streaks you see are on the outside.



















Well, it took a bit longer than I expected at the anodizer, but I got it back today. The silkscreener is not going to be able to get to it this week, so I'm dropping it off on Monday. The anodizing looks good, but there are a few marks. I held it out in full light and it's nothing that should be noticeable once everything is together. Now on to the progress pics:

Sorry the pics are a bit blurry, but the flash was making it impossible to see and I didn't really feel like busting out the tripod.




























I got some more work done this past weekend. I don't have all the pictures together for everything, but here is the Denford installed in the dash. I'm happy with the results.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

The next thing I worked on was getting my c-pillars ready for my rear-fill speakers. I decided to go with the Hertz HL70's.

I started working on my pods for my rear fill speakers. Sadly, there was no PVC pipe that fit my speakers exactly, so I needed to create a lip to screw them in when it came time for mounting. They will be getting molded into the c-pillars eventually, but here is the progress so far. I also threw this up in the tutorials section with a bit more detail on the process.

Tools I used (plus abs glue, abs 3" end cap, abs 1/8" plastic sheet):










End cap glued to the plastic sheet:










Hole cut out with adjustable drill bit:










DIY terminals added:










With the speaker sitting in it:


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

Now that the rear-fill pods are made, I have started working on the c-pillars:

I first marked where the mounting tabs were on the back of the panel:










Then I cut my holes, angled the pods, and attached them with hot-glue and plastic epoxy:



















Wrapped in ponte cloth, secured with superglue, and resined:



















They have since been filled with steel bb's and self-leveling concrete repair epoxy (it took 5 tubes). I have smoothed out the rough areas with body filler and painted them black. I will update with more photos after they are covered in grill cloth.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

I didn't like the idea of having black tweeters (my new "ambiance" tweeters in the a-pillars are LPG's and are black) in my gray pillars. Since everything above the dash in my car is a light gray, it all had to go black.

The a-pillars were first sized down using pvc pipe to go from the Morel's to the LPG's and then wrapped:




























And to make it match, I did all of the interior parts in SEM Landau Black, re-upholstered the headliner and sunroof, and wrapped the b-pillars. The c-pillars and rear decklid will get changed over as well.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

And some non-car audio upgrades I have done. 

350z Pedals:










Matching gauge rings:



















SSR GT3's! Sorry for the bad pics, I will get better ones later but the bumper is getting repaired and repainted at the moment.


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