# '03 F150 Harley Davidson Super Crew - Nothing elaborate



## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Got this truck about 5 months ago. I always loved the looks of these trucks when they first came out and I always wanted one. Just looking to do a simple update to this one. I don't want to modify anything that can't be returned back to stock. Don't want to cut anything if possible. 
I got to listen to several trucks at Freeze Fest a week ago and was shown, if done right, full size trucks can sound VERY nice.










Here's a list of the some things I've got so far:

Pioneer DEH-P800PRS head unit
JL Audio HD900/5 amp
Pioneer TS-C720PRS speakers
JBL GTO 1022 10"sub
Power, ground and speaker wire - all JL Audio
Stinger 3000 series RCA


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Wow very nice, now tear the insides out and get to installing lol.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Some pics of the components I have so far:


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

I see you are off to a strong start, are you going to run four channels and suboffof the JL? Or are you bridging to channels to the subs and two to your fronts?


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

My thoughts were to not use the passive crossovers and use the front channel on the amp for the mids, the rear for the tweets and the sub off the 5th channel. Do all the processing in the headunit.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

That also will work, the question now at hand is what type of sub enclosure are you going for?


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Coppertone said:


> That also will work, the question now at hand is what type of sub enclosure are you going for?


It will be a down firing .75 cu. ft. sealed. It will take the place of the rear center console.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Now will this be wrapped in matching leather, or cloth?


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Coppertone said:


> Now will this be wrapped in matching leather, or cloth?


Black vinyl with black carpet sides. Vinyl matches really close. I'm embarrased to show pics of it. It looks horrible. I have never wrapped a box before and it shows. I think I have a way to make it look better but haven't had a chance to try it yet.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

No worries as we all had to start somewhere lol. The best part is that you have the truck that you have always wanted, and it looks to be in great shape. Have fun with it is the key.


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## Eiswritsat (Nov 19, 2008)

bigbubba said:


> My thoughts were to not use the passive crossovers and use the front channel on the amp for the mids, the rear for the tweets and the sub off the 5th channel. Do all the processing in the headunit.


Those pioneer components sound so good active and can handle more power then rated when active and tuned correctly. I had a similar set up in my mazda Speed Protege with a premier 880 with hertz components active before i got my 08 TL. nice equipment by the way


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## pjc (May 3, 2009)

Nice to see some more older F150s. Im currently working on my 98 F150. Nice choice on the comps. I agree that you will really love them active.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

pjc said:


> Nice to see some more older F150s. Im currently working on my 98 F150. Nice choice on the comps. I agree that you will really love them active.


I have seen the write up on your truck. Nice job. It hurts to think of the cost of all that sound deadening. I am going to have to do mine in stages or save up a while to do it all at once.


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## pjc (May 3, 2009)

I was able to find a guy local that had the 3 rolls of Raammat and Ensolite. I got it all for $125. Just keep ur eyes open for great deals. It definitely helped the truck alot. And I did mine small steps at a time. There are links on here about deadening. 25% coverage works. Mine is overkill but I had the materials. Deadening the doors could be your first step. My Focal mids do great in the doors and those Pioneers should also. Good luck with this build and again... Nice truck.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

I actually forgot about this thread.

Deadened all 4 doors and door panels


































Deadened the back section of the floor. Did 3 layers on the bracing that is below the sub box.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Added the mids to the door and mounted the tweets to the top of the door panel. Wish I could have put the tweets somewhere else but the previous owner of the truck already cut the holes in the door panel.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

The sub box sits in the spot previously vacated by the stock console. The box will be rebuilt because it looks like crap, although it is very solid. I am kinda happy at how the amp rack came out though.


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## metanium (Feb 2, 2007)

Really like how the sub/amp console turned out. Great job! I miss having a down-firing sub setup in my truck.


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## jpeezy (Feb 5, 2012)

Nice job,that has got to be one nice solid sounding truck! Love the prs components,thanks for sharing.


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## Kellyo77 (Dec 5, 2009)

Nice truck! You got the audio covered, now it needs a smaller blower pulley, cold air intake, exhaust and a tune. 
I had a 2003 Lightning that I loved. A tune and a blower pulley made a huge difference.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Kellyo77 said:


> Nice truck! You got the audio covered, now it needs a smaller blower pulley, cold air intake, exhaust and a tune.
> I had a 2003 Lightning that I loved. A tune and a blower pulley made a huge difference.


Thanks but what I really need is a boost and a air/fuel mix gauge. When I got the truck it already had a tune and 10" crank pulley added and from what I understand the supercharger should be pushing close to 14 PSI! I don't drive it hard so I should be safe till I get a gauge to verify the boost level but this thing has more power than I know what to do with. I also plan to update the exhaust soon. 

I also wish to have a Lightning but I have too many vehicles now. Once I sell my Bronco a Lightning may be next.


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## Kellyo77 (Dec 5, 2009)

bigbubba said:


> Thanks but what I really need is a boost and a air/fuel mix gauge. When I got the truck it already had a tune and 10" crank pulley added and from what I understand the supercharger should be pushing close to 14 PSI! I don't drive it hard so I should be safe till I get a gauge to verify the boost level but this thing has more power than I know what to do with. I also plan to update the exhaust soon.
> 
> I also wish to have a Lightning but I have too many vehicles now. Once I sell my Bronco a Lightning may be next.


This is the gauge I had in my Lightning. Loved it. Showed anything and everything I ever wanted to see. 

Aeroforce Interceptor Gauges - Gauges


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## DAT (Oct 8, 2006)

Looking good, keep up the excellent work!


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

So, my brother went with me to a contest in the 'Boro several months back. Vinny had just gotten his truck back from Steve Cook that had the Jordan's on the dash. My brother had to have a set of Jordan's after that. I told him if he decided he didn't like them I would take them off his hands. Well, as it turns out he didn't take measurements to make sure they would actually fit his truck without making a lot of modifications. So now I am the proud owner of a set of Jordan's I had no idea of what to do with. I started to play around with them in the truck and figured, what the hell.


















I have never fiberglassed anything before so I don't know how this will turn out. I like making cardboard mock ups to see how it should look. Got a lot of work ahead of me.


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## schmiddr2 (Aug 10, 2009)

How did the glassing go?


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Well....as much as I hate to admit it...I suck at glassing. Which ticks me off cause I am real anxious to see how these sound in my truck. The first attempt, the resin never dried. I'll bet that damn thing is still tacky. So I had to make another plug and try again. That one warped so much it wouldn't fit the dash correctly. I figured I would take a break from it after that. Then the 14 hr. work days took over every once of time I had left for the last month. Once I get through Finals I am going to try again. I just need to find a better way.


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## SoulMan76 (Aug 20, 2012)

Beautiful truck man, I've owned a bunch of ford p/u's loved ever one of them, my 95 lightning and my 2004 superduty the most though. Build looks great so far.


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## DAT (Oct 8, 2006)

bigbubba said:


> Well....as much as I hate to admit it...I suck at glassing. Which ticks me off cause I am real anxious to see how these sound in my truck. The first attempt, the resin never dried. I'll bet that damn thing is still tacky. So I had to make another plug and try again. That one warped so much it wouldn't fit the dash correctly. I figured I would take a break from it after that. Then the 14 hr. work days took over every once of time I had left for the last month. Once I get through Finals I am going to try again. I just need to find a better way.


I have some commercial fiberglass videos , you can borrow.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Appreciate the comment Soulman! A Lightning around the same year as my HD is also on my wish list.

DAT - I have been thinking about trying to pickup some videos like that to give me a better idea as to what I'm doing wrong or at least a better way to do it. 

I did finally get my new Scanspeaks in Sunday. Messed with the angle a bit to help bring up the sound stage a little. Need to replace the silver screws or paint them black. They are a different sound compared to my Pioneer's. I like them alot. Not much time left for tuning though. I guess I can sleep after Finals. But after that, I am going to get those Jordan's in there somehow.


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## chevyrider96 (Mar 5, 2010)

Nice work!


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Thanks. With me getting my ass handed to me at Finals this last weekend, it is going to get a few updates that I hope will bring it to another level of quality sound at shows. Time to step it up!


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## SoulMan76 (Aug 20, 2012)

bigbubba said:


> Appreciate the comment Soulman! A Lightning around the same year as my HD is also on my wish list.


I hear ya there, I wish I never got rid of it. I'd love to have that kind of project truck right now, but I always do what suites me best at the moment and regret it later, I'm too instant gradification.

Are those the scanspeaks d3004-6020-00's, same ones I'm running, they are really nice tweeters, I would like to glass some pods too to get them on axis, but my first few attempts at making a simple cover didn't work out the best either, now I just have them covered with cloth.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Yep. Those are the Scan's I'm using. They do sound a lot better than the Pioneer's I was using. I originaly got them just to get me through Finals and then take them out and replace with Jordan's. I'm not so sure I want to do that now. I have a lot of ideas going through my head and haven't decided on which way I want to take it. I need to do some testing and tuning to see what I think will work best.


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## AccordUno (Aug 7, 2009)

Wow, looks like there's a pretty decent crew in the 'Ville and surrounding areas.. Maybe I need to get out more, after I finish my truck.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Tiny update. Swapped out my Pionerr P800 for a P99.








After a lot of back and forth on what I want to do to the speaker set up, I finally decided to bypass the Jordan speaker and got a set of Audible Physics Nz3-A/AT. I have heard a lot of good things about these and they are also a lot smaller to help me blend these in to the a-pillars a lot better. Trying to mock a few things up this weekend. Will not have much more time to work on this till the end of the year. Hope to have these done by Freeze Fest.


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## DAT (Oct 8, 2006)

bigbubba said:


> Tiny update. Swapped out my Pionerr P800 for a P99.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



you ever get the Dvd's???


Nice upgrades... LMK on the Discs.


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## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

Beautiful truck! I had to settle for the next best thing, a non-SC SCrew.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Ok, one more tiny little update. Got a set of AP Soul midbass. I wanted to go with the Arian's but speaker depth wouldn't allow it. So now I will have a full AP front stage. Hope to get the Soul's installed this weekend and start finalizing my a-pillars too.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Tiny update. First time fiberglasing and still needs a lot of cleanup. Covering in vinyl next.


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## sweefu (Jun 26, 2011)

Neat work mate. I am interested, why did you put the mids so far off axis?


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

woot!

nice work so far.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

sweefu said:


> Neat work mate. I am interested, why did you put the mids so far off axis?


I bulit a set of enclosures that had them on axis and I really did not like how they sounded. It's hard to explain the imaging I was getting. So I took the pillars out and put the mids in the corner of the dash on towels and aimed them in different directions and this is what I came up with that sounded best to me. I guess I'll find out at Freeze Fest if anyone else agrees. If not, back to the drawing board. The tweets in the sail panel of the doors are not going to stay there. Haven't had time to take them out yet and seal the hole.


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## DAT (Oct 8, 2006)

bigbubba said:


> Tiny update. First time fiberglasing and still needs a lot of cleanup. Covering in vinyl next.


Looks great



sweefu said:


> Neat work mate. I am interested, why did you put the mids so far off axis?


Man those speakers do so well on or off axis... Congrats :thumbsup:




.


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

Great start. In my car my Pillars are 90 degrees off axis and this is how i test them. It works amazing. But direct sound is great, at first takes a little getting use to if your not use to it in your vehicle. It can be a little in your face at first then you listen more and more it becomes more notice this is the way it should be. 

But that depends on the enclosure also.

Is the new ones IB are sealed? If sealed how much space?


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Audible Physics said:


> Great start. In my car my Pillars are 90 degrees off axis and this is how i test them. It works amazing. But direct sound is great, at first takes a little getting use to if your not use to it in your vehicle. It can be a little in your face at first then you listen more and more it becomes more notice this is the way it should be.
> 
> But that depends on the enclosure also.
> 
> Is the new ones IB are sealed? If sealed how much space?


The first enclosures were in .6 liters on axis. The imaging sounded very odd... hollow. I tried playing with the phase and xover settings but nothing sounded right. Plus the speakers were pushed so far into the cabin, the sound stage was very narrow to me. Once I put them in the towels, off axis, they seemed to come to life. Very surprised how well they sounded just sitting in a towel. The new pillars are set up as IB. The light colored rectangles next to the mid is where the Transducers are going. I havent actually heard these new pillars yet. Hopefully tomorrow after work.


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

bigbubba said:


> The first enclosures were in .6 liters on axis. The imaging sounded very odd... hollow. I tried playing with the phase and xover settings but nothing sounded right. Plus the speakers were pushed so far into the cabin, the sound stage was very narrow to me. Once I put them in the towels, off axis, they seemed to come to life. Very surprised how well they sounded just sitting in a towel. The new pillars are set up as IB. The light colored rectangles next to the mid is where the Transducers are going. I havent actually heard these new pillars yet. Hopefully tomorrow after work.


Ok i see, but very strange. 

They should be very good in the new a-pillars.

Put some ployfill or stuffing like the Focal blackhole behind the driver. That will help will back waves a bit.


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## wdemetrius1 (Aug 16, 2007)

Your pillars came out great Bubba!!!


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Audible Physics said:


> Ok i see, but very strange.
> 
> They should be very good in the new a-pillars.
> 
> Put some ployfill or stuffing like the Focal blackhole behind the driver. That will help will back waves a bit.


That was my reaction as well....Ok, strange. :laugh:

I'm sure it was something I was not doing correctly. I'll be the first to admit I'm very green when it comes to tuning. The best way I can describe it is it sounded as if both the left and right speaker were connected to the same channel. I could not get the image to center. Maybe if I spent more time with it I could have gotten it to work but I was freaking out due to the amount of time I had till Freeze Fest. Either way this is the new setup and I will make it work.

I have polyfill to put behind the pillars but I wanted to use the Focal Blackhole. Where is a good place to get some?


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## DAT (Oct 8, 2006)

bigbubba said:


> That was my reaction as well....Ok, strange. :laugh:
> 
> I'm sure it was something I was not doing correctly. I'll be the first to admit I'm very green when it comes to tuning. The best way I can describe it is it sounded as if both the left and right speaker were connected to the same channel. I could not get the image to center. Maybe if I spent more time with it I could have gotten it to work but I was freaking out due to the amount of time I had till Freeze Fest. Either way this is the new setup and I will make it work.
> 
> I have polyfill to put behind the pillars but I wanted to use the Focal Blackhole. Where is a good place to get some?


I have some good Wool stuff that works wonders, what they use on all the inwall HT setups... makes a big difference...


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

DAT said:


> I have some good Wool stuff that works wonders, what they use on all the inwall HT setups... makes a big difference...


What's it called and how can I get some?


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## metanium (Feb 2, 2007)

Like the title states..."nothing elaborate". Haha, oh how things change with this sickness we call DIY car audio! Nice freakin' pillars!


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

metanium said:


> Like the title states..."nothing elaborate". Haha, oh how things change with this sickness we call DIY car audio! Nice freakin' pillars!


Yeah, and to think this isn't even the vehicle I originally wanted to compete with. :laugh: Next I need to redo the sub box.


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## metanium (Feb 2, 2007)

bigbubba said:


> Yeah, and to think this isn't even the vehicle I originally wanted to compete with. :laugh: Next I need to redo the sub box.


I'm thinking you keep the down-firing arrangement, but glass that puppy into the factory rear console. Noice!


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## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

Nice pillars! I blew a voicecoil in one of my 15's in my SCrew.


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## audio+civic (Apr 16, 2009)

Subscribed


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## SoulMan76 (Aug 20, 2012)

Nice work man, looking great.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

I thought I posted this already. Got the Soul's installed but they will be coming back out to redo the mounting plate. They stick out too far into the door panel. Plus, I need to seal them from the door panel too.


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## DAT (Oct 8, 2006)

Love the Souls. Great mid bass


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

DAT said:


> Love the Souls. Great mid bass


Yeah, I wanted to get the Arian's but they were too deep for my doors. So far I am really happy with them. Sound way better than the Pioneer's in the door. 

I went ahead and threw the pillars/widebands in the truck tonight. Could not stand waiting anymore. Been in the truck for the last hour. There is still a lot of tuning to do but...WOW, I am so happy with the imaging this setup gives so far. Still need to install the Transducers in the pillars. Hope to get that done this weekend. Looks like the wool will be here tomorrow and I will have that in this weekend too. Getting excited to hear what this thing can sound like with a proper tune done to it.


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

Glad it is coming together sir.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Workin' on the pillars today. Tryin' to mold in a spot for the Transducer. 









Sand, sand, sand.....sand









Getting there

















Got some thoughts on some grills


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## DAT (Oct 8, 2006)

Looking Nice.. you got some of the best speakers in those pillars!!


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## wdemetrius1 (Aug 16, 2007)

Looking good Bubba!!!


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

wdemetrius1 said:


> Looking good Bubba!!!


Thank you sir! Hopefully you can come to Freeze Fest and give it a listen. I have yet to here your car.


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

Looking great sir. Your doing amazing job.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

really like your custom grilles, man. Looking good so far!


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## wdemetrius1 (Aug 16, 2007)

bigbubba said:


> Thank you sir! Hopefully you can come to Freeze Fest and give it a listen. I have yet to here your car.


^^

You're welcome. If I'm able to make it, we will definitely have to change that.


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## schmiddr2 (Aug 10, 2009)

Sweet! This has changed a lot since I last read this build log. Hope to get a listen this year.


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## Golden Ear (Oct 14, 2012)

Subscribed. Looking to put some NZ3s in my F250 super doodie.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Hopefully in a week or so I will be able to provide some more feedback on my impressions on these speakers. I will say that compared to the original setup this sounds so much better so far with little to no tuning. The rest of this next week will be geared toward tuning for the first contest of the season.


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## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

I envy you fiberglass people. There is no way i'm willing to do all that sanding. Excellent work!


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

BP1Fanatic said:


> I envy you fiberglass people. There is no way i'm willing to do all that sanding. Excellent work!


I envy those fiberglass people too.  I had to go out of town and brought all my stuff with me to try and get these things finished but forgot to put my electric sander in the bag. It's not going to sand itself so..... I actually enjoy it. Makes me feel like I did something


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Got the pillars wrapped. The vinyl is pretty close to the pattern in the truck now. Been holding off all week to put them in till I could figure out how to do the grills. I have wasted a lot of grill material because I can't seem to get it right so for now I guess I will have to remember to but the windshield screen in till I get it figured out. Next it's on to rebuilding the sub box to incorporate an additional amp, JL HD 600/4, and to hopefully blend it into the interior a little better this time.


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## SteveH! (Nov 7, 2005)

I gotta say i love your install bubba! sounds good and looks good!


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## papasin (Jan 24, 2011)

Looks very nice!

EDIT: For grills, I think the way I have mine at the moment might work (and look) better on your setup since you have some extra space between the Nz3s and the AT. With some neo magnets, a router and circle jig, it'd probably take no more than 15 mins.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Looks good, dude!


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## wdemetrius1 (Aug 16, 2007)

They came out great!!! :thumbsup:


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## DAT (Oct 8, 2006)

Love it.


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## Golden Ear (Oct 14, 2012)

Nice! They look like they belong there. How much air space do you have for the nz3?


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Thanks everybody. I am so happy with how they came out. Not perfect but they turned out better than I thought. What I like the most is standing outside the truck you would never know they were there. Being all black really helps. 

papasin, I really like how your pillars came out. I have tried several things but I think tiny magnets are my next thing to try. I will order some from work Monday and need to get some more grill material. 

Golden ear, the Nz3's are running in IB. I got some nice polyfil from Dave(DAT) and it does a really nice job. 

Gonna bust my butt to see if I can get the new sub box/amprack built soon. Really want to try to go to the Atlanta GTG with it.


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

Looks great sir. Great job. Got something going that will help take it up a notch also.

Drop me a line when you have a moment.


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## wdemetrius1 (Aug 16, 2007)

I'm looking forward to getting another listen.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

So, it's been over a year since I've done anything with the truck. I don't really have the time to work on this one too but....

I wanted to try something different in the pillars and heard a lot got good things about the Illusion Audio Carbon C4 CX. Found a set on here and bought them. Haven't had much time yet to do anything with them yet.



Then these fell into my lap.





Pretty much brand new. They belong to my brother. He asked me if I knew anyone that would maybe buy them. I told him I could post them here to see if anyone would want them. A thought has been going through my head of just buying them for myself. I've also been thinking of putting my C720PRS mids back in the truck. I think these will work well together along with my Scan tweets. Too many choices sucks.


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## papasin (Jan 24, 2011)

I'd be curious to hear what you think of the C4CX.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Yeah, this weekend I will be multitasking like crazy. modifying the kick pods in the Monte and tweaking the horns, laying out a new subbox/amprack for the truck and swapping in the 2 speaker sets in the pillars to get some impressions on them.


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## schmiddr2 (Aug 10, 2009)

Cool man, those both look nice. You do more SQ competitions than I but if you would like a second set of ears I could be available. Either way GL getting it all done and tested.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

I'll start this off by saying that this is more about what I screwed up than actual progress. I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing when working on these updates so far. I did twice the amount of work than I should have. Had I planned out what I was doing I'd be a lot further along. Hope to not make those kind of mistakes moving forward.

Started building some pods for the IA C4CX. 



Test fitting the baffles before glassing.


Spent a lot of time sanding and filling. Then it dawned on me that the passenger side pod was 2" shorter than the driver side. So I taped it off where I could cut it in a place to cause the least amount of work to fix. 



Mistake number 2. Added a gauge pod for a new Aeroforce gauge to the driver pillar. Added it high up on the pillar as to not be in the way of the dash pod. Did not verify it was at the angle I really wanted and it ended up being angled up a lot higher than I preferred. 



So today I'm finally moving forward instead of backwards. Got the pods pretty close to a stage to where they can be covered. Still got a lot of sanding to do (pretty much all I've been doing since 7:00 this morning.) Sanding the pillars back down since removing the original pods that held the AP drivers. And, I got the gauge pod molded in again, and yes I checked it twice this time that it's where I want it.




I've had these pods in the truck for about a week before I got too far with it and just anxious to hear what they sound like. They are using the supplied passive crossovers for now because I don't have an additional channel to give them their own yet. And the channel they are on will only cross down to 1.25K. Not a true test of them but all I have at the moment. Now considering what I have to work with I am really happy with the staging and height of the stage. It's about even with the rear view mirror on the windshield. I've never had a vehicle with the imaging that high. I'm hoping that doesn't change too much when I get everything crossed down to where it needs to be later. Next things I'll be working on is adding another amp and rebuilding the sub box/amp rack. Then change out the HU. 

Also for ****s and giggles I put the pods in My Monte Carlo to see how it would look.




Hmmmm...interesting


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## jvctan16 (Jun 11, 2013)

any updates on this?


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

I haven't gotten to mess with it a lot lately. Been spending most of my time on my car. Hope to be getting back to it soon though before it goes under the car cover for the winter.


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## WhiteL02 (Jul 25, 2014)

Anymore updates?


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Unfortunately, no. I have been focusing on my car and not the truck. Also, I should have put it in the shop already to have some issues addressed. It's not running well right now. Called a shop this morning to see when they could get to it. I will be pulling everything and starting over just not sure when that can happen.


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## imjustjason (Jun 26, 2006)

Love these trucks. Can't wait to see what you do with the rework.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

imjustjason said:


> Love these trucks. *Can't wait to see what you do with the rework*.


Ha. yeah me too. Talked to the guy who will be working on it. Should be taking it to him next week to figure out what's wrong with it. Will be pulling out most of the stereo this week so he won't be tempted to mess with it instead of working on it.


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## WhiteL02 (Jul 25, 2014)

Sorry to hear about your truck having problems.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Any update on the status of your truck ?


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

I have made some progress. I haven't messed with it the last few weeks, getting my car ready for Finals. I'll have to take some pics and post after I get back this weekend. It won't be a major update but after Finals I need to get this thing finished before I put it away for winter.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

I'm glad to hear/ see that you're still in it to win it lol. Can't wait to see more photos as it looked like it was coming along great.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

I'm not as far along on this as I'd like to be by now but life sucks and gets in the way sometimes.  I covered the pods in black headliner material. I still need to cover the pillars in the same material. As I was typing this up I had an idea on a speaker grill for the pods. Will work on that after Finals.



For the sub box/ amprack I kept the box I already had, knocked off the top section where the amp was located and made new sides out of 3/4 mdf. I set it back from the front a bit so I could radius the corners a bit so it won't look so square. It's not as much as I would have liked but I can live with it. 


Since I am adding a JL 600/4 to go with the 900/5 I already had I wanted to stack them in a step configuration. I got some 10ga. hot rolled steel and bent it into a shape that matches the back of the box then bent it down to make a place the top amp will sit. I will drill and tap the metal to mount the amp. 


The front of the rack will have a vent in the front for the air to flow through when the fans in the back are on.


I got some cardboard and made a curved piece and put 2 layers of fiberglass on both sides for the back of the rack. This will be used to direct the air from the fans on top of the rack to the amps as well as the point where the wiring for the amps comes in. And the amps will be located like so.




I'm also adding a trim piece made out of 20ga. galvanized metal around the inside of the rack that will have led lights on the bottom side that will turn on when the top is lifted. 



The lid in place. Still have some trimming to do on it to make it fit better. All of this will be covered in black vinyl on the top part of the box and black carpet on the bottom half. Not sure what I will line the inside of the rack with yet.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

man, that console work is looking awesome so far!


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Ok. It's getting to be that time of year that I want to start driving my truck again. I've been doing a lot of little things but now that I'm done doing time consuming updates to my car I can get back to this. One of the bigger things that has been holding me back on finishing this is needing an additional set of channels since I'm going from a 2way to a 3way. So I went ahead and bit the bullet and bought another Helix dsp, this time I got the Pro version. I put the pro in my car so the regular dsp is going in the truck now. That means I had to make a set of rca cables to go from the Helix to the amps. So I got together all the necessities.


I added a new power/ground distribution holder, put my PG DD-10 under one rear seat and the Helix dsp under the other seat. Will make a carpeted cover for the DD-10 and Helix to hide them from view.




Now I've been going back and forth on the speakers for the front. I've made my decision and going with the Pioneer's.


I used the midbass and the tweets when I did the first build for the truck and really liked them. The mids I bought from my brother and have never heard them. I'm thinking of putting the mids and tweets here.


I really didn't want to make a large dash pod, I' tired of looking at the one in my car already.  I'm thinking once I get them mounted I can make a grill to cover them and make them go away from my vision. We'll see.


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## Kevin K (Feb 11, 2013)

It's gonna be nice Kelly, you do great fab work and I look forward to seeing and hearing it, can't wait.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

nutter butters!

Looking forward to seeing the finished product.


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## imjustjason (Jun 26, 2006)

ErinH said:


> nutter butters!


Priorities in order.


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## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

I can't wait to see everything in place!


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

Simple went out window real fast. Nice ass stuff and work my friend.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Ok, after a huge amount to sanding I got the sail panel pods mostly done. I still need to figure out the way I want to mount them and run the speaker wire into the door. 




I ordered some 4-way stretch vinyl to cover the top part of the box which should be here Monday. The first time I wrapped this box looked like complete crap. Hopefully this time around it will come out better. Did a lot of sanding on it today and yesterday. Got the lid mounted and made a panel for the fans to pull air through the amp rack. 



Mounted and drilled out the rear wire panel. 


Since the vinyl will only stretch so far and the sub box is still square, I will not be able to stretch the material far around the sides. The sides of the box will be carpet and I needed to make a point where the transition between the carpet and vinyl meet. I used some cardboard to show what the transition will look like then added some bondo to create the raised area. I also tried to blend in the front vent panel in to the box so the vinyl will hopefully blend in better. If the vinyl does not stretch far enough and still look good, I don't know what I'm going to do.


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## Kevin K (Feb 11, 2013)

Work looks good Kelly, you've been busy.


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## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

Yeah he has!


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

So I've been pushing real hard to try and get this install finished and it's starting to show by not getting the results I want. Some of it I'm happy with and some...not so much. So I'm taking the long weekend off to regroup and pick up on it next week. 

Got some 4 way stretch vinyl from Albright's. Stuff works better than I expected.




Fans to pull air through box. This is one of the things I'm not pleased with.


Carpet added.



Lights on



Made a Harley shield a while back and thought it would add a little to the box


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

man, that looks awesome! great work, Kelly.


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## bginvestor (Jan 13, 2008)

nice job!


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## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

That center console is nice!


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## indytrucks (Apr 5, 2009)

Any updates? I'm looking at buying one of these.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

I should have some updates next week. I will say that the speaker pods have been trashed and the sub box/amp rack is being rebuilt, again because I can't get the vinyl to stick to certain parts of it.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Well, I hope I'm on the right track with this build again. Every time I think I take a step forward I take 2 back. If it doesn't pan out this time I give up. I tossed the pods for the Pioneer mid and tweet. 2 reasons, as it turns out one of the mids kept popping so I guess it is blown or fixing to, the other reason is after looking at the pods for a while I began to hate them because they looked like I had rear view mirrors inside truck. That being said I'm also sick of hacking up pillars and molding things in. So I decided to go the bolt on pod route. I lost the pics that showed how I made them. Basically I got some 4" Styrofoam balls and glassed over them and the speaker baffles. I dug through my closet and found my old AP NZ3 wideband speakers. I wanted to add a little personal touch to the pods and made some small Harley Davidson logo's and glued them to the back of the pods so you can see them through the windshield. I made some bigger logo's to make some speaker grills. The ring was too thin and one broke so I need to make some more. 







So I had to rebuild the sub box/ amp rack because the vinyl just would not stick no matter what I did, too many curves in the wrong place I guess. This one will be a lot lower profile compared to the last one. So I started with a full scale cardboard template like always.


The Helix will be mounted on the back of the box cause I really didn't want to mount it under the back seat where it would be visible. 



Cut out the slots for the wiring.


How the amps will be placed, still staggered.





I'll be off from work all this next week so I'm hoping to get this thing wrapped up by next weekend, fingers crossed. Still have a lot to do as well as doing a few mods to my Monte since I'm off.


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## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

Nice!


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Awesome work here.


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

You do good work.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Test fitting everything together. Still have a few things to address but hopefully I can tear it down to paint and cover with vinyl and carpet.


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## carlr (Feb 27, 2011)

Just beautiful man, love the shapes and attention to detail.


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## Golden Ear (Oct 14, 2012)

Nice work!


Sent from my mind using telekinesis


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Ok, so I'm just about done with the sub box/ amp rack. Have a few details to work on. For some reason the trim pieces I painted last night didn't dry completely and now they have finger prints all over them when I picked them up this morning. Not sure how I'm going to address that yet. 

First I made a mount for the DD-10 remote turn on unit. I'm putting it in the rear storage compartment behind the rear seat. Currently the jack and tire iron reside there. I removed the plastic holder for the jack to see if there would be enough room in there for the DD-10 and the jack, and there was.



The jack has a hole in the base and I will add a thumb screw to use the anchor the jack in place. Then I made a carpet sock to go over the tire iron to keep it from rattling. 


Installed


Pics of the sub box





Tomorrow I will hopefully be hooking everything up.


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## Kevin K (Feb 11, 2013)

Looks great sir, nice work.


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## Extended Power (Jun 8, 2014)

Looks awesome.


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## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

Nice work!


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Well, I got it all hooked up and gave it power. Everything turned on like it was supposed to and I didn't let out any of the magical smoke.....but. I have two different types of unwanted noise. One is a buzzing sound with the engine off. At first I thought it was from the cooling fans in the back of the box but I disconnected them and it's still there. The second noise is a vicious engine noise. I tried to make sure the rca's were not close to the power wires. I'm going to check the ground location. It is the same location I've always used but will check it anyway. 

Any suggestions on other things to check is appreciated.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

man, that sucks. the easiest test is to ground everything at the same location. So if there's any way you can make a common ground for all your components (headunit, dsp, amps, etc) you may want to give that a try. In my car that made a huge difference. I used the factory start ground under my seat and ran a 0 gauge off that to my distro block where everything was then separated.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

I'm using the same location I've used before without issue, the rear seat belt mount bolt. I'm using the Street wires power/ground distribution block and everything is connected to that with the exception of the HU. The HU is grounded with the factory harness. I did disconnect the ground wire from the seatbelt bolt to make sure it was clean and has good contact. When I reconnected it, it gave off a small spark. So the chassis is getting a charge from somewhere just not sure where. Guess I need to move up front to the engine compartment to make sure all the grounds look good up there.


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