# 2007 Chevy Cobalt SS MECA Stock Build.



## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

*2007 Chevy Cobalt SS MECA Stock Build*

Car is an 07 cobalt ss, with the "premium" Pioneer system. The build is to compete in MECA stock class next year. Car has the following upgrades:

DC Racing intercooler
Injen cold air intake
Polished Headers
Magen exhaust
Magen lowering shocks and suspension
Hurst short shift
HID headlight

It's a really fun car to drive, and is the best of both worlds: 205hp/200 ft/lbs of torque, will break traction in 2nd and 3rd gear, and still gets 30+ on the highway. I average 25 mpg around town, and got 31.4 driving to Atlanta last week. 

Gear is as follows:

Pioneer DEH-80PRS
PPI Phantom 900.4
PPI Phantom 1000.1
Morel MT-22 tweeters in surface wedge mounts in the sails
Massive Audio CK6 mids in the doors
Earthquake SWS-10X subs IB in the rear deck.

Deadening will consist of
1/4" mdf will cover holes in the door
Alpha Damp
Focal tiles
RaamAudio Ensolite
Various types of eggcrate and memory foams.

The eggcrate foam is a funny story. The past six months, we've replaced about 80 pieces of networking equipment, and the hardware and all the accessories each came in foam padded boxes. I had our network guy start giving it to me, and I have four giant storage tubs full of it now, ranging from WalMart feeling eggcrate foam, to thick, dense material stiffer than memory foam, but still very open cell. I'm excited to see what I can do with these.

Amps will be in an amp rack mounted where the factory sub is now. Wiring at the battery will be dressed in split loom to maintain factory appearance. I've figured out how to also mount the ring terminals to the stock battery terminals to further maintain a stock install.

This weekend I'm working on mounting the amps and doing the wiring. The battery is located in the trunk, so the amps will be grounded directly to the battery.

Here's the pics:

The Car









Stock sub enclosure, where the amp rack will go. I originally wanted to modify another identical sub enclosure to be the amp rack, but my amps are a little too big, especially with the terminals being on the ends. If I still had my XD amps, I probably could have pulled it off.









Stock enclosure removed. Amp rack will be mounted to the same bolts the enclosure was mounted to.









Factory battery terminal. You'll notice the terminal plate has another threaded bolt on it, and the red plastic housing has a wide extension on the back side, as if it were made for wiring accessories. The welded bolt is the same thread as the bolts that hold the sub enclosure, so I'm taking the nut to Lowe's tomorrow to get one for the power wire.

Also notice both terminals have another bolt on the inner side of the terminals. That tightens the factory terminal. I'm going to cut the ring terminal for the ground wire and convert it into a spade terminal, then install it under the nut on the ground terminal.









Another shot of the battery, this was to show the area under the factory trim that the power wire, inline fuse, and ground wires were going to be routed.









This is what I use to crimp wires. Hammer crimp and 5lb hand sledge. It does wonders on 1/0, and can wreak havok on 4 gauge, especially if you need to work out some frustration. Getting to use this is my absolute favorite part of every install.









1/0 Power Wire crimped.


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## cnut334 (Oct 17, 2009)

Nice ride! I'm looking forward to your build.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

*Re: 2007 Chevy Cobalt SS MECA Stock Build*



Thumper26 said:


> Factory battery terminal. You'll notice the terminal plate has another threaded bolt on it, and the red plastic housing has a wide extension on the back side, as if it were made for wiring accessories. The welded bolt is the same thread as the bolts that hold the sub enclosure, so I'm taking the nut to Lowe's tomorrow to get one for the power wire.
> 
> Also notice both terminals have another bolt on the inner side of the terminals. That tightens the factory terminal. I'm going to cut the ring terminal for the ground wire and convert it into a spade terminal, then install it under the nut on the ground terminal.
> 
> ...


IIRC, the studs on the battery terminals are M5 or M6....pretty sure they're M6. The nuts that came with Pioneer CD Changers fit perfectly...


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Thanks for the tip! They take a 10mm socket, so we'll see. Amp rack is going to be two separate pieces, one piece that bolts to the stock sub location, and another that will be screwed to that. The second piece will be what the amps mount to, and will have cutouts for the wires to come from under/behind the amps. Going to Lowe's today for nuts, electrical tape, and mdf.


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## Lou (May 23, 2009)

good to see thumper,looking forward to see the rest when done


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Thanks Lou!

K, so confirmed the bolts are m6, picked some up from Lowe's as well as more mdf.

Here's a shot of the template for the amp rack. I used the factory sub box to trace out an outline onto cardboard, then cut out around it leaving extra room. I then poked holes in the mounting points and wedged the template into the space, bending the extra, and then marking where to cut with a pencil. The areas where I trimmed too much or needed smoothing were added by cutting other filler pieces out of cardboard and then taping them into place while leaving the template in the trunk. The tape also adds a smooth edge to use while tracing.









So, I cut the shape out of 3/4 mdf, and due to the trunk carpet, it wouldn't flex enough to let me bolt it down. So I cut another one out of 1/2". It was better, but the bottom two bolts are slightly recessed. So, I cut a slice out of the middle of the 1/2" template and bolted the two pieces separately. I then used the original 3/4" cutout as a template to make the actual amp rack. I cut out the bolt holes with a 1" hole, and then screwed the rack to the mounting plates:









I can now remove the whole assembly as one single unit. You can see the outline of where the amps will be. I wanted to have them straight, but the monoblock is just too wide, so they both will be mounted at an angle. Power and ground distro blocks will go on the bottom. I'm still waiting on the fused distro block to arrive, so still not sure how they'll be oriented. Speaker wires will come over the factory trunk liner and be routed behind the rack, then up through access holes to the amps. It will be covered in split loom where it crosses over the carpet to maintain a stock look as much as possible.

Next I will test mount the amps and drill cutouts for the wires, and if needed trim any excess from the rear mounting plates. Once everything is good, I'll unscrew the plates, add some wood glue, and reattach the screws, while adding a few more for support. Then it will be carpeted and ready for install. I have some 1/8" mdf that I will use to make a cover for it. If I can fit it, I'm going to put the Chevy SS logo on it.

One all this is done, I'll be waiting on the mids, subs, and the radio to arrive.


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## tnaudio (Mar 4, 2012)

You probably will not be able to use much of the foam except inside encloser or behind panels to help rattles. There are no acoustic treatments allows in stock class.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

That was the plan. I do wish they allowed dash mats in stock. That would help so much.

There is a recess in the rear deck that will have to be filled with foam, and I may put some under the trim panel on the rear deck to help with rattles, but other than that, all the foam will be in the door panels.


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## Lou (May 23, 2009)

no problem thumper,i ordered the foam so i should have by the end of the week,than i will send it off to you


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## Noobdelux (Oct 20, 2011)

sweet ride and build is looking good so far.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Thanks!

Didn't do a lot today, the wife and I spent the day together and went to the small local zoo. I did get the amp rack finished though. Just now have to start pulling cables so I can pre-route the wires on the amp rack.

Carpeted and mounted again for a last test fit. the area below the rack looks open because the factory carpet curls up some, it's mainly just the angle of the shot:









Here's the back. Wood glue, and about 6 screws per brace were used to anchor them. The holes for the wires to come through have been drilled, and I went over the edges with my router and a 3/4" roundover bit to help with routing the cables. The first two were a little too deep (whups), but I think it turned out well.


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## Lymen (Aug 9, 2011)

Good luck on the install. I'm stoked to see someone else working on an '07 cobalt, well other then a wall of woofer that is. That carpet used for the amp rack looks like a good match. Could I ask if it actually is, and if so where to get it? I spent about 12 hours yesterday in my '07 black cobalt laying cld, ccf, mlv, what a pita. No SS though, insurance is killer up here. Good luck again i'll be following this one for sure!

Lymen


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Just charcoal gray box carpet. It matches pretty well. I got it from my local shop, but looks the same as the stuff I've gotten from partsexpress.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Also, The Cobalt SS Network has a forum with a ton of info for these cars. I know yours isn't an ss, but I think the general assembly is the same.

Door Panel Removal:
Front Door Speaker Install w/ PICS - Cobalt SS Network

Remove rear seats, and relocate trunk releases:
Interior HOW TO: relocate back seat Release Poper - Cobalt SS Network

Rear deck, complete rear seat, and rear panel removal:
Rear deck removal for coupes - Chevy Cobalt Forum / Cobalt Reviews / Cobalt SS / Cobalt Parts

How to remove factory radio:
HOW TO: Radio Removal 05-09 Cobalt - Chevrolet Forum - Chevy Enthusiasts Forums

Youtube video of dash and center console trim piece removal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frDap7ZYM1A


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

I like where this is going. I should probably pick a sanctioning body and try and work around class rules, but there are literally NO SQ shows in MI...the 5 shows I know of are all SPL. I guess I'll just build it, and see where I fit in later, if I try to compete.

Jay


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Getting ready to pull wires, doing some deadening today. Door panel removed and plastic water guard removed.










Deadening: There are two support bars spanning the length of the doors. The gaps were the perfect fit for the focal black hole tiles. I alternated tiles with squares of alpha damp with eggcrate foam glued to them. They easily clear the windows too. This is done up to the window motors. Past that, there will be larger strips of alpha damp and actual acoustic foam. A couple of focal tiles will be on the back side of the panel as well.










I didn't take pics, but have the cutout templates made for the hole covers. They will be screwed in with self tapping screws. I wrapped them in aluminum tape for waterproofing. You can also spray glue regular aluminum foil to waterproof baffles as well.

In regards to the foam, my doors hardly leak, if at all, and I had foam in my accord that was bone dry after it raining nonstop all week, so I'm not worried about it. Also, all of the metal is painted, and the foam is glued to deadener, so rust isn't a concern either. Finally, an action shot of the wife at work. She did all of the deadening in the inner doors.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

Out of curiosity, have you had any problems with the doors leaking? We've had a few Cobalts come in with left front speakers shorting out, or just plain dead because of water damage. Just wondered if it was a common problem, like the old Neon 4 doors.

Nice work so far.

Jay


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

None so far. The bottom row will be waterproofed. I was in the rain the day before pulling the doors and it was dry. They're doing construction several places around my house and I drove through two miles of potholes and puddles the night before.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

Cool. Just wondering.


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## tehjeni (Sep 12, 2012)

Man, your wife did a pretty badass job on those doors. =)


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

tehjeni said:


> Man, your wife did a pretty badass job on those doors. =)


Eh, it'll do I guess.


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## DAT (Oct 8, 2006)

Looks great so far, it will be nice to meet another member at a Meca show..


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## niceguy (Mar 12, 2006)

Nice job....never been to Chattanooga but friends say the aquarium and zoo are nice. Spent lots of time in Sevierville/Gatlinburgh and Asheville though and it's beautiful in the fall....


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

subd


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## MTopper (Nov 4, 2009)

rarely do you ever see someone put a quality system in a cobalt ss/ion redline. usually just a sub and amp due to "weight savings" aka think i'm fast.

love the work you're putting into it. watching this one for sure.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Thanks for the comments guys!

I have a lot of progress pics to throw up, just haven't had time. Speaker wires have been run and routed through the doors, so the amp rack should be assembled before I finish today, just have to run rca and remote turn on, but am swapping the deck first. If the universe shows me any favor at all, I'll have a stereo playing tonight, minus the subs, which are being delivered today and should be able to be installed tomorrow or Saturday. 

Have to deaden the door cards, screw the baffles on the doors, and mount the mids (still waiting on them to show up) and that's all. Will try to post pics and more info tonight.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

MTopper said:


> rarely do you ever see someone put a quality system in a cobalt ss/ion redline. usually just a sub and amp due to "weight savings" aka think i'm fast.
> 
> love the work you're putting into it. watching this one for sure.


Yeah, if someone wants to be serious about a fast car, you don't start with a 4 cylinder that's 200hp stock. I will prolly do the stage 2 kit to get it up to 245, but that's just because my dad works with GM and I can get it done for cheap. Also, this car is stupid torquey and really fun to drive, and I don't want to lose that when the extra weight is added.

The 08 and newer cobalts are turbocharged, and are 260hp stock, so that was another reason that I'm not obsessed with the racing part. I got this not knowing a lot about the Cobalt family, but regardless, if I wanted a race car, I wouldn't be starting with something like this. Any decently built 350 would have more than that much power naturally aspirated, and they have packages to drop corvette drivetrains into the saturn ion and pontiac solstice. This is just an all around fun car that still gets 30+ mpg on the interstate. In my mind, there's not much more I could ask for out of a vehicle (except a better quality interior).


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

I! GOT! PACKAGES!!!

Massive Audio CK6 mids (thanks again legend94!)









Earthquake SWS-10X subs









Lol at the warning label. Due to the mounting depth of the sub, it's actually shallower to mount these downfiring. I like this bc it allows for a cleaner install and helps better protect the subs, as well as not having to worry about hitting the cones on the deck.


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## UNFORGIVEN (Sep 25, 2010)

Is there a noticable difference with the foam and tiles in the doors? 
I bought acoustic egg carton foam from partsexpress with the intentions of installing behind my mids but haven't gotten around to it. Worth it?


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## mrboost (Sep 13, 2012)

Thumper26 said:


> I didn't take pics, but have the cutout templates made for the hole covers. They will be screwed in with self tapping screws. I wrapped them in aluminum tape for waterproofing. You can also spray glue regular aluminum foil to waterproof baffles as well.


i am interested in this... hole covers? did u just use wood? 

very nice build so far!:snacks:


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Yup, 1/8" mdf, warerproofed on one side, will be screwed to the doors with self tapping screws. I have pics, just have to get them posted


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## decibelle (Feb 17, 2011)

Deadening a two-door sucks arse. Wish y'all luck on that one.

Nice so far, interested to see/hear the sub in particular.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Me too. If they work ib, then they're the ultimate shallow ib sub. If not, they just need a small sealed box, which I would mount to the rear deck as well


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

UNFORGIVEN said:


> Is there a noticable difference with the foam and tiles in the doors?
> I bought acoustic egg carton foam from partsexpress with the intentions of installing behind my mids but haven't gotten around to it. Worth it?


Yeah, very. Honestly, I've heard about the tiles, but wouldn't have ever given them a chance if my buddy hadn't have used them in his HHR SS. Doors with no deadening and only the foam tiles sounded dead. They work really well. I have some on the back side of the door panels as well. I could really use a few more for the hollow chambers I discovered yesterday, but that can be done later.

As to the foam, yes it makes a huge difference. It really helps the clarity. Moisture is the only downside. Waterproofing open cell foam makes it not work as well, but if it gets wet, it will hold water and mold. I'm going to check my doors in a couple months and if there's an issue I'll just replace or wrap the foam with something closed cell. I cut the focal tiles in half, and they're just open cell foam sprayed with some kind of bedliner material. The bottom layer of the tile is like the thick part of damplifier pro.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Alright, quick wrap up of what's been done so far. I ended up getting sidetracked this afternoon and wasn't able to get the amp rack assembled, but should be good to go tomorrow.

First, the door baffles. I used the cardboard template method to cut out a cover for the holes. While making the template, I noted where things like wires, bolts, window motors, etc were so I won't drill through when I mount them.

The template was cut out of 1/4" mdf. One side was covered in aluminum tape to waterproof, and the other side was painted black after the deadener was applied. These cover the rear holes, I don't have pics of the front holes yet, but same scenario, different shape. One thing that was convenient is that the access holes were identical mirrors on each door. My Accord had dissimilar access cutouts, which required more templates.

The Door:









Inner side of the baffle. I measured and noted where I could fit more Focal tiles. Small pieces of Alpha Damp are spread around the tiles.









Outer side of the baffle. Each one has a half sheet of Alpha Damp in the middle, and have been painted black to help prevent swelling in the future.










Couple of finished shots of the door by the mid. A strip of Alpha Damp starts where every foam tile stops by the window motor and runs the length of the door in between each support brace. Two strips are staggered along the bottom inside edge of the door, and a piece was placed on the curve near where the speaker mounts. Acoustic foam was cut to fit the areas between the braces and was glued in, along with another piece on the inner side. The pink foam in the doors has a very close, if not exact same density, which was nice to discover.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Few shots of the factory door panel. There is a fleece layer over the door, then a section of plastic eggcrate and a block of brittle styrofoam. Those will be removed, with deadener and foam added to help with resonances. You can see the height comparison to ensure the sound tiles would fit.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Running speaker wires through the Molex plugs. I drilled a hole through empty spaces in the plug to run two 16 gauge wires into the doors. After the fact, I was talking to my friend with the HHR and discovered he bought the metal molex ends and used the empty slots in the plug to connect his that way. I REALLY regret not thinking of this. It is a lot easier, doesn't destroy the plug, and would have really been another way to keep the install as stock as possible. Anyway, shot of the car in the garage. Our house has shelving on the side wall, then a gap, then an old coffee table with stuff on it. So to get my passenger door opened all the way, I had to pull up past the table, half open the door, then slowly back up until the door was in between the two obstacles. Where there is a will, there is a way:










Grommets out of the door. The one going into the door is rubber, and slides out easily. The one attached to the car locks on to one half of the Molex plug with clips on the top and bottom. The challenge is to keep one unlatched while disconnecting the other one. I found pushing the door grommet completely into the door allows you to maneuver the plug more easily. Also, once the black clasp is off, working the actual plug is pretty simple. The white piece going around the top is a locking lever. It's easy to release, and makes connecting and disconnecting a lot easier. It's just effing huge.









Drilling the Molex plug. I found four holes in a square that were as isolated from other active wires as I could and drilled them out. I used small wire cutters to trim out some of the plastic in between. I started with a 1/8" bit and drilled all four holes individually, then went up 1/16th at a time until the walls in the pins were being drilled through, then used a 3/8" to drill one main hole through the middle. The biggest thing is be patient so you don't drill into the other wiring.









Both pair of wires fit. One thing that helps is make sure your wires lay flat against each other. Twists or kinks in the wire can make routing these very difficult, esp on smaller plugs. My 96 Civic was the first one of these I ever did, and it took me 4 hours per door to get the grommets out, holes drilled, wire snaked up through the grommet, and then the plugs reconnected well enough to actually work. I didn't have a lot of room and the wire just barely fit, so reconnecting the molex plug was a PITA. Really loved the locking lever when it came to that part:









The other side of the plug:


















Test fit with the plug connected. Both pairs of 16 gauge were easily able to be routed through:









Haven't really grabbed any pics of running the wires, there's nothing special to see there. Will post deck updates after I get the pics uploaded.


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## niceguy (Mar 12, 2006)

Ha, I have an '08 Uplander that I just ran speaker wire for last week and the electrical connectors under both front seats are the same. Took me a minute of scratching my head and wanting to just yank them apart before I pried the retainer apart, and the connector simply swung open lol....and I hate GM interior quality! My glovebox just fell open and won't shut and I've opened it maybe twice in the last 18months....

Nice car and install....


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

damn i just realized my doors dont come with that plastic egg create, aint that a *****


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

Thumper26 said:


> Yeah, if someone wants to be serious about a fast car, you don't start with a 4 cylinder that's 200hp stock. I will prolly do the stage 2 kit to get it up to 245, but that's just because my dad works with GM and I can get it done for cheap. Also, this car is stupid torquey and really fun to drive, and I don't want to lose that when the extra weight is added.
> 
> The 08 and newer cobalts are turbocharged, and are 260hp stock, so that was another reason that I'm not obsessed with the racing part. I got this not knowing a lot about the Cobalt family, but regardless, if I wanted a race car, I wouldn't be starting with something like this. Any decently built 350 would have more than that much power naturally aspirated, and they have packages to drop corvette drivetrains into the saturn ion and pontiac solstice. This is just an all around fun car that still gets 30+ mpg on the interstate. In my mind, there's not much more I could ask for out of a vehicle (except a better quality interior).


GMS2 is definatly worth it. the car runs rich as hell on the tune but the 7k redline alone is well worth it.


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## mrboost (Sep 13, 2012)

The build is looking great so far man! Bout time i see some more "tuner" cars. I'm in the stock class my self. I have a 03 Evolution 8 loaded down with SQ goodies. We needs a Boom n Zoom for SQ!


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Thanks, I appreciate it!

My buddy is putting a stereo in an HHR SS. We've joked about starting a team SS to compete, but so far we'd be the only two members.


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## MacLeod (Aug 16, 2009)

If I put some SS stickers on my Accord, can I join? 

We could always start a Chattanooga team. LOL 

Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Haha, sure. We need a Chattanooga team anyway. My wife wants to compete street next season


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Double post


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Here's a link to the whole album.

cobalt pictures by thumper26 - Photobucket

About to finish the amp rack and wire everything up. Deck is in, power and ground are in, have to mount the mids and baffles to the doors, put the tweets in the sails, and build the wall.

Baffles are 5/8" mdf and an angled baffle mounted to it. I have measured, and this should fit perfectly in the door trim. The angles are set to match the same angle as the plastic trim on the door panel, and aim the speakers as much on axis as possible. Baffle is 3/4" thick on one side and 1/8" thick on the other. I purchased them online for my dyns a while back and didn't use them. I had to sand out the inner ring just a little to make them fit, but they fit perfectly. I had to trim off some of the outer edges to make them fit the baffle, but there was plenty of room around the mid.

Side shot:









Ring on top of the baffle. I got them at the angle I wanted, traced the outer edge of the ring onto the baffle, and drew marks on the ring and the baffle to help realign them to the same position once i took the ring off. While holding them together, I also traced the bottom edge where the rings overlap the baffles. Then I cut the edges off of the ring, realigned the ring on the baffle, glued, and clamped. I used the grip clamps to set an initial tack, then used my cabinet clamps to clamp them overnight.










Cut out. On the baffle, you can see the outline of the ring and the marks I mentioned. You can also see the outline of the speaker inside the ring outlines









Clamped up:









Completed. I'm going to try and do brass inserts, just have to see if I have enough. If not, I will add them if just using screws becomes a problem.









Here's a shot of the template and the factory speaker.










I traced the factory speaker shape out onto cardboard and cut it out. 

I then held the template against the factory speaker hole on the door to check fit and to also figure out where to add mounting tabs. I will use the existing door hole to mount the top bolt.

You can see on the factory speaker where the plastic tapers at the bottom of the speaker, then goes straight down to the clip. On the template, I figured those made great mounting points as well. I re-added that area to the template (hence the blue tape), and then added two more tabs up top for more even distribution.

This was hard to take because the back of the factory speaker is bigger than my mids, but here's the template behind the factory one:










Baffles will be taped, have a layer of sculptey modeling clay and deadener around the door opening. Actually about to go do that when I finish this.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Few shots of the primary power and ground wires being run. I was extremely pleased with how this turned out. Two M6 nuts and locktite on the auxiliary post were used for the power wire. Wire turns up and runs behind the rear trunk panel. Fuse block is hidden behind there as well.

This is both of them mounted:









Ground wire ring terminal was converted into a spade, and placed in between the tension plates on the factory terminal. In this picture, you can see the bottom of the nut is rounded, and that there are flares on the metal plate. When you tighten the bolt, it pulls the metal bracket tighter, which clamps the bracket tighter against the binding post.









I trimmed the ground ring terminal down, then fit it around the base of the bolt, underneath the metal tightening bracket. One edge had to be trimmed to fit beside the binding post:









Crappy shot, but ring/spade terminal mounted:









Another angle:









Both of them on:









Trunk panel back in place. What 1/0 wires connected to the battery?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Welp, missed the deadline, but it was worth getting to hang out with the wife and dog more. Door panels are treated and ready to go on, one speaker is installed, about to do the other one. Not a lot of pics because I was too focused on finishing, but will try to snag some tonight. Here's what I have:

Better shot of the power and ground. I can't get over how well this worked out:









Prepping the amp rack: Running power and ground wires from the distro block. Fun fact, 4 gauge wire is exactly 5/8" thick. So glad I have wiggle room on this 









Deadening the door panels:

1/8" mdf was wrapped in foil on one side for waterproofing, and then painted on the other. Each panel has one sheet of Alpha Damp on it. Once I had the panel where I wanted it, I scraped an outline onto the door paint with a pick and then ran a bead of Liquid Nails construction adhesive along the edge. Strips of neoprene foam (think cheap mouse pad) were placed in grooves to help seal. Alpha damp was used around the sides to hold it in place while the glue dried and to help ensure an airtight seal.









Door panels foamed, crappy pic. I'm curious to see how this works. The pink eggcrate foam is what I literally have to use 3 large storage bins to store. I folded sheets in half and wedged them between the focal tiles and the chunks of the more dense foam. I actually went overboard around the speaker and the door panel won't fit, so I have to take some out.









Amp rack getting wired up. For the remote turn on wire, I had some 18 gauge scosche wire that I bought to use the blue strand for remote turn on, so I just twisted the blue and silver wires together and soldered them to a bullet connector that connects to the remote turn on for the deck. One strand goes to each amp in the trunk.









Amp rack in place and ready for the amps. I pre-started all of the screws so they'll mount more easily.

One thing I do need to say about these amps is the mounting feet SUCK. The hole is long and deep (lol), and it tapers down. Even the mounting screws they include don't fit. I had one where the bolt hole on the bottom of the foot wasn't drilled correctly, and had to drill it out. It's like it was formed by two overlapping plates, and they weren't aligned correctly. Other than that, I don't have any complaints yet. They're very solid and well built. RCA's are well mounted, nothing feels cheap or rattly.


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## decibelle (Feb 17, 2011)

Thumper26 said:


>


That's pretty :laugh:


Nice work.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

Where did your friend find the pins for the connectors? That might be handy info to have.

Nice job on the wiring.

Jay


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Any gm dealer will have them. I bet McMaster sells them. I've seen them at the local electronics store too.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

I'll have to check around. I'd prefer to use those than have to drill out my molex plugs (again)

Jay


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

yup gl on getting them thou my dealer was less helpful when i needed some. They said they werent all that interested in looking thru bins of pins to find the right size


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Here's a great article on them:
Pinball: Molex Connectors and Terminal Pin Crimping Explained

Links to automotive molex pins, or if you removed or cut out the purple piece in my pics, you can put whatever size you want.
View List


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## legend94 (Mar 15, 2006)

liking everything so far! i know where to drive if i need an install now, think i could be there in 3-4 hours, lol.

those factory grommets have me worried on one of my upcoming installs, i hope i have some solution like you had other than tracing factory speaker wires


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Dude, come on over! I have a two car garage and empty rooms in the house. We'll get you up and going before next season!


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

By the way, quick update. Cobalt doors are designed to drain all of the water to the front. It's been storms the past two days and it finally got through. Maybe it's bc the door cards have been off, but regardless, I'm not taking the chance. The focal tiles are a similar acoustic foam, just sprayed in a rubberized sealant. I figure bedliner is close enough. I will waffle strips of speaker gasket foam over them to help with rear reflections better as well. It's frustrating that things keep coming up, but I'd rather do it right the first time.

Also, all of the foam around the speaker had to come out. I didn't realize how tight of a fit my baffles were.

At this point, I have to fix the doors, mount the tweets, and build the wall for the subs. Got the amp rack wired tonight, it may have taken me an hour for each 1/0 power and ground, but they're in. Here's, the final pic. The power and ground come up from under the carpet into the mounting clip. With the factory carpet over it and the cover panel over the rack (oh yeah, need to do that too), you shouldn't be able to tell they're there.


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## jeffm4688 (May 29, 2012)

Thumper26 said:


> By the way, quick update. Cobalt doors are designed to drain all of the water to the front. It's been storms the past two days and it finally got through. Maybe it's bc the door cards have been off, but regardless, I'm not taking the chance. The focal tiles are a similar acoustic foam, just sprayed in a rubberized sealant. I figure bedliner is close enough. I will waffle strips of speaker gasket foam over them to help with rear reflections better as well. It's frustrating that things keep coming up, but I'd rather do it right the first time.
> 
> Also, all of the foam around the speaker had to come out. I didn't realize how tight of a fit my baffles were.
> 
> At this point, I have to fix the doors, mount the tweets, and build the wall for the subs. Got the amp rack wired tonight, it may have taken me an hour for each 1/0 power and ground, but they're in. Here's, the final pic. The power and ground come up from under the carpet into the mounting clip. With the factory carpet over it and the cover panel over the rack (oh yeah, need to do that too), you shouldn't be able to tell they're there.


Wow that amp rack looks really good


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

wait so ur going to yank the foam and spray it?


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

Sorry, man. I feel like I jinxed you.

Install is looking pretty good.

Jay


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Lol if you had that kind of power, I'd be reporting you to Homeland Security.

I checked the foam again today at lunch. It was dripping wet last night after driving through the rain all day. Today there was a 3" strip along the bottom that was still technically damp. The rest of the foam was completely bone dry. So, even though it does leak, that foam has no qualms about shedding any retained water.

I've pulled the foam out so it will completely dry, and will address sealing it today after work. I'm also looking into ways to channel/divert the rainwater to the drain holes in the door, but I think that will be a much later project.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

emperorjj1 said:


> wait so ur going to yank the foam and spray it?


Yup. It's nowhere near as ideal as the open cell foam, but I'm not leaving that chance until I'm comfortable that any water coming in the door also quickly goes back out.

I'm also looking into solutions like wrapping the outside of the window tracks with ensolite, so that any water draining from the window leak will go straight down and then just drain out.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Front stage is in and playing! I need to snag a final pic of the trunk and sails, but everything is in and playing. Out of the box with no eq or t/a this thing sounds pretty damn good. The speakers are about 16" apart, and are on top of each other, which helps. These mt-22's are excellent, which I expected (and really makes me want to try the mt-23's) and the massive audio ck6's are insane. I tried 2.5 and 4k, and the mids blend well. In regards to midbass, everything people have said on here is true. It's phenomenal. I have them crossed at 63Hz, and they have amazing authority. Either I have amazing luck, have found the ultimate door install combo, or the mids are really just that good, but these things work really well.

Channel separation was a bit weak on the specs for the ppi 900.4, so I have the drivers side on channels 1/2 and the passenger on 3/4. That may also be contributing to how well the speakers blend.

Will get pics up soon.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Alright, here we go:

This acoustic foam from PartsExpress, sprayed with bedliner.
Acoustic Foam 2-1/2" x 24" x 18" UL 94 260-515










Heavy duty adhesive silicone was used to seal it in the doors. The foam stuck to it better than anything else I've ever used.









Shrinked tweeter wires ready at the sails









Mid speaker wired. Spade terminals were crimped, then soldered, and covered in heatshrink for insulation









Door speaker installed. Note the baffle looks slightly different than the initial pics of it:









Shot from the front seat with doors back in:









Looking at the passenger tweeter while sitting in the driver's seat:









Driver tweet, nothing really special to see here. Used foam speaker gaskets around the base of the tweeter wedge mount.









Passenger tweet, rinse and repeat:









And, final shot of the trunk. I haven't asked, but I'm assuming I can't cut trunk liner and stay in stock. If I could, I would make a small slit where the wires go up to the rack so they aren't constantly pulling on the liner by the floor.









IB sub build coming soon.


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

damn your going on this fast. i was going to say you should cut the slightest bit off the bottom of the foam and that should greatly help your water issues. I noticed on mine that water didnt pool up when i had the bottom piece off (im using second skin LLP thou). but i put it back in anyway since LLP is closed cell and it hardly ever rains here anyway


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## lashlee (Aug 16, 2007)

It looks good!! It makes me want to get back in the lanes!


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

do it up lashlee


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

been troubleshooting some alt whine, so not a lot of updates. Will post pics when everything is tidied up, but I'm in the middle of running a dedicated 12gauge power and ground from the battery to the deck. Turns out grounding the PAC GM module, PAC steering wheel interface, and the radio to the battery is the only thing that kills this ground loop, and there's still a touch of it left. I'm going to try a couple other things that I haven't thought of tonight to see if they help as well, but I'll still power and ground the deck to the battery. I had planned on doing a dedicated power wire for the deck anyway, so the ground is a bonus.

Provided that goes well, I need to felt the areas where the trim panels go and the seats forward will be done. Then it's pull the rear deck and do the subs. I got some empty JL Audio subwoofer boxes on my way home, the cardboard is great for templates, and they're the perfect size.

Oh, I crossed the mids at 50Hz today, 24db slopes, and they're loving it. On 130 rms each too. Haven't heard the first strain or distortion. The some "Some Nights" by Fun. came on the radio on the way home, and it almost sounded like i had subs up front. They really like sealed(ish) doors.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

emperorjj1 said:


> yup gl on getting them thou my dealer was less helpful when i needed some. They said they werent all that interested in looking thru bins of pins to find the right size


On this, buy another door harness for your car from ebay or a junk yard. take out the factory pins and trim the wire to be just long enough for you to get a good solder with your own wire. The pins are usually one of two sizes, with the larger pins being on the power window controls.

Honestly, knowing I drilled out those plugs and then remembering later that these were an option is bothering me so much that I'll prolly replace the plugs, especially if I can get a set for cheap. Pulling the pins out is really easy with a pick or a very small precision flathead screwdriver. You could do one door (four female, four male) in a half hour or less if you're already comfortable with removing pins.


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## cnut334 (Oct 17, 2009)

How do you like the 900.4?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Seems pretty solid, doesn't get hot. Have confirmed through troubleshooting the alt whine that they are not noisy. My only gripe is the damn mounting feet. Also, the thin side frames around the access area for the set screws isnt wide enough to allow any kind of bit type screwdriver to fit without seriously rubbing the finish. Mine looks awful from it, or to my standards it does anyway.


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## FLYONWALL9 (Nov 8, 2009)

GOOD GRIEF, you rocked through most of this really fast. 
I should drive up to drive the Dragon. Heck I'll let you and 
the wife unit drive it because I think she is the real installer 
in this build anyway.

Looks good!


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Haha yeah, I'm pretty damn picky about stupid little things, like covered edges, wires being laid out symmetrically, split loom seam centered around the bottom, etc, and she blows me away. I had her crimp all the terminals to the tweeter and mid wires, even told her it doesn't have to be perfect bc I solder them afterwards, and she kept warning me that they didn't look good and kept asking super detailed, particular questions. So I go to look, and every single one looks absolutely perfect. I tell her that, and she says "not to me". Her install may take her a year bc of ocd, but damn will it look pretty.


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## FLYONWALL9 (Nov 8, 2009)

Thumper26 said:


> Haha yeah, I'm pretty damn picky about stupid little things, like covered edges, wires being laid out symmetrically, split loom seam centered around the bottom, etc, and she blows me away. I had her crimp all the terminals to the tweeter and mid wires, even told her it doesn't have to be perfect bc I solder them afterwards, and she kept warning me that they didn't look good and kept asking super detailed, particular questions. So I go to look, and every single one looks absolutely perfect. I tell her that, and she says "not to me". Her install may take her a year bc of ocd, but damn will it look pretty.


GEEZ, MY PERFECT WOMAN! Does she have a sister
that is just like her?

I do like the little tabs you used to hold the wires down.
Where did you source them? I've seen white ones at marine
stores.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

the black squares with the white foam bottom are zip tie anchors. lowe's or home depot have them in the electrical section with the zip ties. you can order them from mcmaster, or just about anywhere online. The clamp holding the 1/0 into the battery is a streetwires 1/0 cable clamp that I've had for years. I got it for a previous install, and hung on to them later. I had forgotten about them until I was going through my audio stuff and found them again.


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

i hate the stock batt terminal but if you still have alt whine after running the ground to the front (you shouldnt) then id suggest adding a second ground to the battery. The stock one isnt really amazing


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

emperorjj1 said:


> i hate the stock batt terminal but if you still have alt whine after running the ground to the front (you shouldnt) then id suggest adding a second ground to the battery. The stock one isnt really amazing


Yeah what I have in place is twist n tape at the moment until I run the big wire. The piece terminated wasn't long enough to reach the front, so I'll have to replace it with a piece I just picked up today. I also had the RCA's coiled up in a side cubby. I've pulled them out and uncoiled them and zipped the slack together in long runs. With the gains normal, it's dead quiet, but I still have a noise isolator in place, and would like to not have to use that. I'll snag some behind the scenes shots while I'm at it. It's not pretty, but again, I'm not going for install.

On the ground, I already traced the outline of the factory ground, removed it, and sanded it bare underneath. The size of the cable and surface area of the ring terminal aren't bad at all, and the cinching nut design they used on the terminals works really well. If it doesn't hold up, I'll use a ground block I have to make a new one.


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

right it looks like its held up well how it is but if you had to throw another ring terminal on the ground block idk... hopefully the ground wire should do it. but i know how u feel chasing down a ground loop. lol i went above and beyond to get the best grounding solution for my balt


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Nice. What did you end up doing? Pics?

Got the side panels and rear deck removed tonight. The subs will fit well, but it's going to be interesting trying to seal all of the holes up. May have to break out the Great Stuff...

Also fixed my noise issue. Turns out they're not kidding when they say don't coil your RCA's. I uncoiled them and folded the slack in long runs, and problem solved. Will hopefully get everything front of the seats buttoned up tomorrow, then it will just be sealing and deadening the rear.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Rear deck out. It took a 3/4" socket to get the seat belts off. +1 for a mechanic dad that always buys you tools 









Here are the "premium" pioneer 6x9's. Don't be jealous.









Xm radio receiver removed. I'm not using it, the deck and factory amp are gone, so one less thing to make noise









Couple shots of the hollow side panels. These will be filled with foam. In another build, some subs would be quite cozy in there...









Rubber plugs from the factory. I'll be replacing the plugs with something more rigid to cover those holes.


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

well i ran the rcas up the passenger a pillar and on the roof to keep exposure to power sources down. any added power i ran is on the drivers side (stock main power as well) as is the dome light wire. i have no sunroof or onstar.










in the trunk instead of one battery i have 2 (was 3 at one point)










each battery has a 2/0 ground to the closest thing our car has to a frame










I also have 2 1/0 ground runs going to the front of the car, one is attached to the second alternator i added. The other is to the second alternator ground point. (second alt utilizes a 10in or so run of 2/0

























So from the batteries i have a ground D block on the rear deck for the the mid amps and processors. No pictures of that but it has 2 runs of 1/0 going to the batteries ground and from the ground D block i have 2 runs of 16g that are soldered to the HU. Lastly all metal the HU could possibly touch have been covered in damplifier pro to prevent any electrical transfer. The chassis grounded antenna is connected thou


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

Emperor, that alternator bracket is sick. Did you make it or is it commercially available? One question...wouldn't the alternator turn the wrong way mounted like that? 

Thumper--sorry for the interruption...looking forward to more progress.

Jay


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

nah its a one off custom built for the car. yes it is going backwards but ohio gen said it doesnt matter which way it turns. Although the fan doesnt really do its job properly but it sounds pretty cool in 1st gear


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Looks really nice! I have a feeling I'm going to be getting a battery soon. With the deck connected to the battery, it drops below 12v pretty fast while playing the radio with the car off, and that's even at low volume with no real dynamics. It's the original 5 year old battery, and I've already killed it once from leaving my lights on, so I'll be in the market for a new one soon.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Cleaned up behind the deck tonight, here's a quick crappy shot, it's a little hard to discern my harness from the factory a/c control harness on the bottom.

On the back, the blue module is my PAC C2R-GM11 interface, which retains door chime, blinker click, and RAP power. It plugs into the factory harness and has pigtails out to wire a harness for an aftermarket radio. 

The black module is my PAC SWI-PS steering wheel interface. One huge plus about using both PAC interfaces is that you just connect a single green wire for the steering wheel controls, and they're just as snappy as they were on the factory deck. In my accord, I had to tap into the factory harness and play with resistors to get it to work, and even then there was a quarter to half second lag before the controls responded. That got old fast. Anyway, harness is zipped together, specifically on either side of the solder joints. Antenna and SWI cable connect from under the side plastic trim, not above it. Putting this deck in is a dream, all of the modules are mounted with zip tie anchors, and the wiring harness and RCA's come straight up from where they connect to the deck. Since this was a factory double din, that left a lot more space and the deck almost pulls itself perfectly into place when you go to set it back in the dash.









Soldered 12 gauge power and ground wires. The ground was covered in black heatshrink, the constant power in yellow to match the harness wire. The three small ground wires go to the deck, and to each PAC module. Power and ground are loomed and fused at the battery, will get pics of that up later.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Alright, here are a few more shots of the wiring. At this point, I have to put the trim panels back on the dash and kicks and the front is completely done. It's a great feeling. 

Deck ground wire crimped:









Shot of the wiring in the trunk. The split loom on the left that has the gray straps on it is the factory run. I used the same size split loom to run the 12 gauge wire to the dash, and just taped it to the factory run. Once the loom runs under the carpet, it ends, and it's just the wire to the dash, but I love how well everything worked out to kind of blend.

You can also see the fuse holder for the deck power and the junction where the power and ground wire split, each in their own smaller looms, to the terminals.









Shot from above. I grounded the deck to the battery to chassis ground point; it's the small loomed cable on the right side of the ground terminal. You can also see another shot of the fuse holder. It worked out that there were already smaller runs of loom going to the factory power and ground terminals, so I ran the wires for the dash in their own loom directly underneath the factory wires, and then just taped them to keep them secure.









Better shot of the ground. The paint underneath the factory ground has been sanded off. The dash ground is on the chassis, and the battery ground is on top of it. Again, to keep the stock look, but also because the only terminal I had that would fit the wire and the bolt was gold instead of silver, and I hate the way gold looks. 









I'm off work Friday afternoon, have to work some Saturday morning, but am hoping to be able to get a jump start on the subs. The baffles won't be too bad, instead sealing all the air leaks is what's going to take forever on this one.


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

just FYI if your sealing it all the way the rear deck has holes in it like swiss cheese. Any sort of sound dampening can get most of it but on the very back corners you will need something like foam. I used latex expanding foam with the bottom taped off as well as a wanna be barrier on the top.

The quarter panels leak quite a bit as well um i sorta went ghetto getting these sealed so ill just let you tackle that if you end up doing so

last thing is going to be the area the factory wiring goes from the cabin to the trunk. this was the only thing i couldnt really seal as good as i wanted. But i used a cut piece of second skin lux liner pro to get it better then stock and called it a day


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Yeah I've already surveyed it. Small gaps and holes will be covered with fatmat on the outside, and will be reinforced with Great Stuff in nooks and crevices. The access holes the wires run through already have a 1/4" piece of mdf glued over the holes. Other crevices will be stuffed with eggcrate foam, and the holes covered with deadener or more 1/4" panels. Alpha Damp will be on flat sections on the too and bottom of the rear deck. The subs will each have their own baffle bolted to the deck, with a thick gasket mating them to the deck. 

I wonder if modeling clay would help here as well?

After deadening is complete, the exposed metal inside the trunk will be covered with carpet.


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

since you still have the factory wiring ran how it is on the trunk floor id suggest using the non hardening clay on that where it meets up with the baffle. otherwise the foam gasket should do the rest of the work


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

What does the factory wiring have to do with putting clay on the subwoofer baffles on the rear deck?


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## chefhow (Apr 29, 2007)

Johnathan, did you add a second alternator to the car?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Unless the other guy is named Jonathan as well, then you have us confused.


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## chefhow (Apr 29, 2007)

Duh. I didnt see the break in posts...


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

Thumper26 said:


> What does the factory wiring have to do with putting clay on the subwoofer baffles on the rear deck?


oh ur putting them on the rear deck? i thought u were going to baffle off the trunk from the cabin and have them facing the seats. well if thats the case then ignore anything ive said recently


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

LMFAO! Yeah I'm firing them through the 6x9 holes. I probably won't seal off the back of the seats at first, but know how I will do it if it's needed.

Really nice wiring on your install though. I like it a lot!


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

lol i keep on reading up and realizin ghow stupid i sound. mas puto


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## legend94 (Mar 15, 2006)

I run my power wire right next to my rca cables or speaker wires but what do I know


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

I've done it often before in the past with no problems, but I've heard it cause noise in others' cars before, so I try to avoid it when possible. All of that just happened to work out well on this install


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Welp, figured out the baffles for the subs. The removable trim rings that come with the subs overlaps the outer edge, and made a great guide for mocking up templates. So great, in fact, that I purchased some 10-24 threaded rod and a ton of lock washers and am going to just have a ring for each sub, with the bolts that hold the sub in going through the rings and bolting down to the rear deck. I have six 14.25" mdf rings from cutting walls in my accord, so I'm going to cut one ring that has the outer diameter of the trim ring and inner diameter of the cutout hole and use a flush trim bit to make duplicates. I plan on attaching the rings with screws while cutting them, then gluing them together while using the screw holes as a guide to keep the edges flush while they dry.

I keep going back and forth on which way to fire the subs, but I think I've settled on firing them at the deck. They are 2.75" deep, and have 1.5" of excursion. I would use three 3/4" rings to give it a little more space, esp since they're playing IB, but I still worry it may not be enough. The bottoms taper off, so they don't take up a lot of area with big magnets, and the basket is matte black, which looks pretty nice, so those are also a plus. Overall, I'll have more usable trunk space, which is a key concern in this car.

Speaking of bass, I was working on the t/a and have it pretty close, and turned up 'Snuff' by Slipknot, and my wife texted me that the bass was shaking the bedroom and upsetting the dog. That was just from my mids. Lol, I was grinning the whole way through the house after that


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## gtsdohcvvtli (Aug 17, 2011)

If your still having foam issues with the door panel, theres a good alternative.

A friend of mine owns a shop and they got some new deadener in made by Focal. The stuff is called BAM. Its a 3 layer sheet of buytl like stuff, aluminum, and acoustic foam. Stuff is friggen awesome!


Other than that, build looks awesome. Loving how you mounted the amps


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Thanks, I'm really pleased with the amp rack as well.

I'll keep the focal stuff in mind, those sound like the black hole tiles with a layer of deadener added to them. Doors sound pretty good for now. Could use some more deadener, and the door panels could use a little as well, but that will have to wait until I can get another pack of Alpha Damp. Going to be deadening the floor and trunk at the same time.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Alright, not a whole lot done this weekend, mainly a lot of planning, test fitting, measuring, and then test fitting and measuring again. And then I got started on the rings.

Outer diameter is 10.25", inner diameter is 9". These were made from gluing three layers of mdf together. Pilot holes were drilled for every bolt location, then four screws were used to hold each outer ring to the middle one, with the bottom ring using the opposite screw holes as the top.

After they were cut and checked for fitment, I decided to chamfer out an area along the inner edge just to make sure the surround wasn't rubbing along the edge. Here's a pic, they're definitely not my best work aesthetically, but they're solid. I have less than a 1/16" variance between the rings on any edge, which wasn't as bad as I first thought when I looked them. 









Rings were wrapped in a layer of Fatmat deadener to help better seal and support. Once they are permanently in place in the rear deck, they will be covered in the same carpet as the amp rack, along with the rest of the rear deck.









For hardware, I made a little visit to McMaster.com and ordered 3" 10-24 stainless steel bolts
McMaster-Carr

And these welding tabs with a 10-24 thread. These will be placed in the bolt holes, then once all bolts have been threaded in place, the nuts will be jb-welded into place.
McMaster-Carr

That's all I have for now, will get more pics as I start sealing up the deck.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Alright, rear deck. I didn't get any "after" pics from deadening it, but I found a couple more cracks of light that I need to cover, so I'll grab them then. Here it is taken off, and wiring loose:



























10-24 Stainless steel bolts with a 5/32" hex head and 10-24 welding inserts:









Baffle taped in place. I took a bolt, and put a dab of paint on the tip, then ran it up through the bolt holes in the baffle and touched the rear deck.









I then did a rough outline of where the baffle sat so I could realign it more easily.









Dense foam stuffed into a channel in the rear deck. The trunk light is in the middle, so until I can get an led bulb, i have left a gap around the light to avoid any chance of fire. 










The holes were covered in deadener on the rear deck, and the foam filled areas will be covered with deadener as well. The wires for the lights go up into the cavity, and will be split loomed. The rear deck and exposed trunk metal will be covered in gray box carpet to hide the deadener.

Here's a shot of the baffle from outside of the car. If you stand 3-4 feet away from the back of my car and look into the trunk, you can't see the amp rack or the sub baffles at all. It's pretty cool


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Forgot I had this one. Driver's side baffle during test mounting. You can see some of the Alpha Damp on the rear deck, and more dense eggcrate foam filling a side hole. The hole will be covered with deadener, the foam is to keep the plastic hose from rattling and to help kill general engine vibrations.










The welding nuts worked wonderfully on a couple of the bolt holes that were at the side of the lip. Half of the flange or more grips the metal. A little threadlock on the bolts and a dab of jb weld on the nuts and it won't be going anywhere. Hopefully that, coupled with the clay and deadener, should help keep things pretty solid. If needed, I already have a plan for adding a strip of wood across the rear deck to attach to the baffles.


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## FLYONWALL9 (Nov 8, 2009)

I really like your ingenuity. I'm going to have to look into 
those 'welding nuts' I saw them the other day in HomeDeposit. 
They looked like they had potential.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Thanks, they were a good find. I originally checked McMaster for bolts longer than 3", and saw those.


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## legend94 (Mar 15, 2006)

FLYONWALL9 said:


> I really like your ingenuity. I'm going to have to look into
> those 'welding nuts' I saw them the other day in HomeDeposit.
> They looked like they had potential.


x2

thats why i try and view all of these threads..very good idea


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## danno14 (Sep 1, 2009)

Welding tab/bolts ftw! I have used these before with good success too (tagging along)
Elevator bolts

http://www.google.com/search?q=elevator+bolts+and+nuts&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari#hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&gs_nf=1&qe=ZWxldmF0b3IgYm9sdCBwaWM&qesig=zbrik2o3bkO3D0uM2qnluw&pkc=AFgZ2tnTj76f7NmBSSb1OIVae92OpeDmPqaH7EVr5kkDp7jb_ePc1P36beiY8HFYJhqwHILtdkDTl7OVsEJwU4XKzFwlkVEBZg&pq=elevator%20bolts%20wiki&cp=17&gs_id=1y&xhr=t&q=elevator+bolt&pf=p&sclient=tablet-gws&client=safari&tbo=d&biw=1024&bih=672&oq=elevator+bolt+pic&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=a95d72a4446ff8b1&biv=i|0;d|KyTtoyekJWTFRM:


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Finally more progress. To say work has been exhausting took on a new meaning for me this weekend. While eating dinner and watching tv on Friday, I fell asleep around 7pm, woke up once at 2am to pee, and went back to bed and slept until noon, so about 17 hours straight. Went to bed last night around 11 and slept for 12 more hours.

Anyway, I discovered the whole "remove the baffle to drill the holes" thing doesn't work as well as planned, especially when you don't mark which holes lined up where, and the holes you drilled weren't 100% straight. On the second one, I drilled the holes with the baffle taped in place, and threaded a bolt and nut through each new hole as I went. Then, I removed the baffle, added clay around the outer edge, and bolted the subwoofer, while taking care to mark the baffle and rear deck by a bolt so everything would line up properly.

Baffle holes drilled out: 









Clay on the baffle. After its mounted, the gaps are filled with more clay from the inside. More foil tape helps contain the clay around the baffle and deck, and strips of alpha damp are used around the outside for the same purpose, as well as to add more deadening.









Sub bolted in place. Neither of these baffles move at all.









One of my favorite shots. What aftermarket stereo?









Oh, I'm standing too close? Fine, here's a few more feet back 









I have to clay and deaden the passenger sub, then carpet the rear deck and dress the wires. After that, need to fill the side cavities by the back seat with foam, throw some felt around the trim panels on the dash, and make a cover for the amp rack. I hope to at least have the trunk finished tomorrow. I am still planning on being at MECA Finals this Saturday, so hopefully I can start getting it dialed in a little bit before then. Either way, it should be pretty decent by freezefest.


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## legend94 (Mar 15, 2006)

damn what a ton of work. it turned out very well and those subs hanging down keep that stock look


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Yeah it's been a real ***** to get these in. It's taken way longer than I imagined, when working it all out in my head. Still gotta deaden the other baffle, but will have everything playing today. Working on a friend's computer right now in exchange for him building my dream guitar.


----------



## claydo (Oct 1, 2012)

Can't wait to hear your feedback on the ib setup.I'm running 2sealed 8w7s through my deck and have been wondering how an ib would sound in my balt.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Aside for a few weeks when I had a ported box with a jl 12w0 that I broke in for my stepmom, I have only run IB since my first. The big deciding factor on this setup is how the subs perform. I don't know how sq oriented they are, but we'll find out tonight.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Subs are in and sealed.









I'm kindof at a chicken/egg place now, because to have them in any semblance of ib, I have to put the seats and trim back in, but still need to deaden and seal a few spots first. So, I guess I'll hear what they sound like when I get the rest done. I may feel froggy and fire them up just for grins, but for now, no speaker wires connected. It's late and I need to shave and bathe before work tomorrow, so I'm calling for tonight.

Been getting the t/a and eq dialed in more. The t/a still needs a little work, and there is some fine tuning left to be done on tonality, but it's not bad as is. I need that, because work has greatly reduced my patience for projects that keep dragging on. I'm going to be very glad when this one is finished.


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## KyngHype (Sep 7, 2009)

Sweet build bro, I anticipate the next post...


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Side holes filled. I discovered they run almost the full length of the car. Aside from a little foam I set aside to put on the rear deck, all 3 remaining tubs went into those side areas. Doing a knock test, they could be better, but they're not bad, and MUCH better than they we're before. A thick memory foam twin mattress cover would be great on each side. After they we're stuffed, I covered the homes with the factory rubber inserts and put a layer of fatmat over it to hold it in and provide more deadening.


















The trim panels that cover this area have two large Styrofoam blocks that will be replaced with blocks of memory foam about the same size and any foam left over from the rear deck. I have a few blackout tiles I may use as well.

Also not pictured is the corners of the rear deck being sealed. I'll grab pics when I foam the deck. I doubt that will happen tonight, I need sleep for work, but am working to being ready to go by Saturday. I should have the interior in tomorrow, and then be carpeting the rear deck Thursday and maybe also Friday, depending on how much of a PITA it is.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Ran to the gas station, and the muffler is much, much quieter now. That was my one biggest gripe about the car, and now it's fixed. And I don't even have the interior back in yet.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

And it's done. Still have to carpet the rear deck, but will be deadening the deck more first and adding a brace on the rear deck that connects the baffles. They vibrate just a tad. 

Stock Rear panels. More brittle styrofoam. It was replaced with chunks of memory foam the same size.

Before:


















After:









Final shots of the rear deck:



























Foam on the rear deck panel.









Trim back on the dash, Pioneer 80PRS in the kit, and the black a/c controls. I had been toying with repainting the trim panels, and after driving around with them off for a couple of weeks, I really got used to the black on the dash. Putting the red back in was almost glaring, and I'm still not used to seeing it. So, I think I'm going to do some kind of glossy or semi-gloss black on all the dash trim and the silver armrest inserts.










Need to rotate the tires and clean it up a little before heading to Nashville tomorrow, but the damn thing is done...for now.


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## toysareforboys (Apr 9, 2012)

Looks freakin great man! How it shoulda come from the factory!!!

"Cobalt SS comes with subwoofer" LOL! Such a pathetic piece of crap. The car rattled enough as it is, I guess they figured they'd have to do WAY to much work if they put a better woofer in there 

Can't wait for the vids!

-Jamie M.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

With everything in, the car is much quieter. The foam and deadener really helped with overall volume. I can comfortably listen to the radio with the window down with the radio barely over half volume. Before it was almost full, and still sounded crappy because of all of the vibrations. It sounds and feels much more solid now.

The C-pillar/window trim pieces in this car suck. I broke the tiny plastic welds on one side. It fits the rear deck well, but has a gap where it meets the black trim. The other side is intact, but doesn't mate up on the rear deck very well. It was like this before I pulled the pieces. The plastic and fitment methods they use are just cheap and crappy.

Anyway, the rear deck does vibrate a bit, so some mdf bracing will definitely be added, which will make carpeting that much easier as well. Also have another pack of Alpha Damp on the way for that and maybe more on the doors.

Here is the next project, to go in the accessory pocket under the radio.

HTC Rezound Dock








HTC Rezound Desktop Docking Station

Monoprice MHL HDMI Adapter for HTC Rezound








For only $8.82 each when QTY 50+ purchased - Premium Micro USB to HDMI® MHL Adapter - Black | MHL Adapters

HDMI to RCA Cable








NEW HDMI To 5 RCA Handy Component Video Audio AV Cable, Laptop CPU Fan Shop

12v to 5v Isolated Step Down Converter for power








SD-25A-5, Mean Well SD-25A-5

RCA's will plug into the aux input on the back of the deck, and I now my phone is a mobile carpc with 4G, bluetooth, and wifi. This will be my GPS and mobile music library. I am going to look for a mini-usb cable with power pigtails to connect to the power supply, but if I can't find one, I'll just cut the usb end off of an extra HTC cable I have at the house. I have already cleared this with MECA, so hopefully I can get started on it soon. I have a dual usb plate that connects to the two usb ports on the back of the deck, as well as a couple of single usb extension cables, so I need to figure out a way to integrate those as well. If I can easily disassemble the dock, then I'll cut holes and mount them to the front plate on the dock. If not, I'll probably fabricate something to hold the dock and allow for a place to mount them.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

No new pics, just some updates.

Got the amps scoped. Using a -5 sine wave, the 80PRS puts out a clean 5v at volume 59 and clips at 60-62. At volume 55 it does around 3.15v and at volume 50 its around 1.2v.

The PPI Phantom 900.4 puts out 21v before clipping, which is right at 100 watts per channel at 4 ohms. My buddy said it's very on par with the jl xd400.4.

The PPI Phantom 1000.1 puts out around 40v before clipping, which equates to 800 watts at 2 ohms, 400 at 4.

These subs freaking slam, and sound great, even without the rear seats sealed off. They are currently at -4 on the deck.

Had some people listen at finals, everyone agreed with just rough t/a and no eq that it's pretty good out of the box. I spent an hour on it during my lunch break and have it dialed in fairly well already. I'm already to the point of trying to address the little things, most of which seem to be in between the bands I have to work with.

Here's looking forward to freezefest!


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## legend94 (Mar 15, 2006)

having owned gm cars in the past and then others, mainly the legend i had  i can say what you have done with the sound deadening in your installation makes more difference than most people realize. 

my motto for anyone wanting to get into serious competition is pick the car first. like picking the sub then building a box....

my volvo that i currently have is a very solid car but more noise than i would like so i like some of your ideas with the really heavy duty foam! 

before i bought the car i had been out of audio for 5 years or i would have picked something else! seat position, speaker location, bass transfer... LOL


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## bassfromspace (Jun 28, 2016)

How's the bass?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Sounds like a pair of 12's. They shook the whole rear deck when turned up. The steep angle of the rear window does wonders for those 10's. They seriously move some air, but are still very punchy and responsive. I was very nervous about them, and was worried that I'd have to return them and get something different, but was very pleasantly surprised. I did manage to bottom them out on Jurassic lunch, but that was at almost full volume, so I'll take it. I really am very pleased with them. They far surpassed my expectations. The 8" is begging to go into someone's doors.


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## charliekwin (Apr 22, 2012)

Thumper26 said:


> HDMI to RCA Cable
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Just a heads up: unless the Rezound is different than other phones (not likely), that cable will NOT give you any kind of usable output. HDMI is all digital, so if you want to hook up to analog, you'll need to do some processing with a box like this: For only $42.00 each when QTY 50+ purchased - HDMI® to Composite Video Converter | HDMI to Composite Converter


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Yeah I was curious about that, just wasn't sure if the audio is analog or not. No worries, I'll grab a converter. That power supply comes in higher amperage versions if needed. It will fit nicely where the factory amplifier sat.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Bingo. Uses 5v power too:









http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...d=1011411&p_id=8667&seq=1&format=1#largeimage


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## bassfromspace (Jun 28, 2016)

Thumper26 said:


> Sounds like a pair of 12's. They shook the whole rear deck when turned up. The steep angle of the rear window does wonders for those 10's. They seriously move some air, but are still very punchy and responsive. I was very nervous about them, and was worried that I'd have to return them and get something different, but was very pleasantly surprised. I did manage to bottom them out on Jurassic lunch, but that was at almost full volume, so I'll take it. I really am very pleased with them. They far surpassed my expectations. The 8" is begging to go into someone's doors.


Cool beans. I've always heard good things about these drivers, but it's hard for me to take shallow mount subs seriously.

Where'd you pick them up at? I'm interested in a pair of 15's.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

i found them at the cheapest place i could online. Couldn't find a dealer close to me, and would have had to drive to get them. They own three patents on shallow mount sub design that others license from them. I don't know about their other stuff, but these subs have been great so far.

The 6.5's or 8's would be fun in doors...
SWS The Original Shallow Woofer


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## keep_hope_alive (Jan 4, 2009)

let's see how long it takes to upload tonight's progress...


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

11 hours and counting


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Have pics, this is what I have, about to cut out the cover panel for the back of the seats.

Template for the amp cover. For things like this with a lot of curves, it's easier for me to cut out the edges in sections, then line them up and tape them together.









Final panel cut out, carpeted, and installed. I'll grab a pic if it out of the car later. I wanted to make a cutout shaped like the ss logo, but I couldn't find a way to orient it that looked good. That, and wanting to finish this up today made me decide to keep it simple for now.









Template for the blank out panel. It will have long strips of 20 gauge metal overlapping the edges. It will be held in place by the seats. 3/4" weatherstripping will line the metal edges to help seal the seams.

This one was in pieces just because I didn't gave any cardboard big enough to use as a solid piece. Also, doing the sides separately made it a lot easier.









After the back wall is finished, I'll be doing the rear deck.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Back wall plate cut out and support arms attached. This should be a quick and easy carpet job. I just hope I have enough spray glue left for the deck.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Here's the back. Half inch #8 sheet metal screws were used to attach the strips. The dremel made quick work of trimming excess


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Carpeted. 3/8" thick weatherstripping was laid around the supports.


















And installed. I had to fit the piece in place, then push hard to make the back seat latch, which is what I was going for.









Taking a break before I spend the rest of my day on my back in the trunk.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Template and brace for the rear deck are made. Once my deadener comes in, I'll be hopefully pulling panels for the last time. Here's a shot if the trunk. I put the cargo net back in and it fits just fine with the amp cover in place.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Forgot I had this one. Factory cargo net in with the blank out panel


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## AudioBob (May 21, 2007)

I am really impressed with what you have done with this build. You took your time and everything looks great...better than factory!!! I hope that it sounds as good as it looks and thanks for sharing.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Thanks for the compliments. Keeping things simple and clean was the primary focus on this install, and I've been very pleased with the results. It makes me wonder what I could do with proper training and a real install shop instead of a pair of sawhorses and a jigsaw. 

As far as sound, I need to get some other ears into it, but it came together remarkably fast. I have 2.5 hours total into tuning, and an hour of that has been on tonality, and it's already to the point where I need to compare reference setups to dial it in any more. I've been very happy with how well it sounds.


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## MacLeod (Aug 16, 2009)

Well get to work on it soon and get it sounding good. Go team Chattanooga! 

Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

...did you miss the part where I said I need other opinions on it now? Get your schedule free so we can dial this ***** in. GO TEAM NOOG!


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## MacLeod (Aug 16, 2009)

Yeah that's what I was saying. That was supposed to read "we'll". Stupid phone. 

Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

LMFAO, my smartphone is constantly making me look like an idiot


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

i think it looks better without the SS logo. i mean maybe on the panel for the seat since its larger but we. Overall looks remarkably good. only thing id say is the rammat silver foil. im spoiled with the second skin black


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Yup, I almost painted all my doors black bc I hate the silver as well. The rest of the trunk will hopefully be done tonight, and will be covered in carpet, so no more silver


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Action shot. I call it "tall guy in a tiny trunk". Or, "I kneed a hand"?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Baffle bolted up. These welding tabs make great washers, especially for ocd people like me that wants everything perfectly centered.


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## mrboost (Sep 13, 2012)

build looks nice! keep up the good work! i am interested in the 2 batterys though? plan on taking one how before shows?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

There isn't two batteries. The factory battery is in the trunk. There is a 4 gauge wire going to the alternator and fuse panel under the hood.


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## mrboost (Sep 13, 2012)

lol OH! thats someone else's cobalt.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Yeah that's part if why I was excited to be able to use the factory battery terminals and keep everything stock. It was all already right there in the trunk.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Baffle back clayed and deadened. Will clay in the sides once its in place, then cover bolts and all with deadener to smooth out the lines for carpet.


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

mrboost said:


> lol OH! thats someone else's cobalt.


lol ya i think ur talking about my pics

i should probably delete them from this thread


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Ran out of clay last night, had to run to hobby lobby. The rear deck has about 3 pounds total.



























Layer of alpha damp across the rear deck. This stuff is insanely thick and stiff. I bent entire sheets to how they needed to lay and then applied them. Taking a break, next going to cover the other open areas on the rear deck and lay a couple of strips up top and I'll be ready for carpet.


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## Lou (May 23, 2009)

i like your way of thinking bro


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Finished shots of the deck. I'm now ready for carpet, but it's late and I don't want to start that now and either mess up or be kept up too late while finishing it:


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Ready for carpet. Subs taped, right trunk liner removed, everything is wiped down, I have a can of 3m super 90 and a fresh new pack of razor blades


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## toysareforboys (Apr 9, 2012)

Thumper26 said:


> Ready for carpet. Subs taped, right trunk liner removed, everything is wiped down, I have a can of 3m super 90 and a fresh new pack of razor blades


Lookin good! I just ordered my new subs and my friend designed a box to take up my entire trunk so I'm looking forward to getting some more bump in my cobalt too!

-Jamie M.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Thanks! Taking a break, but here is what I have so far. The whole thing is supposed to be in one piece, but it ended up being a little short on one side. I'm not going to say which, hopefully you won't be able to tell when I'm done.


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## toysareforboys (Apr 9, 2012)

Thumper26 said:


> Thanks! Taking a break, but here is what I have so far. The whole thing is supposed to be in one piece, but it ended up being a little short on one side. I'm not going to say which, hopefully you won't be able to tell when I'm done.


Wow, that looks SO factory!!! How did you get it to follow all the contours soooo good? Makes me sad I'm going to loose my entire trunk when you can make it look so damn good 

-Jamie M.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Thanks, I appreciate it. Following the contours isn't that hard, just go slowly and only glue up small areas at a time. Just remember to always spray the surface and the carpet with glue, then wait a couple of minutes before attaching the carpet to the panel. Also, as you are gluing the carpet down, work from one spot and move from there. The carpet will need to stretch and contour, so don't start with opposite ends and go to the middle. Go from the middle out, right to left, or front to back. This allows the carpet to move and lay the way it needs to without leaving wrinkles. Also, this is where having a lot of extra helps. After you have the piece covered, you can trim down the edges.

I mostly went front to back since I had the wide flat areas, then worked around each sub on the sides. Here are a couple of pics:



























I still have to connect the speaker wires to the subs and put the interior back together, but there you go. If the weather holds up this weekend I'm going to try and get the trim pieces painted, and may have a rough prototype for the car dock working.


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

seams on the drivers side?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Haha NOPE! On the far right side of the passenger's side. The trunk liner ended up covering it. There were some "complications" on the driver's side sub though. Had to do some creative stretching on some areas by the ring. Also, there is some stray adhesive on the carpet, so you may be seeing that.


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

aww lol nah it looks seemless bro but since you threw that out there i figured id guess and was wrong


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Here it is, everything completed and connected. Speaker wires for the subs are covered in split loom, and emerge from the stock cutouts in the trunk liner.


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## claydo (Oct 1, 2012)

So..... howsit sound? Rattles? Smooth response?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Rattles little to none. Response is very smooth. Tonality is great, imaging is pretty good, but I feel could be dialed in a little better. Stage is pretty good, still have a couple of things on random songs that want to pull to the doors, and I'm still working on getting sub bass seamlessly up front. That is more of a "my daily driver setting doesn't cut the subs 4db" issue, but I'm trying to pull some more midbass without messing up the imaging or response. The subs and mids cross at 50-63Hz, depending on the day, so it's already a really touchy area, esp with only 16 bands of eq to work with, but it's getting there. It is very detailed, great center image and ambiance, and very little eq was used to get that. I'm excited, I think it's got some good potential. I plan on being in Murfreesboro next month, so we'll see what it has then.


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## toysareforboys (Apr 9, 2012)

Thumper26 said:


> Here it is, everything completed and connected. Speaker wires for the subs are covered in split loom, and emerge from the stock cutouts in the trunk liner.


Dude, e-mail that pic to GM and tell them you'd like to help them design the stereo in their next car that's offered with a factory "subwoofer" 

-Jamie M.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Hahaha, thanks. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I'm not sure if I'm more excited with how it looks or the fact that it's finally finished, but my coworkers have had to listen to me talk about it all day.


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## thefordmccord (Oct 18, 2012)

Looks awesome! Can't wait to see it in person. I'm sure i'll run into you at a MECA show somewhere.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

definitely! I'm going to be at the MadVette's double point show next month in Murfreesboro if you're free. Figure get a jump start on the season and maybe sneak in some early points at the same time


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## Lou (May 23, 2009)

damnit man,awesome work thumper


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Thanks Lou!

I just received confirmation from Steve Stern that I can cover the factory carpet with trunk liner so it all matches. More updates to come!


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Floor and right trunk liner covered. I ran out of glue and time tonight, so will hopefully finish the other one tomorrow. This pic kind of sucks because it was completely dark when I took it, but here's a decent comparison shot:


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## toysareforboys (Apr 9, 2012)

Thumper26 said:


> Floor and right trunk liner covered. I ran out of glue and time tonight, so will hopefully finish the other one tomorrow. This pic kind of sucks because it was completely dark when I took it, but here's a decent comparison shot:


Lookin goooooood!

Is that the amp on the left? No room for it in with the spare tire? I figured vertically along the very rear wall, beside the battery, would been room?

-Jamie M.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Yes, the amps are where the factory sub was. My original plan was to out then in the wheel well beside the spare, but there wasn't room. If they were xd's I may have been able to pull that off. The ppi amps are a little too long and with the terminals being on the sides of the amps, they were just a little too long.


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## Jeff Smith ATL (Sep 11, 2012)

Looks good man. I'm gonna try to make it up for that show as well, I hope to get a listen to your ride!


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Definitely! It'll be good to see you!


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## Brian_smith06 (Jan 31, 2008)

I'm really enjoying this build. It actually makes me want to work on my cavalier. I wish mine looked as good as your cobalt though!


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Thanks! I really appreciate all the compliments.

This build means a lot to me. It wouldn't have happened without my wife's amazing support. She and I have had a tough time the past year, and she surprised me with the money to get started on it, then some members on here provided the pieces to let me make this build a reality. Then, the install came together so well, literally on the fly, in a week and is easily the best I have ever done aesthetically. I plan on doing everything I can to bring home a big ass trophy at finals next year.


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## chevbowtie22 (Nov 23, 2008)

Wow that really turned out good. You'd be hard pressed to tell someone that wasn't into car audio that it wasn't stock. It looks that good. Bravo.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Thanks, that's exactly what I was going for!


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

toysareforboys said:


> Lookin good! I just ordered my new subs and my friend designed a box to take up my entire trunk so I'm looking forward to getting some more bump in my cobalt too!
> 
> -Jamie M.


Just putting that RE SEx woofer in the right box would probably gain you a TON of output. Tho, if you are running a 1000/1, I'd run an SXX or SX Pro.

Thumper...

Nice job. Coming along nicely. About to finish reading the rest of the thread.

Jay


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## toysareforboys (Apr 9, 2012)

JayinMI said:


> Just putting that RE SEx woofer in the right box would probably gain you a TON of output. Tho, if you are running a 1000/1, I'd run an SXX or SX Pro.


No doubt  I cooked the voice coil though, hence the replacements!

I just got a notice that my subs are delayed from Hurricane Sandy?? 

Oh well, they'll get here eventually.

-Jamie M.


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

lol didnt i tell you that was a bad idea on cobaltss.net like months ago?


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## toysareforboys (Apr 9, 2012)

emperorjj1 said:


> lol didnt i tell you that was a bad idea on cobaltss.net like months ago?


I wasn't worried about blowing it, I wanted some 12's and needed an excuse 

-Jamie M.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Alright, here's a few more pics of the trunk. All panels are re-wrapped with matching carpet from the same roll.

For reference, before:



















After:




































Few shots of the subwoofer wiring. The 12awg speaker wires are covered in split loom and taped like the factory wires. Since the terminals were on opposite sides of the sub, I split the jacket down the middle until each side could reach. The speaker wires were run through the lower basket holes on the subwoofer to help hold them in place.



























Speaker wires coming out from behind the factory panel, loomed the same way the factory ones going to the 6x9's in the rear deck were:









This was a slight modification I did make. The factory wires in the split loom were originally wrapped in that oem cloth tape that was literally falling apart in pieces on the floor. So, I removed it, loomed the wires, and then separately loomed the wires going to the trunk light, and ran the loom through the carpet in the rear deck:


















Thanks again for all the compliments and support, everyone! See you in Murfreesboro next month!


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## toysareforboys (Apr 9, 2012)

Mind blowing man, just mind blowing 

How about a vid of her bumping?

-Jamie M.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Can do. Been wanting to play with making my Dayton m8000 capture audio through my droid anyway, so we'll see how it works.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

When I bought the car, the factory silver trim panels on the dash were painted red. After I installed the black dash kit and black ac controls, the red was too bright, and had to go. I figured since the factory trim was all silver, I might as well make all of the trim black to match the radio and ac.

Door trim, dash trim, and steering wheel inserts. The pockets on the door pieces are taped over.









Have had lots of fun painting and wet sanding, but this is the last I'm doing tonight. Originally, pieces were wet sanded with 800 grit and then sprayed with fusion paint for plastics. The steering wheel inserts and dash were fine, but the door inserts got really bad pinholes. More sanding, priming, sanding, and a trip to the parts store for sandpaper, real primer, and separate paint and you have below. Everything has 3 coats of primer on it. I let them dry in our hall bathroom with a small heater keeping the room warm. Tomorrow I'll do one more round of sanding, and then will finish with a few coats of satin black and a glossy clear coat.









Will post updates as they occur.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Had a couple of "problem panels" that needed resanding some more. I can say I've learned a lot about the right and wrong way to do things, and actually look forward to tackling something else. Anyway, pieces are painted, glossed, and drying. They are in a downstairs closet in an unused bedroom we have. A space heater is in the floor to keep the area warm. I'm letting them dry as long as possible before installing tomorrow night, and am hoping the space heater helps that process even more.









Arm rest and steering wheel inserts









Dash trim pieces. The smallest piece was the last piece to be redone, and is still getting primered


















Radio trim









And this is my bearded dragon, outside taking advantage of the 70 degree weather we had yesterday.


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## toysareforboys (Apr 9, 2012)

Thumper26 said:


> Had a couple of "problem panels" that needed resanding some more. I can say I've learned a lot about the right and wrong way to do things, and actually look forward to tackling something else.
> 
> And this is my bearded dragon, outside taking advantage of the 70 degree weather we had yesterday.


Nice! Does he like the outdoors?? It was crazy warm here today too, 51.8f!!

I was able to install some more bump in my cobalts trunk. I had to remove the rear seats in their entirety to get it to fit, but it works good 

Two VVME RD-12 in 1.5cu ft sealed (each) box on JL 1000/1 bumpin Waka Flocka Flame - No Hands - YouTube

Not as much trunk space available as yours 

-Jamie M.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

He loves being outside, yesterday we learned he liked to climb bushes.

Got the last piece done. It's been primed, painted, and cleared. All pieces are sitting in the "drying closet", and will be installed tomorrow night. I want to let them be as dry and set up as possible, even though the overspray on the cardboard feels completely dry. Held to the light, you can see that they have some orange peel and a couple of small imperfections, but I don't think it will be noticeable in the car. If so, I'll get more sandpaper and paint the next weekend I'm feeling froggy


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## Datsubishi (Jan 9, 2012)

Lookin good man! Thinking of doing an infinite baffle in my Mitsu and this thread just reinforces the idea, and gives another option for possible subs to use. I have the Massive CK6's up front and love 'em. Actually almost all my stuff is Massive. Very clean install. I May use a couple of your ideas.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Thanks, and glad I could help! Let me know if you have any questions about how I did any if mine, I'm glad to help.


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## fordriver1 (Jul 11, 2012)

keen to see pics of the dash back together. im thinking about painting some of my dash parts piano black. keep us posted with pics!


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## jel847 (Nov 8, 2007)

Been following your build and it looks great but I have a off topic question. Your beardie doesn't run away? I've never taken mine outside because I assumed he would take off.



Thumper26 said:


> And this is my bearded dragon, outside taking advantage of the 70 degree weather we had yesterday.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

He always heads straight for that bush, and then just hangs out in there. My old one would make some sort of a dash, but I think it was more him just checking things out.


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## stylngle2003 (Nov 2, 2012)

excellent build. I'm relatively new to the site, but I really liked how you ran the sub wires through the basket. 

Keep it up


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Thanks!

Here are some installed pics. They look okay, I think pretty good for the first time I've ever tried something this nice, but they do have orange peel, and after the glossy clear, I can see some other small imperfections that bother me.

I'm still on the fence about the glossy. It stands out too much with the rest of the interior, so I will probably sand them down smooth and then respray with a matte clear coat to better go with the interior.


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## toysareforboys (Apr 9, 2012)

Looks damn good to me! I like matte clear coat because it resists finger prints much more than high gloss 

My balt is in getting the engine completely rebuilt, should have it back in a week or so then I'ma upgrade the tweets and amp and put down some some vibration reducing mat or whatever, so many rattles with my new 12's in the trunk!!!

-Jamie M.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Quick update, went to my first show today. I finished the work on the doors last night around 2am. I added some more deadener, did some work with the foam inside the door, and installed brass inserts with stainless steel screws into the baffles, and ran some weatherstripping and foam gasket to kill a few rattles. From there, the changes from door work were so noticeable that we had to start from scratch tonally. Jen (the wife) and I tuned until about 4:30 this morning, then I started cleaning up/out the car to get ready today.

A little more tuning in the parking lot, and I ended up with a 72 from Vinny Taylor! I took first in stock class against heavy competition consisting of Santa Claus, The Tooth Fairy, and an honest politician. I did win SQ best of show and Phat Ride though, so it was worth it. Getting Vinny in my car this early on was also a big help. We worked some after the show and he helped me get a good start on fixing the problem areas.

This was a small, local show, but since I have officially renewed my MECA membership and have a working car with a working stereo and 10 points for the season, I'm officially back in the lanes and competing, which I didn't know if I was ever going to be able to do again, so thanks are in order:

1. Jen, my wife. I love you to death. Your tireless support, selflessness, generosity, and enthusiasm made this possible. Today would not have happened without you, and I'm glad I can pass this miserable curse of a hobby on to you.

2. Legend94. Thank you again for the mids. Again, I wouldn't have done a build in a week if I didn't have all the equipment, and the mids you sent me made that happen. Flat out, I wouldn't have pushed to wrap up the install, and absolutely wouldn't have had anything running to compete with today if it wasn't for you. 

3. Equally: Andy (just burn it and start over) Jones, Robert Petty, Rich Vedvick, Aaron Thomas, Kirk Proffitt, Steve Cook and Audio X, Dave Hogan, Scott Selvige, Radio Clinic of Chattanooga, TN, and the countless others who have patiently answered question after question via text, email, and phone call. You taught me the meaning of real SQ, how to install properly, and helped me build and tune an 80 point car my first season. None of you had any reason or personal gain, and even less free time to help, and you still did. I want you to know how much it is appreciated, and it is what drives me to help others in the hobby. Thank you, sincerely. It has been a blast getting to compete with you guys.

I know today was a dinky local show, but it represented a lot more than that. After my 08 season, things went crazy with life and work, and I was perpetually building for the next season. I tried to make a run for finals last year, but Jen was sick, and it didn't happen. At the same time, my work exploded while four of us replaced 52 servers, installed a duplicate copy of the servers at a disaster recovery site, 100+ pieces of networking equipment spread out across 30 locations, ~400 phones and a whole new phone system spread out across the 30 locations, installed a call center, two training centers with 52 computers, inventoried and replaced 40 printers, about 270 computers, and replaced the core software program that everyone in the company uses...all in 7 months total. I was working 18 hour days on average, plus nights and weekends, and Jen was dealing with medical issues the whole time, so things were kind of rough. She surprised me with money to start this build on my mandatory 5 day vacation from work, and Legend and others helped me with a few last remaining items to do the whole stereo in a week. Note this was all planned for Cobalt, which I got a couple months ago after my Honda Accord broke a 3 month old timing belt ON THE EXACT DAY that I was going to pay it off and own it outright. Turned out there were a rash of bad timing belts for that model engine. I got $35 bucks back for a belt that ruined the motor. Forget about the 6 month old new tires, 1 year old brakes, fresh power steering pump, ps high pressure hose, ps fluid, timing tensioners, water pump, and oh yeah, the fully mounted and sealed IB wall for two Dayton 15's that only took me 5 tries to get right because I wanted it to be perfect. Literally, the next step was to carpet the wall, carpet a board and lay on the floor behind it, and mount jl xd amps under the subs between the wall and the seats and be done.

So, since the build, Jen has finally started getting to feel better and get back to her old self again, work is starting to slow down to a more normal pace, and I'm officially back in the lanes with sq best of show over a street and a mod street car on a last minute 2 hour tune on no sleep. I had forgotten how I always get nervous, and it was great feeling that excitement again.

I had one hell of a first show, and I hope it's one hell of a season. Guys, sincerely, thanks for all the help and support. In closing, I think this picture sums everything up nicely:


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## toysareforboys (Apr 9, 2012)

Thumper26 said:


> I had one hell of a first show, and I hope it's one hell of a season. Guys, sincerely, thanks for all the help and support. In closing, I think this picture sums everything up nicely:


Epic pic, great story and nice job! Congrats.

-Jamie M.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

After talking to judges and receiving a few pm's on here, I have confirmed that foam isn't allowed in stock, even behind panels. So, all the foam has been removed. I didn't get pics of the inside of the doors, but here's two boxes of all the foam that was in the doors and behind the door trim panels as proof.


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

aww that sucks


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

It is what it is. Stock is meant to be very restrictive, which is part of the appeal for me. Well, that and it also keeps me from wanting to constantly test out new equipment and setups. 

My biggest thing is that I want to make sure I'm 100% compliant. Winning doesn't count if you cheat. I can say my door panels definitely fit better now


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

lol im so far gone that im sure id be some super max craziness that i wouldnt even have a chance. its so much better to know the rules and follow vs doing ur build and see what class ur in after


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## cyrusthevirus23 (Feb 16, 2013)

*Re: 2007 Chevy Cobalt SS MECA Stock Build*



Thumper26 said:


> Car is an 07 cobalt ss, with the "premium" Pioneer system. The build is to compete in MECA stock class next year. Car has the following upgrades:
> 
> DC Racing intercooler
> Injen cold air intake
> ...


always liked these cars i use to own a 2009 ss. Completed customized the interior i made all the interior panels smooth like glass the car looked great from the inside.


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

oh **** you put on the time attack lip? did u scrape everywhere with it? i need to get a new stock lip for mine sometime


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## cyrusthevirus23 (Feb 16, 2013)

emperorjj1 said:


> oh **** you put on the time attack lip? did u scrape everywhere with it? i need to get a new stock lip for mine sometime


it did on the bottom but its built strong to last john powell know how to form carbon best piece i ever had. I loved driving around with this on. I also may side skirt addons like the racecar as well.


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

wait you still have it?


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Picked up some Alpha Damp from Ant, time to kill some road noise and deaden the doors a little better.

Starting from the trunk, before:


After


Floor:


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## keep_hope_alive (Jan 4, 2009)

You hadn't done the doors yet?

Rich


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## Mooresound (Jan 17, 2012)

Awesome build man, I love my 07 SS to death. I dont think I will ever get rid of it. Now sure if you can, but some MLV in the trunk does wonders for exhuast noise if you have a cat back.. As well, I love the painted accent panels. I went vinyl on mine but the black looks awesome.


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## Voorttimies (Mar 19, 2011)

Very nice work there. Your build gave me some (much needed) ideas, different car though, but I've been also thinking of possibly going IB with my subs.


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

keep_hope_alive said:


> You hadn't done the doors yet?
> 
> Rich


Outer skin was done well. Inner skin had the foam combo on it, and had some mat, but not a lot. Gonna fix that.

Got a couple of other housekeeping items to attend to as well while the car is stripped....


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## emperorjj1 (Sep 10, 2008)

dang ur car came with more dampening stock than mine...


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## jfrosty42 (Jul 4, 2009)

I officially hate my Cobalt now. Thanks.


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