# my amp rack build



## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

I now have 4 Studio amps so it means a new trunk install.
Here is where I am headed. The amps are too wide to be just mounted on a flat board. I have to fit them all in the spare tire well. So i am staggering them on pedestals that can't be seen.

here is the basic layout.










Templates that fit under the amps and can't be seen from above.










1/8" steel cleaned up a little to trace the templates on




























busted out the handy plasma cutter










got a little sloppy there. I am not very good at the freehand plasma










I picked a radius of the sander i am using so that its easy to clean the edges.



















checking and re-marking for metal that hangs over


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

center punching the holes










the pedestal are going to be supported by 1 1/2" dia. pipe so i need to bolt those down to a wood base. 

here i am making the pipe ends that i will either tap or weld a nut to. not sure yet.










i didn't out all the way thru so i can line them up. puting them on with the space leavce me some place to weld so i don't grind it all off










cheapo Rigid home depot hole saw only cut 3 ends and its shot. I have 3 more to do



















threaded insert to bolt the amps into


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

so i messed around with amp placement mocked up on blocks


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

i am building the curved area out of chip board since all it is going to do is hold some tweed. This well will be tweeded blue to match the inside tweed. The curved area is layered up and them covered in resin, i plan on using a little filler on it to smooth things out.



















this is the back where i maade room to run the power wires outside the well


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

amp pedestal legs


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

got the feet welded to the bases.


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

the allen head keeps with the amps design


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

I have 2 of them mounted. with all of them in there they will be a monster to access the settings side of the amps.










under side , so far


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

I mocked up the 1 GA and the reducers. I may have to grind off some of the set screw thay are a little close. i may also make an ABS spacer to snug in between there so i never have a problem.










oh i also got one of the 204'as mounted ntonight. one 204 left to mount










with the wire reducers as close as they are this is what i am going to try to make to make sure they stay clear of each other.










cut up some ABS and glued them up.


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## fredridge (Jan 17, 2007)

awesome work, can't wait to see it done...nice attention to detail


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## BLACKonBLACK98 (Apr 5, 2008)

great attention to detail as is common on diyma. looks like you got a nice arsenal of tools.

suggestion: on the reducers why not just switch the color bands and switch sides or heat shrink/paint/etc. if they are not removable?

instead of like this:

[]= =[]

make em like this:

=[] []=

those are reducers and set screws btw. lol.


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## UCF52 (Nov 20, 2007)

Awesome fab skills! And beautiful amps.


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## GlasSman (Nov 14, 2006)

Not bad for your first rack.

Lots of welding which is nice to see.

I would slap a few pieces of FG matt on those cardboard pieces at the front of the tire well.

It would be a shame if they crumbled after everything was upholstered.


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

> 09:32 AM
> BLACKonBLACK98 Re: my amp rack build
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ...


The post on the reducers are eccentric and i already have then rotated to be as far apart as they can be. i am looking at grinding the set screw down some so it will flush out when its tight. I might heat shrink them but i am not sure about that either yet. i like heat shrink with adhesive and i am not sure i want to deal with that mess if i need to remove the shrink.





> 50 Minutes Ago 10:50 AM
> GlasSman Re: my amp rack build
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Not bad for your first rack.






> 10:50 AM
> GlasSman Re: my amp rack build
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ...


i need the front of the rack to be flexible to fit in the car. I have covered it in Landau padding and sanded it flush. the well will be covered in tweed.


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## BLACKonBLACK98 (Apr 5, 2008)

baggedbirds said:


> The post on the reducers are eccentric and i already have then rotated to be as far apart as they can be. i am looking at grinding the set screw down some so it will flush out when its tight. I might heat shrink them but i am not sure about that either yet. i like heat shrink with adhesive and i am not sure i want to deal with that mess if i need to remove the shrink.


i don't understand what eccentric means in this context, but what i was suggesting was swapping the power and ground reducers and then dealing with the incorrect color marking that would occur.


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

oh - the pins are off center and both reducers are rotated to be as far as possible. Rotating them anymore would start to close the distance between them.

actually both pins are identical. I colored one of the red bands black with a sharpe.


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

I got crackin' on the spacer for the power reducers on the 500. I am thinking of SEM texture coating it and painting it satin black. We will see.

this is what i had to do to the reducer to make them fit in the 500 which had already been modfied to 4ga.


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## lyttleviet (Sep 11, 2008)

You sir have very nice tools and fabrication skills.


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## bass_lover1 (Dec 10, 2005)

Looks amazing. Can't wait to see the finished product.


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

finished spacer

a little SEM texture coating and some SEM satin black


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## syd-monster (Jan 7, 2008)

the devil is in the details! Amazing!


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## kimokalihi (May 27, 2007)

Looks nice! I like the allen head mounting bolts and the white painted mounting brackets. Nice touch. I would have installed my amps in my car but they're going inside the walls and I haven't figured out how I'm going to mount them in the walls vertical. I cut out some MDF pieces to mount them on but I'm worried they'll soak up moisture in the walls and expand. So I was going to coat them in resin so they can't but I don't know how I'm going to bolt the boards in place? I can't screw them into the walls because that'll poke through to the outside. I need help lol.


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

i have used silicon to attach boards to back wall of truck cab so i don't screw thru the back wall. I really hate that laziness. From my understanding silicon has some real strength behind it.

consider using an ABS board, like 1/4" maybe, so it won't rot or swell. then you could put some T nuts in it for the amp to thead into. just an idea.


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## OldOneEye (Jun 16, 2005)

baggedbirds said:


> i have used silicon to attach boards to back wall of truck cab so i don't screw thru the back wall. I really hate that laziness. From my understanding silicon has some real strength behind it.
> 
> consider using an ABS board, like 1/4" maybe, so it won't rot or swell. then you could put some T nuts in it for the amp to thead into. just an idea.


Well, they make stuff that will hold windows the size of your car onto buildings that is similar to the silicon you are using, so it isn't that bad. 3M makes a tape that will hold body kits onto cars too, so bolting stuff down isn't always the best way to go.

Nice work, not sure why you went with such a big wire for that Zapco though. 

Juan


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## Fenriz84 (Jul 22, 2008)

Wonderful...


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

OldOneEye said:


> Nice work, not sure why you went with such a big wire for that Zapco though.
> 
> Juan



 just because, really. That amp only comes with a hole for an 8ga which i think is too small. it had been drilled out for a 4ga. i was running 1ga back so ,why not.


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## AzGrower (May 30, 2005)

on the pipe end where you need to have a threaded end (you said either a welded nut or a threaded tap) you can use a threaded bung. Its an insert that fits into the pipe, gets welded, and then has a threaded end. They are used in making the links in 4 link suspension systems. Heim joint are usually threaded into them.


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

the new power area. It really took me a while to figure out how to accomplish what i had invisioned. There will be a tweed wrap boarding the whole area. the center area will be painted white. So i have the white and blue tweed thing going like the amp well.
there is a little more finsh work to be done still.

































































i modified the original cover so i can re-glue in the blue cover.


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)




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## M3NTAL (Apr 9, 2006)

Bad-ace!


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## lowpoke (Jun 1, 2008)

Man, this is getting interesting. Love the attention to detail.


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## Candisa (Sep 15, 2007)

nICE project!

As everybody else, I love your attention to detail and I like your style of building things!

Keep up the good work!

greetz,
Isabelle


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## MinTze (Sep 27, 2005)

lovely!!i really like the idea of your distributor!


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

The next phase. This is the start of a cover that will trim out the white painted center. it will be wrapped in tweed and may have an MLA logo at the bottom.


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

things went pretty smoothly so i was able to get it wrapped tonight. Still in primer but almost looks like the car color and doesn't look bad. I am going white behind the tweed. the little MLA area will be an SEM blue that matches the inside plastic in the car.


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## quakerroatmeal (Aug 21, 2008)

Simply ridiculous. I opened the thread thinking it'll be a normal, typical amp rack made of mdf wood or something. But nope, this amp rack build is more detailed then most of everyone elses "entire build log"


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## Irishfocus06 (Sep 11, 2008)

Well, you must have a lot of time on your hands or something, lol! Awesome craftsmanship for sure! Again attention to detail is perfect and I wish I had half the fabrication skills you had. 

Don't know what else to say, except subscribed to see the rest of the build up. I feel like I am on this journey with you, lol!


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## tr0y_audi0 (Feb 13, 2007)

Irishfocus06 said:


> Well, you must have a lot of time on your hands or something, lol! Awesome craftsmanship for sure! Again attention to detail is perfect and I wish I had half the fabrication skills you had.
> 
> Don't know what else to say, except subscribed to see the rest of the build up. I feel like I am on this journey with you, lol!


X2

Great stuff man, 
I get idea's from guys like you.. thats why I have changed my install
six time..lol

Keep it up man..


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## jdc753 (Nov 14, 2007)

Real sweet build all around and amazing attention to detail. That fuse holder and volt meter is amazing. Guess I need to get more creative on my builds lol. Can't wait to see what you do with the rest of the build.


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

getting there. I ripped the tweed off and changed the edge, it's a little different now and i got the insert painted and logo'd. almost ready for the white. i keep finiding flaws in the primer area.


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## BLACKonBLACK98 (Apr 5, 2008)

much cleaner. attention to detail is everything.


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## redfred18t (Oct 2, 2008)

simply amazing


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## lyttleviet (Sep 11, 2008)

WOW!


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

spray paint sucks! It never gets hard like a catalized paint and just a pain to use. I don't have any "Real" paint in white and this is so small, what the heck.

Ignore the voltage , its off of a drill battery.


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## OldOneEye (Jun 16, 2005)

I love everything, but tweed? If I see any flexstone I'm going to stop subscribing to this post... =)


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

OldOneEye said:


> I love everything, but tweed? If I see any flexstone I'm going to stop subscribing to this post... =)



 No FLexstone here. you safe. Looking back i would have done suede but i stuck with the tweed and did some faux ostich when i had the seats redone. I didn't want to that much ostich in the trunk. It goes with the seat.


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## DeadlyHertz (Oct 12, 2008)

very nice but i missed something somewhere tho.


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## WuNgUn (Feb 9, 2008)

baggedbirds said:


> finished spacer
> 
> a little SEM texture coating and some SEM satin black


I could use something like that for my RCA's...as it is, the threaded barrels need to be removed for proper clearance...


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

Progress is slow. I just got my Darvex order so i was able to get the power portion of the amps wired for now. I am sure the wires will need some adjustment after I get it dropped in. Here is where I am at now. I have a cover for the end of the rack so don't panic on the frayed tweed, it won't show. for some reason this tweed doesn't want to stay together.

I got the wire clamp things from Darvex. I put T-nuts underneath so i can crank then down tight and because I will probably tear it apart a few more times.


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## cnguyen (Feb 1, 2008)

wow.. very impressive.


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## SQCherokee (Mar 5, 2008)

all that tweed makes me wonder if you built mini trucks back in the day.

looks very nice.

were did you get that thick abs for the spacers?


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

Back in the day? I am still into that scene alittle, not so much for the trucks but for the air suspension. the tweed is one of the materials on the seat. Its the easiest to use in the trunk. 

I laminated 4 pieces of 1/4" ABS together to make the spacer.

here's the seats


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## SQCherokee (Mar 5, 2008)

thats funny that I guessed that.

were did you buy this blue tweed from? i think this would be a good match for the blue interior of my mirage.


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

here - order a sample chart they won't charge the shipping on the sample chart. then you have everything they carry. Check out the glues also, they carry the good stuff. i have built a nice sample book by ordering a ton of those charts. the SEM chart is handy for matching plastic

http://www.yourautotrim.com/prautw.html


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## SQCherokee (Mar 5, 2008)

I sent you a PM


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

I didn't care much for the Red and Black wire covers. the red just doesn't go in my opion with the blue wire. So its now black heat shrink, with adhesive so they don't move. this also corrected my space issue between the 1 ga reducers.




























I alos got the back cover made and covered (far left)


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## pwnt by pat (Mar 13, 2006)

That's hot. Be interested in producing some more plasma cut amp panels with supports?


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

if you make an EXACT template of what you want and you know how tall you want it. I would consider it. send me a PM if you want.


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## Attack eagle (Nov 18, 2006)

very nice work... about time someone did the 'practical' floating amp again.


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

I don't really have time to tear into anything big so...

So i changed out the stock power screws in the 500 that were looking pretty bad.
I ended up haveing the chase the threads, the threads were in bad shape.


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## Team XD Aaron (Sep 22, 2008)

very nice build cant wait to see it finished


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## khanhfat (Feb 4, 2008)

wow great wire management  i guess i'll DIY my trunk in summer


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

khanhfat said:


> wow great wire management  i guess i'll DIY my trunk in summer


thanks - I just picked up a label maker and have some clear heat shrink coming, so I have some labeling to do now. I learned about the label maker and clear heat shrink here. Really cool, office max had them on sale last week.


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## syd-monster (Jan 7, 2008)

Nice work on the grub-screw set up for the terminals. Mutch better than the flat-head set up. One would be "thinking" alot before tapping into some real Zp's.


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## LiquidClen (Dec 27, 2005)

looks awesome


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

syd-monster said:


> Nice work on the grub-screw set up for the terminals. Mutch better than the flat-head set up. One would be "thinking" alot before tapping into some real Zp's.


i tapped the hole with the same thread that was in there originally. So it didn't remove too much material. What made it difficult is that the wire holes were drilled out from 8 ga originally to 4 ga . So there isn't a whole lot of material up there to tap.


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## Buh Jet SQ-111 (Nov 10, 2007)

that's sick work!!!


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## Blown Mustang GT (Dec 6, 2008)

Looking good!


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## SQCherokee (Mar 5, 2008)

looks very nice. can't wait to see the rest of the install.


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

got the 1 ga into the trunk finally.
here is the wiring for everything but the amps power. The white labels are there but can't read them in the pics.


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## guitarsail (Oct 12, 2007)

ok...is it just me or do some of those terminate at the terminals there and not go anywhere??
Unlesse the barrier strips are all connected together between the seperators...eh...im just not firing on all cylinders here.


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

no your right. I haven't got the jumpers yet. I just need to go get some. They are not all jointed, there will be breaks in the jumpers in various locations.


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## Eiswritsat (Nov 19, 2008)

Very sick build


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## scooter99 (Dec 21, 2008)

VERY NICE BUILD!!! I'm interested in the wireing. Do you have any of those wires from the terminals running to the H/U or up front anywhere? I was thinking of doing the same thing in my civic, however I don't have much room up front and would like to put it in back, but I don't know if that's doable or not. Will I have any issues with power loss or anything? Very nice work again!


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

no , the only wire from the HU is the turn on lead for the amps. It goes to the empty terminal on the right andf then to the realy for the turn on.

All that wiring is for the trunk mounted components.


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## BLACKonBLACK98 (Apr 5, 2008)

lookin good.


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## Aalpine (Oct 27, 2008)

I am impresionated!!!!
Good job


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## Mass Car Audio (Dec 25, 2008)

looks good man !


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## King Nothing (Oct 10, 2005)

Wow, just wow


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## Twisted Minis (Jan 22, 2009)

Nice work man.


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## SD_R/T (Nov 28, 2007)

I'll jump on as well........impressive indeed!


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

Twisted Minis said:


> Nice work man.



Seth?


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## Twisted Minis (Jan 22, 2009)

Lol ya. I just found this place trying to find audio info, and this was one of the first threads I found.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

Twisted Minis said:


> Nice work man.


I keep coming across you on a bunch of forums, how do you have time to build trucks?!!? 

Jay


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

JayinMI said:


> I keep coming across you on a bunch of forums, how do you have time to build trucks?!!?
> 
> Jay


little bit here and there. I have kids


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## Attack eagle (Nov 18, 2006)

hey welcome Seth.


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## wheelieking71 (Dec 20, 2006)

very nice! i like me some old school zapco! and oh-ya, the install doesnt suck either LOL. seriously, very nice.


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## 30something (Jan 9, 2009)

Looks great, man!


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## darvex (Aug 11, 2008)

baggedbirds said:


> Progress is slow. I just got my Darvex order so i was able to get the power portion of the amps wired for now. I am sure the wires will need some adjustment after I get it dropped in. Here is where I am at now. I have a cover for the end of the rack so don't panic on the frayed tweed, it won't show. for some reason this tweed doesn't want to stay together.
> 
> I got the wire clamp things from Darvex. I put T-nuts underneath so i can crank then down tight and because I will probably tear it apart a few more times.


Nice work. I just had to do this. Not only does the wiring look great I'm sure it smells good to. Anyway, you have great attention to detail and the craftsmanship is top notch.


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

as matter of fact, it does smell nice. Like a mountain rose.

and that picture still has he colored covered. a little bit back I wen to all back heat shrink and it really simplified the look.


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## Apex Rex (Jan 8, 2009)

That is some really impressive work! Trunk looks awesome with those Zapco's in there.


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

It was turning out OK but I had a hard time with the way I had to cover it and all of the hard edges and tweed joints. SO I striped it. All of the amp mounting will be exactly the same just a different surounding area, that I can hopefully do in one piece of tweed, at least thats the idea. 



















I cut about 3" off the back if it where it was hard to upholster. The area can't be seen, its under the sub box and it made it difficult to put in the car.










I added some "rails" to the top end of the rack. I needed the wrap top drop into the rack smoothly. I think it looks much better with it.










Stretched with the foiled over inserts, that will be removed after it all set up.


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## GlasSman (Nov 14, 2006)

That tire well piece looks much better now.

Thats the way I would have done it at first....I wasn't sure if the original method was going to work for you.

Good to see you fine tune the approach.


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

pulled the center forms off










reinforced the back side so it doesn't mess up all my work of making the stretch smooth










checking fit


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

wrapped with one seam in the back


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## Twisted Minis (Jan 22, 2009)

That looks really good.


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## dvsadvocate (Mar 17, 2008)

Very nice! Great work on the details!


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

thanks - I will have to upload the new pictures.I guess I nenver uploaded the pictures. I have unwrapped it from what it was here and changed it again. I picked up another Studio 5000 from here on the board so i had to change all of it again. I just got more tweed in yesterday to wrap if for the last time.


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## Shod (Oct 6, 2008)

I really did like how you had the last set up but this new one looks like you might out do yourself. Keep up the good work


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## martycash (Feb 24, 2008)

As everyone else has said, Awesome work mate, attn to detail is great, just what i have come to expect from DIYMA members old and new, will be following this one closely.

Marty


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## Big_Valven (Aug 20, 2008)

I liked the previous look - I'm kinda over the whole one big curvy bit. Still looks good though.


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## brianlin87 (Dec 9, 2007)

great job


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## lsm (Mar 11, 2009)

Looks Nice!!


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## warr40 (Jun 12, 2009)

looks awsome


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## GSlider (Jun 11, 2009)

You have got some mad fab skills bro!


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## cnguyen (Feb 1, 2008)

loved the previous design. waitin to see an update on how it turned out.


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## KennyT (Mar 14, 2008)

very nice.love it...


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## sydmonster (Oct 5, 2009)

like both versions, but obviously the second one looks finished! great work.


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## drocpsu (May 3, 2005)

wow, I dont know how I havent noticed this thread in the past 1+ years. I guess I don't check out the build logs forum too much. 

Awesome work here! The attention to detail is amazing. Looking forward to seeing the final product.


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

Subbing for future pics and details (and ideas), and giving you props for your skills. Good job.


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## Robb (Dec 5, 2008)

sell me that studio 500 !


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## baggedbirds (Sep 21, 2008)

I'll trade you for a white 500. I got the black one off someone here. The other 500 use to be black and one of the 204's use to be black. Catch me before it goes out to powder.


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## Robb (Dec 5, 2008)

baggedbirds said:


> I'll trade you for a white 500. I got the black one off someone here. The other 500 use to be black and one of the 204's use to be black. Catch me before it goes out to powder.


Im looking to buy a studio 500 (not repainted) I dont have anything to trade.


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## Jman (Nov 8, 2008)

Really nice work. Keepin an eye on this.


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