# 88 Mitsu Colt - SS Davinci, SPL160, Focal TLR and Hertz



## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

Hey, new member here, thought I might make a project thread about my car. Im in the early stages of the build right now, and still undecided about what of my stereo components to install. First a quick rundown of my gear:

Head unit - NA (will probably be a Pioneer 4100 2DIN dvd)
Amps - 1 Soundstream Da Vinci, 1 Hertz EP1D, 2 Hertz EP4
Tweeters - Focal Audiom TLR
Midrange - Hertz EM100
Bass - 1 Soundstream SPL160, 1 Earthquake SWS 8", 2 Earthquake SWS 12"

I plan to use the Hertz EP1D on the SPL160, and the Davinci for the rest in a active 3-way front setup with the SWS12s as midbass (overkill, I know  ) in small sealed boxes in the floor right in front of the front seats. Alternatively use the SWS8 as a single midbass driver in a sealed box under the dash, passenger side. I have already tried this and it works well, the midbass sounds well integrated with the front stage, and does not appear to come just from one side of the car. The driver is more or less placed in the middle of the car sidewise, maybe 12-15" offline to the right. But I guess its output will not match that of the SPL160, so maybe the 12s are a better choice for midbass? Any feedback would be appreciated 

Also, I'm making a fiberglass box for the sub in the spare wheel well, but I am not sure if a small sealed is the way to go (I have tried this in another car), or if I should try to make a larger ported box (SS recommends 4 cubic feet, tuned to 32hz).

Onto some pics. starting with the components, and the car 

























































Okay, this is just a quick first post, I'll post some build pics later today. 

PS: My english grammar might suck, seeing as I am norwegian


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## Tonyguy (Nov 15, 2007)

this is gonna be an awesome build. Good Luck!


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## Riveted1 (Oct 23, 2008)

Nice! I'm still looking for a US made DaVinci myself... Someday I will have one!


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

Ok, time to post some build pics, starting with the only thing that is done, making panels for the midranges in the doors.

This was the starting point, a big hole left by a previous speaker - had some Soundstream 4x6" co-axes there. So i made a paper template that covered the speaker and screw holes.









Next, I transfered the paper template to my computer using adobe illustrator, to make vector files for an engraving machine (CNC) at work. Made these forms out of ABS plastic.









Quick check to confirm fitment.









Panel with hole for speaker cut out, looking good so far 


















Then I covered the panels in dark blue suede, and mounted them to the door panels using 3M double sided tape. Not the kind you buy at the store  I work in signmaking/car graphics, this tape is what we use to hang aluminium/plastic signs on walls. And it costs $200 a roll over here 


















Making pods for the tweeters these days, will post pics when they are done.


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## JayHRC51 (Dec 21, 2008)

This should be an interesting build! I can honestly say that I don't think that I've ever witnessed a build where the tweeters were worth considerably more than the car they were going into. 

That's an impressive list of gear and everything looks cool so far.


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## JayHRC51 (Dec 21, 2008)

daily double...


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

JayHRC51 said:


> I can honestly say that I don't think that I've ever witnessed a build where the tweeters were worth considerably more than the car they were going into.



Hehe, I think even the Kinetik battery is worth more than the car, but its what I got for now. Figured out I just as well could put my stereo in it, can't get much enjoyment out of it laying in my closet, waiting for a newer car.

I guess this won't be the most extreme install, just doing a neat and tidy simple install to put my stereo to good use for the time being. Not a competition vehicle, hehe..

Kinetik HC1800 battery









The car as it is now









Quick photoshop of what its going to look like, going to wrap it with flat black vinyl and paint the wheels black. 









These next pictures may stray a little OT from the build log, but its just to show a little how-to on vinyl wrapping a car. which I will be doing on the Colt. This is my other car, a friend and me did this last summer.






















































My friend not looking too confident about this project, haha


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)




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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)




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## sheaunien (Feb 16, 2006)

We need a diy tutorial on vinyl wrap. How much did the vinyl cost for that Cosmos?


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## TXwrxWagon (Sep 26, 2008)

gotta love putting gear in an old-school ride.... I would vote against the flat black... its just odd looking.. its not "hot rod primer" unless its on a hot rod... lol....

Love the colt/mirage... great lil cars... nearly bullet proof... awesome gear.

Rob


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## DaveRulz (Jun 22, 2006)

sheaunien said:


> We need a diy tutorial on vinyl wrap. How much did the vinyl cost for that Cosmos?


I agree. I actually just searched for that very thing and came up with some really crappy youtube videos, but nothing that was in a tutorial format.


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## Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX (Oct 24, 2007)

My god, this will be cool... 

SPL160, brings back memories of the good ole days, the 160 re-revolutionized the SPL game.. I had a plan drawn up for 8 of them in my VW GTi, 4 in bandpass and 4 in sealed.. it never went anywhere... lol.. nice to see one again.. 

And the Da'Vinci classic awesomeness.. 

So, how about this... You get another SWS8 and put one in each door, down low, along with the mids where they are now and put the tweeters up on the sail panal/A-pillar area? 

I seem to envision the 160 in a glass box, formed to the left side of the hatch, with the sub firinng toward the right... The Da'Vinci right where you have it and then on the right side, put the battery, the hertz amp(s) and whatever else you have.. stacked, battery on the bottom, power distribution, then the amps on the top... 

That's what I see in my head, looking at this, I used to have to deal with the hatch with my GTi, but no more... 

this will be very interesting, I can't wait to see what you decide to do... 

Cheers..!!


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback 

I might do a tutorial on vinyl wrapping a car, thing is, I'm not really an expert in the field, the Cosmo is the first car I've done. But for now I can atleast tell you that you'll wanna use 3M 180-series vinyl w/comply technology. This means there are tiny air channels in the vinyl that make the applying bubble-free, and the adhesive on the back of the vinyl does not activate until you squeegie the vinyl firmly so you have time to adjust it after placing it on the car.

I've started making a fiberglass box in the well, measured it and its 1,5 cu.ft. Thinking of trying the 4 cu.ft ported box recommended in the SPL160 manual, so the space in the rear in kinda minimal with box in place, but I'm ditching the rear seats, going to make amp rack in their place 

I really would like the SWS12s upfront somehow, thinking of small sealed fiberglass boxes in the floor rigth in front of the front seats, with the drivers facing upwards. If that does not work out, maybe sell the 12s and get another 8" in the same config. See a problem matching 12s as midbass to a 4" midrange.. But maybe it will work?

Some pics of the box, whats done so far..

2 layers of foil in well









First layer of fiberglass, I'm using woven mat, nice to work with









4 layers done, made it a little shorter in the back in case I would need some space to run cables if the amps go in the back. Made rear wall from MDF that have been reinforced with fiberglass.









Then I made a top plate of plywood and glassed it to the rest. This will be the bottom part of the box, building the top part with MDF.









I guess this will be the placement of components when all is done. Something like this anyway. I guess the amps will be mounted under a plexi top plate.


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## ArcL100 (Jun 17, 2005)

So where's the 4g63 swap?


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## Notloudenuf (Sep 14, 2008)

in the US men don't wear capri pants 

nice build


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

Notloudenuf said:


> in the US men don't wear capri pants


I'll be sure to let my buddy know  He's the one driving the big US van in the pictures, or as we would call it, the import 

Anyhow, I'm thinking about a multimedia head unit, have space for a 2DIN, and I'm kinda interested in the Pioneer AVH-P4100DVD, so maybe I'll order one shortly. Gas price over here is touching $7 per gallon these days, sp it helps my wallet that the car is in pieces in the garage most of the time now..


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## PureDynamics (Nov 3, 2007)

Haakono you need to send me a Cosmos. The motor in the Rx7 went pop again.. V8 time!

Or you can send me that Da Vinci.. I still got my Tarantula here.


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

Hey Dan, send me some of them prototype speakers of yours, then maybe I'll consider it  

V8 RX-7 can be cool for sure, just have to be something lightweight.. LS3 was it? I'll make a 1,3litre rotary Corvette to even the score, haha.. The Tarantula would fit better in my Soundstream setup anyway, dont you think?


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

Small update, I recently got a Colt GTI 16v (with a busted engine) for parts, paid about $300 for the whole car, took off the GTI bumper, rear wing, a CD player and some 16" wheels with 2 sets of tires. The rest went to the junk yard 

The wheels were in pretty rough shape, one of them had been kurbed allmost all the way round, only about 4 inches that still were good. But only minor damages, nothing too serious, so I washed them, sanded them down, applied filler to the scratches, sanded this down and painted the wheels black. Just spray-paint in garage, nothing fancy, but they turned out OK


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

Got some work done on the pods for the tweeters, just the basic shape so far. Still a lot of sanding to be done


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## Arthurk (Feb 10, 2009)

Why not just wall it off with 2 18"s?


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

So I haven't done much inside the car the last week, but the black 16" wheels with new tires are on the car at least  










Think I might be leaning towards *Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX* suggestion for layout in the hatch, if I can make it look not to cramped. Othervise I'll just make a really big ported box for the SPL160 and just use the space for the rear seats for amps and such


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

Ok, time for a update on the progress 

The baffle/pod for the left tweeter is done, came out pretty nice I think. Now the tweeter is recessed a couple of millimeters into the baffle and I think it looks good that way, but should I space them up so they are completely flush with the baffle? Will this make a difference qualityvise in how they will sound and soundstage?



















Also the box for the woofer is coming along nicely, I went really old-school with the design, hehe, laaaarge ported box FTW  Large ported box, large displacement driver with high sensitivity (96db) and large xmax should give some serious impact down low, or so I hope at least 










So the box is about 6.7 cu.ft total, the fiberglass bottom part is about 1.5 of this. Inside of box is coated with polyester resin and painted to seal in the polyester smell  Same with the bottom part, I just emptied a couple of old rattlecans with assorted colours. The plan is to have both driver and ports playing upwards, still have to make front and top of box + bracing.

Here is a graph showing the freq. response for this box with a SPL160 in it. The red graph is adjusted for cabin gain in car.










So what do you guys think? Am I on to something here?


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## PureDynamics (Nov 3, 2007)

Leave the TLR flush, and send me the DA VINCI!


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## MrLister (Feb 17, 2006)

what program is that you're using?


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## pjc (May 3, 2009)

love the davinci.... thats almost enough to make me not want to get rid of all my audio equipment...


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## digitalhifi (Mar 26, 2009)

haakono said:


> Ok, time for a update on the progress
> 
> The baffle/pod for the left tweeter is done, came out pretty nice I think. Now the tweeter is recessed a couple of millimeters into the baffle and I think it looks good that way, but should I space them up so they are completely flush with the baffle? Will this make a difference qualityvise in how they will sound and soundstage?


Probably not a noticeable one.


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

PureDynamics; what's a oldschool Soundstream system without a Davinci?  Guess it'll have to stay here in Norway. Would'nt mind a couple of them prototype 10 inch (?) woofers you made, do you have a pic of them you could post here? Those were wild 

MrLister; the program im using is called ProBox2000. Its in swedish  Like this guy. May be a problem, hehe.. Google probox2000 and the first 5 links should provide easy access to it.











Think I'm going to keep the tweeters a little recessed, looks best that way I think.


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## andy600rr (Nov 28, 2007)

In that style of hatch, I'd run the woofer and the ports facing back. Had a friend running one (or was it 2? my memory is fading) SPL160 back in the day off a first gen Earthquake 200DHC that did low 150's in a hatch (early toyota celica) that had woofer up/ports back, but that had more of a raked out back window.


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## Echo42987 (Dec 25, 2008)

Love the choice equipment.


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## brianlin87 (Dec 9, 2007)

beautiful choice in gear.


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

Ok, had a little setback yesterday... Finished making the sub box, and wired up the SPL160, took the box inside to test it in my home theatre setup as nothing is wired up in the car just now. Turns out the woofer is blown  Someone must have had a little too fun with it between I sold it in '98 and bought it back a couple of months ago...

For me, its not worth the hassle trying to get it fixed/reconed if they even have spares for it anymore, so I guess something else will have to take its place. Still, it kinda sucks..


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

New plan since the SPL160 is out... 

Making a simple SQ install, one amp (davinci) running a 3-way up front and a couple of small subs in fiberglass boxes each side in back.

Looking for midbass drivers and subs now, I guess SEAS wouldn't be wrong since they are actually made here in Norway? 

Built a false floor in a hurry today just to check how it would look with the davinci mounted in centre of trunk. Guess this can work OK


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## brianlin87 (Dec 9, 2007)

gorgeous.


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## lsm (Mar 11, 2009)

It's tough to beat the old school Soundstream gear!


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

lsm, I totally agree!  And just to verify that, my SPL160 that I thought was blown because of bad scraping noises when I first hooked it up after 10+ years of not being used, has totally mended itself, now the scraping is gone and it plays beautifully 

Now its in the house, in a big sealed box with just 70w to each coil - and still it make things fall of the shelves, can't wait to port the box for added efficiency, put it in my small hatchback with a 1000w amp, its going to be stupid loud


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

So once I found out the SPL160 was working fine, I got my behind out in the garage to finish the box for it  Here are some quick pics:


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## PureDynamics (Nov 3, 2007)

ummm Old Soundstream.. Wish I had a SPL170. and a DaVinci


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

Some updated pics of the exterior, not too many of these old Colts left up here in Norway. Anyone got tips for some decent midbass drivers to match between the Hertz mids and the 15" Soundstream sub? I have room for (shallow) 8" or a pair of 6,5" in the door. Maybe a single 6,5" SEAS lotus will do just fine? If I use the davinci's midbass channels I have 100w [email protected], or I could use a Hertz EP4 I have available (4x60W or 2x190W bridged)


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## world27owns (May 1, 2009)

Very nice looking door panels


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## SQCherokee (Mar 5, 2008)

I just sold my mirage about 3 weeks ago...bought a early 90s passat...bigger car for the family.


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

Small change in plans


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## Tonyguy (Nov 15, 2007)

Why?


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

The spl160 has a bad voice coil and parts for reconing are no longer available.. And I'm planning on running a 4way active setup with the new Pioneer DEX-P99RS, so in order to use the Davinci for this setup I would need another BLT4 to use all its inputs separately, as I would have to with a 4way crossed, time aligned signal from the Pioneer. For now, I think I'll save the Davinci for my next/new car.


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## Kaasin (May 29, 2009)

Too bad the woofer was broken.
Did you buy the DD subs in Norway?


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

Yes, I bought them in norway, from http://www.ddaudio.no . I love these little 8" subs, really impressed with them


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## arrivalanche (Jun 27, 2008)

haakono said:


> Small change in plans


you REALLY need to have the same size ground as your +12v. or is that all +12v?


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

Actually I REALLY do not as the ground cable is 6 inches long (4ga) and the +12v (0ga) cable is 13 feet long, but I would agree with you if both + and - was run all the way from the battery. Might change it anyway though, this was just a short ground cable I had laying around, I still will make a ground cable as short as possible when I find a good ground spot


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

*Advice needed! *

I have not updated this thread in a while, I have had the system up and running for about a month now, since I recieved my secondhand head unit and made a very temporary midbass solution.

I bought a Pioneer DEX-P99R head unit (I believe it was called Premiere P1R in the us?), about 10 years old, with 3 way crossover, auto-eq and TA. I have a single 6,5" midbass (Dynabel - norwegian brand) in a 0.3 cuft sealed fiberglass box on the passenger side footwell, moulded to the firewall. This is an old subbox I used for a frontmounted Earthquake SWS-8 a while back. I use a combination of the lowpass sub filter on the head unit (set to 200hz) and highpass set to 60hz on one of the Hertz amps for midbass, and 60hz lowpass on the 8" DD subs in the rear. 

What I need now is a pair of decent midbass drivers for the doors to replace the temporary one I have, and I was thinking of going with SEAS, since they are made here in Norway and prices are fair here compared to imported brands. However, I havent got any experience with them, and I am not sure what ones to choose, I am looking for a pair of 6.5" drivers, although I have room for 8" if I push the limits a bit  I will power them with a Hertz EP4 bridged to 2 channels, it delivers 190W [email protected] 

Any pointers will be greatly appreciated 

Other than the lacking midbass, the system plays really well, I'm still amazed by the dynamic and open sound of the TLRs, I'm soooo happy I did not part with them when I was in a rough spot financially a couple of years ago - unfortunately I had to get rid of the rest of my old system - a Pioneer P9 combo, audison vrx 6,420 and 1.500 amps and a PG Cyclone sub - but the TLRs stayed  I run them down to 2kHz with a 18db/oct slope and the Hertz 4" mid from 2kHz to 200hz, and midbass/subbass as described over. Yeah, and I tested the system on a TermLab, did a 137,7 @ 34hz, not bad for a pair of 8"  Have them in a 3 cuft box tuned to 35hz with a 4" aeroport. They certainly play louder and deeper than the 2 Earthquake SWS-12s I had in the same box with the same amp, and thats not too bad  

I'll post some pictures of the finished system within a few days, and again - any pointers on which SEAS drivers to use would be appreciated


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## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

Some new pics for you 





































And a pic of my RTA after some tuning of levels and eq, not to bad actually


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