# volt's 2006 mazda 3 hatchback worklog (lots of pics)



## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

*NEW WORKLOG since I didn't plan properly for the 72 hour edit time limit*

Hey all, my name is Brian, and I go by volt. You may remember me as GCAdidas13, a regular of good old CarAudio.com. (~2,500 posts from Nov 04 thru somewhere in 07)

*WORKLOG INDEX: Click Here For Worklog Index (Google Docs)*

So, let's start with the car!

2006 Mazda 3 Hatchback
Automatic transmission
Purchased Feb 17, 2011 with 83,xxx miles (currently 87,xxx)



























Please admire the handmade custom tag. Wasn't pulled over for it! 



















Now let's list some equipment. This is what I have on hand from my last car, and is subject to change, but I am planning on using what I have.

*Head Unit / Media Source: *Samsung Q1 Ultra UMPC
*Sound Processor: *Alpine PXA-H700 with RUX-C700 Controller
*Highs:* Image Dynamics CD2 Horns w/ Minibodies
*Mids:* B&C Speakers 8NDL51
*Subs:* 2 x Ascendant Audio Avalanche 15s, DVC
*Highs Amp:* Precision Power PCX440 (40 x 2 @ 8ohms)
*Mids Amp:* Precision Power PCX4125 (250 x 2 @ 8ohms)
*Subs Amp:* Precision Power PCX2200 (200 x 2 @ 4ohms)
*Mids Enclosure:* Fiberglassed kicks (sealed/aperiodic)
*Subs Enclosure:* Sealed @ ~5 cubes OR Ported @ ~7 cubes @ 27 hz w/ 110 in2 port area (if it will fit)


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

So let's look at the little bit of work I've done so far:

PART ONE: Running 0awg Power Cable









What I'm working with.









Battery and lots of plastic engine trim removed.









Mazda left a 3x3 in square hole in the firewall plugged up with this plastic piece. I took it out and drilled a 3/4" hole in it to run the wire through.









Before I ran any wire I washed what I took out of my previous car. Cleaned up nice!









I didn't remember ever buying such nice cable :x









Took some work but I got the wire against the floorpan. Lots of insulation and carpet to get under in this car.









Drilled another 3/4" hole in the battery container to run my 0awg through.









Trunk with all floor panels removed. Gonna have some big plans here.









And here's the engine bay with the wire ran. I plan to get some bolts to fix the fuse holder to the stock fusebox (right now it's just resting there). Also I will be doing Big 3 and a HO alternator.

So that's it for now. I won't get into any more details unless you ask 

Here's a quick question for you, to start discussion:
Considering it's a hatchback and I'm NOT doing a stealth install, what tint should I put on the car? Currently the windows are not tinted at all. In my state (Ohio) the legal limit is 50% on fronts and no limit behind the B pillars.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

That is definitely cool. And I was thinking about putting handles and junk on the box and making the amps and such easy to disconnect so it'd be easy to pull on the extremely rare occasion that I'd need more space than the back seat.

I mean, come on. We basically filled the trunk of my Camry with subs and amplifiers and the only thing I ever used the remaining space for is a jackstand and jumper cables. I even took a week-long vacation for two and we had enough room to fit our stuff in the back seat.

IMO 2 ported 15s on 1600 watts.
Here's what I'm modeling: (in the lower two pics I added a model of the precise measurements of the hatch's interior)










Turns out being like 6.8 cubes tuned to 27 with 110 cu in port area.

The other day I made a cardboard faux box and it fit into the car decently, looked pretty cool.

Also planning on inverting the subs if you can imagine that...


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Well, a note to req and everyone else for that matter - work will be slow. Right now my work schedule is something like:
M-F 7a-5p at job 1 (45 hrs)
F 6p-1a and S 10a-9p at job 2 (18 hrs)
That means I'm working ~63 hour weeks.

Then the M-F work is 40 minutes away, so I get home at 5:40 on non-friday weekdays. that and i'm free all day sunday. With DST time changing recently it's staying light out a bit longer so a lot of my weekday evenings will definitely be spent on this!

What's my next step? 
Mounting horns, then fiberglassing some kickpanels.

I'm making the kickpanels for the B&C 8NDL51s, which are not round but octagon, so I might do some sweet stuff with regards to the baffle. 

I have 0.5" MDF and a miter saw, and access to a router. I modeled something like what I would like my baffles to be, if I have sufficient woodworking skill, which I think I do. It will be two baffles - the one in the back will have a circular cutout and octagonal outer diameter, and the one in front will be octagonal on both edges. Like this!










Then I may decide that it's better to run the fiberglass into the gap between the baffles instead of stretching it over top. any thoughts on this?


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

first twice? :uhoh:

then um. oh yea, so the baffle. make sure you give yourself 1\8 inch extra between the speaker and the flush mount baffle because if you wrap it with vynl, or whatever you will have issues 

cool beans though!


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

req said:


> first twice? :uhoh:
> 
> then um. oh yea, so the baffle. make sure you give yourself 1\8 inch extra between the speaker and the flush mount baffle because if you wrap it with vynl, or whatever you will have issues
> 
> cool beans though!


Good point, I'd hate to have everything made flush and then run into that problem later. And yes, I plan on using a black suede/vinyl or something to that effect. Not carpet or cloth fabric I don't think.

**** will be cash, I promise.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

slow cash, like using a savings account's interest lol.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

So I'm making kick panels.

[NOT MY PIC but shows what I'm working with]









Question: Should I glass the kicks and NOT do any permanent modification to the plastic stock kick panel, OR should I try to glass to the stock panel and possibly dremel sections of the panel out to get more volume?

Notes: 
Behind the kick panel are some door wiring harnesses that can't be moved too far.
The bottom part of the kick panel clips under the adjacent trim panel under the door.
The top part of the kick panel clips over the adjacent trim panel in the doorjamb.
The round clip that you see is a center-push snap fitting, and is supported by a plastic piece that sticks out 3" or so from the car frame.


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## Chaos (Oct 27, 2005)

Looking good so far.

As for how to make the kicks, it really depends on if you may ever want to put it back to stock for resale. If you have the space to fit the drivers in front of them, just use the OEM panels as the back of the mold and glass over them, making the kicks removable. 

Take the stock panels out if you have to, but I think cutting them is a last resort. If you decide to do that, pick up another set at a boneyard and use those to fabricate with.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Chaos said:


> Looking good so far.


This is what I was thinking. I just don't know for sure how likely I am to find an 06 Mazda 3 at a boneyard.

I know there's a driver side kickpanel on ebay right now for $20. And that's unfortunate that there isn't a passenger kick panel. I also would like to divulge that I have cracked the stock passenger side kick panel while trying to remove it for the first time. But alas, I cannot find a replacement passenger kick, only the driver side.

I'm also concerned that if I don't remove or replace the kicks, the kickpanels will extend a bit too far into footroom. A bit less space here than in my last car, a 97 Camry.


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## Chaos (Oct 27, 2005)

Here's a thought:

It's a little trickier, but you can use the OEM panels to make what will become the back of the mold for the kicks, then remove them entirely. 

Cut through the glass to create more depth for the speakers, using whatever you can find that will fit into the space behind the stock panels. Depending on how you need to build it, small sonotube or maybe some of those plastic hemispheres from a craft store can work.

Then, just build up the "front" part of the kick that will hold the baffles, and you're good to go.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Chaos said:


> Here's a thought:
> 
> It's a little trickier, but you can use the OEM panels to make what will become the back of the mold for the kicks, then remove them entirely.
> 
> ...


That's a really good idea. My only concern at this point is the interface between the kick panel and the adjacent trim panel under the door. They kind of snap into each other a bit, and they're a pretty tight fit as you can see in the pic. Do you have any suggestions as far as that goes?


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

if you are concerned about that then you dont have to attach the wrap fabric to the edges. you can connect it wherever you please. like in this picture from mattyjman's bmw install.










post 55;
http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...gs/97245-2008-bmw-e93-335i-convertible-3.html

see if you can get on a mazda forum and source some new panels. personally, i would snag that kick panel on ebay for 20 bones, and then worry about the other side later in life. but thats just me.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

req, Chaos's idea is to recreate the kickpanel without desecrating the stock ones, and my question was how to best recreate the interface between panels _without_ using the old panel.

But yeah, I am leaning slightly towards buying replacement panel(s) / worrying about passenger side later on. maybe scan online shopping outlets every few months til i find one. or post in a mazda forum / etc


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Nice work so far. Looking forward to your build. I have the same car but its an '05 that Im currently building also. There is a site that sales OEM replacement parts for just about any part of the car. When I find the site Ill post the link. Im not sure how much the scuff plates would be but I purchased the sail panels w/o the tweeter hole for $10 each and they are brand new from an actual mazda dealership.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

markn05 said:


> Nice work so far. Looking forward to your build. I have the same car but its an '05 that Im currently building also. There is a site that sales OEM replacement parts for just about any part of the car. When I find the site Ill post the link. Im not sure how much the scuff plates would be but I purchased the sail panels w/o the tweeter hole for $10 each and they are brand new from an actual mazda dealership.


Awesome dude please dig through some old emails or something and find the site! I think on that note I'll be fine to just fiberglass directly to the stock kick panels, it will end up looking a lot better and I get to cover up the crack I put in the passenger side.

I don't see myself selling the car or anything for years unless I get a huge spot of bad luck (knock on wood) so I'm sure I'll eventually come across a new kick panel.

Thanks!


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Yea I have the link at home on another computer, so Ill post it tonight. I am currently trying to figure out how I want to build my kick panels, they will be housing hybrid audio L6 and I had kick panels in a prelude that took up alot of leg room. So I want the 6s to be more vertical and appear stock but with the space behind the scuff plate itll be interesting.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

markn05 said:


> Yea I have the link at home on another computer, so Ill post it tonight. I am currently trying to figure out how I want to build my kick panels, they will be housing hybrid audio L6 and I had kick panels in a prelude that took up alot of leg room. So I want the 6s to be more vertical and appear stock but with the space behind the scuff plate itll be interesting.


If I were to get different mids than my B&C they would be Hybrid L8s.

And yes, it seems to me that you can get a bit of extra volume if you can utilize the space behind the trim panel. A few of those connectors can be easily moved to a less intrusive place closer to the floorboard. At least for the passenger side... not sure about the driver side though.

My daylight time is booked for the next few days unfortunately, but on Sunday I'll have just about all day to work on mounting the horns and, if i'm lucky, starting the fiberglass (or at least making plans, depending on how the horn mounting goes)


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

well i plan on doing a bit of glassing tonight when its dark! so there!

bwahhaha


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Online Mazda Parts

Theres the link to the site with the OEM parts. Looks like the scuff plates(kick panels) are about $22 each. They can be hard to find on the site so after selecting your vehicle; go to "Pillars rockers and floor" > Interior Trim > Scuff plate > front and then click on view illustration and you can see a drawing of them. Hope this helps. 

Im off to finish the baffles for the 5 1/4" for the front doors and take pics of the door install.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Hey man, thanks a lot for the link! Are you sure that the "scuff panels" are the same as the kick panels? It's just that I've never heard them called scuff panels before.

I think the scuff panels you're talking about are the below-door trim piece that resembles a step plate.
http://onlinemazdaparts.com/partloc...7680&callout=6&catalogid=2&displayCatalogid=0
(Should also be the link to the stuff I'm supposed to be buying)

Is it possible you're talking about "Cowl Trim"

Also I'm posting because my evening just cleared up and I'll have a few hours of work tonight! I'm mostly going to focus on hanging the horns tonight so I can fiberglass all day Sunday. I am excite!


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Yes sorry, the kick panel is #5 in the illustrations. Not sure where my head was yesterday calling it the scuff plate, anyways. The black one is listed under the cowl trim panels. You can always email them and tell them exactly what your looking for. The description of "Black left hatchback hatchback" doesnt really help.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

markn05 said:


> Yes sorry, the kick panel is #5 in the illustrations. Not sure where my head was yesterday calling it the scuff plate, anyways. The black one is listed under the cowl trim panels. You can always email them and tell them exactly what your looking for. The description of "Black left hatchback hatchback" doesnt really help.


Thanks for clarifying. Yeah the descriptions on the site are terrible, I sent them an email. I'll probably go ahead and buy a pair of them soon for ease of mind.

Updates later


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

i have pods. i need to add rigidity to them. but they are real.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

yeesh, last night was a train wreck.

Basically all I did was cut away some plastic material under the dash that was in the way and found a spot (on both sides) for my horn to go.

There is, at the moment, only one spot that the horn will fit on either side.

So then I went to Home Depot to look for stuff to mount the horn to the dash with. I bought two of the 5-7" tightening bands (those strips of slotted metal that tighten with a flathead bolt) and tried to get one around the horn and tied up into the dash.

That didn't work so well, so I found some zip ties and managed to get the passenger horn strapped to the dash with a single strap. It's by no means secure or final, but it's in the exact place I want it so I can't complain.

I have to strap up the driver side soon and then maybe even pull apart my dash to look for better ways to mount the horns.


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

How do you like the precision amps? I currently have all JL audio slash amps but Im looking to change amps and was looking at the precision amps


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

by the way brian, i took the glove box out to mount the passenger side, and i took the knee bolster panels under the steering wheel to do the driver side one. i strongly suggest you do the same. it makes it a billion times easier.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

markn05 said:


> How do you like the precision amps? I currently have all JL audio slash amps but Im looking to change amps and was looking at the precision amps


Definitely love the PPI PCX amplifiers. They are quality stuff, but I did have a PCX2200 crap out on me and it's awaiting repairs. For the last 3 or so years I have been running one PCX2200 when I was always planning on running two. Kind of sucks.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

So, let's start with a few nights ago. Basically I had a few hours to start looking at the underside of my dash and seeing where the horns will fit. So I started with the passenger side.









This is the stock look.









The white thing in the last pic is a main board/fusebox for the dash electronics. If I swing that down, this is what I see.









Decided to cut away some of the flap that says 12727









After I cut an arm off of the main board/fusebox. You can see where the horn will fit snugly between the fusebox (at left) and the wheel well (at right).

Fast forward to Friday night. I don't yet have a plan of attack, I'm just looking and trying to figure out how things will work. I go to Home Depot and grab two of the 5-7" tightening band, usually used on rubber hosings. I had hoped to use it to strap around the motor and then up around some part of the dash.

As I said a few posts ago, I didn't get much done because I didn't want to get in too deep with taking the dashboard apart until Sunday. So basically I was thinking hard for a long time and not really doing anything. All I had to show for it is this one picture of a zip-tied horn on the passenger side.










From here I basically figured that the horn was too far up into the dash and too far back. But there is NO room for the horn to move left/right or front/back, but a little freedom up and down. On Sunday I came up with an idea to fix that.

[CONTINUED IN NEXT POST]


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

So after a little bit of digging online, I found out how to take apart the passenger dash.









Removing the glove box cover and trim









Removing the glove box (DAMN it's a deep glove box) and you can still see my horn ziptied there









The idea I came up with is to cut a piece of 0.5" MDF to insert between the horn and dash, to give a little spacing and help me mount the horns. This is cardboard in roughly the shape of the wood I want to cut.









Cardboard on wood









Shape to cut









Cut out with a jigsaw









Intended setup









C-Clamping the horn to the wood while I use some screws to mount the MDF to the horn body securely.

I made a similarly shaped piece of wood for the driver side.

At this point there was a bit more dry fitting and I basically had a plan of attack: use a tightening band around the horn's motor and a single bolt on the other side, through the MDF and a piece of dash.

[CONTINUED IN NEXT POST]


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

I cut a hole in some plastic around the glovebox where I knew it wouldn't intrude and fed the tightening band through.









Here's the horn hanging out, held by the tightening band. At the time of this pic I hadn't drilled it yet, but somewhere on the left side I drilled a hole through the MDF to pass a bolt through for alignment and holding the left side up.









After putting that bolt in and tightening the band, here's where I stand.









On the driver side I did the same thing but I had to get a little creative. I drilled two sets of two holes to pass the tightening band into one and out of the other to hold the horn motor up.









I put the glovebox back in to make sure everything still fit together right.









Same as above

And now, both horns are mounted PLUMB, and the horn mouths are on the same plane. Also the horns are mounted solidly!





































[FINISHED]


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

i know you have mounted them brian, but the further outboard they will go the better they will stage. also making sure they are level with eachother, and not pointing up\down. i think the pictures look like the horns are slightly angled downwards.

im glad to see you are getting things done though!


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

req said:


> i know you have mounted them brian, but the further outboard they will go the better they will stage. also making sure they are level with eachother, and not pointing up\down. i think the pictures look like the horns are slightly angled downwards.
> 
> im glad to see you are getting things done though!


I will double check the mounting next time I get a chance.

But as far as putting them further outboard, it isn't possible as the motors are already against the wheel wells.

It's rather unfortunate, plus I'm having a little bit of an issue with the driver side horn being kind of in the way of moving my foot to the brake pedal. Definitely not down with that, and I'll have to see if there's anything I can do to fix it.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

gotcha. keep us posted


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

*Updated first post's index.*

Bought $80 in fiberglassing material from US Composites.

1x 404 Tooling Fiberglass Resin
5 yd x 50" wide 1.5oz Fiberglass Mat
3 yd x 50" wide 2.0oz Fiberglass Mat
2" x 3/8" Fiberglass Roller

Also last night I made a trip to Harbor Freight and picked up:

36 x 2" Chip Brush
100 L Vinyl Gloves
2" Painters Tape
Big fat huge plastic dropcloth
Nuts and bolts variety pack (just 'cause)

I also think sometime this week I will go buy a router and bit set to make my MDF rings.

I'm considering getting a sheet of HDPE from McMaster-Carr to make plastic rings to mount the speaker to. And also some of that 80% open hexagon perforated metal to make my own grills... would be sweet

This weekend I'm going out of town though so fiberglassing will have to wait until early next week I think.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

so you are comming to visit me this weekend then?


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

req said:


> so you are comming to visit me this weekend then?


haha no im going the wrong way, to indiana university.


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Have you thought about putting an up front sub in the glove box area? Like cut the glove box up and leaving the front/glove box door and building a box for an 8"? Im thinking it would work if I can relocate the white fuse box below the glove box.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

markn05 said:


> Have you thought about putting an up front sub in the glove box area? Like cut the glove box up and leaving the front/glove box door and building a box for an 8"? Im thinking it would work if I can relocate the white fuse box below the glove box.


If I were going full-on SQ with a stealth requirement, I would,
but I plan on blacking out the back windows and filling the hatch with subwoofer box so I have no plans on that.

Plus maybe someday I'll put a full-fledged carputer in instead of the ultra-mobile PC that i have now 8)


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## subwoofery (Nov 9, 2008)

Hmm... The mini horns have a "hard firing cross patern" - meaning the way you've mounted those, you'll have lot's of reflections of the center console. 
You should try to move the both horns more the sides. 

Kelvin


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

the wheel wells are really obtrusive in those cars and they do not allow for anything wider. i had a pair of full horn bodies in my buddies 06 and they just could not fit because the horn body was so deep. the mouth of the horn stuck out past the dash, and that was without the speaker on it. so it would have stuck out even further.

with that being said, i agree with the cross firing, but there is really little that he can do to fix it short of cutting his wheel wells out.

maybe angle them a little? who knows.


my stereo is playing brian


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

subwoofery said:


> Hmm... The mini horns have a "hard firing cross patern" - meaning the way you've mounted those, you'll have lot's of reflections of the center console.
> You should try to move the both horns more the sides.
> 
> Kelvin


That's unfortunate, but exactly what I expected.

I'm only out a couple scraps of wood, $4 and 6-7 hrs work if the horns don't work out and I have to go tweeters. Which I wouldn't mind, I don't think.

And yes, the horn can not be mounted any further outboard. But this honestly is only an inch or two worse than the Camry, which didn't have any imaging/reflection problems. But maybe the Camry dash was less intrusive.

I don't think I'll be cutting any wheel wells.


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## Fus1on (Feb 25, 2011)

Tagged for updates .... Nice job so far, I'm just getting back into the car audio scene after about a 20 year absence and was interested in how you were going to do the horns. Back in the day i've seen them mounted firing up though the window defroster openings.


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## subwoofery (Nov 9, 2008)

Can I have pics of your underdash and wheel well please? 

What if you were to mount closer to the front edge instead of back? You'll then be able to further push the horns to the sides... 
Will it be too much of a problem with the glovebox opening? 

Kelvin


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

I'll be at my house tonight, and I'll take pictures.

Here's a picture of the passenger side with no horn installed, first with no markup:










And here you can see what I'm talking about.










There is, unfortunately, no direction that the horn can move.

- Can't move forward, the dash frame would force the motor down ~inch
- Can't move outward, wheel well in the way

On the driver side the horn is already intruding on the space I need to brake safely, and needs addressed.

Does anyone suggest rotating the horns so that the portion of the horn towards the inside of the vehicle sticks out a bit?

But yes, I'll take some pictures tonight and post.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

i think your best bet might be to try it and see if it changes anything :uhoh:


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

req said:


> i think your best bet might be to try it and see if it changes anything :uhoh:


well as of now I haven't even heard them yet and don't know if it will even be a problem!

I'm trying to get a temporary amp rack set up tonight. It's most of the way done, I'm just looking for a ground point.

I'm taking a trip to Indiana tomorrow thru Sunday, and I would absolutely hate listening to radio the whole way there. (stock CD player doesn't read CDs)


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Also, fun fact:

I placed my US Composites order (info a few posts ago)

Then I go home and I realize I have almost a full roll of 6" wide 1.5oz weave ready to rock.

Not sure where it's from, but I'm pretty sure I bought it for previous projects.

so I called USC and cancelled my 1.5oz mat order, but im still getting 3yd of 2oz mat.

and my resin and roller. woo!


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Ground Point and Ghetto-Rigged Temp Setup









Chose my ground point









Close-up of ground point









Top side of finished ground









Underside of finished ground









Temp amp rack









Temp kick panels

Everything works. I don't have a REM wire ran, so I manually turn my amps and processor on with a flipswitch in the hatchback area.

I use an iPod for audio in through a 3.5mm to RCA cable, and I use the processor controller for volume. No head unit installed.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Horn Pics

Driver Side


































Pardon the cracked horn :/ it was like that when I got it.

Passenger Side


























Thoughts?


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

messy


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Posting here to ask for some help on figuring out what to do with my B&C 8NDL51 Mids.
I'm having a couple problems and could use some help.

Click here: http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum.../101525-b-c-8ndl51-questions.html#post1270436


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Okay, this weekend I will be making kick panels.

I'm going to use the route of molding them to the current existing panel. I'll make them as big as I can.

I'm going to make them such that I can swap out the B&C speaker in case I don't like it. I'm going to be using threaded inserts as the mounting technique so I won't run into problems with stripped MDF or whatever.

B&C 8NDL51:
Overall Diameter: 225mm
Bolt Circle Diameter: 210mm (8 holes)
Cutout Diameter: 187mm
Depth: 90mm

HA L8V2 or L8SE:
Overall Diameter: 225mm
Bolt Circle Diameter: 211mm (4 holes)
Cutout Diameter: 186mm
Depth: 94mm

Dayton ST210-8
Overall Diameter: 210mm
Bolt Circle Diameter: 200mm (8 holes) [may not fit]
Cutout Diameter: 176mm
Depth: 101mm

Dayton RS225-8
Overall Diameter: 225mm
Bolt Circle Diameter: 210mm (8 holes)
Cutout Diameter: 187mm
Depth: 89mm

I also wanted to try DLS Iridium 8, but they are about 30mm smaller than the two above on the mounting hole so that won't fly.

Can anyone suggest any similarly sized mids suitable as a midbass/midrange to pair with horns?


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

gotta post something better than that. lets see pictures, like this;










have you seen these suckers?

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=264-894&source=googleps


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

req said:


> gotta post something better than that. lets see pictures, like this;
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Haha req, pictures are cool. I like what you did there, but I'm getting a new router when it comes to cutting my baffle, and I think I'm going to try to flush mount with a single piece of MDF. Cut the cutout diameter all the way through, and then the external diameter aout 0.5" into the wood. I'll throw some FG on the backside of the baffle to reinforce.

Those mids look good and are on my list of midbasses to try if the B&C 8NDL51's don't work out. Though I don't like the color, haha.

EDIT: And look at that low-ass power handling!


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

low power handling. whatever. the efficiency is 93db 1w/1m!! so 60w will get you the same output than 120w will get you if you had an identical speaker that did 90db 1w/1m!

get the point?

if mattR uses them then i wouldnt hesitate to give them a try, even though they are spendy.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

req said:


> low power handling. whatever. the efficiency is 93db 1w/1m!! so 60w will get you the same output than 120w will get you if you had an identical speaker that did 90db 1w/1m!
> 
> get the point?
> 
> if mattR uses them then i wouldnt hesitate to give them a try, even though they are spendy.


haha coincidence! Matt R is precisely who i'm looking at buying the Steg amps from!


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

yes sir lol. he is _the man_ lol


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Today was pretty awesome as I got a lot done.

1. Re-Mounted Horns

As I noted before the horns were somewhat in the way of me moving my foot from the gas pedal to the brake pedal. So what I did was I took the horns down and re-mounted them. Keeping the motor in the same place, I rotated the inside corners forward about 10-15 degrees. This will help with my foot not knocking into them as well as possibly improving soundstage since they are so far inboard and the center console is on the large side.









Before









After

2. Shopping

I went to the store and picked up some materials i was missing (dixie cups, wooden craft sticks, stretchy material) and then to Home Depot and picked up a Ryobi router & table combo and a router bit set.

3. Fiberglassing back mold

Didn't take too many pictures today because my hands were mostly covered in FG resin since I'm a bit out of practice lol. But basically I pulled up some carpet, moved some wires around and laid some fiberglass in my kick panels. Here's the molds.









They're similar in shape/size but in the picture the right one is at a weird angle. This is about 2 layers, I will definitely be adding more because these have to be robust.

4. Router circle jig

While I was waiting for the FG to cure, I found a piece of acrylic that was in my garage and no one was using, and did some work on it. I cut it to 16" x 6", drilled a 2.5" hole on one side and four holes around it corresponding to the router's mounting holes. Then I threw the piece onto my new router table and used a 1/2" plunge bit to make some countersinks for the bolts.









Now when I want a circle of radius X, I just drill a hole somewhere on the right side and then pass a bolt through that hole and the center point of the hole.

5. New amps

I saw Matt R's classifieds post for the STEG amps, took one look at them and fell in love. We just closed the deal and I'll be receiving a K2|01 and two K2|03s.

6. Part-sex-press order

I ordered a bunch of **** from PE, including a couple terminal strips, box handles, everything needed to make my own RCA cables (thanks for links req), and spade+female connectors. Got it all today, but it's not of use until I start working on the trunk.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

I kind of pulled a dumbass move a few days ago.

When I was about to do the back mold for the kickpanels, I noticed that the carpet and wiring behind the carpeting wasn't as far back into the car as it could have been. By this, I mean I was losing airspace because the carpet wasn't pushed down well enough.

So what I did was fiberglass under the carpet. The idea was that if I fiberglass under the carpet, when it came to put the mold on top of the carpet, the mold would hold down the carpet properly.

Didn't work out so well, the molds are close to fitting in but it's not worth saving. Since it'll be warm-ish tonight (63 F) I think I'm going to try to do a back mold when I get off work. On top of all of the carpet this time.


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## ecbmxer (Dec 1, 2010)

Nice progress! I hate having to re-do stuff you thought was good to go the first time around  I had fitment issue with my midbass baffles and had to re-do them. But in the end it will be worth it!


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Im about to start building my kick panels to hold up to and 8" also. I am thinking about taking out the "dead" pedal, which is actually just this styrofoam sheet thing under the carpet, and having the 8"s on axis or around 30 degrees off axis towards the console. I think removing the styrofoam and padding will give me more space to play with with out losing a whole lot of leg room.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

yep, if you can get the dead pedal out do it. often the floor pan is shaped up to the dead pedal, so if that is the case you are kind of stuck with it lol.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

> which is actually just this styrofoam sheet thing under the carpet


are you serious!?

i literally JUST re-did my back mold and I didn't even think to check if it was metal or just something built out.

when I ran my 0awg cable under the factory deadening/mass loaded vinyl (see second post) I seem to have remembered it being a solid dead pedal... but yes, i'll check.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Since so many people are still reading the thread I might as well update it.

On Monday when I figured I done goofed on Sunday, I figured I'd have to wait until my next full day free to work. Which would have been next Sunday.

But then I started reading peoples' worklogs and got really worked up about it. So I downed an NoS energy drink after work on the way to my parents house (caffeine equivalent to about 7.5 cans of Coke) and got to work.

I took the stock kick panels out, and, after a brief moment of hesitation, began work.









Kick panels pre-procedure









Kick panel post-procedure. Holes drilled every 1/2 to 1 1/2 inches, sanded with 40 grit.









Setting up the work area. Only one layer of tape, but I lay it shingle-style (like roof shingles, duh). My first tape goes on the floor and then I work my way up so every tape overlaps the tape underneath it. Did it 4x (twice on each side) and no leaks at all. Also noted - I sprayed some 3M Super 77 onto the lower half of the plastic panel about 10 minutes before starting to give the FG more to stick to.









Laid fiberglass (over the damn dead pedal which MAY be removable...)









Removed back mold.

Next up on the agenda is to re-mount the holes and cut the mold down to size.


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Yeah if you pull the carpet back there is that grey mass load vinyl sheet, pull the 3 white plugs out of it, then lift it up or take it out and you will see the dead pedal is just a block of styrofoam which i just pulled up and out of the car completely and its just the floor pan under that, which looks very similar if not the exact shape as the passenger side. (if you do look under the styrofoam you will see what i mean by being the same.)


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

P.S. sorry for the dead pedal information being a little late for you. but the kicks are looking good.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

markn05 said:


> Yeah if you pull the carpet back there is that grey mass load vinyl sheet, pull the 3 white plugs out of it, then lift it up or take it out and you will see the dead pedal is just a block of styrofoam which i just pulled up and out of the car completely and its just the floor pan under that, which looks very similar if not the exact shape as the passenger side. (if you do look under the styrofoam you will see what i mean by being the same.)


No problem. Is there any problem with pushing the carpet down where the dead pedal used to be? I'm pretty sure the carpet is formed to the dead pedal, so it might resist being pushed down. Got any info for me?


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

I am not sure, the carpet seems pretty thin to me and you might be able to push the carpet down and let the kick panels hold it in place. But tonight I plan to pull the carpet back and pull all that stuff out then lay the carpet back down and see what happens. Ill take pics of the process


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

markn05 said:


> I am not sure, the carpet seems pretty thin to me and you might be able to push the carpet down and let the kick panels hold it in place. But tonight I plan to pull the carpet back and pull all that stuff out then lay the carpet back down and see what happens. Ill take pics of the process


I took the styrofoam out today, and it looks like it's enough volume to try to re-fiberglass that part of the kick. FFFFFf.... the carpet doesn't really want to sit down too well, I'll figure out a way to do it though.



PM question said:


> do you need some HAT L8's? or any other HAT gear


I'd only need something from HAT if I'm not satisfied with my build once it's done. My kick panels are just started, and for now I have some B&C 8NDL51s that I'm going to try out first.

If the B&C speakers don't suit me (AKA I have the same problem with them as I always have), I will probably try out a few other speakers first, like the B&C 8NW51 or others.

Also if I don't like my horns in the Mazda 3, I'll follow the same procedure for some conventional tweeters too.

And if I do get to wanting to try out a HAT L8, it'll be the L8v2


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Hey Im in need of some HAT gear, L8v2 or if the price is right L8SEs. 


Yea I was about to take the carpet up and mess with that area then I got distracted and ended up doing this to my dash......


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## digdug18 (Feb 14, 2010)

You say that you cannot move the horns out further, have you drilled a hole to see where on the outside of the car in the wheel well that spot is? If you have access to a welder you can just cup out that area, so that your able to move the horn over another 2 inches or so, maybe further, depending on if the tire will rub or what's out there.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

digdug18 said:


> You say that you cannot move the horns out further, have you drilled a hole to see where on the outside of the car in the wheel well that spot is? If you have access to a welder you can just cup out that area, so that your able to move the horn over another 2 inches or so, maybe further, depending on if the tire will rub or what's out there.


I don't have access to a welder, or someone who could weld, and additionally I'm not really interested in doing that :/

New posts incoming, lots of pics.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

I bought a Ryobi router and routing table
I made an order with McMaster Carr for all of my bolts and threaded inserts

And using these tools, I made this MDF ring baffle. It's sexy.




























At this point I took a lot of pictures of mounting the MDF rings to the fiberglass, but I'm not happy with it (not angled right and sticks too far into floorspace) so I'm going to re-do all of that and take more pictures tonight.

I decided that my molds were too small, so I built them out. They're probably just barely big enough right now, but I need a bit more material to cut off so the finished kick panel is still structurally sound near the edges.









The vertical wood is a dowel rod that I'm using to push the fiberglass down into the carpet a bit, so that when the kick is finished it wedges itself into place.

At this point I did some fiberglassing. I also added a layer of glass on the backside near the stock kick and a layer across the whole top. And here's the result:



















And finally, the good news: I received my STEG amps from Matt R yesterday.

Amps:



















They were generally in good shape, except for one of the K2|03s which had a severed fan wire (from where someone wasn't careful putting it back together), shown below:


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

I mistakenly forgot to take pictures today until after I removed the molds and had some resin mixed up and curing on them... So tomorrow it looks like I'll have pictures of the MDF baffle in-car. For now, here's this:









Passenger Side 









Driver Side


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

little tip brian. 

i stopped using hot glue when doing glass work because its not sandable. get some CA glue and use it instead because its sandable like bondo and cures in seconds.

Amazon.com: FastCap 2P-10 Thick Adhesive 10oz: Home Improvement

Amazon.com: FastCap 12-Ounce Activator: Home Improvement


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

req said:


> little tip brian.
> 
> i stopped using hot glue when doing glass work because its not sandable. get some CA glue and use it instead because its sandable like bondo and cures in seconds.
> 
> ...


I like this. I think I'm done needing to use hot glue (or CA glue).

I kept meaning to order hot glue on my partsexpress orders but I forgot two times in a row, lol. Now I'll be needing a 10-row barrier strip so I'll be placing an order soon.

The Partsexpress CA glue is fine right?


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

yep, i like the thick stuff because it fills gaps better 

the one i linked to is just 10 ounces instead of two.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Here's some more fiberglass kick pods progress.

I started work on Sunday by maing sure the pods and rings were sitting correctly in the car.









Driver side, passenger side looked similar.

Next up, I trimmed down the fiberglass, trying to make the opposing pods look similar.



















Then I used 3M Super 77 and grill cloth to stretch the fabric. Sorry, no pics between fabric stretching and fiberglassing.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Still doing work but nothing notable through pictures...

I cut the baffle out and poured some resin/kittyhair mix for the inside corners.

I will be getting off work an hour early and not working Saturdays in the upcoming weeks so I'll be full throttle soon (as long as the rain holds up a bit)


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

ya brian! lets see it


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

Updates brian?


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Any updates on the kicks panels? I about to start prepping my kick panels this week and begin building them. Thinking about putting 5.25" mids and 1" tweeters in them.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

Yup I'm interested to see how they came out too brian!


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## Huckleberry Sound (Jan 17, 2009)

voltij said:


> Since so many people are still reading the thread I might as well update it.
> 
> On Monday when I figured I done goofed on Sunday, I figured I'd have to wait until my next full day free to work. Which would have been next Sunday.
> 
> ...


Any updates!!!


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Oh damn guys, I'm so sorry!

I've been super busy in the last month 

I have been working 40 hr weeks M-F, plus working a second job for 8 hours on saturday, plus going to the gym 4x per week, plus hanging out with peeps on the regular. Plus I just started playing hockey which meets 2-3 times per week.

I actually DO have some progress pics, but the majority of them are at home (I'm at work currently).

So here's the only picture I have of my trunk...










This is just a temporary build. I intend on making a new sub box tailored to the car with a frontward-sloped baffle. There is another STEG k2|03 on the other side of the box. The small STEG is for the horns and the two bigger ones are one for mids and one for subs. The smaller grey box is the Alpine PXA-H700 audio processor.

Also I have decided that I am going to attempt to port and tune to approx 27-28 hz because of this graph:










2x Ascendant Audio Avalanche 15s, sharing 1350 w RMS
Yellow: sealed, 4.4 cubes
Green: ported, 6.8 cubes tuned to 27 with port area 4x27"

The dominance in the entire range of the ported speakers leads me to the decision to port them. Also with sealed I'm noticing that my subs are quite louder in the upper part of the subbass spectrum, which is getting slightly annoying.

AS FOR FRONTSTAGE,

The horns are mounted permanently. The staging is amazing and I have the horns equalized separately from the mids (see this thread). I am quite satisfied with my horns at this point.

My mids are in fiberglass boxes, which are nearly finished (physically, not aesthetically). By this I mean they need a bit more reinforcement around the baffle (on the inside where baffle meets FG), and then they need fully bondo'd and painted.

Also, something that sucks is I think one of my 8NDL51's has a tear in the foam part of the surround (a 1/4" ring of foam between the actual surround and the frame) which I'm not sure if I should CA glue or use silicone on. Frankly I almost want to just buy either a new set of , or buy a set of the B&C 8MDN51s, which seems a little more beefy with higher efficiency (97 dB instead of 94).

Time will tell!

Another thing that sucks is that I drive so much I very much don't want to take my system out of commission to do work on the kick panels


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

you can tune lower if you want for uber extension.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

chad said:


> you can tune lower if you want for uber extension.


I would, but I'm at the limits of available trunk space for amplifiers and healthy active airspace for subs. Any lower of a tuning frequency would require either longer port, more active airspace or both, which would increase my box size significantly. I'm probably pushing the lower limit of active airspace as it is at 6.8 cubes...


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## dmazyn (Apr 29, 2008)

I have an 2008 Mazda 3 Hatch and been debating doing kicks and would love to see yours installed.

I am running the anarchy mids which are very big just not sure there is enough room down there for them. I know in the 08's if you remove the carpet from the kick area it opens up further back below the dash. I wonder if the kicks could be made to use some of that open space behind the carpet.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

dmazyn said:


> I have an 2008 Mazda 3 Hatch and been debating doing kicks and would love to see yours installed.
> 
> I am running the anarchy mids which are very big just not sure there is enough room down there for them. I know in the 08's if you remove the carpet from the kick area it opens up further back below the dash. I wonder if the kicks could be made to use some of that open space behind the carpet.


Thank you for posting, and I will have more pictures up soon.

About what you're saying about the kickpanels and airspace: First off, let's recognize that the 2006 and 2008 models are different body styles. But I saw what you saw and tried to utilize the space underneath the carpet. On the driver's side there is a thick-ish foam pad that forms the dead pedal and pushes the carpet up a little bit. I tried to take this foam out and push the carpet down but the carpet would not budge for me to be able to lay fiberglass on top of it. I don't think you'll have any luck.

I tried laying some fiberglass under the carpet and then using the mold to push down the carpet, it simply didn't work.


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## dmazyn (Apr 29, 2008)

Yea I got the dead pedal out and the carpet is not that flexible to push down. I might take a screw or some double sided tape to force it down then glass over it. Worse case cut out the carpet but only in last resort.

I need to get the mids out of the door for a test fit but with the 100+ days here in Austin it's not going to be any time soon.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Bit of a speed bump, here...

On Wednesday night I had a LOT of junk in my car. Hockey equipment, a computer, a medium sized lunch cooler, and groceries. So it took me like 3 trips to move my junk from my car to my 2nd story apartment.

Fast forward to Thursday morning at 6:30 am, and I'm getting ready for work. I go out to my car, start pulling away and press play on my ipod (which was still in the car). No sound. The sound processor head unit is working fine so I don't know why nothing is working.

So, still in my apartment complex, I park on the side of the road and pop the hatchback. One of my amps was not mounted where it used to be. My first thought was it came loose; I had made my own custom mounting hardware with a square dowel (which ran down either short side of the amp) and two round dowels (which extended out of the square dowel into the amp).

Then I got back into my car and started driving to work (35 minute drive). Over the next 10 minutes I started thinking more and more about what happened. I pull off the side of the highway and re-examine the hatchback area. The two 1/4" round dowels that were holding the amp in were literally broken in half, not slipped out.

Then I looked a little harder and noticed that the RCA jacks, and remote wire (spade connector) were removed and *the four speaker wires, 14 gauge, were ripped out of the fully closed 2mm hex terminals, leaving bits of copper wiring in the terminals.*

So I immediately lost my ****. Also at approximately this time I was merging left off of a highway on-ramp into the travel lane, and my driver side view mirror was clipped by another driver that I didn't see. We stopped, no permanent damage to either car, we both drove off.

So I call off work and spend a couple hours tearing everything out of my car. 

Then I start looking into putting a security system on my car, and it looks so damn hard.

On the upside, I now have a reason to do more work on my car.


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## MTopper (Nov 4, 2009)

well, at least now you have a good amount of work to keep you busy this weekend right?

but sorry to hear about that man. always sucks when something goes wrong


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

****ty brian! =[


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## GouRiki (Apr 9, 2010)

Good progress. Sorry about your loss. That's one of the problems I've found working on your car when you live in an apartment complex. 

I myself just finished kickpanels for some MLK 165's and I just planned out my trunk set up, including a false floor. I have a 6s.

Good luck. Looking forward to more pics!


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

A poorly timed update.





































Right now I'm working on body filling these and painting a sideproject that is desktop speakers. Also at this point I don't have anything in my car still.

I ordered and received a 225 amp alternator from Excessive Amperage, which I should get around to putting in soon as well.

I plan on putting a lot of time in on Sunday.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

those are the opposite of small!


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Building a box.

MATERIALS:
- 2x MDF 49x97" sheets
- Woodglue
- 2 1/2" drywall screws

TOOLS:
- Circ saw
- 90 deg rule
- Tape measure
- Pencil
- 2x 90 deg clamps
- 2x 2' c-clamps
- 2x 4' clamps
- 4 sawhorses
- Drill, pre-drill bit, philips bit









Above: Some wood. The back and bottom pieces at right, the left and right pieces and two port walls on the left.









Above: Back, bottom, left and right assembled. 12oz beer bottle for size reference. As assembled here it stands 25" tall and 26" deep.









Above: Same as before, new angle.









Above: Port walls placed. This is just before I cut the beveled pieces for the front.

The beveled front pieces are (referencing the last picture):

- Lowest piece: 10.07" with a 23.2 degree cut on bottom and 34.5 degree cut on the top
- Middle piece (baffle): 15.5" with a 34.5 degree cut on bottom and 11.5 degree cut on top

All other cuts were square. Hell, here's my cut list that I made at work. Numbers are small here but they printed out fine. I printed on a 34x22 inch D-size paper.










More pics soon. All wood is now cut and dry-fit. Some sanding is still needed. Glue coming soon. Oh yeah, and I had to make sure it'd fit into the car. It does.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

thats a big ass box brian LOL.

i hope you like bass!


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Just cause i'm at work and procrastinating a bit...

Last night I finally got all of the wood predrilled, including countersinks. Took the entire box apart so I can make sure to predrill the entire depth of the screw into edges.

Tonight I need to dress up the port. I want to body fill and round inside corners, and probably put a diagonal brace on the outside corners to keep the port width at ~4 inches around corners. And also probably put some body filler on the two outside corners too.

After that's done, it's about time to glue.


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## blackknight87 (Jul 11, 2011)

where you gonna put your left foot while driving! those kick speakers are huge!


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

blackknight87 said:


> where you gonna put your left foot while driving! those kick speakers are huge!


Ahhh I never intended on having them so large. I drove two Camrys before ('95 and '97) with similarly sized kick panels and still had all the room in the world (req can vouch for this). In this car, not so much.

The Mazda 3 has a lot less room on the floor near the seat too. There's a large crossbeam a few inches in front of the seat (was under the seat in the Camrys) and also near the center console there's the floor vent that runs to the back seat which pushes everything up in that area (right half of floor near seat). Sucks! But I'll deal

I am kind of concerned about the passenger though! At least they can move their seat all the way back.

But since I've been driving with kick panels for ~6 years I think I'll be fine. I usually have my left foot on the floor under my right knee when I drive.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Alright, box is all glued up so let's get some pics up in here. (19 Pictures)

This box was pretty difficult to make due to the weird angles and beveled edges.









Above: All of the wood. The main part of the box is top left, the port (which drops into the main part) is on the ground, and the other pieces of wood are on the right. At this point the only joints that are glued are all of the port joints and the one edge joining the bottom and back.









Sanding down the first port corner. I added these 45 degree braces to round out the outside corners of the port.









Better picture of the port. I rounded the edges with a router.









Close-up of inside of port









Close-up of middle corner of port









Backside of port









Port location inside of box









Underside of box









A few steps later. All joints are glued as well as caulked at this point.









Looking into the port from inside the box


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Looking into the port from outside the box









Hole cut on side to mount handles









Top piece placed and glued. I called this piece the "shoulder"









Overview









I made these pieces to help join the shoulder with the adjacent piece, which was at a ~10 degree angle









Approx 10 degree angle on the joined pieces









Held in place by the two screws through the shoulder, the exposed part will be screwed through the baffle









Like so.









Nearing completion.

From here, I have to cut two more holes in the front angled piece for a couple more handles. Also holes for the speakers.

Subwoofer box is a little over half done. I still need to bondo, sand, and paint, as well as add a few beauty parts. BTW it barely fits into the car, more on that later.

Kick panels are being continually body filled and sanded until desired shape and finish is acquired.

Also sometime after the sub box is a little further along I will have to make an amp rack of sorts for the three STEG amps.

Also I'm thinking about buying some B&C 8MDN51 speakers to replace the B&C 8NDL51 speakers I have, but PartsExpress keeps selling out of them...


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## BowDown (Sep 24, 2009)

Going to need a crane! :laugh:


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

The shape of things to come....


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

niftay!


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## FLYONWALL9 (Nov 8, 2009)

VOLT,

I had a set of Quart 8's in the kicks of an E series Mercedes that were 
large like that. They sounded FANTASTIC, I hope you have the same
results. 

Not to be negative about them, I think you have had enough of that. I
hope your able to adapt to them being where they are. If I could suggest
some sort of mesh and acoustic carpet for when your not showing. This
may alter the sound a bit but perhaps make long drives a bit better. That
way you could rest your foot on them without worry of damage.

Forgive me if you have already addressed this and I missed it, or if your
not worried about it.

keep up the great work!


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## benzc230 (Feb 24, 2012)

any updates on the build?


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

i heard there are moar pics coming soon


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Alright guys, let's do this. First, an update on what has been finished in the car. Sorry, I didn't clean before I took these.









Driver side kicks (Currently working on dashboard parts)









Lower angle on driver side









Lowest angle on driver side









Passenger side kicks









Low angle on passenger side









A look back from the driver side









A quick peek behind the passenger side rear seat









Open hatch - disregard the speaker wire, it's ran to a 12v cigarette lighter because my dashboard one is currently not installed









Yes, the 5th door closes. BARELY.

*Ask me anything. And yes, I can take larger/better pictures upon request*


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

i bet those subs are loud as **** hahah


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Okay, here's a quick update to begin a few (mostly) daily updates until this thread is up to date.

Shortly after I was finished with the install above (post #111) I needed a spot to mount my head unit. Which is actually just a faceplate with a wire going back to the actual sound processor (Alpine PXA-H701 & controller).

I somehow managed to not take a single picture of what I did, so I'll briefly explain: I measured a panel low on the dash (pictured below) and made a 3D model of it, then designed and 3D printed a bracket to hold the head unit during my lunch hours at my place of employment. It was pretty slick!

However, I had a brush with tragedy when one day while carrying in groceries I forgot to lock my car, and the next morning I found that someone had tried to remove the controller from the bracket by brute force. They broke the bracket, but didn't break it completely free and didn't actually take anything from my car, thankfully. Also I'm not sure if they got a good look at what's inside but I think my stuff is installed in a manner that is fairly theft deterrent.

Picture of panel that I had installed the bracket to: (Just today I finished covering up the holes I drilled to mount it & painted it)









Picture of (now broken) 3D printed bracket:









Tomorrow's post topic: After having my bracket broken & getting a new phone within the same week, it's back to designing a new dash panel...


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## EuroFresh (Jun 30, 2013)

Coming along damn well, how do the subs sound?


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

The subs are fairly loud and get low well, but I'm pretty sure I'm missing out on a bit of the "upper" sub bass range (like 55-80 hz). I'm trying to teach (tune) my mids to come out of their shell at those frequencies but I'm finding that I'd rather cross the mids highpass closer to 90 and get louder than cross them at around 60 and not get as loud because distortion.

The Alpine unit I'm using has a 31-band EQ on every channel so I'm trying hard to find xover & eq settings that strikes the best balance for my setup, my music, and my listening habits but it's very difficult!


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## EuroFresh (Jun 30, 2013)

And how about the highs?


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Highs sound alright, even though I have the 31 band EQ on the mids and horns I still think it's very difficult to make it sound exactly like I want it to... I think I have a habit of overcorrecting when it comes to hearing something that annoys me. I feel like it has the capability to sound however I want, but it's just a matter of tuning it correctly!


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

A few weeks ago when I was having a friend in from out of town, I was carrying groceries in with him and forgot to lock the car. The next morning I saw my bracket was broken so I figured I'd print a new one. 

But why not upgrade?

I ordered a new dash kit and put it on my work's Coordinate Measuring Machine:









This got me an exact 3D model of the contours of the dash panel. I also measured my phone, ipod, and stereo controller and this was my preliminary design:









And after a little more design tweaks to lower material used (expensive!) and give it some softer edges:









Started the printing process: (Shown is about 70% done)









And here's the final product:









In all, the 3D print cost $55 and took 9 hours to print.

Preview for tomorrow:


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## EuroFresh (Jun 30, 2013)

Man I wish I had the money for a 31 band EQ haha. I might have to pay you for a box in the future!


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Okay, so here's the cool thing about the dock. You probably noticed some extra material underneath each side of the dock. The reason behind that is I had an Android charging cable and a iPod cable that I measured very accurately, added about +0.015 around, and placed into the model so they wouldn't move once the head unit was installed.










After I pulled the rest of the support material out of place, I did some aggressive sanding/cutting of the dash panel. Then I bolted the controller on and used CA Glue and some toothpicks to put the dock where I wanted it on the dash panel.










Once I knew it was centered and level, I flipped it over and gooped on some fiberglass-reinforced bondo. For the bottom part I covered the backside of the controller with painter's tape and just applied the bondo over it.



















Next up: more bondo and test fits


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## The Italian (Feb 11, 2020)

Lots of great pictures @voltij! I realize that this is a very old thread, but any changes to this system in recent times?


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