# 2000 BMW 328i E46 Sq Daily Driver



## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

OK so I am a little over half way with my personal build so I figured I would start logging some of it and hopefully by the time the cars done I will have caught up here!
This is my first build log here, bare with me and any advise will not be overlooked.

The Car
2000 BMW 328i
Ive had the car for 8 or 9 years now and never had what I would consider a permanent stereo in it, being an installer by trade this happens more than you would believe lol.
Finally earlier this year I decided to change that and install a great system and take it around to some comps. Ive never competed in SQ before, years ago I did some SPL comps and always wanted to go SQ.

The plan for my car is to make a SQ worthy daily driver with a clean stylish look without going too over the top.
The equipment I am going to use is:
Alpine INA-W910
Alpine PXA-H800
Alpine RUX-C800
(2) Alpine PDX-V9
Hybrid Audio L1 Pro R2's
Hybrid Audio L4SE
Hybrid Audio L8SE
(2) Hybrid Audio I8SW
Tons of Stinger Roadkill/Overkill, HPM Series 1/0 & 4ga power/ground and 12ga speaker wire to every driver, 10ga to the subs. 8000 Series 3' RCA's

I still need to decide on a 15", I am leaning heavily towards IB maybe even 2 and ditch the 8"... dunno yet


This is what I will be starting with:







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Inside







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Please note this is what I am starting with, yes I know the deck is hacked in, It has been redone and looks great now!, I did a quick (as quick as you can put a DD in one of these lol) install of it to see if I liked it, and I was tired of my failing ipod cable of my Pioneer.


Getting started!
Lets rip all the interior out!


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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

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Rear seat, rear package tray, carpet, C-pillars and headliner all removed







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Headliner gone







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Hey that means you too sunroof!







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Trunk gutted







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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

Now for the fun stuff!

First thing I did was remove every plug/wire/loom that was not necessary, basically factory options my car didn't come with but are wired for; cell phone, changer etc. in addition I also removed every stock audio wire. To my surprise there was a lot of "dead weight" sitting in there! easily 25+ lbs of wire and junk. I didn't do it for the weight savings but power to weight ratio of my car is around 26lbs to an HP, soooo a free HP is a free hp, until I put the box in lol.
I stripped the unused wires out of my car for 2 reasons, 1 to free up some room in the factory wire channels and 2nd to have lots of factory color wire for the next part....

The alarm!
I decided to go with the Viper 5704v

First things first, void the warranty








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Now all of those stock unused wires shall be used! Soldered and heatshrunk to the alarm







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Couple of notes, solder wont stick to the pins as they are, you must get the plating off, I normally use a little heat and emery cloth. Also note the spiral binder in the background, if you are going to use stock wires like this, make your own wire schematic in case you add or change something

Taking the factory module bracket, the Viper alarm damn near slid right in, a little trimming and its like a glove, even "clicks in" like it was factory!







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Unsure of the plastic housing and it being so close to the future home of the midbass I cut small foam blocks to fit the voids, made one to cover the alarm brain too. I get a huge 55 gallon bag of scrap foam from my local upholstery outlet, 7$ a bag, I put these everywhere!







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Now its ready to be installed!







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Siren gets a factory wire soldered to the board, and those 2 stupid loops removed.







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So the result is an alarm that hides away and its wires immediately disappear into the factory wire loom in the same location. 
So hard to follow the wiring I'm not worried about putting it up on the internet lol, plus there are 2 surprises that I will not go into here


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## Redakuma (Jul 20, 2012)

ballsy putting up the alarm info! with 2 surprises, ha great job so far lets see this install


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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

Next up, Sound Deadening!

Started off with 4) 36sq' bulk packs of Stinger Roadkill and 3) 12sq' Overkill packs

Floor got doubled up Roadkill, triple in some spots.







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Roof got a layer of Roadkill and a layer of Overkill, sunroof got a layer of each too!







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Trunk got wallpapered 







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I used Overkill to make my own vapor barrier seals for the doors and deleted the speakers, pretty much no factory locations will be used...







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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

Redakuma said:


> ballsy putting up the alarm info! with 2 surprises, ha great job so far lets see this install


Third surprise holds 6 rounds 



And thank you


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

I am so subscribed to this as I love current use equipment in early model cars...


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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

Now lets lay some wires!

1/0 Stinger HPM in sexy matte grey for power, Big 3 all the way back to the battery in the trunk.
12ga Stinger HPM also matte grey for the L1 Pro R2, L4se and L8se
10ga Stinger HPM (guess which color) for any subs I decide on
8000 Series Stinger interconnects 3' max

Ran the 1/0 in factory location-ish, changed it up a little towards the trunk for better routing. Soldered ends, heat shrink, anti-ox, braided loom, attached to vehicle every 6", all that good stuff

Starting with soldering the connectors on 1/0 the easy way
Strip wire
Flux (optional but it draws the solder into the bottom easier/faster and with less heat) To apply: heat stripped wire (doesn't take much), dunk in flux. 







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Put connector on, heat the back of eyelet with propane torch, butane will work just takes longer and I find it beats up the wire jacket more.







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Once hotter than sh!t, start cramming solder in







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Stop once you see it come out the bottom. Try to feed the solder in the middle of the wire as much as possible, going right along the red hot connector is cheating, get the solder to the core or don't do it. I slowly move the heat down and around the front etc. the solder will basically tell you where to move the heat.
Done. Easy.
Now I like to heat shrink the ends, you can do whatever you want.
Here it is with the heat shrink and braided loom. Cover the exposed connector with an anti oxidant compound for years and years of great connection!







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Now Speakers,
Label both ends of your speaker cables and make your life easier.







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I'll admit, at this point the 12ga seemed a bit overkill lol, here is the right channel...haha







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loomed up with braided loom, and attached to the vehicle, I tried to use as many factory points as possible. Top loom is speaker cables and a couple signal wires. Bottom loom is the 1/0. Also at the same time I reloomed the factory bundle, I hate the factory felt sticky mess crap tape they had so redid it with a cloth insulation tape from 3m, much better!







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The drivers side got its own loom of speaker wires for that side and the commander cable for the RUX-C800, Ai-Net, an RCA for nav guide, GPS ant cable (antenna mounted just behind radio antenna on roof). Driver side done the same way as the right. Optical cabel was ran up the a-pillar and down the C-pillar, also loomed and attached the same way.

Oh and side tangent, I hate hate hate electrical tape, I never use it on my own cars, stuff like these loom tabs for attaching to the factory studs, got heatshrink too







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## ultimatemj (Jan 15, 2009)

Interested to see your mid and tweeter placements.

Subscribed


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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

Alright now the car is deadend and wired, now time to get some speakers in. Starting with the midbass. I had originally started with the Hybrid Audio L6SE, so the following pictures will reflect that, or the mock up L6pro. They have since been changed to L8SE, more on that later. Using the Hybrid midbass I knew I would need to vent these for the response I wanted out of them. While the car was stripped out and before the Roadkill I mapped out where the midbass would be mounted and an area that I could SAFELY cut. Originally I thought I was going to have to cut straight to the side into the kick panel venting to the fender. I was pleasantly surprised to see a WAYYYYY better option once I got the car up on jack stands and removed the front wheels, wheel well liners and belly pans. Once I lowered the wheelwell panel below. A perfect rectangular enclosure running straight along the floor pan was exposed.


The rectangular enclosure sits at an angle making one of the "points" face directly straight down...hmmm drainage in a worse case scenario, good. Looking around the back of the rectangle facing the rear of the vehicle was a perfectly exposed maybe 3" x 12" perfectly flat perfectly protected (by the belly pan) area, even better it was remarkably clean for a 13 year old car! This is almost too good to be true. 
I couldn't find the uncut picture but here is the location
This picture was basically taken from directly under the driver foot well, straight forward.


Before that last picture happened, I obviously had both sides well mapped out since I needed to make cuts in 2 places to make this work.
Going around to the inside of the car once I found the magic rectangle under the car, I figured out where the rectangle was from inside. Still thinking too good to be true, I made a couple smaller "inspection holes"

That checked out perfectly! So I cut between the holes for an even better look
Bingo! Completely empty and pretty well sealed! Great!
Then I enlarged the inspection hole top to bottom the max size

Then back under the car to cut out my vent, I decided to go as big as I could with leaving enough material to have a mounting surface for the vent cover 


From inside the car I used a air saw with stubby metal blade, under the car I used a wiz wheel and taped off the hole inside the car and covered with a welding blanket so I wouldn't shower the interior with sparks. Be overly careful when sparks and interiors are concerned, even with almost all of my interior out.

Wanting a large flat strong surface to mount the driver, with little or no fiberglass I decided to corner off the footwell vent with a solid piece of wood. I like doubled up or tripled up birch ply for most projects, so 1/2" birch ply it is. At the time I figured double 1/2" will be perfectly fine for the L6SE especially vented. At current time having bumped up to L8se, I may add another 1/2"...
So here comes the rough template, now I'm ready to start angling the baffles
Looking good already


You cant make a system with just midbass drivers so I have to pause on the kicks and get the mids ready to be aimed as well
But in favor of the build log i'll continue with the kicks. You will notice from the pictures I had to jump around a bit lol


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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

ultimatemj said:


> Interested to see your mid and tweeter placements.
> 
> Subscribed


Thanks!
Right now the mids are done and looking awesome, worth staying tuned for! But I am unsure if I will be running the tweeters (I am tuning the fronts a little and so far they would barely be needed)....but I have em so they probably will go in lol


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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

First I wanted to cover the exterior vent while I had good access to both sides and get a couple layers of Roadkill applied in my magic rectangle. From underneath I used some woven mesh and home a/c filter material. The material I found for the filter is pretty much 100% breathable, mold and mildew resistant made out of some plastic like strands and is a little over 1" thick. I would be compressing this material so I made sure it stayed breathable as compressed as I could make it. It did so I used it
Here is the mesh screen, trimmed and holes punched for mounting (holes were also transferred to the vent flange and drilled out) and the filter material trimmed down


Now I put the two together added epoxy around the outside of the filter, clamped them with some clips to hold them while trying to get those damn rivets through the filter! 


Working fast as you only have 5 mins of working time with the epoxy, starting on one side remove some clips and rivet down to the car, working from one side to the other removing the holding clips as you go will keep the two together and make it a bit easier to go fast.


Also worth adding, even though it will not be seen, its away from weather etc. you still want to add primer to anything you cut/drill! exposed metal will rust period. I also primered the vent screen.

Now the inside of the rectangle was treated to a couple layers of Roadkill and a drainage hole added to its lowest point.

So angling the midbass baffle I wanted to keep both sides the same and hopefully create great sq for both front seats. I chose to point both at the opposite sides headrest after trying a few spots. Avoiding the underdash and center console was my limiting factors, but I am very happy with the location
Now back to the baffle, trimmed some more to fit the desired positioning I marked around it with a marker onto the Roadkill to remove that section for my mounting surface.


Up next, mounting the baffle...


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

I've had to fix a double din install on an E46 M3 convertible once, and the clearances were VERY tight. I know there are a couple of companies making kits to do the conversion, did you use one, or wing it? 

The one I fixed, the blend door was hitting the radio before I got in to fix it.

Nice project. 

Jay


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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

To mount the baffle I used a combination of products, since the gaps were so small due to a great fitting baffle I didn't need to use fiberglass, the first layer of 1/2" birch was epoxyed liberally in its location

Next was short strand fiberglass reinforced filler

I was not to concerned with getting the filler on the surrounding Roadkill, but very careful to not get much on the baffle face, it will be getting another layer of 1/2"
Now adding a layer of 1/2" birch ply, I used a quality wood glue, covered both mating surfaces with glue, a small disposable wool roller worked great for spreading evenly.
And clamp to the first layer.
The second layer was slightly larger than the original.
I let the glue dry for 24 hours.


This second layer once the wood glue dried also got a good layer of the same filler around the edge to the car

Now solid, I could test fit the carpet, happy to find I gave up almost no room, technically gained room in a couple spots! The carpet padding and foams and Styrofoam in these carpets are THICK! And had an opportunity to take a listen, plugging in the mock up L6, these things sounded great! It was at this moment I decided if the L6 Pro sounds this good, the L8SE would be amazing, and since I did have the room to enlarge my opening for it and still not give up additional footwell space, It was a no brainer, L6SE sold, L8SE ordered. I kept the mock up L6pro in for some more listening 

The only PITA I can see with this route so far is having to flare the back of the speaker hole. I did the same to the original baffles but they were out of the car when I did it and that's a breeze, in the car is going to be tough... More on that later.


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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

JayinMI said:


> I've had to fix a double din install on an E46 M3 convertible once, and the clearances were VERY tight. I know there are a couple of companies making kits to do the conversion, did you use one, or wing it?
> 
> The one I fixed, the blend door was hitting the radio before I got in to fix it.
> 
> ...


Thank you!
Yeah the e46 DD! lol, Ive done both ways, tried the kits, made my own.
I will say the half kit (just front trim) is a decent deal since they have good fitment, Im just not a fan of the duct mod kits, I prefer to do that myself. The kits always have the lever extenders that suck and imo not needed, I've never had to change the linkage, trim doors, etc. and I never get rub or doors hanging up, it just takes time and watching what those rods and doors are doing in there and avoid em.
As far as the front trim, I had to make my own for this one as the dd will be a little different than most dd's


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## sinister-kustoms (Jul 22, 2009)

Judging by the work thus far, this should be one sweet install! Don't you be letting us down now - no pressure! :laugh:


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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

Hahaha I'll do my best Sinister!


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

The one I did looked like someone modded a 5 series kit and did a really crappy job of it. It would have gone much better if I hadn't had to go in after someone first. 

Enjoying the progress so far.

Jay


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## Notloudenuf (Sep 14, 2008)

I love the ease of kick panels in these cars.
I'm tuning in so I won't miss anything.


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

Your doing a great job man I dig how it all looks factory


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## sydmonster (Oct 5, 2009)

subed!!... BMW + HAT = great car audio match!


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## mrmill (Feb 11, 2013)

the kicks turned out amazing....like the e46 was meant to have kick panel drivers


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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

JayinMI said:


> The one I did looked like someone modded a 5 series kit and did a really crappy job of it. It would have gone much better if I hadn't had to go in after someone first.
> 
> Enjoying the progress so far.
> 
> Jay


Hahaha yeah I've seen a few 5 series kits in 3's, so much cheaper you almost gotta try! lol
Ive seen a couple that were not that bad, but looked like it took as much work as just making one from scratch 
And its never fun to fix someone else's F-up, especially on the ducting for the 3 series!! 




Notloudenuf said:


> I love the ease of kick panels in these cars.
> I'm tuning in so I won't miss anything.





optimaprime said:


> Your doing a great job man I dig how it all looks factory





sydmonster said:


> subed!!... BMW + HAT = great car audio match!





mrmill said:


> the kicks turned out amazing....like the e46 was meant to have kick panel drivers


Thanks guys, Another update coming today, some pretty stuff this time!
and mrmill not only does the E46 love kick panels, but its begging for 8's!


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa i like pretty!!!!!!!!!!!


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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

Next up Midranges!
I chose the Hybrid L4se for the mids, originally I intended to mount them in the a-pillars. Once I removed the a-pillars I quickly changed my mind. The air bags in these cars go almost all the way down the pillar, which I was not a fan of. After mocking them up with the angle I wanted and high enough to clear the cluster hump for the passanger, I didn't like how far they stuck out. Well if that's not going to work where can I put these (not wanting to go to the doors with them). The 2 far outside ac vents were looking real good! On the drivers side, rather than having to go far up the pillar to clear the cluster hump, now with them in the vents they are in front of the gauges, problem solved.
Extra bonus of them venting directly into the dash which with the pillars it would have been tight.

So these vents fit extremely tight and obviously perfectly flush so I decided to let BMW do the hard work and I would just modify the vent itself.
Cut all the crap out that I don't need

That's better! Now lets make some rings.
1/2" birch ply wrapped in fiberglass will do the trick so here comes the birch ply. Router made light work of it.

Good but boring. So with a 45* bit on the router I trimmed the edges.

Then going to the inside circle around where the rear of the mid will be, I rounded over that edge to allow the mid to "breath" easily.



So I got rings and cut up vents, lets make em cool

I took the rings and mocked them up where the mids were tested and approved. I will admit I had to trade off the best angle for a little cosmetics, the best spot just flat out didn't look good. I slightly regret it now but they do sound amazing anyway and I'm not that far off either.
So I mock the ring up with wooden dowels and little "tack welds" of hot glue. Mount up the speakers and take another listen. Sounds good.
Now I can go back and use epoxy to secure the dowels and add a little triangle where I wanted it to be relatively flat, it also creates a little step that when the mid is mounted sits flush up against for a little nicer look.




Then wrap them in fleece, edged held down with ca





Then fully saturate with fiberglassing resin


Once the resin has cured it gets a heavy coat of fiberglass reinforced body filler (short strand)

The insides got the same treatment in favor of extra rigidity and to give me material I could shave and smooth out the insides.


Before the filler cures it is much easier to get close to the shape you want. I normally start with a plain razor blade and shave the major stuff off as early as possible, as it cures just a bit more I move to a rasp. The more you do here and basically all steps with filler, the easier it is to get a better product.
After the filler had fully cured a layer of regular filler was applied
**cant find those photos...**
The regular filler got the rasp as well, once cured I went to town with shaping. I use a file a lot, I like the evenness and flatness across which ever angle. I only used sandpaper towards the end after the shape was well defined just to smooth out my file marks. Also don't forget to cross-hatch your file strokes other wise your just scratching stuff with a file. Round file, half round file, flat file and a sanding block. 
Once happy with them they got a coat of primer. Any defects will show much easier in primer, and creates a "Guide coat" as you fix them!
High spots were filed down, low spots got a feather coat of filler and filed out.
Once looking good, a final coat of primer and a coat of primer sealer.
I didn't mention earlier, test fits. I test fit pretty much after every step, you never know when a problem will arise. So time for another test fit!

The surrounding dash trim used to be a different shade of grey so that was primered and prepped for the same new grey as the speaker pods. So here is both in primer test fit


The gaps look good to me, ready for the next step



With this test fit I could add some mounting brackets. The original 2 lower tabs will still be retained and used but that's not going to be enough for these. I added two more to the top corners. I used heavy duty backstrap material, which works great and is very strong and holds its shape well in medium to short lengths. Bent to fit but not interfere with the speakers the straps were epoxyed and mounting holes were marked. Pilot holes were drilled into the cross beam that would secure the pods, later they were tapped for bolts so they could be removed and reinstalled as much as I want. Before tapping them I held the pods in with tek screws to let the epoxy dry. The epoxy was followed up with fiber reinforced body filler again.


As much as I thought about just clearing the white primer since it looked so cool I decided against it.
Back out of the car it gets that last coat of primer sealer


Now time for color coats and clear


Normally it would be time for color sanding and buffing, but I am going to wait till I do all the painted pieces together, and since there is a bit of work still to be done on the dash so don't want to scratch em

Next up, lets get them in the car and take a look!


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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

Also worth mentioning, I have complete access to a paintbooth and all the pro guns. I decided to do the painting for this car with rattle cans in my garage. You can in fact have a great finish with rattle cans, prep is everything. I'll admit it is easier with a nice paint gun that atomizes better, but many people do not have access to one and should not feel the least bit turned off by using the rattlers. Just because its done with a rattle can doesn't mean it has to look like sh!t, much like just because its done with a pro gun doesn't mean it will be nice automatically


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## Mless5 (Aug 21, 2006)

Looking totally sweet dude!


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## sinister-kustoms (Jul 22, 2009)

ZacG26 said:


> Just because its done with a rattle can doesn't mean it has to look like sh!t, much like just because its done with a pro gun doesn't mean it will be nice automatically


This is so true, and not just for paint! You don't necessarily need the fancy big dollar tools to do a professional looking job. Plan things out and take your time and you can be surprised at the results!

Good work on the midrange pods!


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## Rokusek (Apr 25, 2013)

Wow! Great work so far, I love the vent pods!!!


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## robolop (Mar 10, 2008)

Interested to see your vent pods...

GO 4 IT, dude.


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## sydmonster (Oct 5, 2009)

nice work on the pods! the lines look good in primer too.

This is turning out nicely!


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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

Thanks every one! Wow cant believe I got visitors from all over the planet, pretty cool! And Robolop checked it out, the same guy that built the coolest E46 on the planet!
Uploading some more pics right now


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## tintbox (Oct 25, 2008)

I'm in. Liking so far. Keep it up!


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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

I'm going to start with a reference picture of the materials I used, not all of these were used in the dash work so this picture will be used throughout the install.


Upper left: is a stack of the materials

Lower left: is the pile of foam block I get from an upholstery outlet, 7$ a big bag of odd shape scrap, this picture is after I already used about 1/4 of it

Lower middle: is side by side density of the foams, blue is about half the density of the blue

Lower right: is an old electric turkey carver, used to cut foam, also works GREAT on cutting the carpet!! Even with the 2" of foam its backed with. Garage sale $1, best $1 I ever spent.


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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

Now lets get these pods mounted.

First thing to do is get the area nice and dead.
A layer of Stinger Expert Roadkill was applied to all decent size flat areas.
Followed by Stinger Overkill, also used between the ducts and surrounding panels.
Foam blocks were added in corners, leaving a channel for the mids to vent.
For the AC ducting I stuffed a tight fitting foam block in the hole and capped it with the foil tape. After the foil tape it got some Roadkill
Here is the Foil tape (right) and Roadkill (left)

Then it was followed by Stinger Overkill

The larger duct was able to be covered by a layer of the yellow foam.
Here is pic of more or less the result

This is a great way to use up your scraps! Always save your scraps!
You cant really tell from the pics but there is a clear channel for the mid to vent along a mostly acoustically dampend area. The result is they sound really good!
Alright so the area is prepped, now the pods.
Well going a little overboard on the dash I had to deaden the pods the same!
The metal strap was layer both sides in Stinger Roadkill, then both sides got a layer of Stinger Overkill.


Then I used some scrap second skin overkill cut in very thin, (1/8) strips to make a gasket around the pod to the mounting surface on the dash. I cut the strips and sprayed a little spray glue to make just one side tacky. Following around the edges the second skin worked great, handled every turn and shape. Then I cut out a circle for the speaker gasket, no glue this time.

Then they can be mounted!
I used threaded inserts in to the pod, and attached the speakers with I think 5/32" black allen head machine screws.


Im not sure about my hardware choice. I also tried chrome Philips head screws, but no chrome in the car so that didn't work.
Im thinking maybe some black Philips head machine screws... Or maybe some sexy rose copper anodized heads 

Everyone loves pictures so heres some more







I had to just mock up the dash trim as I need to get all new clip inserts so its a little loose in the pics, Its also going to get repainted to match the pods, its hard to tell but its a completely different shade I painted them years ago.


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## Derekj (Aug 11, 2011)

Sub'd for another e46 owner build! Great idea with the air vents - sucks that our cars have the pillar air bags.


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## sydmonster (Oct 5, 2009)

moving along nicely and well thought out!! 



> Or maybe some sexy rose copper anodized heads


 I vote these (until they fade) and you get some new ones....


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Very nice and creative work. Want to follow this one.


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## l3ackfire1144 (Dec 7, 2013)

Subscribed!, nice build and the log is very detailed and descriptive. keep up the good work!, cant wait to see finished build


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## eviling (Apr 14, 2010)

how did sacraficing those vents affect your daily driving?


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## WhereAmEye? (Jun 17, 2013)

sub'd, this is lookin' good.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

ZacG26 said:


> Also worth mentioning, I have complete access to a paintbooth and all the pro guns. I decided to do the painting for this car with rattle cans in my garage. You can in fact have a great finish with rattle cans, prep is everything. I'll admit it is easier with a nice paint gun that atomizes better, but many people do not have access to one and should not feel the least bit turned off by using the rattlers. Just because its done with a rattle can doesn't mean it has to look like sh!t, much like just because its done with a pro gun doesn't mean it will be nice automatically


I painted several parts of my old beater Neon with spray cans including blending in a section of the front bumper. Nobody knew. Even my sub box was done with spray cans and when I told them people's jaws would drop.

Jay


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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

eviling said:


> how did sacraficing those vents affect your daily driving?


Well they affected my daily driving so little I actually had to think about what you meant lol. I live in Southern California, cold isn't an issue, between the center, dash, and foot ducts still intact its plenty warm. As far as AC performance pretty much the same story. My windows are 5% all the way around and tons of deadening keeps he interior even more pleasant than before. I plan to switch to ceramic tint soon, which will help the most.



Thanks everyone for the comments.


Loading up photobucket right now for the RUX-C800 install....

Pic sizes good? I have to down size them anyways so I can do any size really, I've just been doing 600x450 for no reason


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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

Lower Dash:
Originally the car came with the standard business cd player and hardon kardon system so the cd player and hvac controls were stacked in the upper dash. With adding the double din the HVAC controls would have to be relocated. Luckily BMW themselves had the answer, the gps navigation equipped cars had a *slightly* different lower dash panel that relocates the HVAC controls to the sunglass compartment.
Here is the original lower dash panel, the HVAC controls do not fit.


Here is the one I ordered from Real OEM
(I have part #'s and info if you need)

Notice the little horn just to the left of the long skinny rectangle, that's the main difference lol.
Door closed

Door open



So that's great and all but I didn't make you read all that just to see me swap out stock panels on my car! So lets make it cooler and create a mounting spot for the PXA-H800's wired controller.


I wanted to mount the RUX-C800 within arms reach of the drivers seat for easy on the fly adjustments. I didn't want to hide the unit away and I didn't want it to be flashy or distracting. The ashtray compartment was perfect! Perfectly in reach, the temp and volt display is clearly visible, great low key location! I do not smoke in my car so there was zero trade off (Phone charger taken care of, more on that later)

So taking the new lower dash panel, I removed the ashtray door and cut the cubby out.


Now I mocked up where I wanted the controller. Like I said, I didn't want flashy but I also didn't want plain and boring.
I wanted to use a little bit of the curve of the rux bezel, a little of the factory curve. To the right instead of just flat I chose to give it a little concave shape, so the ABS in that area was shaved and bowed.


Cut little pieces of abs to fill the gaps.
"tack-weld" of hot glue holds it all together where I wanted.


Then it can be flipped over to epoxy the pieces to reinforce everything.
Once the epoxy was cure, kitty-hair was applied to insure everything will stay like that for a loooong time.
Back on the front side the hot glue tacks can be removed and surrounding areas taped off. The entire panel will be painted but It will make everything easier and cleaner to minimize the working area trust me.
I also tape off the inside where the RUX mounts, this keeps me a nice clean equal factory gap all around the controller


Short hair body filler was used for the first coat.
Always rough up the surface of plastic when you use fillers, plastic is slick and filler doesn't like slick.
And if you are working with these bmw panels or similar with that annoying plastic rubber like coating, you must remove all of it, all of it.


Then a quick knock down with the rasp/file combo, and right in to a standard lightweight body filler layer.

That was filed and (very small) block sanded
taped off again and primered


Tape removed again

Then the primer edge was feather sanded into the unpainted area and the entire panel got a coat of primer sealer.


Then I painted the panel the same color as the dash pods, plenty of clear. Should shine up nice when I color sand and buff! (that will be later)



I had to get it in the car and take a look


You can see the HVAC controls fit nicely but it is still the old grey color so it will need to be repainted too but the RUX-C800 looks great! Fits perfect location is fantastic and easy to use, easy to read. I like it





Next up.........Upper dash!




And on a side note, I just pulled an all day tune on this thing with a temporary sub, This thing sounds amazing!!! The midbass and center image are pretty serious in this one.


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## sydmonster (Oct 5, 2009)

That has turned out very nicely.

Indeed repaint the HVAC trim, gloss it all and flatten it all out and that will be to your already impressive standard!! GOOD WORK!

Show us more!


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## BlueAc (May 19, 2007)

Nice work so far... I'm impressed!


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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

Now time for the deck!
I went with the Alpine W910 for its optical and integration with the H800. The deck came with some accessories that would be used. 
The Bluetooth mic which is not real good looking and has to show most of the body in order to sound good was installed in the factory location next to the sunroof switch. Like I said most of it has to be showing so I couldn't hide it behind the factory panel so I cut

Then I put the mic in some heatshrink to keep it clean and epoxied around it in the hole

Cut the expoxy before fully cured and cut the heatshrink

Pull mic out

You'll end up with this

Sand it down

Test fit


A little filler and some sandable primer


Then painted SEM landau black (Best stuff ever, matches great)
Mic installed, a little black heatshrink was used to cover the cord

Fits great

Glued the back of it anyway


Now it is tight behind a double din in one of these cars and I knew I had a lot of wires going back there. Everything was routed cleanly and attach out of the way. Also any wires that were not needed were removed. Good by speaker wires. Take a pic of the plug and save the wires in case you gotta put them back in.


Now I wanted to use the supplied ipod cable, its 30pin but hey im still using a 4s so its cool with me. Don't let the stereo fool you I am too cheap to get a new phone lol.
The iphone dock was supposed to go behind the ashtray door but that was all changed when the RUX-C800 took the spot.
With the W910 moved all the way to the left the phone fit perfect next to it. But to get it close to level with the deck I would have had to cut into the dash. Untill I found this little guy. Came with my first gen ipod I think.

Its a dock, but to me its a 30pin 90* adapter
This is what she looks like naked

Didn't need the line out so that got removed


So after mounting the deck on custom bracket to hold it in the upper left corner. I could mock up the pieces that would become my dash kit and mock up the ipod adapter. Hot glue tack welds


Back reinforced with kitty hair


Flip over, remove hot glue and fill with filler


File and file



File and block sanding


Needs a tiny bit filler and some filling primer
Keeping the filler to the minimum area will help you cheat keeping the factory flat sections flat.


Primer





Good time for a test fit



With an old iphone, close enough to the size of my 4 with a case on it so it worked great for mock up.




The whole front in progress. Actually did some painting today, finished pics coming soon!



With the RUX-C800 below it


And add a dash pod


Gaps are great!





While paint is drying i'll switch gears to the headliner up next


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Dang, are you sure you don't work for a high end custom shop? The attention to details and the creativeness shows me you've honed your skills. I can't wait to see the next stage of this.


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## vivmike (May 24, 2013)

Zac does superb work, he can fab damn near anything. But he really takes you to the Twilight Zone with his tuning abilities!! 

He did an amazing job on my car.


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## sinister-kustoms (Jul 22, 2009)

Excellent work! You're giving me more ideas that I don't need!:laugh:


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## ZacG26 (Jul 26, 2013)

Coppertone said:


> Dang, are you sure you don't work for a high end custom shop? The attention to details and the creativeness shows me you've honed your skills. I can't wait to see the next stage of this.


Hahaha Thanks! I have worked at a few shops, right now I am testing the waters out on my own, I wanted to get my car done first to use as an example. There is plenty of work left to do, still deciding on sub stage....
But with a temp sub and crappy box it still sounds AMAZING
Thanks again!





vivmike said:


> Zac does superb work, he can fab damn near anything. But he really takes you to the Twilight Zone with his tuning abilities!!
> 
> He did an amazing job on my car.




Thanks Mike, Nothing makes me happier than how happy you are everytime you pick up your car! You always say the same thing, "I didn't think it could have gotten better and it did!" That's one of the best things you can say to an installer lol
And there is still lots of tuning to do! And I got a new test cd its epic






sinister-kustoms said:


> Excellent work! You're giving me more ideas that I don't need!:laugh:


Hahahaha that's what its all about! Thanks dude!


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## Mless5 (Aug 21, 2006)

I love what you did there with double din surround.


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## Custom Chris (Nov 18, 2010)

I know that this thread is old but I've had my e46 330d for a while and I had a total lack of inspiration until I saw this.

My current albeit poorly system comprises of this:
Alpine 117 with H100
RE Audio TW-25
Hertz HL70
RE XXX V1 (XBL^2)
RE XXX12 V3
Rockford Fosgate T400-4 for the mids and highs
Rockford Fosgate T600.2 for the midbass
Sundown SAZ-2500D for the sub bass

I do have some other kit but wanted to keep it fairly simple, so the factory locations were used for all drivers up front. I did have to fab the tweeter locations as they are almost 3" in diameter when coupled with the supplied wave guides! The OEM speaker locations are a royal PITA to say the least. If you're not prepared to cut any metal, you are hugely limited to all of about 3 sets of speakers. The door cards are sloped in an awkward position. It all pretty daunting when you set about the e46.
I've been most unhappy with the performance of the system as when the wife gets in the car, which is often - it radically changes the sound with the speakers being where they are.
The vent mount holder thingy is a great idea and now I'm going to chop my car up once again  
These are very difficult cars to work with IMO weather its the OEM speaker locations, the inherently noisy environment... you seemed to have pulled it off, and with ease, I appreciate that. That's why, although an old thread: I believe it deserves more recognition and could be a huge inspiration for others.

Thanks buddy and Happy New Year to all


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

I wish he would finish it I love his skills and ideas


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