# Trailblazer Full Zapco SQ build



## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

Hi Diyma!

So i got my dream vehicle this last summer, and it happened to be a chevy trailblazer. Now that I have the vehicle, its time to put a stereo in it. Now, i have thought about many different systems, and I actually originally bought 6 DC audio level 4 12's to put in the back, but ran out of room to do so. I also put two sets of boston pro60se's in it, and i planned on just doing a loud but clean sounding system.
All of this changed when i saw an ad on DIYMA for a cheap zapco competition 3 way component set for $500 plus shipping. That immediately put a million thoughts through my head, and i decided on doing not only a full sound quality system, but a FULL ZAPCO sound quality build. 
So, heres some things...

1. I want to hear from everyone what i should have done different, or things that i should learn from and do in the future.

2. I'm 17, and this is my first sound quality build, i have only done spl and street Q installs so far, so be nice!

Well i'll thank you in advance for all of the feedback.


THE MAIN IDEA

I am going to do a false floor in the back, so that i have a place for all the amps, and crossovers, and distribution, and so that I don't have to worry about fiberglass or anything

i am going to do a front stage of a 3 way speaker system, and subs, and that's it for speakers. 










THE EQUIPTMENT

Pioneer 4200DVD










Zapco 3 way competition component speaker set

dsc03110 - Servimg.com - Free image hosting service

dsc03111 - Servimg.com - Free image hosting service

img_5611 - Servimg.com - Free image hosting service

Zapco Reference 1000.4 speaker amplifier











(2) 1200 watt zapco iforce amplifiers



Zapco ZSS 10" subs, for when i want something more "impressive looking", but it can be easily switched with a pair of true sound quality tens


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

Ok, so as far as the construction, I will start with sound deadening.

I used a double shop pack of damplifier pro, and I did my front doors really really well, did my roof with one layer solid, and I did the back corner panels, floors, and plastic panels.














































didn't take nearly as many pictures as i should have on the sound deadening, but this is what i have.


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

*UPDATE: SUB BOX*

So, i don't plan on only having these subs for this vehicle, cause they don't emphasize sound quality at all, in fact they are just decent sounding subs, but they are zapco, so i had to use them.

So the subs are going to be ran by two amps, with two seperate gain controls, so it would be a big problem if all of the subs were in one chamber. I prefer to never have more than one sub in each partition in sealed enclosures, so I made this box so that each sub was in exactly .53 cubic feet per sub.

I also wanted the subs flush mounted, so i included that into the plans.




















primer!



















Paint!


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

*UPDATE: amp rack*

So for the false floor, i'm going to let my pictures do most of the talking. starting with planning.
First, however, I need to show how the battcap in the back is set in it's place.

area i have to work with, where i need to inset a battcap, and strap it down
i didn't want to screw it in or anything permanent.










cut out and routered a panel to wedge into the bottom area






































after i knew where the battery was going to sit, i cut my base piece out, and cut a hole out of it for the top of the battcap to fit through.





















this was my layout sketch of where the amps and everything would fit


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

Next, I added the fans. two intake, three outtake, and one that blows air through the 1000.4's heatsink











next is the rack with crossovers, power and ground distribution, and amplifiers mounted.











WIRING

now for those curious about how i ran wires and what I used, thats what this section is about.

I used stinger super flexible wire.
I did two runs of 4 gauge power, and two runs 4 gauge ground to the battcap from the front battery, and on both sides where the wire loom needed to get from the floor, to the back area, I cut two square holes and ran the wires as shown below











As far as wiring up everything in the back went, I decided early on to basically start with attaching power wire to the base piece, and then start zip tying smaller wires to the power wires that were held down.


power wire ran to all amps.











all other wires such as simbilink, and hooking up the fans












i put a round rocker switch in the ceiling of one of the side compartments in the back of the vehicle, so i can toggle if the fans run or not. either way, they shut off when ignition gets cut, but for demos and sq competing, there can't be any fan noise, even though the fans are really quiet.


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

now, to make the floor part of the false floor, i started by basically making a cover for the rack. the idea, is that after this, i will make cover panels on each side of it to make it look like one large piece. I also attached it by some hinges that have removable posts so that I can take the cover off without unscrewing anything


started by cutting the piece out, painting half of it black, carpeting the other side, and using 1.5" wide strips of 1/2" MDF to cover the area where the carpet ended.










attached the piece on with hinges


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## kikokiko (Jun 2, 2008)

nice build for a seventeen year old


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## leepersc (Sep 23, 2009)

Pimp install and equipment!!! Fine attention to detail as well. Keep up the GREAT work!


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## tRidiot (Jun 29, 2006)

Very nice work and attention to detail. Glad to see someone on the younger end of our hobby who is into something more than just streetbeating!

Good job!


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## AccordUno (Aug 7, 2009)

17 and working at a shop.. Only to be 17 again.. doing great..


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

Thanks guys, that's great to hear because I'm at the crossroads where I either attempt to make this stuff my job, or I stop spending money on a hobby because I'm going to need it to get my life started after high school next year. But honestly guys if there is anything about my build that you could pick apart and help me do better now or in the future, please don't hold back because I know I have a lot to learn


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## memphiskane (Mar 9, 2011)

Man I wish I had the cash to start off with something along the lines of Zapco when I was 17. I was running Jensen amps and bottom level MTX subs. Lookin good!


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

yeah, I actually started a few years ago, and have had a million different systems, but always tried to get zapco because my first door speakers were zapco iforce and they were being run by a little 250 watt amp. Fell in love with the brand then.


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## tyroneshoes (Mar 21, 2006)

Never saw those zapco subs. Do you have any info on them? 

Looks great btw, I ran the zap comp set for a few years, one of my fav sets ever.


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## Afronaut (Apr 27, 2010)

Really good work and congrats on getting the vehicle you wanted.


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

These specific ones were designed by and made by dc audio. They have the same specs as level 2 10s. After getting the subs and realizing that they were street subs, I immediately regretted it. I bought these hoping that they could be tweaked and turned down for decent sq, but they can't. They sound fantastic for their purpose, but not for a true sq car. I think im going to go with zapco reference blue tens instead. Ill keep these for if I want to do the spl portion of usac sq


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## Ludemandan (Jul 13, 2005)

That false floor is really clean, especially with the fans in the side. Nice build so far.


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## KyngHype (Sep 7, 2009)

Nice build..


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

Ludemandan said:


> That false floor is really clean, especially with the fans in the side. Nice build so far.



thanks. Yeah the fans were luckily the same height as the side of the rack. Wasn't planned at all


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## Inferno333 (Mar 29, 2006)

That's a great looking install!

I have a 2006 Trailblazer. Same color too! I love it.


How hard was it to tear the interior apart? I'm gathering all the stuff for my install at the moment. Was there any room under the rear carpet to run power wire and stuff?


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## tRidiot (Jun 29, 2006)

Only thing I would do differently myself is make a trim ring to sit flush with the rack... so it looks like one floor instead of a box coming up out of the floor. Not a huge deal, but makes it less obvious to people peeking in the windows that something is there.


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

Inferno333 said:


> That's a great looking install!
> 
> I have a 2006 Trailblazer. Same color too! I love it.
> 
> ...



it's not hard to remove all of the panels and carpet if you know exactly what you are doing, and if you take things apart in the right order.
when you have any questions, make sure to ask me, because i would love to help out a fellow trailblazer owner. the hardest part about getting power to the rear is getting it through the back seats. did you see my picture of how i did it? it's also a bit difficult trying to get power around the fuse center under the back seat


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## Inferno333 (Mar 29, 2006)

I definitely will bud. Thanks!


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## MajesticLT03 (Mar 27, 2011)

Nice! My Trailblazer will get a full Massive Audio build sometime this summer.. starting to order parts here and there until I get it all to start my install


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## pjc (May 3, 2009)

Awesome build. I remember my set up when I was 17 and it wasn't close to being this nice. Great work. Like mentioned above... Nice to see someone your age not having just subs only.


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## Chaos (Oct 27, 2005)

That is an excellent example of a solid "street" level install. It's very practical, and looks as if you took your time to do everything right. 

As for the subs, I suspect that they would perform better for you ported.


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

Chaos said:


> That is an excellent example of a solid "street" level install. It's very practical, and looks as if you took your time to do everything right.
> 
> As for the subs, I suspect that they would perform better for you ported.




They would be louder, but that's about it. I like the tightness , and the smooth eq roll off of subs in sealed enclosures.


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## tyroneshoes (Mar 21, 2006)

steffanan said:


> They would be louder, but that's about it. I like the tightness , and the smooth eq roll off of subs in sealed enclosures.


Def dont bother with the iforce subs. Didnt like them one bit.


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## jam0o0 (Nov 30, 2010)

since you were looking for criticism: what's holding the amp rack to the car? it needs to be bolted down or attached some other way than just sitting on the floor in the back.

everything else looks great.


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## papabearsc (Oct 2, 2010)

If he did it like mine, then the bolt-down cargo hooks that are in the stock floor is what he used. 

I removed mine and got longer bolts. It is bolted to the frame.


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## HondAudio (Oct 19, 2006)

Nice job. 

Things you should be concentrating on at the age of 17:

1. girls
2. see #1
3. anything else


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## Fus1on (Feb 25, 2011)

jam0o0 said:


> since you were looking for criticism: what's holding the amp rack to the car? it needs to be bolted down or attached some other way than just sitting on the floor in the back.


I was going to comment on that too. Being able to pull it out easily is real nice .... for the @#$%& crooks. I speak from experience, I had a 6 amp/7 way electronic crossover all on a single board which made it real easy for them to carry all of it off one night.  

Nice install so far and I second shat tRidiot suggested up above about flushing the floor out.


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

tRidiot said:


> Only thing I would do differently myself is make a trim ring to sit flush with the rack... so it looks like one floor instead of a box coming up out of the floor. Not a huge deal, but makes it less obvious to people peeking in the windows that something is there.


 oh of course trust me my next step is making trim panels, it looks terrible as it lies now, and I wouldn't leave it like that also, there are wires showing.


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

jam0o0 said:


> since you were looking for criticism: what's holding the amp rack to the car? it needs to be bolted down or attached some other way than just sitting on the floor in the back.
> 
> everything else looks great.


well, I didn't exactly let it just sit there, but I didn't exactly bolt it down.
The weight of it, and the subs on it hold it down really well, and I made that battery hold the real in place really well. Basically, I live in a town of 5000 and security isnt an issue. I have an autopage security system that goes off if you brush past the vehicle, and the remote goes crazy and tells me what sensor went off and stuff. So please understand that I simply didn't find it nesessary to make theft prevention a large part of my design. Also, I didn't hook it down because it has enough weight on its own, and it just wasn't nessecary.


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## papabearsc (Oct 2, 2010)

Until you hit a large bump and everything goes haywire in the back.

Take it from me, someone with a false floor in a trailblazer....>BOLT IT DOWN

Use the cargo hooks in the bottom of the floor. Go to Lowes and get some longer bolts. Hell, even if you only use one of the holes, BOLT IT DOWN.


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## SoundJunkie (Dec 3, 2008)

papabearsc said:


> Until you hit a large bump and everything goes haywire in the back.
> 
> Take it from me, someone with a false floor in a trailblazer....>BOLT IT DOWN
> 
> Use the cargo hooks in the bottom of the floor. Go to Lowes and get some longer bolts. Hell, even if you only use one of the holes, BOLT IT DOWN.


Agreed! I have a similar setup in my FJ. I removed the four factory tie-down hooks, drilled the threads out and ran bolts through with the nuts underneath the truck. Bolt heads and washers are countersunk into the floor of the rack and I painted them black to blend with the Linex my box is coated in. No movement and you would have to destroy or unbolt it to remove it!

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk


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## jam0o0 (Nov 30, 2010)

steffanan said:


> well, I didn't exactly let it just sit there, but I didn't exactly bolt it down.
> The weight of it, and the subs on it hold it down really well, and I made that battery hold the real in place really well. Basically, I live in a town of 5000 and security isnt an issue. I have an autopage security system that goes off if you brush past the vehicle, and the remote goes crazy and tells me what sensor went off and stuff. So please understand that I simply didn't find it nesessary to make theft prevention a large part of my design. Also, I didn't hook it down because it has enough weight on its own, and it just wasn't nessecary.


bolting it down isn't a security thing. it's a safety thing. a very important safety thing. 

forgive me for the 'what if' but i've seen this happen: you have friends in your truck and you are driving home from a party. a drunk swerves in front of you and you have to drive off the road to miss him. when your truck hits that tree or ditch your "too heavy to move" false floor gets thrown at the backs of the heads of your passengers. two days after your friends arrive DOA at the local hospital their parents press charges. you get to go to jail for negligence/creating a dangerous nuance, or whatever the new fancy word is. i went to school with a guy who this happened to. he went from captain of the football team, a-b student and life of the party to jailbird. he's gotten his GED now and works at MacDonalds.


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

um.... guys it's too late now anyways lol.
I thought about it a lot and I really don't want to bolt it down. and If something happens and something goes wrong, I promise I will bring this thread back to life and tell everyone i was wrong.
and its not just sitting back there, the battery is strapped down, and the rack is hooked to it. no bump could seperate the rack from the floor, and it would take a really bad wreck.


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## brianhj (Apr 9, 2009)

17? you should've seen MY car when I was 18. a rockford 12" sub and crunch amp from best buy. in the trunk. pioneer coaxials from walmart in the doors and rear. sony headunit from best buy as well. using the sony's internal amp.

so yeah, be proud.... awesome build for even a 30 year old.


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

got subs yesterday! 

did zapco/ esb 10s, the blue versions, becausc the red ones are for more power handling.

so these subs are esb/s italien made sq sub, and they dont make them anymore. because of being a zapco dealer, I was able to score two from their last few leftovers for warranty.




















pretty cool material, like woven blue and black fiber strips.
im sure it does nothing but look cool. 










Jeremy had a cool idea, to make a few plexiglass windows on the box to show the magnet, and light it with blue lights. im seriously considering doing that .

but either way, next step is making a box, and ill keep you all posted on that


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## leepersc (Sep 23, 2009)

Props to you homie! Coming along nicely. Keep it up, brother!


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## xanderin (Mar 26, 2008)

It looks great man. I use metal strips like this link here with some washers to secure my boxes. As an installer you should be extremely concerned with safety, especially your own.


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## tuto's88t2 (Feb 1, 2011)

very nice..waiting for more pics


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

*UPDATE: sub box and false floor side panels*

Well, I am making the temporary box for the tens now, and it's coming along. i actually am painting it now, but i didn't get a picture of that. this picture is when it had its first layer of duraglass.











Ok, so finally i made the cover panels for each side, just out of mdf, a sander, and carpet. 





































MORE SUB PICS!!!










Now i need to make the cover panel for the front of the false floor, so i'll keep everyone posted.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

looks nice  just make sure you test fit those subs, i have ran into a few issues before where the publish cutout diameter doesnt fit...


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

yeah, they take a hole that is like one inch larger than a regular 10 inch hole. i made a mess out of the hole, but i got it finally.


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

Finished painting box











Got subs in and I'm breaking them in now.










View from the rear











So the way i got this box to stay in place was by setting it on two strips of garage door sealer. That way, i don't have to put any marks on the box or floor by screwing. It also looks like the box is just sitting there. So the subs sound good, but have a lot of breaking in to do, because they have an fs of 24 hz but right now they are peaking at like 40 hz.


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

Just another few box pictures


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## tyroneshoes (Mar 21, 2006)

I love it and I want those subs. How do you like the esb sub/ck set?

Also, did you fit a rubber gasket on the ESB 6000 subs?

http://www.esb.it/serie_bluenote.html


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

tyroneshoes said:


> I love it and I want those subs. How do you like the esb sub/ck set?
> 
> Also, did you fit a rubber gasket on the ESB 6000 subs?
> 
> http://www.esb.it/serie_bluenote.html



Hey man, yeah when i got the subs at first someone had put gaskets on them, but they didn't work at all because they had like 8 screw holes and the esb's have 11. I used a razor blade to cut the inside of the gasket to allow room and it worked very well. Thanks for the link, I haven't ever seen that.


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## mrzapco (May 27, 2011)

what zapco processor are you going to run?


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## tyroneshoes (Mar 21, 2006)

Id lose the gaskets personally for some hex nuts. Just my cosmetic preference.


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## sotelomichael (Dec 2, 2008)

How do those subs sound? I would love to compare one to a diamond audio macdaddy


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

Well, ill get a better review of them once they are broken in more, but for now i can say that they are the definition of sound quality subs, because of their lack of an eq Spike, and their ability to play really low and fairly high without motor noise, like if the crossover is set high, this sub can play up higher than my door speakers are cut at and they sound natural. Of course i don't let them play that high because otherwise they sound directional and the stage is pulled back.


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## sotelomichael (Dec 2, 2008)

nice, I'd be interested in a single 12, but I'm sure they are a bit out of my budget range.


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

mrzapco said:


> what zapco processor are you going to run?


i guess I'm waiting for the dsp8 now, whenever they come out with that. I guess if a dsp6 became available i would still pick it up.


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

‪Zapco competition midbass test‬‏ - YouTube


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

*REBUILD*

so, i never posted it here, but i did get a dsp6, and shoved it into the false floor, so for this rebuild, it will be included.


whew, having the same system for half of a year almost killed me, so i went ahead and ripped my floor apart. it sounded great, and i liked it, but a very awesome boss i have, gave me a christmas bonus that became very helpful in buying a new amp. a ZAPCO REFERENCE 650.6!!! time to go full active! unfortunately, this 33 inch monster is way to large to fit in the floor without a rebuild. Ill be posting everything throughout, so you can see everything i do this time. i really want to highlight the things that i do different this time, because i learned a lot from building stuff since i built the first floor, so there will be some big changes. i want everyone to comment and tell me what they like or dislike about it, and any feedback from anyone is helpful...except noob... JK! here is the basic list of things that i figured "since i'm rebuilding it, i might as well change it".


1. mounting the false floor to the vehicle better, for safety in a full vehicle roll

2. hidden wiring. yep, thats right, even though its completely hidden in a false floor. (more reasoning for that insanity will come out later)

3. lights! i want a toggle switch to flip between white lights (for working around in the area) and blue lights to be better for showing off, the lights will be built into the lid of the floor.

4. cleaner look, so im putting the processor under the false floor with the battcap, and i will have more room up top to tip mount stuff

5. more complex fan system. a single relay and switch will toggle between two fan systems
system 1- only a fan on the processor, a fan going from the processor into the floor, and a fan going out and in the floor
system 2- a fan on the processor, an in blowing and out blowing fan for the processor compartment, and two input and two output fans from the floor to the vehicle

6. im still mounting the crossovers! I don't know for sure if i am going to right away jump into doing full active, and i think esb's crossovers are wonderful as-is, so i want the ability to still run using them if i choose to, so i am putting them in there again. if i do use them, i can bridge the fron and rear channels of the amp, use that for mids and highs through the crossover, and run the "sub" channel of the amp to the midbasses. 

7. still using the same trim panels on each side, and even the lid/floor, so i have made the other piece literally the same exact size
thats everything i can think of now, but i have what i consider to be some pretty good ideas compared to how i did it last time, so check back for updates! 
Had to start somewhere, how bout tha battery??? Pulled apart the old battery holder thing, re-used most of the pieces, and repositioned the battery part, and added this little holder for the processor, the angle will be explained later, but it was basically the only way to get it to fit down there. This pic is the glue drying with a level 2 dc motor as a weight. Bruce didn’t want to sit and hold it!











I figured everyone wanted to see the different ideas that I went over before I decided on a layout, so here they are, bottom 3 have different places for the fuse holder and distribution.




























Decided on this one










Drilled all the holes for the power and ground wires to go down through, and two holes under the 1200’s, because there is no reason for them to not be cut, and I can then reach underneath and do crap with it!!










This picture shows how useful those holes will be, and also you can see where the battcap will go. Btw, the little squarish cutouts are for fans, one ingoing, one out










That’s all for pictures for tonight, im a ways further than this, but ill get pictures soon


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## robert_wrath (Apr 24, 2011)

+1 Subscribed. Still can't over the fact you're only 17/18 years old.


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

very nice stuff man!!!


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## shake this (Jan 10, 2012)

Doing a great job, wish my 1st install looked that good at your age.


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

so, i basically have made little drill marks everywhere that an amp or anything will screw in, because once i painted it, i wanted to still have everything marked exactly where everything needed to go. i also already cut all of the holes for all power, signal, and speaker wires to go through.

i drilled 3 holes where new bolts will go into factory holes where there were tie down hooks on the floor. then, i routered a larger hole 1.5" so that i could drop in a washer for more strength, and give the screws a little wiggle room, just in case the cuts didn't line up perfectly. flush mounted them so it will all be hidden in the end










put tha walls on. only real difference between this year and last, is that now i just have two incoming and two outgoing fans close together on each side. I didn't do any on the front of the box, and now I used smaller terminal cups for the sub outputs.











rattle canned that son, cause last time the oil paint took me almost off of a bridge, so this worked well in comparison.










pic of it sitting in the back











spray painted the battery base/processor holder. set it in there for a quick pic










this is what it looks like with the battery and processor mounted









added a fan to blow through the dual heat sinks, that processor gets really hot.










started wiring up the relays, one will be toggled with a switch, and will turn on the full set of fans, for if its really hot and i need a lot of ventilation, the other will toggle with the remote turn on from the head unit, and controls the turn on in the three amps, the processor, and the 3 fans that are running at all times.











now i have put the false floor into its resting place, and i have started running power/ ground and signal wires to the different holes in the floor. im waiting on a few zapco simbilink cables, but other than that, im ready to get everything put back together.


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## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

Zapco for the win!!!


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## dbjunkies (Mar 8, 2009)

lookin' good, sir


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## steffanan (Dec 9, 2010)

dbjunkies said:


> lookin' good, sir


why thank you random stranger!


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## BamaJohn (Mar 10, 2009)

I'm curious about the front stage setup - you mentioned in one of the videos briefly that you had a mid in the dash location and showed the tweets mounted low in the A-pillar. I have a Trailblazer SS and would be interested in seeing any more photos you might have taken of that part of the install.

How's the staging and imaging with the mid/tweet combo up there? That was my plan for a first stab at a system in my truck.


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## Misanthropic (Apr 8, 2010)

17/18 years old?!?! Color me impressed. The only "trim" I was lookin' at when I was your age were blondes and redheads (and an occasional brunette). Great attention to detail. Super Clean. Fantastic install. I wish my old trailblazer looked half as nice!


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## HondAudio (Oct 19, 2006)

Misanthropic said:


> 17/18 years old?!?! Color me impressed. The only "trim" I was lookin' at when I was your age were blondes and redheads (and an occasional brunette). Great attention to detail. Super Clean. Fantastic install. I wish my old trailblazer looked half as nice!


I mentioned that somewhere on the first page of this thread. What I should have done during those years: _less car audio, more girls_. :blush:


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

this ever get finished?


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