# 1957 Ford Fairlane - Dynaudio Esotar speakers / Tru amps /Arc processor



## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

1957 Ford Fairlane Club Victoria SQ install build log

Installation goals:
1.)	Be able to pay my mortgage
2.)	Minimally invasive installation
3.)	Highest quality SQ installation possible after 1 and 2 are satisfied

Equipment:
Tweeters – Dynaudio Esotar 110’s located in the door panels
Midranges – Dynaudio Esotar 430’s located in the door panels
Midbass – Dynaudio Esotar 650’s located in the door panels
Subwoofer – Image Dynamics IDQ V2 10” located in the dash
Center channel – Dynaudio component set installed in the factory 6x9 location in the dash
Amplifiers – Tru B475 (center and tweeters), Tru 4100 (mids and midbass), Tru 2110 (Subwoofer)
Processor – Arc Audio PS8
Preamp – Tru Line8
Deadening/Dampening - Second Skin Damplifier Pro, Luxury Liner, Overkill

Door panels:
The tweets, mids, and midbass will all be installed in the doors. The doors in this car extend very far forward and will allow me to put the speakers a good distance from the listener. The window cranks will be replaced with electric window motors, to give me space for the enclosures. The 430’s and 650’s will each have their own dedicated enclosures behind the door panel. The outer panel will be remade with ¾” or 1” MDF.

Subwoofer enclosure:
I will be removing the heater core, which will give me room to mount the subwoofer enclosure. The enclosure inside the car will be approximately .7 cubic feet. There is a large opening going into the engine bay where the fan motor and fan assembly mount. The motor and fan assembly will be removed and replaced with a bolt on cover. I will make 4 different covers. One will be flat (small enclosure), one will extend into the bay (large enclosure), one will have a Goretex membrane (aperiodic), and one will be opened with just some wire mesh (infinite baffle)

Center channel:
The car came with a 6x9 speaker mounted in the center of the dash as factory equipment. I will use this to mount a tweeter and midrange driver. If there is room I will seal the back of it from the cabin. I may not use it, but I am going to give myself the option of using a center channel.

Trunk:
The amplifiers, preamp, and processor will be mounted in the trunk. The trunk is currently painted metal. I will be painting it to match the silver color then adding deadening and trunk liner.


Step 1:
Strip out the interior
Step 2:
Deaden the heck out of the car
Step 3:
Run the wire and interconnects
Step 4:
Fabricate the center channel mounting
Step 5:
Fabricate the door enclosures and new door panel
Step 5
Fabricate the subwoofer enclosure and back plates
Step 6:
Deaden and carpet the trunk and mount amplifiers, preamp , and processor
Step 7:
Tuning

I will be starting on step 1 next week.
I will post the “before” pictures tonight when I get home.
Step 1 photos should be following in a few weeks.


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## kizz (Jun 22, 2009)

Love the car man, absolutely love the car!


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## vwjmkv (Apr 23, 2011)

dynaudio... wow looking forward to seeing this build


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## perfecxionx (Sep 4, 2009)

isnt an old car like that going to produce a significant amount of road and engine noise? seems like a strange choice for such hi fi equipment


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## so cal eddie (Oct 1, 2008)

perfecxionx said:


> isnt an old car like that going to produce a significant amount of road and engine noise? seems like a strange choice for such hi fi equipment


^^Normally, yes. But he has a step #2. 

Looking forward to this one. 12" in the dash?? Cool.


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## evangojason (Feb 12, 2010)

Looking forward to this one!


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## badfish (Dec 9, 2011)

Still think you should switch to models .......see you tomorrow


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## Notloudenuf (Sep 14, 2008)

Pics or it didn't happen


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## IBcivic (Jan 6, 2009)

Notloudenuf said:


> Pics or it didn't happen


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## quality_sound (Dec 25, 2005)

^^^Exactly what I thought when I read the title.


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

Watching this one!


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## Seattle Esotar (Jun 15, 2009)

Love the car and product choices. Looking forward to pics!


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## quality_sound (Dec 25, 2005)

Am I the only one that didn't see a source listed?


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## BuickGN (May 29, 2009)

Love the equipment, love the car. Looking forward to pictures.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

quality_sound said:


> Am I the only one that didn't see a source listed?


Probably using the stock HU so it doesn't detract from the car. LOL

Jay


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

SoCalSQ said:


> 1957 Ford Fairlane Club Victoria SQ install build log
> 
> Installation goals:
> 1.)	Be able to pay my mortgage
> ...


So pretty much shot that first goal all to hell, huh? hehehe

Jay


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## vwjmkv (Apr 23, 2011)

JayinMI said:


> So pretty much shot that first goal all to hell, huh? hehehe
> 
> Jay


I think he meant bea able to pay a mortgage with the equipment in his car....


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

Here are the before pics.

You can see the heater core that will be removed to fit the sub box.

The 3-way set up will barely fit in the front part of the door panel once I remove the window cranks.

Conveniently, there is enough room under the factory "center channel" mounting to put whatever I want in there with an enclosure.

The ridiculous amounts of Second Skin I will be applying will take care of road noise. The steel that was used to make these cars is also ridiculously strong. When you tap the doors they actually sound like they have deadening on them without having any. The only real noise problem will be the solid lifter motor (which sounds like a diesel) and the exhaust, which sound like a lopey drag boat. The surefire cure for these is copious amounts of volume.

The source unit will be an Alpine 9990, once I find one and sell my Clarion DRZ, but since im not upgraded I cant modify my original post.  

The cable and dampening should arrive this week then its time to get going.

I recently found out that the front bench seat is original and worth about $1000, so I may sell it and replace it with something that slides further back, rather than modifying this one . . .still debating that. That $1000 will buy a lot of audio equipment, lol.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

Here are pics of the heater fan and motor assembly, which will be removed and replaced with my sub enclosure back plates.

Also some pics of where we hide the bodies. I'm figuring 4 old school style or 8 if we cut them up.

Here is a close-up of the 6x9 center channel grill. I will have 2 grills, the original one for hot rod shows and one with grill-cloth for every thing else. As you can see, it has a pretty awesome sound system in it now . . . . . .

On a side note: Damn Andrew Dice Clay for his association with my car!!!

So . . .Jack and Jill go up the hill . . .lol


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## 85C10 (Jun 4, 2011)

pssst...there's an SBC in that Ford

subscribed


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## estione (Jul 24, 2009)

I've just fell in love..............


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

The small block chevy will shortly be replaced with a 351W and C6.
The chevy motor has a dart block, air research heads, forged manley internals, stud girdles, roller rockers, Edelbrock intake/carb, MSD ignition, etc. so although it is a Chevy . . . .at least it's a badass Chevy. The R700 4 is also built up so it will be a nice setup for someone. The 4.11's in the 9" rear end will stay.

I am building a 351W in my garage. Once it's ready to go in I will start taking offers on the drivetrain from people who like their distributors where its a total pain in the ass to get to.


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## BuickGN (May 29, 2009)

SoCalSQ said:


> The small block chevy will shortly be replaced with a 351W and C6.
> The chevy motor has a dart block, air research heads, forged manley internals, stud girdles, roller rockers, Edelbrock intake/carb, MSD ignition, etc. so although it is a Chevy . . . .at least it's a badass Chevy. The R700 4 is also built up so it will be a nice setup for someone. The 4.11's in the 9" rear end will stay.
> 
> I am building a 351W in my garage. Once it's ready to go in I will start taking offers on the drivetrain from people who like their distributors where its a total pain in the ass to get to.


Have you purchased the Windsor yet? I know where there's an original 351C out of a Pantera around here. I drove the car for a couple weeks before it was pulled so I know it was perfectly fine with under 40,000 miles. I'm personally a fan of a modern EFI engine with an OD transmission in old cars something like an '03 or '04 Cobra engine in that hot rod would be awesome but I guess that depends on the intended usage as well. No matter what you do it looks like a really fun build. 

BTW, I've found 3" diameter thick wall stainless exhaust piping greatly cuts down on in car exhaust noise, more than any sound deadening will. If you can locate the mufflers to the rear of the car, it helps tremendously. If you want to get really clever, you can use a different length muffler from side to side to basically make the exhaust out of phase and you will have zero drone but it takes experimenting. A turbo also makes a great muffler.:laugh: Some of the exhaust tricks might be worth it when you consider the benefits and the cost of sound deadening.


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## 85C10 (Jun 4, 2011)

SoCalSQ said:


> I am building a 351W in my garage.


Nice. An extra ~1/2" of deck height (compared to SBC) lends itself well to strokers. When gathering parts keep in mind how nicely "it's a 427" rolls of the tongue.


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## BuickGN (May 29, 2009)

85C10 said:


> Nice. An extra ~1/2" of deck height (compared to SBC) lends itself well to strokers. When gathering parts keep in mind how nicely "it's a 427" rolls of the tongue.


427 "sock" now that sounds good..... not practical but it sounds good.


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## m3gunner (Aug 6, 2008)

SoCalSQ said:


> Here are the before pics. <snip> That $1000 will buy a lot of audio equipment, lol.


Checked the price of those tweeters recently? 

Sub'd


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## kustomkaraudio (Jun 20, 2009)

Hey Todd, IMHO you put air conditioning in that car. Rolling around in that So Cal heat........ Awesome car !!! and NO SMOG !! Have fun.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

It has the aftermarket air conditioner under the dash. That will stay. I am just removing the heater.

I already have a 351W, but I might look into the 351C. I decided to used 351W instead because the good 351C-4 bolt main blocks are usually expensive, while I got the 351W for free. I have built 5 1967-68 mustangs with 351C motors. They are my favorite. With some porting work the heads are just spectacular and flow like Donald Trump's mouth. Hell, I could put a toupee(sp?) on the air cleaner and youd be hard pressed to tell the difference.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

Hey, wheres the guy who said I'd have engine noise . . .

So I am out mowing the lawn yesterday and the UPS driver shows up . . . poor guy struggled to get my seven boxes from Second Skin to the front door in the 90 degree weather. On the last box he looked right at me with this look that said "I F'in hate you!"  I said, " Is that all ?"

So Thursday or thereabouts the interior comes out. I will be taking some before decibel readings tomorrow inside the car at idle and at freeway speeds just so I can see what the difference is. Should be interesting. I should measure how far the car is off the ground before and after too . . .maybe 0-60 times . . . .lol. Lord knows I may need to find another 20 horsepower to make up for the weight difference.


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## kizz (Jun 22, 2009)

im so glad you are getting rid of that chevy block. chevy in a ford is sacreligious man. it hurts me to see it lol


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## BuickGN (May 29, 2009)

SoCalSQ said:


> It has the aftermarket air conditioner under the dash. That will stay. I am just removing the heater.
> 
> I already have a 351W, but I might look into the 351C. I decided to used 351W instead because the good 351C-4 bolt main blocks are usually expensive, while I got the 351W for free. I have built 5 1967-68 mustangs with 351C motors. They are my favorite. With some porting work the heads are just spectacular and flow like Donald Trump's mouth. Hell, I could put a toupee(sp?) on the air cleaner and youd be hard pressed to tell the difference.


I'm going to see the guy tomorrow, I can put you two in touch if the price is reasonable.


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## IBcivic (Jan 6, 2009)

kizz said:


> im so glad you are getting rid of that chevy block. chevy in a ford is sacreligious man. it hurts me to see it lol


out with reliability...eh?


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

That was my thought. LOL

Jay


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

IBcivic said:


> out with reliability...eh?


Yep, but you forgot the rest of the quote:

"Out with reliability, in with performance!"

I can show you a long line (all behind me) of Corvettes and Camaros who would attest to that.

The first picture is of my last car. The second picture is of how that car would look from a Chevy. It did get beat once . . . .by a red Mustang, go figure. Well twice if you count the AMG65 who passed me when I threw a rod (which bounced off the freeway and over his car), but we don't like to talk about that. . . .

Now back to the build. Interior comes out tonight.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

please dont put the speakers in the doors =\


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

req said:


> please dont put the speakers in the doors =\


#1 Why ?
#2 Did you look at the pictures of the doors? They extend very far forward and look to be a great position.
#3 I am not going to destroy the dash of a 1957 Ford (Please see objective #2) The door panels have already been re-done and I will be saving the ones that are on it now so I can always go back to stock-ish.
#4 They will be mounted all the way forward in the doors. They will be angled and aimed at the center of the driver's seat at about head level. They will be covered with a grill.

Other options:

*Pods with mid/tweet and MB in kicks-*
Pros: 
Higher stage on sides (maybe)
Easier to tune Mid/highs (probably)
No chance of door resonance ( but I doubt I'll have it with with enclosures and thick door panel)
Cons: 
Phasing problems (which will be unfixable)
The dash is pretty and uncluttered with out it
I would have to drill into the metal painted dash in some way or another
Reflections off the glass and dash (also pretty unfixable)

*All the drivers in kicks*:
Pros:
Best solution for phasing, depth, ease of tuning
Cons:
Narrow stage
Probably a low stage
Would have to relaocate hood release and emergency brake
Enclosures would be huge and in the way of my left foot

*Drivers in doors*:
Pros:
Phasing will be good out of the box
No major reflection issues
Easy to change later without damaging car
Cons:
Lots of work to get the doors rock solid
More visible than kicks
Slightly more problem with MB to sub phasing than if they were in kicks


I have thought about it a lot and this is the best compromise I can come up with. Putting speakers in the doors can be a bad thing, but I feel that if you do a good enough job on the door install it can work and work well. 

I will most likely be crossing the 6.5" speakers at 80 Hz at 12 or 18 dB slopes. That reduces the amount of energy going into the doors considerably over say a 50 to 60 Hz crossover point. I could actually even go higher on the crossover if the system cooperates with me because the sub will be down firing in the dash.

Please let me know what your reasons are. Opinions always welcome.


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## BuickGN (May 29, 2009)

SoCalSQ said:


> Yep, but you forgot the rest of the quote:
> 
> "Out with reliability, in with performance!"
> 
> ...


Looks like fun. My buddy has an CL65 AMG with methanol injection. It beat a couple Kenne Bell supercharged Cobras and a GTR. Stock Vettes short of a ZR1 were no competition at all. We never took that one to the track but we took his old regular CL600 and ran a string of 12.7s at 110mph with the dealer plates still on it. I had no problem destroying the AMG but I always shut it down shortly after we entered triple digits. Somewhere up top it would eventually pass me, not sure if it would be before the revlimiter or not but I wasn't going to find out in my brick.

What did your Mustang run?


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

Once I swapped out the rear brakes, stripped the car, re-tuned for 110 octane and threw on drag slicks. It did an 11.32. In that configuration it was pushing a little under 600 RWHP with 13 lbs. of boost. On the street I usually ran it well under 500 HP.

Car was fun as hell, but I went through torque converters and transmissions like crazy, the wife was scared $&!%less of it, the 3 kids couldn't all get in the back seat, you could not keep traction in 1st gear in street trim, and it was a cop magnet.


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## IBcivic (Jan 6, 2009)

BuickGN said:


> Stock Vettes short of a ZR1 were no competition at all.


I've seen a snot-nosed kid, show up at the drag-strip,on amateur night, in a rusted out 89 civic (zero "rice") and OWN a ZR-1 by 2 car lengths...2.5 lengths if the vette used traction assist. 
..I'd say the kid did his homework

oops...back on topic


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## BuickGN (May 29, 2009)

IBcivic said:


> I've seen a snot-nosed kid, show up at the drag-strip,on amateur night, in a rusted out 89 civic (zero "rice") and OWN a ZR-1 by 2 car lengths...2.5 lengths if the vette used traction assist.
> ..I'd say the kid did his homework
> 
> oops...back on topic


Anything can happen with enough money but a civic like that is one in a million. We had a local guy finally hit a 10.99 in a Civic (gutted, stretching the definition of street legal) but I ran him for a few bucks on the street and I could've shut it down at the 1/8th and coasted to a win. FWD just sucks and it sucks more on any street legal tire.


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## Kellyo77 (Dec 5, 2009)

Finally some car guys here that are as interested in performance as they are audio. 

The Fairlane is going to be incredible. (More than it already is) Definitely watching this one. 

A new Coyote 5.0 motor, with a little turbo stuffed under the hood, would be sick.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

kizz said:


> im so glad you are getting rid of that chevy block. chevy in a ford is sacreligious man. it hurts me to see it lol


I feel the same way. Poor motor...LOL

Jay


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## BuickGN (May 29, 2009)

JayinMI said:


> I feel the same way. Poor motor...LOL
> 
> Jay


I was wondering how long it would take for the Ford vs Chevy fight to break out lol. I'm just the bastard step child watching from the sidelines. The Chevy guys hated us, the Ford guys hated us and there were only a few of us.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

So back to the install . . . lol

Stripped the trink last night and got to work on laying down the damplifier pro.

Picture #1: Trunk before
Picture #2: Trunk with all the crap out of it
Picture #3: Rear side of back seat( putting MDF across this this weekend)
Picture #4: Back side of the quarter panel area
Picture #5 Trunk after being swept and cleaned with alcohol
Picture #6 Trunk after I'd spent 5 hours on it (all the time I had after work)

As I was working on the trunk around 9 PM I found a hole in the bottom of the gas tank. Dumb me decided to clean the dirt off from around it for a better look. Apparently the dirt was holding the screw in the silicone, which was holding the gas in. I felt like the little boy with his finger in the ****. (bad choice of words?)

Went to work got a transfer pump, pumped out the tank and put the gas in my other cars. Tonight I will be moving the car back in the garage and dropping the tank. A new one is $360. Three cheers for unanticipated maintenance fees !

So by about 12 midnight I was ready for bed. About that time the 13 year old came crying to me and I realized she had a 103 degree fever. So here I am at work on 4 1/2 hous of sleep. I'm gonna sleep gooood tonight.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

More Damplifier

Simultaneously doing the stereo along with the gas tank here.
Finished the back half of the car pretty much.
Still have to add some MDF behind the rear seat and also on the back deck to give an extra noise barrier between the cabin and trunk.
The gas tank is at the shop getting repaired. Hope he washes it out real good before welding.

Pic 1: Gas tank hole
Pic 2: Gas tank out of the car
Pic 3: Rear seat area before
Pic 4: Rear Seat area after cleaning
Pic 5 Quarter panel area after
Pic 6: Rear seat area after
Pic 7: Bottom of rear deck (Still a few spots to hit. Have to get wood over the top before I finish up)

I will be taking out the rest of the interior later tonight and getting to work there.
That area will be getting 3 layers. Damplifier, luxury liner, and overkill.
My hands hurt. I am begining to hate that little roller! About to go get the roller from the kitchen to speed things up . . . .or not.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

I say you stick a 2jz in it lol


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

simplicityinsound said:


> I say you stick a 2jz in it lol


You're killin' me Bing. WTB Cubic inches, what's that like a 180??

So anywho . . . .

Spent another 5 hours on it today. The grand total so far is about 15-18 hours.

Ripped out the front interior. Someone used an a$$load of glue, let me tell you. I was afraid i was going to rip out the metal with the carpet.

Removed the old stereo and wiring.

I found a bunch of interesting holes, not from rust or anything, but from other stuff that used to go there.

Pic 1: Carpet removed
Pic 2: Carpet removed
Pic 3: Driver side after 2 layers of Damplifier Pro
Pic 4: Passenger side after 2 layers of the same
Pic 5: A pic of the interior before luxury liner
Pic 6: Luxury liner laid out ready for glue
Pic 7: Luxury liner at drivers side

Tomorrow night I will be:
Gluing down the luxury liner
Adding a layer of Overkill on pretty much everything
Possibly attaching MDF to separate trunk and passenger compartment behind the seat.
Possibly making a new piece for the back deck.

I need to go by the fabric store and pick up a bunch of foam and the fabrics for the trunk and back deck. Also need to pick up the gas tank.

If all goes well I should be putting things back together by Tuesday.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

I am looking for suggestions on how to modify the front bench seat so that it will slide back another 6 inches. I don't want to just move the mounting, because it will sit too far back in the car.

I have included a few pics. I would appreciate comments and suggestions from people *who have done this before*. I have the services of a welder who is pretty good, so hit me with it.

My idea is to extend the rails and the bumpers then fabricate a new end cover. I think that might look a little wonky when the seat is all the way back, but most of the time it won't be.

I am pretty sure the person who designed this car was 5' tall because, as it is now, I have to put the seat all the way back to almost drive the car comfortably. Also, the guy who did the restoration used 60" seat belts, so if you're much over 185 lbs. the seat belts won't buckle. I am thinking it's like an "anti-fatgirl" device of some kind. Good thinkin' !

Pic #1: Driver side mounting from underneath
Pic #2: Driver side, also showing the side and the front stop
Pic #3: Passenger side


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

BuickGN said:


> I was wondering how long it would take for the Ford vs Chevy fight to break out lol. I'm just the bastard step child watching from the sidelines. The Chevy guys hated us, the Ford guys hated us and there were only a few of us.


I'm just playin'. I prefer GM to Ford, but I like something from just about every manufacturer. 

I've had 3 VW's (67 bug, 70 bug, 80 rabbit), 2 Chevy's (S10, Colorado), 3 Chryslers (2 Plymouth Neons and a Dodge Neon), a Mitsubishi Eclipse, a Hyundai Genesis Coupe and a Kia Rio. As close as I've come to owning a Ford is driving and maintaining the 97 Mercury Tracer my GF got from her uncle.

And even on a lot of cars I don't care for the finished product, I can still appreciate well done work.

Jay


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

Worked another few hours on it today.
I got the luxury liner and overkill in.
I am ready to get started on the wiring.
Then I can start to put things back together.


Pic 1: All the luxury liner glued in with strips of damplifier on the edges - driver side
Pic 2: A layer of Overkill over the luxury liner - driver side
Pic 3: The overkill over the luxury liner - passenger side
Pic 4: Cross section of the coatings for passenger compartment


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

simplicityinsound said:


> I say you stick a 2jz in it lol












with Nas? LOL

Jay


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## BuickGN (May 29, 2009)

JayinMI said:


> I'm just playin'. I prefer GM to Ford, but I like something from just about every manufacturer.
> 
> I've had 3 VW's (67 bug, 70 bug, 80 rabbit), 2 Chevy's (S10, Colorado), 3 Chryslers (2 Plymouth Neons and a Dodge Neon), a Mitsubishi Eclipse, a Hyundai Genesis Coupe and a Kia Rio. As close as I've come to owning a Ford is driving and maintaining the 97 Mercury Tracer my GF got from her uncle.
> 
> ...


I was just kidding, I know it's all in good fun. I keep it tame around here but the GM vs Ford rivalry produced some interesting conversations and words I had never heard of before when I was actively racing. I used to get a new license plate frame every week usually having to do with Mustangs to taunt them on Saturdays at Sonic. My dad had a few interesting ones on his GN. His put down nearly 900whp and he would show up with plates taunting the Ford guys, Vette guys, but also the imports. I just found one the other day that said "Rice.... Meet Godzilla". Maybe not that funny now but it sure did piss people off lol. 

SoCalSQ, I've obviously never done that sort of thing on a Fairlane (though my grandparents owned one) but extending the rails and stops is exactly how I did it on the GN. I don't know what the metal quality is like on your car but mine was so bad, the welder had a hell of a time getting decent welds. 

Does the seatbelt mount to the frame/body or does it attach to the seat on one end?


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

BuickGN said:


> I was just kidding, I know it's all in good fun. I keep it tame around here but the GM vs Ford rivalry produced some interesting conversations and words I had never heard of before when I was actively racing. I used to get a new license plate frame every week usually having to do with Mustangs to taunt them on Saturdays at Sonic. My dad had a few interesting ones on his GN. His put down nearly 900whp and he would show up with plates taunting the Ford guys, Vette guys, but also the imports. I just found one the other day that said "Rice.... Meet Godzilla". Maybe not that funny now but it sure did piss people off lol.
> 
> SoCalSQ, I've obviously never done that sort of thing on a Fairlane (though my grandparents owned one) but extending the rails and stops is exactly how I did it on the GN. I don't know what the metal quality is like on your car but mine was so bad, the welder had a hell of a time getting decent welds.
> 
> Does the seatbelt mount to the frame/body or does it attach to the seat on one end?



Godzilla was the nickname of the Nissan Skyline...there's a guy in my city who has a real right hand drive one. 

Jay


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

The seatbelts mount to the floor. I will be changing them out to 72" belts, so it shouldn't be an issue if the seat goes back a bit more. They mount about 4" behind the rear seat mounting bolt.


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## quality_sound (Dec 25, 2005)

JayinMI said:


> Godzilla was the nickname of the Nissan Skyline...there's a guy in my city who has a real right hand drive one.
> 
> Jay


They've only ever been made in right hand drive.  There's a CLEAN ass one for sale, on Auto Trader I think, for $40K. It's only an R32 though. I prefer the R34 sedan.


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## 85C10 (Jun 4, 2011)

Did I derail this thread or would this have happened anyways? :blush:

At any rate, I'll be interested to see how well you keep to your goal of stock(ish) appearance. Seems like it'll be a challenge.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

85C10 said:


> Did I derail this thread or would this have happened anyways? :blush:
> 
> At any rate, I'll be interested to see how well you keep to your goal of stock(ish) appearance. Seems like it'll be a challenge.


It's my fault for showing a picture of the engine.
That was the derail moment.

Once I saw two Jay Z's in an engine bay, I realized it had gone from a derail to a 50 boxcar pileup.

As far as keeping it stockish, the key will be to sink the speakers into the door a bit and have a flat grill. Other than that and the head unit it should stay pretty original looking.

Today's work: (after I get home from work)
Install new windshield wiper assemblies (and get them to work)
Pick up gas tank from the shop
Go buy supplies for running wire and for MDF panels

After looking at the 2011 Mini Cooper build I think I am going to change up my plans a bit. I figure I will just park the Mini Cooper in my trunk with the doors open and mount my seats backwards.

On another note: 
After four days of laying Damplifier Pro I wanted to say that the Second Skin product beats the heck out of Dynamat in a few categories. 
First, it doesnt have a tendency to get as sharp as the Dynamat. 
Second, the backing comes off a lot easier. 
Third, it seems to be a bit stickier, but that may be because when I did the Mustang it was November and I am doing the Fairlane in the Summer.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

Seat extension issue:

Interesting fact #1: The seats in 1958 and 1959 Ford and Edsel passenger cars go back 6" further than the 1957 seats.

Interesting fact #2: The mouting rails are identical, the tracks are just longer on the seats.

Interesting fact #3: There was a set of the 1958 Edsel tracks and rails on ebay for $45

If they bolt on and work I am set. If not I will cut 6" off the tracks and get them welded onto mine.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

Gas tank is back in.
Winshield wipers are installed.
Wiring is next.

A 5 minute cut and paste picture of how I intend to mount the speakers in the doors. They will be angled towards the driver's right ear or so. It isn't so easy to get the angles right in paint, but its a start. They will also be hidden with grill cloth.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

quality_sound said:


> They've only ever been made in right hand drive.  There's a CLEAN ass one for sale, on Auto Trader I think, for $40K. It's only an R32 though. I prefer the R34 sedan.


Yeah. I was just getting at that it was probably a legit Skyline, not a converted 240. I think the one by me is a 32 or 33.

Jay


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

SoCalSQ said:


> It's my fault for showing a picture of the engine.
> That was the derail moment.
> 
> Once I saw two Jay Z's in an engine bay, I realized it had gone from a derail to a 50 boxcar pileup.
> ...


Sorry for the derail...think of it as a "bump" to keep the thread toward the top? 

Jay


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

Interesting find about the seat/seat rails. Hope it works out for you.
Looking forward the speaker install.

Jay


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## quality_sound (Dec 25, 2005)

JayinMI said:


> Yeah. I was just getting at that it was probably a legit Skyline, not a converted 240. I think the one by me is a 32 or 33.
> 
> Jay


Ah, gotcha. Legit Skylines are...legit? lol


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## theunderfighter (Apr 4, 2011)

SoCalSQ said:


> Seat extension issue:
> 
> Interesting fact #1: The seats in 1958 and 1959 Ford and Edsel passenger cars go back 6" further than the 1957 seats.
> 
> ...


That sounds like a hell of a convenient bit of info.
You linked this thread on CA.com, so I've been looking through it. Great progress, and ideas. And good car discussion, it's a good bit of "comic relief" you could say


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

I just got word from Stinger that they will be sponsoring the project. They are shipping out cable/interconnects/battery/etc. tomorrow. A HUGE thank you to Stinger for their support. They will also be featuring the build on their Facebook page on on their website.

In the meantime I will be working on MDF baffles for behind the rear seat, back deck, and the sides of the trunk tonight. If i have time I will start mounting the amplifiers and line driver in the trunk.


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## damonryoung (Mar 23, 2012)

Sweet!! Congrats!!


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## Salami (Oct 10, 2007)

quality_sound said:


> They've only ever been made in right hand drive.


Your statement is not true. 2009 and newer has been sold left hand drive in the U.S.

OP. Liking the build so far.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

OK . . back from vacation in Big Bear, time to get back to work.

The stuff from Stinger was at my door when I got back.

Working 100+ hours a week, the two weeks before vacation has slowed me down some. 

Started the wiring Monday. I will be working on back deck/trunk panels when I get to stopping points on the wiring.I am hoping to finish up the wiring by Sunday.

Monday:
Planned out the signal/power cable routes
Installed tie-wrap supports
Ran 1/0 positive cable
Ran RCA's from H/U to processor

Pic 1: Stinger Stuff
Pic 2: More Stinger Stuff
Pic 3: Opening for signal cable under back seat (before)
Pic 4: Opening for signal cable under back seat (after)
Pic 5: Gromet mounting under back seat for 1/0 cable (before)
Pic 6: Gromet mounting under back seat for 1/0 cable (after)
Pic 7: Gromet mounting with 1/0 cable

Next stuff to do (Thursday night):
1.) 12 AWG positive cable for accessories
2.) Firewall penetration
3.) Battery/breaker installation
4.) Fabricate mounting for processor/line driver/Fuse block/ground block
5.) Fuse Block/Ground block Installation
6.) Engine compartment wiring


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## decibelle (Feb 17, 2011)

On one hand, I cringed a little when I saw that you plan on cutting up the doors of a '57 Fairlane. On the other hand, this is a completely unique, one-of-a-kind build and I am thoroughly intrigued. 

How did you manage to get the car in the first place?

And on a side note, Chevy FTW.


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## BigRed (Aug 12, 2007)

Todd's a drug dealer


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

The doors will not be "cut up" . . I promise. The door panels aren't original, but I will save them incase I ever want to change it back or do pods, or kicks or whatever. The only thing that will be "cut" is the opening for the radio, which I apologize in advance for, to anyone who cares.

I stole the car from a little old lady. I let her live in the trunk rent free as long as she doesn't tell on me. Seriously though . . . I got a good deal on the car off of Ebay classifieds.

I have wanted to get a 50's car ever since I asked my wife what kind of car she would like, if she were to go to shows with me and she picked out a '57 Chevy Bel Air. There are too many Bel Airs out there so I started looking at the Olds Super 88's and the Fairlanes. Also, I can put all three kids in the back seat and cruise around, which is fun. 

The Mustang I had wasn't a "family friendly" car. My 3 year old already pats the new car and talks to it. She thinks its name is "Fairlane". My 1 year old . . .just points and says "dada car", but I know she loves it too. Strangely enough, my wife likes it too. Her favorite color is purple (see how smart I am), because ultimately, to most women, the most important thing about a car is what color it is.

As stated before the plan is really to have the best of all worlds. Looks, style, performance, and kicka$$ sound. The S's are dollar signs for a reason . . .because good sound aint cheap.

I will be working on wiring tonight. Hope to have the interior back in by Sunday.

And Jim . . .I don't sell drugs . . .I am a cheap hooker.


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## quality_sound (Dec 25, 2005)

The McDonald's business model. Nice


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

So I finished the wiring that runs under the carpet and reinstalled the interior.

I added another three layers of overkill and another layer of luxury liner to the floor during the process.

This brings the total deadening layers to:
Damplifier pro (x3)
Luxury liner (x2)
Overkill (x5)

This is about 1" inch thick total of deadening.
I now need longer mounting screws for my seat.

The battery is installed, but the tie ins to the battery and breaker have to wait until I find the right size grommet for the firewall which is a 1 3/4" hole.

The speaker wire is run from where it will go in the doors to where the amps will mount. The only power wire left to run is from the distribution blocks to the amp, line driver, and processor, but thats all in the trunk.

RCA's frorm the head unit to the processor are run as well.


Pic 1: Cable runs on passenger side running under the rear seat
Pic 2: The Subwoofer and right side speaker wiring is on the bottom. Power cable and triggers are at the top. There are three layers of overkill and one layer of luxury liner on eaither side of the cable so it sits flush.
Pic 3: One last layer of overkill overeveryhting.
Pic 4: The passenger side underneath the rear seat
Pic 5: The driver side underneath the rear seat. RCA's on the left and speaker wire on the right. I rerouted the factory wiring on the far right to keep it out of the way.
Pic 6: Drivers side wiring.
Pic 7: Drivers side rear foot well wiring after overkill.
Pic 8: Drivers feet wire runs after overkill.
Pic 9: Baffle for mounting the processor, distribution blocks, and the preamp.
Pic 10: The interior back in.

Getting started on trunk and engine bay stuff this week.


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## 85C10 (Jun 4, 2011)

Any progress on the seat rail issue?


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

85C10 said:


> Any progress on the seat rail issue?


Funny you should ask that. I am working on it right now.

Turns out that the 1958 bracket is IDENTICAL and NOT 6" longer as I was told by a "Ford expert", which brings up an interesting fact:

Interesting fact #4: Sometimes when an "expert" tells you something . . . . they're wrong.

I am working on the seat rails with the welder today.

The 3 options are:
1.) cut the bracket in the middle and re-weld the top portion 6" back
2.) weld extensions on the rail
3.) grind off the rivets holding the track and weld that onto the bracket


Problems with #2 - The stop mechanism and spring-loaded ball bearing action would be hard to make work.

Problems with #3 - Not being sure how the thing really comes apart and goes back togther, this is risky because the tops of two of the rivets would be "floating" around between the ball bearings and I am not sure I could get them out.

I am going ahead with #1, which is the worst solution cosmetically, but hell, its under the seat, so it'll just be our little secret.

The red line on the picture is where I intend to cut the bracket. I will be cutting it in about an hour, so make sure to post something in about two hours telling me something to the effect of " Oh my god don't do that you'll . . . ."

Should have the seat brackets done today or tomorrow.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

The more I look at it the more tempted I am to do everything in kicks.

I am seriously considering relocating the high beams, emergency brake, and hood release and doing everything in kicks.

Advantages:
* The path length for every single speaker in the car (Including the sub) would be within 10" of each other and would be almost a foot longer for the 3-way speakers.
* I could leave the doors intact
* I could just run the midbass aperiodic and have a tiny enclosure
* It would save me about $400 on fabrication and $250 on parts (electric window motors)
* Easy to build and remove without cutting much ( just holes for aperiodic membranes)

I really just have to get the drivers and do a few mock ups.
If I can make them fit, this might be what I do.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

Finished the seat rails.
I ended up moving the seat back a total of 5".
I will be able to drive the car comfortably with the seat all the way forward.
For optimal listening the seat will go back from there up to 5".

The brackets will be visible with the seat all the way back.

I will be painting them later today.

Pic #1: After cutting them
Pic #2: Before welding
Pic #3: After welding them back together


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## 85C10 (Jun 4, 2011)

Cool. I'd be tempted to put in a few gussets to support the cut/welded seam since even FoMoCo thought it was important to stamp some in there. But then again, if I ever built a car from scratch it would probably weigh 8,000 lbs (half that weight in gussets ).


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## SteveH! (Nov 7, 2005)

I think you are on the right trick now socal, getting pld(path length differences) down to a minimum is one of the most important fundamentals in car audio . you have great taste in gear so i suspect the car will sound amazing. adding an equivelant level of application to get the best from your gear will only reward you so much more. good luck on your build.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

Finished brackets.

Pic #1: Painted bracket
Pic #2: This part will be visible when the seat is all the way back, which will pretty much only be when the car is being judged or listened to while parked, so I threw on a few coats of paint.


Installing them today.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

Brackets are in.

I will have to make a few modifications to the two trim pieces that mount to the bottom of the seat, because they rub a bit on the rails when the seat goes back.

I will just trim about 1/4" off the bottom with a jig saw and it should be good.

Pic 1: BEFORE. Seat all the way back
Pic 2: AFTER Seat all the way back.
Pic 3: The visible portion of the bracket when the seat as all the way back. 

I am very happy with the results.

Starting the rear deck and amp mounts later today.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

After a VERY long break I will now resume the aforementioned installtion. . . 

There were a few nagging mecahnical/financial issues that needed to be taken care of first:

Replaced front spindles, rotors, springs, shocks, calipers, a ball joint, and bushings. This fixed my front ride height issue. I put on Global west 550 lb. springs and replaced the 2" drop spindles with stock spindles and it now drives great.

I rebuilt and re-tuned the carburetor and fixed the transmission and throttle linkages.

I did some research and changed out my master cylinder to one with a larger bore to give me more volume. This fixed my brake travel issue along with my leaking master cyliner seals.

I found out that the driveshaft was an inch too short and out of balance. I had a new one made.

I went through the valve train and got my rockers adjusted, as well.


Now back to the stereo install:

Last week I started back at it. I did a few mock ups of how the pods will be then began fabrication on the baffle and enclosures.

I am also working on finishing the trunk. This consists of:
Mounting the amplifiers

Fabricating six carpeted panels to make the trunk look nice
Completing the trunk wiring

I have finished the Pod baffles, just don't have a pic of that yet.

I am trying to get the plywood to match the curve of the trunk lid by getting it wet then gettign it hot. So far so good.

Picture #1: Mock-up of Driver side Kick-Enclosure
Picture #2: Mock-up of Passenger side Kick-Enclosure
Picture #3: Bending plywood for trunk panels
Picture #4: Bending plywood for trunk panels
Picture #5: The curve I am trying to match with the plywood
Picture #6: Trunk base panel finished


I will be working on the remaining 3 trunk panels tonight and tomorrow. I will be mouting and wiring the amplifiers after that. Then on to fiberglassing the kick-pod backing.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

Finished the trunk last week.
Got the amplifiers mounted and wired up behind the trunk panels.

Remaining work to do:
1 Sub enclosure
2 Kick Pods
3 Engine compartment wiring
4 Install head unit in dash
5 Install and connect processor

I began working on the sub and pod enclosures over the weekend.

Finished the baffle plates for kick panels
Removed the heater core ( to make room for the sub enclosure )

Sub Enclosure:
I am thinking of using parts of the heater core as a base for my sub enclosure. I am thinking of making the box in 2 pieces, one that bolts to the firewall from the inside and one that bolds to the firewall from the engine compartment.

I will have 4 backs that can mount from the engine comartment side : Sealed small, sealed large, aperiodic, and infinite baffle. These backs will take the place of the heater motor assembly.

The inside piece will hold the 10" IDQ V2 and mount to the firewall as well. There are already hefty rubber seals on the firewall for the heater, so I will re-use those.

The 10" sub will be aimed towards the firewall at a wedge, which will be attached to the firewall in front of the speaker. This should help minimize sub location detection.

Kick Pods:
The kick enclosures will be pretty straight forward. The enclosures will house my tweeter, mid, and midbass. I will be installing a variovent on the mid-bass portion of the enclosure. There will be a flange under the vehicle when I can bolt on a plate to seal it up, if I choose.

Pictures:
1.) Trunk driver side panels
2.) " "
3.) " "
4.) Heater core out of the car (yes , its huge)
5.) View of the heater core mounting from inside the car
6.) View of the heater core mounting in the engine compartment.


I will attach a few pics of the finished trunk later today.

This week I will begin fabrication on the kick enclosures and sub enclosure.


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

Awesome. I'm glad to see more updates on the car. Looking forward to pics and details on the kick pods when they are done. I'm working on a similar setup.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

Trunk finished (but not clean, lol)

Here are a few pics of the trunk.

Just have a few L brackets to add on the back panel to fix a minor alignment issue and its good.


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

Fresh carpet looks great, nice job !


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

This week I finished up stripping the underside of the dash.
I had to remove the vintage air as well.
The passenger side of the dash is now wide open.

If i just mount the air conditioner a few inches forward it will give me clearance for the Sub enclosure, but I won't worry about that til the sub enclosure is finished.

My big choice now is do I . . . .:
a.) fire the sub directly at the firewall at a wedge shape
b.) mount the sub on the passenger side firing off the firewall, but aimed towards the driver's side

Any suggestions ( BASED ON EXPERIENCE ) would be fantastic.

I am working on the aluminum plate for the enclosure back to mount to, but dont have any pics of it yet.

Picture #1 : DRAWING - My vision of one possibility for the sub box
Picture #2: Underside of the dash ( lots of room for stuff )
Picture #3: Underside of the dash ( note you can see clear through the 6x9 speaker grill in dash)
Picture #4: Passenger side kick panel - Prepped to begin fiberglass

This week I am finishing the aluminum plate for the firewall and starting on passenger kick fiberglass.


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## roduk (Sep 19, 2008)

Amazing install and car. I Love it. If you haven't already, try the baffles with the tweeters at the bottom and then the mids out as wide as possible. Have you tried this already? Usually sounds better as the tweets will reflect off less of the under dash area and more down into the carpet, less early reflections = more precise imaging..

With regards the sub install, I have mine in the passenger footwell, aimed at the centre of the car, just seemed to sound best angled that way.


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## HisHeirness23 (Jul 28, 2009)

Awesome build thread! I have a 1966 Chevy Nova that I am working on. Looking forward to all the custom work you'll be doing!


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

UPDATE:

I have been neglecting keeping this thread up to date, but I have been taking pictures as I work. I will spend today and tomorrow updating the post.
I will divide up the work done over a few posts. Here is a summary of what I have been doing and what is left.

I expect to have the stereo finished within *2 weeks *(finally)


NEW MECHANICAL WORK DONE:
Front Suspention and brakes replaced (spindles, springs, calipers, and brakes)
Fuel Pump, Fuel Line, and Filter replaced
Carburetor Rebuilt and Re-jetted
Heads disasembled and inspected
Converted fuel/vacuum hoses to AN-style fitting braided stainless hoses
New high CFM fan
New thermostat and gasket
New Air Cleaner
New Mirror, door handles, and window cranks
Added carburetor heat insulator
New expansion tank

STEREO WORK DONE:
Finished wiring on amplifiers
Modified dash for radio
Sub enclosure fabrication
Designed new dash panel
Fabricated actuator for parking brake


MECHANICAL WORK TO DO:
New Drive line ( Wednesday )
New back deck ( Thursday )
Electric wiper motor
Rear Suspention ( springs, bushings, shackles, and sway bar )
Paint touch up
Convert Radiator, A/C, and expansion hoses to AN-style braided stainless


STEREO WORK TO DO:
Install processor
Install head unit
Connect fuse block to breaker/battery
Finish kick-pods
Minor cosmetics on trunk panels
Deaden firewall
Install electric actuator for barking brake


----------



## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

MECHANICAL WORK:

Painted engine compartment
Changed out hoses to braided/stainless tubing
New matching air cleaner
Checked heads and adjusted valve lash
New front and rear shocks

Pic #4 is the preliminary drawing for the fuel system


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

FUEL DELIVERY SYSTEM: ( not stereo related )

Problems:
Pump was mounted 10" above tank outlet ( not so good for priming )
Pump was mounted 2" above an exhaust pipe ( not so good for not vapor-locking)
Pump was a cheapo and noisy as hell
Tubing was too small diameter for the horsepower
Fuel temp at the bowl on a hot day was 160 degrees (now its at 120)

Installed an Edelbrock #1791 pump, new filter, hoses, and 3/8" 316 stainless steel tubing from the tank to the carb. Also installed an insulated spacer under the carb.

Also installed a valve to the tank drain. The fuel pickup on the tank is about 2" off the bottom, so when you "run out of gas" you still have over 3 gallons in the tank. So if I ever run out of gas I can open a valve to the lower tank draw and have another 30-40 miles.

The reason you don't want to use this normally is because of water and dirt, but I also have a spot to drain the dirt/water before opening the valve to the pump, if you have to use the reserve feature.

For those of you who have never worked with thick wall 3/8" tubing . . .it's hard as hell to run. Every bend has to be done with a bender, not by hand.
I think the final bend count was somewhere around 60-70. I did the line in 3 pieces connceted by unions. It took about 12 hours just to do the line

I made a custom bracket to mount the fuel pump. I also have a bunch of custom hoses and fittings made so that the connections are all AN-6 or Swagelok 3/8 tube.

Picture #1: Original fuel pump mounting ( notice exhaust and height)
Picture #2: Fabricated bracket for fuel pump
Picture #3: An example of some of the ridiculously tight clearances
Picture #4: The first run from the pump over the axle
Picture #5: The longer run that goes along the frame rails
Picture #6: Carburetor connection
Picture #7: Hose connection to tubing
Picture #8: Running the 3/8" tube between the frame and body
Picture #9: The long run along the frame ( look at the pretty offsets)
Picture #10: The pump and tubing to the tank connections and valves


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

SUBWOOFER ENCLOSURE DESIGN:

Design:

10" Sub in dash
Fires facing firewall
Mounted to firewall flange
Enclosure vents to engine compartment.
Aluminum Plate in engine compartment has mountings for different types of enclosure backs

Here are the initial drawings


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

SUBWOOFER ENCLOSURE FABRICATION:

I brought in some professional help to get the enclosure just right.

The idea is to use the countours from the glove box on the visible part of the enclosure. When its installed it will look like an extension of the glovebox.
The enclosure will be painted the same color as the interior.

Here is the first 2 days of work pics.

Notice how he used the carboard inserts traced from the glovebox to hold the shape as it wraps around. I was amazed at how quickly and accurately he worked. The integration into the car is also amazing.

I will try to grab a pic of it in the car at lunch and get it posted.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

PARKING BRAKE AUTOMATION:

The pull handle for the parking brake is going to be in the way of the driver side kick pod.

I bought a 4" 12V linear actuator, a few limit switches, lights, and rocker switches and made a modular assembly that will bolt to the bottom of my dash to replace the pull handle.

Pic #1: Original drawing of the system
Pic #2: Close up of the tracks and limit switches - The switches don't stop the actuator, thats all done internally. The switches are for indication that the brake is either set or released. Red light is set, green light is released.
Pic #3: The whole system including wiring ( this plate will bolt to the underside of my dash
Pic #4: I am removing the 3 metal panels on the dash that hold the heater controls, stereo, and clock. I am replacing it with an 18" long panel made of stainless that will house the radio, brake switches, a differential lock-up switch, the original clock, and a volt-meter. I will have it water-cut, then engraved and polished so it looks like chrome.
Pic #5: Picture of where the panel will mount. The heater controls and clock housing will be removed. The old clock will be reused in the new panel.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

WIRING DIAGRAMS:

These are the original wiring diagrams. Most of this is pretty accurate.
I will post pictures of the wiring later today.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

TRUNK WIRING:

Wiring to the amplifiers is all finished up. Here are the pics. This will all be covered by trunk panels.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

MORE PROGRESS ON THE SUB ENCLOSURE:

This is where it is currently. Should be done today, ready to be blocked.


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## Nothingface5384 (Jul 8, 2013)

awsome, glad to see another vintage car getting a REAL system install


just read through all 4 pages today, enjoyed it


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## Voorttimies (Mar 19, 2011)

Great job! Love the old classics. The sub enclosure is the thing I'm most looking forward to see finished - not that the rest of it would be uninteresting.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

Sub enclosure is finished and mounted.

It will just have to be blocked and painted now.

Here is a few shots of how it looks in the car.

It's hard to see the contours in these pictures, but it matches the glovebox nicely.

I attached my punch list, which details the remaining work and costs

It's nice to be able to get to the "punch list" stage.

Looks to be about 30 hours of work for me to finish up. Taking into account how things normally work out . . . lets call that 60. Thats just to get sound coming from the speakers, the tuning will be a whole other ball of earwax . . . well, it was funny to me . . . .see . . . you tune with your ears so . . . . nevermind.

Tonight, if my motivational juices keep flowing i will install my new back deck panel then start cleaning up the under-dash wiring in preparation for installing the parking brake actuator.

Once the wiring is cleaned up I have to finish removing the hi-beam switch and parking brake and relocating them. My fabricator starts on the pods Aug 17th and 18th so I have until then to get it done.

I have to get my dash panel fabricated soon so I can get the head unit, voltmeter, clock, and parking brake controls installed into it.

I also have to add three more mouting brackets for the trunk panels, which is a HUGE pain in the ass. I am using wood blocks with thread inserts in them to mount the panels to the body of the car. The issue i have been having is getting the epoxy to hold against the sheet metal. I will do a better job of surface prep this time. Get it to bare metal then hit it with acetone and see if I have better luck.


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

love the car the older cars are so much fun to work on!!! if that thing where bagged i might just cream my pants


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## BigRed (Aug 12, 2007)

Lookin good Todd!!


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## English audiophile (Sep 25, 2010)

I will show this to my dad who will be excited to see that there are people still loving and preserving this car as he had one before I was even born when he lived in Kenya.


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

Love the progress sir, keep it up! 

I love the innovation with the sub box being a modular design able to suit different subwoofers and applications.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

As I get closer to being done I am spending a larger and larger percentage of my time working. My wife claims she hasn't seen me in 9 days, which is BS, she sees me when I come inside to get more beer.

I am running low on picture space. Upgrading my account got me 2 more MB? lol ! You'd think hard drives were made of gold. Anywho . . .

MANHOURS:
MY TOTAL HOURS INTO MECHANICAL/STEREO SO FAR : 205
TOTAL HOURS WORKED BY CONTRACTORS SO FAR: 35

PACKAGE TRAY ( back deck )

The old package tray had 6x9's in it, so it ended up in the garbage bin. I got some nice fabric for cheap ($8) and covered the tray, even though it's supposed to be painted.

ISSUES:
#1 the package tray was about 1/2" too wide ( Realized this AFTER I upholstered it, dur de dur, Fitment check on aisle 4 please ! )
#2 The tray didnt want to sit flat, so I ended up shimming the underside and screwing down the front edge, which necessitated me getting an aluminum molding piece to cover the screws. Since its a resto-mod, no one can whine.
#3 I am afraid of the tray rattling so I put a few layers of fabric between the masonite and the metal below.
#4 The fabric was a bit wrinkled because i stored it like a dumbass, but I managed to get the wrinkles out with my handy wooden roller and a heat gun.

Pic #1: Before Picture
Pic #2: Wrapped and de-wrinkled
Pic #3: Installed (note my non-stock moulding . . I think it looks good, it looks better in person that it does in the pic)
Pic #4: The back deck matches the silver paint pretty well, in the sun


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

STRIPPING THE DASH DOWN:

I had to take apart the dash and start cleaning up wiring, removing ducts, and getting stuff out of the way of the front of the sub.

I am also making room for extra brackets for the sub box and brackets to hold the breakers and terminals.

After removing all the dash mouldings I sealed the top of the dash so that sound wouldnt be coming up through the old defroster vent holes.
I also sealed the air vents going from the cowl to the interior and the vents going from the engine bay to the cowl.

I will wait to finish sealing the interior to engine bay until I have got the enclosures and wiring all finished.

Pic #1: The black ducting was removed and the oval vents sealed with masonite and damplifier.
Pic #2: Mounted the terminals and breakers in the glove box for easy wiring/breaker access. I am making a cover so only the resets are visible.
Pic #3: Sealed the fresh air vents with masonite and damplifier.
Pic #4: A great view of the sub enclosure through the dash
Pic #5: Some heavy duty bracing for the sub enclosure. The bracket mounts along the bottom edge of the dash
Pic #6: A view of the sub through the 6x9 hole in the center of the dash. Whether I use this for a center channel or a tablet is undecided and will depend on how my center imaging does.


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

Sweet! I don't think you should have too much trouble with getting a center image if you're doing kicks and dont have a giant console/transmission hump blocking all of the sound.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

POWER WIRING SCHEMATICS:

Now that I have the dash stripped I have a better idea how the wiring will be.
Based on what I know now I have done a quick schematic. I am sure things will change. . . .

My plan is to get the power distribution wire run to ALL components next. This includes replacing the fuel pump power wire, under the car, with some armored cable.

I am hoping I didn't forget anything. Tonight I will be finishing up power distribution wiring hopefully.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

BigRed said:


> Lookin good Todd!!


You need a new screen name . . . "Medium White" . . ?

Also, a new sig " Go door, if is too much of a pain in the floor !"

And . . a new pic . . hehe


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## BigRed (Aug 12, 2007)

White ninja


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

BREAKER WIRING:

Last night I did the breaker and power distribution wiring for the front of the car. All the wires are terminated, zip-tied, cut to length and labeled. I will just have to connect the ends once all the components are in place.

I wired up the harness outside of the car, then bolted the terminal strip back into the glovebox. This made doing the wiring much quicker and easier.

Before I can make my wire connections in the front of the car, I need to get the stainless steel plate made, which will hold the actuator controls, voltmeter, clock, and stereo. I called the shop today and they tell me it will be ready on Monday or Tuesday. They are water-cutting 10 gauge 316 SS(1/8") to make my panel.

Pic #1: Finished wiring harness with drawing

Pic #2: Trunk Wiring - I still need to add 2 breakers and make up a harness for the lights, fans, and processor. I will get to that after work today.

Pic #3: Pod mock up - Notice that the line across the top of the pod is paralell to the bottom of the dash. From the passenger side the line stays paralell also, which is cool. I just want to widen the baffle towards the bottom right of the midbass so that the right edge is paralell with the door. Overall I think the pods and sub enclosure are going to fit in VERY nicely. Although I won't start fabrication on pods until the 17th, I am trying to do what I can to get the layout set.

Pic #4: Final version of the plate to mount on the dash - It will house 2 lights, 2 switches, a voltmeter, my head unit, and the original clock. Once it is engraved and polished it will look like chrome.

Pic #5: Where the plate will mount on the dash. The red outline shows the outline of the plate once its installed.

I can't do too much of the front wiring until I get the plate so I will concentrate on finishing the rear wiring and engine compartment wiring for now.

NEXT WORK TO BE DONE: ( This should keep me busy throughout the weekend, since I have to work 8 hours on both Saturday and Sunday)

TRUNK WIRING:
Add two breakers
Run wiring for lights, fans, and processor


TRUNK FABRICATION:
Install 4 more supports and two L brackets for wood paneling in trunk


ENGINE COOLING FAN:
Run positive lead with armored cable
Replace old fan with new 3000 CFM fan
Remove, clean, and polish radiator
Replace water neck gasket and thermostat

FUEL PUMP:
Replace old wiring with armored cable
Double-check all tube connections for leaks (now that I have been driving the car for a week or so with the new tubing)


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## MBorgardt (Sep 25, 2011)

Tod,

No editing of the kick panels!! or we will have to get new wood panels....


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## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

JayinMI said:


> with Nas? LOL
> 
> Jay


THAT is hilarious!!!


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## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

SoCalSQ said:


> Pic #4: A great view of the sub enclosure through the dash
> Pic #6: A view of the sub through the 6x9 hole in the center of the dash.


I love the stealthness of the sub underneath the dash...talk about upfront bass imaging!


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

MBorgardt said:


> Tod,
> 
> No editing of the kick panels!! or we will have to get new wood panels....


I have 4  

LABELING:

Got a lot accomplished at work today . . . . . on my install , that is.

1.) Made Labels for all the wires and breakers
2.) Finalized the drawing for my 316 stainless dash panel and emailed it to the machine shop
3.) Ordered my aluminum grating for the aperiodic enclosure backs
4.) Made a cardboard mock up of the panel according to my drawing and test fit it, just to be extra sure. The panel is costing $85 to have made, $15 to get polished, and $15 for engraving, so I don't want to mess up.

Measure 5 times, made a model, then . . . . cut once !


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

I was persuaded to take my wife out to a nice dinner due to threats directed at my car, so no work Friday night.

On a related note:

MANHOURS:
MY TOTAL HOURS INTO MECHANICAL/STEREO SO FAR : 233
TOTAL HOURS WORKED BY CONTRACTORS SO FAR: 35



Saturday I got the wiring done on the right side of the dash, ran cables into the engine compartment, labeled everything, and cut a piece out of the car that was interfering with the sub enclosure and wiring.

Picture #1: While I was under the dash I noticed the accelerator pedal is mounted about an inch too low so it doesn't line up with the bulkhead fitting correctly. Over time it has cut a slot in the aluminum fitting. There is another hour or two added onto the work !

Picture #2:The stub to connect a drain hose is in the way of wiring and the sub enclosure. I already sealed the compartment from the top AND added a drain hole inside the engine compartment, just incase. So I am cutting this off and sealing it up.

Picture #3: Firewall penetrations into the fender well ( this is not visible, I had to hold the camera down into the fender to get the shot )

Picture #4: Wiring under the passenger side of the dash. You can see the hole where the sub mounts to the left.

Picture #5: Breakers and terminal strips for front wiring. got all the labels on and everything is tied down. I still have to tie in the head unit, fan, pump, voltmeter, and actuator, but the wiring is run to where they will be and labeled.

Picture #6: A cardboard model of the stainless dash panel. I made this from my drawing's dimensions, just to be sure my drawing made sense before Sheet Metal Specialists gets started on my part, Monday. The dimensions are critical in order to get the head unit and clock to match up correctly to the dash. Also the radiuses on the voltmeter and clock should be close, but I anticipate some quality time with a rat tail file to get it perfect.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

PARKING BRAKE FUN:

Last night I removed the factory parking brake, cut down the actuator mounting bracket so its smaller, and did a few test fittings so I could get dimensions on mounting brackets.

Unfortuantely I can't maneuver the bracket into position with the actuator attached to it, so I will have to figure out now to mount the bracket in such a way that I will be able to attach the actuator after the fact. This is further complicated by the fact that the screws to mount the actuator bracket will be up under the dash and hard to get to, so I might just thread the holes in the mounting plate so that I don't have to try to get nuts on it from the back.

Picture #1: The parking brake bracket that mounts to the firewall was put on BEFORE the inner AND outer fenders . . . so I drilled two holes in the wheel well so that I could get my socket onto the nuts to take it off, without removing massive amounts of body panels. I will be reusing part of the bracket for my actuator, so I need to make access to the nuts/bolts easy, figuring how many test fittings I will be going through.

Picture #2: The finished actuator mounting bracket after I cut away all the unneeded material. Notice I left a few tabs for mounting. It look spretty now, but after a few test fittings I am sure it'll be scratched to hell, so best to take a picture now.

Picture #3:The original parking brake next to the new bracket for the actuator. That parking brake took me 2 hours to remove. If you lok close you can see where I unsucessfully tried to cut it in half with a sawzall. The inner metal piece seems to be made of some type of hardened unobtanium alloy, however and wouldn't budge, so I ended up breaking the tack welds that hold the curved piece to the rod with a hammer and chisel to get it out, even after the four mounting bolts are out. According to the manual you are supposed to remove the lower dash or the steering column to get it out. F that.

NOTE: You can see where they welded the '73 Camaro front end onto the Fairlane frame in pic #1

I am fabricating the 3 mounting brackets for the actuator bracket today.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

MORE PARKING BRAKE FUN:

I cut all the pieces off the old parking brake assembly that I needed. The pulley assembly and the end of the pull rod which grabs the cable were the only two pieces that I need.

After a few test fittings I came up with some ideas for bracketing.

Picture #1: The pulley assembly and the rod end that I need to connect to the cable. The silver cylinder that holds the cable will get a hole drilled and tapped in the cut end for a bracket to connect it to the actuator. I will put a circular clamp around the end to prevent the ball at the end of the cable from slipping out of the holder.

Picture #2: A drawing of how I plan to do the brackets

Picture #3: The two brackets to hold the plate finished, just need holes drilled and tapped. 

I just need to make the bracket to hold the rod end to the bolt in the end of my actuator arm, then I can get it all assembled.


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## quietfly (Mar 23, 2011)

WOW this is an incredible build thread i just finished it from beginning to end. I look foward to seeing it all done, (and unharmed by your wife)


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

PARKING BRAKE VICTORY !

Got the actuator mouting bracket AND actuator mounted last night. I have done the bracketing so that I can install the mounting plate and actuator as an assembly instead of putting the actuator on after the fact.

Also made sure I could access all the screws so that if i did want to just remove the actuator I can.

Picture #1: Close up of the two firewall mounting brackets. This is all so far under the dash you can't see it when seated. You can see how easy it will be to couple the actuator to the cable.

Picture #2: Drawing of the mounting tab I will have welded onto the rod end. Once this is in place it should all bolt together easily. The welder is on vacation til tomorrow, so that will have to wait.

I still have to finish up the last bracket to hold the back end to the dash. I already have a bracket made, but I want it to fit a bit better, so I am making another one. 

Once everthing is assembled I will add a metal shroud to cover the moving parts so no ones toes get caught in the moving parts.

I can't do the wiring until I get the stainless panel for the dash, which should be ready later today, so the timing should be good.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

MAN-HOUR COUNT: 248 
IBUPROFIN COUNT: 2,349
TEAR COUNT: 52
BLOOD SPILLED: 3-4 drops
WIFE COMPLAINTS: 73


FINISHING UP ACTUATOR DETAILS:

I got the welder at work to make my final piece to tie the cable to the actuator. I just welded a small tab onto the original pull rod end, as I had planned to do.

I got the bracket installed that holds the back of the actuator to the dashbaord as well.

Once I get my panel I can do the wiring and test it out. I will pick up the panel today and hopefully get wiring on the front of the car finished over the weekend.

MORE WORK ON THE SUB ENCLOSURE:

I had the welder at work attach aluminum grating to my backing plate, which mounts to the engine side of the firewall. I also cut a gasket for the plate to seal it against the firewall.

Picture #1: My new engine arrived today. I will try to get it installed over the weekend, this should get me up to about 58,500 HP ! I may have to just strap it to the roof. Alright . . .it's actually our new tubine at the power plant, we're installing this weekend . . .but it's tempting !

Picture #2: The finished connector to go from the cable to actuator. Note the beefy welds. It is all made of 316 stainless steel as well.

Picture #3: The rear mounting braacket for the actuator mouting plate. The hood release bracket will use the same bolt and mount below it. THe hood release will be out of the way of the pods though.

Picture #4: Once I got the brackets and connector installed this is how it looks. I will pull it all apart one more time so that I can paint everything and get the alignments just right during re-assembly. I will make a small modification to the moutning plate, as well, to provide more support for the actuator shaft.

Picture #5: The finished sub enclosure backing. I had the welder weld the grating in then I went around the outside with a big bead of JB weld. I sanded it flat so that it will seal up against the firewall then painted it to match the engine compartment, since it will be visible.

Picture #6: The gasket I made to seal the plate to the firewall. I will glue it to the aluminum plate before installation.


NEXT STEPS:
Dash panel install 
My fabricator starts on the kick-pods on Saturday
Dash wiring terminations
Actuator Test


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

DASH PANEL:

The panel is back from the fabricators. They did a very nice job. Just a few areas to file down. 

I am dropping it at the engraver's today. Hopefully they will finish it today so I can get the mounting screws welded onto the back on Monday. From there it will go to the polisher who assures me it will look chrome when he gets done with it.

Can't finish up the dash wiring until it is installed, so I will work on switching out the cooling fan and re-wiring the fuel pump with armored cable.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

Took me a few days to find an engraver who can do a deep cut. The person I had set up to do it told me he could not engrave in stainless steel deep enough to do a paint fill.

The engraver is making a custom font to match the one Ford used on the other dash trim pieces.

Dropped the panel off at the engravertoday at lunch. He will be doing a deep cut so we can later paint fill the letters. 

Steps to doing the panel:
1.) Fabrication - Laser cut (not water as I thought)
2.) Fitment details- Cut slot for clock time adjuster and filed corner off to match dash panels
3.) Engraving
4.) Weld on stainless studs for clock mounting
5.) Polishing
6.) Paint fill

Havent worked on the car in a few days due to working 14 hours a day at work finishing up our turbine change out. I will rest up tonight then get back to it tomorrow.

Rescheduled fabricator for Wednesday night to begin on the kicks.


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

Sweet, can't wait to see those kicks finished !


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

captainobvious said:


> Sweet, can't wait to see those kicks finished !


You and me both !!


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

KICK POD FABRICATION STARTS:

The back molds for the kicks got done last night. I let them dry over night and pulled them out today. The front baffle plates are getting worked on at another shop. Just getting them all shaped the same, getting thread inserts in, and stuff like that.

The front baffle of the kick will bolt onto another baffle behind it so that I can easily change speaker types/manufacturers/configurations easily. I included pics of the first steps of fabrication.

DASH PANEL:

I checked a sample of the engraved letters on a piece of stainless, then went over the final alignment of the letters with the engraver. He is cutting the letters today and I will pick it up tomorrow morning. I will then have to grind a spot for the clock time adjuster over the weekend. The 4 mounting studs that will hold the plate to the dash and the clock to the plate will gets welded on the back on Monday, if all goes well.

PIC #1: Drivers side mold out of car
PIC #2: Passenger side mold, still in the car


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

ENGRAVER FAILURE:

My all-star engraver had a bad day and ruined my panel. Champion all star engraver will be paying to have a new panel made. Hopefully they can get it done this week.

The fabricator is working on my pods in his shop. I will post some pictures once i get them.

In the meantime, I am held up on the install until I either get pods or a dash panel.

So I decided to deal with the "overheating on a hot day" issue. Having your car puke coolant can distract from the listening experience !

OVERHEATING STUFF:
1.) Pulled and pressure tested radiator
2.) Installed hi-flow thermostat
3.) Replaced warped water neck and O-ring
4.) Installed new 20 lb. radiator cap
5.) Added wetting solution to water and coolant mix ( went to 85% water)
6.) Removed and wrapped headers with fiberglass insulator
7.) Removed carburetor and installed an insulation spacer ( carb was at 170 degrees)
8.) Installed 3200 CFM electric fan (replaced old 1200 CFM)
9.) Replaced spark plugs with lower heat range shorty plugs (since you can only do it with the headers off !)
10.) Re-tuned to run a bit leaner at idle,moved timing to +16 Degrees, and adjusted idle down to 450

The net result is 220 degrees after idling in 90 degree heat at 60% humidity for 1/2 hour. I will call that a win. Before all the work it would start heading north of 230 within 5 minutes or so at idle, when not moving.

I still have 2" of space to put in a thicker radiator, so a custom ultra-thick radiator might be in my not so distant future.

Pic #1: Engraving fail ( "SET" is too high and "VOLTS" is off to the right)
Pic #2: Picture of cooling stuff done

I am waiting on either my panel or pods so I can continue. I will probably work on some trunk cosmetics til I get something else to keep me busy.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

Sent a slightly revised drawing back to Sheet Metal Specialists in Corona. They are making a new panel to replace the one my engraver bought.

The work they did on the last panel was flawless, so I expect another masterpiece. Hopefully I can get it this week.


APERIODIC MEMBRANES:

Anyone have a suggestion for a material to use for my membrane. So far I have heard dense fiberglass or heater blankets works well. I want something that will hold together pretty well. Please give me product ID numbers, if you have them. My opening is 60% of the speaker surface area.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

OVERHEATING UPDATE:

Can't get the car to get over 222 Deg. F sitting at idle at 70% humidity in 105 Degree heat, I call that a win. I give most of the credit to the header wrap, wetting agent, and a better tune. I still want to change my fan switch from 200 to 180 Deg, turn on.


DASH PANEL UPDATE:

The engraver is an . . . . well let's not go there. Apparently, when you OWE somebody money to do a job ( because he screwed up my $90 piece and had to pay for the new one ) your motivation to complete the job goes waaaay down. He tells me that it was too hot for the last 5 days for him to engrave my letters. I am about to have the sheet metal fabricators make me a Katana . . . 

PODS UPDATE: 

Pods are almost done. I will post pictures in the next 1-2 days

SUB ENCLOSURE UPDATE:

Sub enclosure has had bracing added and is ready for paint. I will get pics up on this tomorrow.

UNDER DASH PREP:

I put down a few layers of Damplifier Pro in the footwells, on the firewall, and all the way up to the underside of the dash. I wanted to wait until the construction was done up front until I finished the firewall and dash.

Pic #1 #2 and #3 : The firewall, dash, and footwells with Damplifier going down. I want the keep the outer layer Damplifier Pro, no foam or luxury liner, since the firewall will basically be a splash-plate for the sub. Pics were taken between layers.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

APERIODIC MEMBRANE:

After a lot of research and talking to people I have decided to use Owens Corning SelectSound Black Acoustic Board Insulation for my mat.

It comes in 1" and 2" thickness and has an acoustically transparent black glass fiber mat on one side. This should prevent fibers from blowing out through the grating.

It comes in 3.0 lb/ft. density.

The "coarse adjustment" for tuning the enclosure will be adjusting the mat thickness, by removing material.

The "fine adjustment" for tuning the enclosure will be the tightness of the retaining nuts. The tighter you compress the fibers the less air they will let through. Even though it makes the mat thinner, it also makes the fibers closer together.

I was cautioned not to use cotton because the fibers are inconsistent, while fiberglass fibers will give the same resistance across the entire mat.


HOW TO GET IT FOR FREE:

The smallest size they sell it in is 4' x 8' . Thats if you can get someone to break up a box. So, if I bought just one sheet I would pay about $83 (without shipping) for the whole piece.

I called a local Owens Corning distributor and asked him if he could send me a sample and he is sending out a 12"x12" sample of the 2" thick mat free of charge.

He did ask what kind of quantities I was interested in buying and I just told him the truth that it was a 1-off car audio enclosure and I would not be buying more and he still offered to send it.

DASH PANEL:

Yesterday Sheet Metal Specialists welded the mounting studs on the panel free of charge, with a handy-dandy stud gun. I brought the plate straight over to the polisher yesterday and it should be COMPLETE later today.

After my month long struggle to get this dumb plate done I think I will just sit and fondle it for a while, then post some pictures (of the plate not the fondling).


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

KICK POD FABRICATION:

PIC # 1: Baffle mounting plate and back-mold after we got the angles we wanted.

PIC #2: Kitty pattern fleece and some resin added 

PIC #3: A blue dummy baffle plate that will stay on 'til the fabrication is done. Incidentally the 1" mahogany baffle that we will eventually use will bolt to the 1" mahogany mounting plate.

PIC #4: A coating of some type of goo, that appears to have fiberglass fibers in it.

PIC #5: Filler

We will be reinforcing the pods from the inside as well.
The pods are chambered separating the midrange from the mid-bass.

POD ENCLOSURE TYPE:

I am seriously considering an AP set-up for the mid-bass.
I could vent into the fender wells, which are kind of a continuation of the engine compartment, pretty easily.
I am thinking of using two 4" exhaust flanges to hold the AP membranes. If it doesn't work out I can always just bolt on a plate. It is all very hidden back there. You really can't see into that well area without leaning into the engine compartment upside down.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

PODS:

Pods are ready to get bolted into the car. They have protective blanks in there in place of baffles for now to protect the edges.

The plan is to weld 3 studs to the car to hold them down. Two of he studs will poke up through the carpet and one will be on the side. Also need to get wiring run into the pods.

The pods will be covered with black vinyl to match the door panels. i will be going down to A-1 Foam and Fabric some time this week to match it up.

SUB ENCLOSURE:

Sub has had many layers of fiberglass/resin added to the inside and has a brace now. It is ready to be painted the same color as the car/dash.

The only other part of the sub enclosure that needs to get done is the back retiner for the AP membrane. I will try to get that welded up this week.

DASH PANEL:

It is finally done. Now I can bolt it in and get the wiring finished up in the front of the car. It looks Frickin incredible. Hope to get it bolted in tonight.

PIC 1- Sub enclosure
PIC 2- Pods in the car 
PIC 3- Passenger pod
PIC 4- Driver pod ( enough room to rest my left foot between brake and pod!) 
PIC 5- Dash panel - The polished 316 SS looks just like chrome and no chipping worries. The paint fill came out awesome. The font was custom made to match the one Ford used on the dash. The polisher also polished the sides, since they're visible. can't wait to see it bolted on.


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## BigRed (Aug 12, 2007)

I thought the kickpanels were going to be bigger...how disappointing...j/k 

lookin good!


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

Haha Jim 

Yep, coming along really nicely!


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

A better view of the pods with the Covers off.


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## sydmonster (Oct 5, 2009)

WOW!

I've been lurking/looking at this thread for a while. The work your putting into this is great and interesting! Awesome!!


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

BigRed said:


> I thought the kickpanels were going to be bigger...how disappointing...j/k
> 
> lookin good!


Hey, I still have room to rest my left foot next to the gas pedal ! I call that a win.

I am very happy with the positioning of my speakers actually. I think tuning will be a breeze compared to what I normally have to deal with in car installs.

Speakers are on the same axis, the sub is up front, path lengths are super close . . .unless some strange sonic anomaly crops up ( having to do with the sub firing somewhat at the left pod, i would guess ) I figure things will be very tuneable with a minimum of adjustment.

EQUIPMENT CHANGES:

Since I havent really adressed changes in the install since the beginning of the log I will do that now.

1.) Center chanel - For now I will NOT be using a center channel. To do this correctly I would need to change head units, add an amplifier, an enclsoure and a speaker. I will deal with this later when I see how the system images. If I have issues with height or a solid center I may conisder it.

2.) Speaker choice - I have changed my mind on speakers. Mainly because I could almost buy all my speakers with what I got for my 430's.

Tweeter: Hiquphon OW2x ( hand selected and matched for higher freq response)
Midrange: Scan Illuminator 4" ( also trying dome mid )
Midbass: Scan Illuminator 7" model 4741
Subwoofer: Image Dynamics IDQ10 V3 D2

3.) Processor - I have decided to go with a RANE 88 instead of the Arc PS8.

Attached is a graph showing how those drivers look when combined with 12 dB/oct. crossover slopes, based on published freq. response curves. The midbass driver is attenuated +2.5 dB and the sub is +1 dB


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

TRANSMISSION TROUBLES:

Well, any of you who know me, know that there is one word i never like to say out loud . ."Transmission". My last car went through 3 5R55W transmissions, 3 torque converters, 2 4R70W transmissions, an input shaft, and a stator support. Although I got it to work in the end, I had to break a lot of stuff to figure out how to do it (not to mention using TWO fan-assisted coolers).

So . . .the Ford is slipping in 3rd and 4th, which is the most common failure on a 700R4. The person who installed the engine/trans welded a crossemember to the frame to support the transmission, so you need to cut out the bracket to remove the transmission and/or engine.

So . . . I will cut out the bracket with a porta-ban and fabricate a new one out of 2"x4" C channel that will bolt onto the frame. Once that is done I will actually be able to remove the tranmission and re-install it.

My theory is that there is really no point to having a great stereo in a car that can't drive anywhere, so I will be working on this for the time being.


PS No ! I can't put in a manual, my damn pods are in the way, LOL


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

LSx swap and a 4L80E would probably solve it. lol

Nice work, those pods are huge, tho!

Jay


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

JayinMI said:


> LSx swap and a 4L80E would probably solve it. lol
> 
> Nice work, those pods are huge, tho!
> 
> Jay


They arent so big when youre sitting in the car. Its a price I will happily pay, though, for having all my drivers on a common baffle.


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## wdemetrius1 (Aug 16, 2007)

Wow great build!!! I just read through the entire log.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

Found a shop in Riverside that specializes in GM engine/transmissions.


The 700R4 transmission is getting rebuilt with the following upgrade parts:
Corvette servo
Alto carbon fiber bands with thicker hardened anchors
Alto Brown Clutches
Replace 6 brown with 8 Red Eagle clutches and Kolene steels in 3-4 drum
Hydraulic Lock-up valve
1/2" Pressure Valve
Transco shift Kit
Beast reaction shell

The shop is also fabricating a custom transmission mount to replace its flimsy predecessor.

They are also fabricating a new drive shaft (3/4" longer) and replacing the universals.

They are charging me $1220 for all of this work, INCLUDING THE $450 WORTH OF UPGRADED TRANSMISSION INTERNALS.

This also comes with a 1 year warranty that included R&R.

I will be posting the shop's name and information once I get the car back and see how it runs.

For any of you who know anything about cars and/or transmissions I am getting an absolute steal.

These guys ONLY work on GM engines and transmissions.

After talking to the owner for an hour I have full confidence the car will run great.

I am aware as to the disagreement regarding how to label the space in my glass not containing water.


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## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

Booo on the Chevy drivetrain in a Ford car. I HATE THAT. You should have started with a 57 Chevy. I don't remember what motor you are putting in, but a Ford AOD 4 speed atx could b made to handle mega power with upgraded output shaft and bands.


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## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

Ford AOD Transmissions - Hot Rod Magazine


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## Instaburn (Aug 22, 2013)

I hear Diffworks is out that way... I hear good things about them.

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## Instaburn (Aug 22, 2013)

http://www.diffworksinc.com/contact.htm

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## avanti1960 (Sep 24, 2011)

SoCalSQ said:


> ENGRAVER FAILURE:
> 
> My all-star engraver had a bad day and ruined my panel. Champion all star engraver will be paying to have a new panel made. Hopefully they can get it done this week.
> 
> ...


it looks like your radiator return hose is kinked and will restrict flow- also your thermostat outlet ID is undersized with respect to the radiator inlet hose- thus the adapter hose just after the kink. The adaptor hose looks like it is clamping to the radiator hose- which will also reduce its ID. Check your radiator outlet hose too- any kinks will greatly reduce flow.

PS, love your car and build.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

SoCalSQ said:


> A better view of the pods with the Covers off.


this is why i didnt want you to put the speakers in the door s 

looks awesome!


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

avanti1960 said:


> it looks like your radiator return hose is kinked and will restrict flow- also your thermostat outlet ID is undersized with respect to the radiator inlet hose- thus the adapter hose just after the kink. The adaptor hose looks like it is clamping to the radiator hose- which will also reduce its ID. Check your radiator outlet hose too- any kinks will greatly reduce flow.
> 
> PS, love your car and build.


The "kinked" hose is actually a metal tube that is 1 1/4" I.D. The flexible hoses clamp onto that, so it's all good.

I am looking more at the 200 degree fan switch and thinking of lowering it to 185-190.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

BP1Fanatic said:


> Booo on the Chevy drivetrain in a Ford car. I HATE THAT. You should have started with a 57 Chevy. I don't remember what motor you are putting in, but a Ford AOD 4 speed atx could b made to handle mega power with upgraded output shaft and bands.


Well lets see . . . .I bought the car with this set-up already in it:

The front suspention is '73 camaro, therefore so are the motor mounts.

The 350 CUI Dart block has all forged components, with aluminum race heads, solid lifters, roller rockers, Edelbrock intake and carb. The receipts for the motor added up to about $7,000.

The 700R4 transmission with stage 5 upgrades will take 1000 horsepower all day long. The stage 2 kit (which I used the parts from) is good for 500 RWHP, which is less than what I am making.

700 Raptor 700R4 700R4 Transmission 700r4 700R4 700r4 PATC 700R4 700r4 700r4 700r4 700r4 700r4 700r4 700r4 700r4

The 700R4 is also easy/cheap to work on.
Note how much I am paying to get it done. You would be paying at least $1800-$2200 to get an AOD that can handle 500+RWHP. I am paying $1200 for a fabricated trans. mount, driveshaft, and stage 2 rebuild.

I used to run a Ford AOD transmission in my last car, which was a 2005 supercharged Mustang GT making well over 500 RWHP. I had it heavily modified. Rebuilds on it cost over twice as much as on a 700R4.

The AOD also EATS HORSEPOWER, due to the huge weight of rotating components and its inherent ineffeiciency which will take an additional 15% of your horsepower right off the bat. When I switched from the 5R55W to the AOD, in my last car, I lost 60 HP at the rear wheels.

I don't like '57 Chevys because there are millions of them at shows. There are almost no Fairlanes. I have had 10+ Fords in my life and so I went with a Ford.

I really appreciate you taking the time to tell me all the things I am doing wrong, starting with which car I chose without even taking time to notice what engine is in the car. Kudos.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

Instaburn said:


> I hear Diffworks is out that way... I hear good things about them.
> 
> Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk


Talked to them. Their quote was just under 3 times what I am paying.


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## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

SoCalSQ said:


> Well lets see . . . .I bought the car with this set-up already in it:
> 
> The front suspention is '73 camaro, therefore so are the motor mounts.
> 
> ...


I didn't say you were doing anything wrong. I just disagree with the Ford car/Chevy drivetrain.


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## Instaburn (Aug 22, 2013)

Woah.. sorry to hear about the price gouge.
Not sure if they plan on staying in business very long with that kind of pricing structure.
They must have ex-NASA engineers working there.

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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

Instaburn said:


> Woah.. sorry to hear about the price gouge.
> Not sure if they plan on staying in business very long with that kind of pricing structure.
> They must have ex-NASA engineers working there.
> 
> Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk


They're actually about right for most quality shops.

Estimates I had for transmission were : 1000 / 1800 / 2000
Estimates I had for Driveshaft were: 150 / 275 / 325 / 375
Estimates I had for new trans mount were : 150 / 250 / 450

I am taking a chance on this shop, I know, but he has just started the shop and tells me he is giving low pricing to get the word out about his shop quickly. I spoke at length with him and I feel confident in his abilities. The factthat he is giving me a 1 year warranty with R&R included is the only reason I am going with him.

Transmission Shop sells the same transmission I am getting (with the same stage 2 upgrades) for $2100+freight. 

We will see tomorrow when I pick it up . . lol


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## DLO13 (Oct 24, 2010)

any updates?


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