THought Id post up my current system

[caraudiodave]

More stuff arrived today. I got my 2 gauge power wire, 1/0 ground, distribution block, and my tech flex arrived. Unfortunately, the carbon tech flex that I ordered for the power wire was too small (I swear I ordered 1/2" but I got 1/4"), so I used some carbon and white stripe stuff that I had for another project. I like the effect it has over the power wire, turning it pink and purple(should please the wife) but I may change the portion under the hood once I get some plain carbon stuff that fits.

Oh, I included the RCA in the picture because...well...I wanted to. You can vaguely make out the different colors on each channel, which is how I will know what channel is what. I used nail polish (yes, I raided my wife's collection).

[bricooper78]

You just keep giving up tips man! I always just used dots on the RCA jack itself to mark them , and every now and again they'd rub just wrong and i'd lose a dot.

Like the nail polish idea!

[caraudiodave]

Hey I'm all for helping out.

The candy cane tech flex is going away. I ordered some "carbon" colored tech flex in the right size. Also jam replacing the tech flex for the speaker wire. I originally used 1" which was way oversized but I hadn't used 1" before and did t I ow how large the speaker wire would turn out to be. I now have 1/2" "platinum" colored flex coming for the speaker wire.

[caraudiodave]

Let the games begin. I started my revamp today. I got some of the wiring finished up, like the 1/0 ground:


And I reassembled my ZPA amp (just the outside, no board inside there) for mockup. I am at a cross roads now, not sure how to configure the amps...any advise?

option 1:


option 2:


or maybe another option? they are huge amps, but I need to have access to my spare tire still. BTW, they will be in a false floor, dont mind the PPI amp in the foreground, the hangning RCAs, and all of the other loose wires. I am in the midst of ripping everything out.

[caraudiodave]

OK so I think I have decided on this layout:


also, some install photos:

[bricooper78]

they look good at the angle like that, plus leaves you a little more space to use for wire vs. having them side by side, that can get real tight

[caraudiodave]

Yup, that angle is how it will remain.

So here's the list that needs to be completed by Friday:


Started the speaker mount modifications:
How it was


Added rivet nuts


And chamfered by the rear I the speaker. It allows the cone to move air in the rear easier

[caraudiodave]

I had never dealt with locking RCAs. I now know what they are. You have to unscrew the metal sleeve to connect the RCA, then tighten the sleeve and it locks the RCA onto the connector. I didn't want that "feature" so I removed the sleeves and drilled them out slightly. It's not enough to be noticed but it makes them slide on with ease without loosening the sleeve. I knew that I would connect it and forget how to take them off and destroy my amps.

As far as progress, I drilled all holes in my lower portion of the false floor. I have installed rivet nuts for the amps and distro block mounting locations(done after I snapped the shot).


And I accomplished some wiring. My newest batch of tech flex ascribed, I replaced the speaker wire flex with 1/2" platinum flex, and the power wire got 1/2" carbon flex. I really like the look of the carbon over the red power wire. I ran the wiring down a factory wiring channel under the carpet.

[bricooper78]

I would see locking RCA being a nice feature if you were simply building an SPL car, but not for DD stuff, little too over the top. And yes, the power wire looks very cool with the loom

[stewartfn18]

damn you did a good job cand your hook me up with one in my v dub? its a specail kind of v dub, its the american on

[caraudiodave]

Originally Posted by bricooper78

I would see locking RCA being a nice feature if you were simply building an SPL car, but not for DD stuff, little too over the top. And yes, the power wire looks very cool with the loom

Exactly. Other than spl, not sure what application it is necessary in. I could see it ripping the female side of the connector off the amps board, I'd rather the cable become disconnected.

Originally Posted by stewartfn18

damn you did a good job cand your hook me up with one in my v dub? its a specail kind of v dub, its the american on

The new passat? When you ask if I can hook you up with one, are you referring to an install? I would...but not for free. This is time away from my new baby, so it's precious time (read expensive). I am however doing an install in my friends s2000 in the next few weeks.

So while the kiddo is staking a nap I decided to take the dSLR out and snap a few good pictures of the wiring. It's by no means done... But you can see what I mean when I comment on people's' installs where wires are all over the place... And mind you I have 6 pairs of speaker cables going to the front, 8 channels of RCA, and lots of other wiring.

[stewartfn18]

sotry dave it really is a nice setup byut im kinda pasr my poiny of no return on drinking for the night,,,,im just kindi ng on the car thati have

[03GT SilverGun]

Wow you weren't kidding on past the point of no return...

Dave the setup looks great it's nice to see that there are people that care about a clean install rather than just throwing the pieces together and not worrying about appearance.

[caraudiodave]

Originally Posted by stewartfn18

sotry dave it really is a nice setup byut im kinda pasr my poiny of no return on drinking for the night,,,,im just kindi ng on the car thati have

Haha on Thursday night? What's your poison?

Originally Posted by 03GT SilverGun

Wow you weren't kidding on past the point of no return...

Dave the setup looks great it's nice to see that there are people that care about a clean install rather than just throwing the pieces together and not worrying about appearance.

Thanks. I am paying much more attention to detail than ever before. It's amazing what age and having a real job will do to you. Haha

So I got my MS-8 finished. It fit where I wanted to put it, so I can keep my stealth status.





Now all I have left is to install the inline fuse and install my false floor with the amps.

[stewartfn18]

Originally Posted by caraudiodave

Haha on Thursday night? What's your poison?

im still young enough to go out and drink every night and not get hungover the next morning and act like nothing happened. my drink of choice right now is redds apple ale

[caraudiodave]

Well my wife is back in town and the car is not done so progress has slowed. I made the inline fuse mount I now need to finish up some last touches then it gets painted. Then I just have to finish up the amp mount and false floor.

[caraudiodave]

Making very slow progress. This will be the last update until it's done. It should be done by Tuesday or Wednesday.

[bricooper78]

I'm sure the next pics will be a phenominal product man!!

[caraudiodave]

well good news and bad news.

Good news, I got everything hooked up. I havnt done the beauty board that goes on top, but that will take me all of an hour to make.

Bad news: it would seem that my JBL MS-8 processor is not functioning properly. I still need to troubleshoot, but its very frustrating since in order to get the MS8 out I need to remove everything. I will try not to remove everything if I need to get to it, but I will troubleshoot other stuff before getting it out.

[bricooper78]

Dood!

We both know that as it sits, screws in the pic and all, that is 499% cleaner than 95% of the installs out flopping around on the road today!