First thing I did at this point was install the battery. I had to remove the brace that runs above the battery, remove the radiator hose, unbolt the battery clamp, take out the old battery and put in the new one


Then it was all about installing the fuse holder and running the lead from it to the battery


I used XScorpion battery terminals


Now I need to clean my engine bay real good, it definitely needs it

I didn't build a custom box, I just didn't have the skills or resources to do so. I decided to go with a solid prefab box made by SubZone. It'* one of their Z-series boxes that has a painted baffle which was built to allow for flush mounting your subs. The only thing I did to the box was ran a heavy bead of Titebond III glue in every joint just to make sure I had no air leaks.

The subs have dual 2ohm coils so I wired the coils in series with KnuKoncepts 12ga. speaker wire to give an impedance of 4ohms each, soldered the speaker wire to the terminals and bolted in the subs. Each sub will be connected to the amp in it'* own set of speaker terminals, but those terminals are internally "combined" in parallel which effectively halves the impedance so instead of the amp seeing 4 ohms, it'll see 2 ohms.




Then I took the box out to the car, put it in the trunk and wired it up to the amp using KnuKonceptz 12ga. wire


That was the end of it, for now at least. Now all I gotta do is tune it. My sound processing is done via my head unit which allows me to run a 3 way active xover network, it'* got tons of tuning adjustments and an auto time alignment feature as well as auto EQ feature so some of the tuning will be done for me, but I still have to invest some time and dial it in just right.

I went to a SQ show yesterday, if that'* what you want to call it, only 5 cars showed up, but I played it moderately and it *****! I can't wait to get it dialed in so I can really push it and see what it can do. But so far so good!

I like it. Clean. I want those battery terminals

I completed this build the end of August 2009. The only thing I wish I had done different was build a custom box for my ID12'*. But even if I had i'm sure that their fate would be the same. What happened was I got together with some local guys who were in a Car Audio club, I met up with them at their Team Bar-B-Q at a local park and we just clicked. At one point they they took turns demoing their vehicles for each other, it turned out to be a double edge sword. #1, it showed me what loud daily drivers are....All of them are hitting high 140'* on a TL, one of them does 150.x all day. #2, it made me realize that my setup wasn't nearly as loud as I thought it was before I met up with them. BUT, all of them had daily ground pounder setups, all about SPL. Mine was more geared towards SQ, with the ability to get moderately loud, and was the cleanest sounding car there (not to toot my own horn). They ended up inviting me to join the Team shortly after due to being impressed with my setup, so the admiration went both ways for sure.

I wish I could say everything was perfect with my setup from the day of completion on, but I'd be kidding myself. First problem was I was getting some random electrical things going on. Things like my battery light, abs light, airbag light all coming on randomly while I was driving. Then it progressed to getting some random fluctuation in my brake pedal, that was scary. It ended up throwing a code at one point and the code pointed a fault in the communication to my abs control module. Then it culminated in a random starting issue, sometimes it would start, other times it wouldn't. That progressed to only starting in Neutral and ended up not starting at all. The problems started a couple weeks after it was completed and came to a head the middle of November. Yeah, perfect time to have major car troubles huh?

I had to bite the bullet and put it in the shop as I could not find or fix the cause of the problems. I assumed it was due, at least in part, to me removing the stock deck which is a major component in the vehicles Class II data bus system. I had heard varying reports of issues happening and not happening when the stock deck is removed so I took a chance. Didn't work so well. Before taking it in to the shop I pulled the deck, put the factory one back in and was surprised to find that the only problem they found was a bad shift selector switch which is what was causing my starting issues. So I got the car back and for sure knew the other problems would come back but here we are a year later and it hasn't happened.

Not wanting to push my luck, I decided the best thing to do would be leave the factory deck in and plan on relocating it before I decide to put my Pioneer back in so I hopefully avoid the problems I had the first go 'round. So yeah, it sucked pretty back being without beat from November to the end of May. But it was necessary...those electrical issues were no fun, costed me alot of money and I wanted to make sure I did it right the 2nd go at it. Of course I had to make it through and recover from Christmas but after I did that, it was on!

During this down time I decided some other changes were needed too. First, I wanted to upgrade my sub stage, wanted something louder without being sloppy and muddy sounding, so I ended up getting a pair of Sundown SA-12'*. I also stumbled upon a sick deal on SonicElectronix for a set of PPI 356CS components...they were $120 shipped IIRC, regular price was in the neighborhood of $300....Onlinecarstereo.com has them for $309, MSRP is $499. So I snatched those up. I also picked up a relocation harness from BestKits for my factory deck so I could keep it in the loop along with my aftermarket deck.

So these are the few pics I took of the new stuff installed....sorry, forgot to take a pic of the 356 mid, but the good thing about it is that I no longer needed the clay around the driver, it fit in the basket nice and flush!





And here'* my progress on my new box build. I'm using 11 ply Baltic Birch plywood, it'* super light and super strong, and not nearly as messy as MDF. Size is going to be 3 cubic feet, tuned to 33Hz.




I have one more change coming though, actually 2.

1.) I've blown the Pico fuse inside my deck so instead of Mickey Mousing it, i'm going to get a new deck. I have my eye on the Alpine CDA-9887


2.) I'm getting a Digital Designs 2512 sub in a couple weeks. Why? I've wanted DD subs for a while and the one i'm getting is BNIB for over $100 less than what they go for normally

The deck is #1 on my list of things to get after Christmas, as soon as I get the deck I'll get my system up and running again, first with the Sundowns in the new box. After listening to that a bit i'm going to pull that box out and put in the DD 2512 in the 1.75 cu.ft. box i'm going to build for it, test that out for a bit. Then i'm going to build a 2 cu.ft. sealed box for my ID12'* and see how those sound. Then I can decide if I want to stick with the Sundowns or get another 2512 and sell everything else.......just talked to my boy, might have the hookup on a 9887!

what made u wanna buy a Alpine deck?

I've always liked Alpine, had a few Alpine'* in my day. What I really like about that particular deck is that it'* not a step down from my Pioneer. It can do everything my Pioneer can do right out the box. But that deck is a couple years old and it'* not likely that Alpine is gonna come out with another deck that can do 3 way active so i'm either stuck trying to find one of those or pick up the new CDA-117 and buy the Imprint system for it so it can run 3 way active as well. Not exactly sure what i'm gonna do at this point, considering sending my deck to Pioneer and have them fix it for me too.

sundown FTW haha, but good to see your build again mang. gotto help your boy john get some sounds in his vic sometime too, well if his luck ever changes for the better with that beast.

Well look what the wind blew in! Yeah buddy, Sundown FTMFW! Yeah, beat hasn't been high on his list of things to get. I built him a custom center console thinking it would light the fire under his *ss as far as the audio thing is concerned but I swear that guy has ADD when it comes to cars. One day he'* all about rims, the next day beat, the day after that bags. He'* heavy on the bags kick right now, if he can keep that thing on the road for more than a month at a time i'm sure he'll get bags before he gets beat. Knowing him though, when he finally does get beat it'll be something worth the wait

haha yeah i seen him looking into doing bags and hope he jumps on it seeing joe offered some help and his s10 is crazy, dudes got fab skills for sure. im back to the starting line myself, no more wheels or anything lol but soon enough ill be back on track, damn women i tell a haha. so since you have been around some ground pounders wonder how long til the DB bug hits you lol im trying to find a beater to just have some fun with. all about cone area for me next. nothing less than 2 18s, maybe a blowthrough in a ranger....but too early to tell. anyways god luck with trying to figure out what sub set up your gonna chose, its all about the double letters right =) Fi,DC,DD,RE,etc

Yeah, he'* pretty juiced that Joe is gonna help him. As for the db bug...I don't know man...never say never, right? I can't see me ever turning my daily driver into a ground pounder, and if I ever get a project car to work on i'm sure it'll be an old school like a 72 Cutlass or something like that. So the chances are slim and slim is packing his bags Your girl wrap your car or what?