Kickin' Cruiser - Stage 1, 2, & 3 - UBL

[Purplehaze]

As for today, I didn't do much. It was raining and shitty out, so I just fooled around with my buss bars a little. Got them cut and drilled, here are the pics.









Test fit









Perfect! Now I just gotta polish them up, and get some bolts.

Then it's on to the volt meter/ circuit breaker battery hold down piece.... not sure what to call it lol!

More tomorrow hopefully!

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http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/132828-kickin-cruiser-stage-3-getting-back-to-work/page__st__60

[Purplehaze]

Okay so I finally got my front battery setup finished, at least for the moment. I'll probably re-do the top piece later on, but for now this will work.

First was to polish up the bus bars, and get some bolts and nuts. The one on the left has not been polished.





Here they are finished, with stainless bolts and nuts





Not perfect, but it will do.

So now for the batt. hold down/ volt meter.





Top side all glassed up



And bottom



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http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/132828-kickin-cruiser-stage-3

[Purplehaze]

So now for some body filler



Now to make the base hold the mounting bars...



Just drilled an angled hole in the bottom, so the j hook could lock in.



Like this



Making it smooth....



Well, I didn't test fit it till after I painted, MISTAKE! Can you see what's wrong with this picture?



Couple of things... The j bolts don't quite reach... And my body work sucks ass! Gotta fix it!



How about some wiring? Also, check out the way I kept the j bolts from falling out



So I decided to just drill out the holes for the j bolts, and try to wrap it in this cf vinyl I had laying around.
It works for the time being, like I said, I will probably re-do later.



BAM! There she is, looks beastly to me! Way better than the strap...







The empty space is for my fuses from front to back. There will be 3 runs of each. And now I have plenty of room for it!

Next up: Dampliefier!


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http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/132828-kickin-cruiser-stage-3

[Purplehaze]

Okay well I got a little work done, nothing glamorous. Got my fender changed out (stupid deer), and got the rest of the deadner in the car.

Here are some pics.





Bam! She's on there, color isn't a perfect match, but I have seen worse, and from body shops! This isn't bad for a spray can job...







Then I decided it was time for deadner. First up was the Second Skin that I won from SOTM.



So here is my car with the interior all stripped out. The deadner you see down already is the Hushmat I put down last year.





I need to do the doors, roof, floor from b pillar up, and all the pillars. Shooting for at least 90% coverage.

So here we go, let's see how well we like the Second Skin...



Doors






Roof...







So I was able to get the roof, all 4 doors, and the b pillars, with my SOTM winnings. Thanks Second Skin, and everyone who voted!

I had some Audio Barrier that I held onto last, for the floor board. I figured it should go there, just in case it didn't wanna hold as well as the good stuff.





Got it under the dash, as far as possible







And that is now done! All I need is a little more for the roof pillars, probably another 20 sq ft. But that will have to wait, I can't spend any extra money till after the baby is born. But I'd say it's at that 90% coverage I was shooting for, and it should make a difference.

Up next: Doors and wall.

Stay tuned...


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http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/132828-kickin-cruiser-stage-3

[Purplehaze]

So I started from scratch on my doors, cause the other panels I had started were too thin, and needed too much work.

First I went and bought some 5/8" five layer ply. Should be a little stronger than the 1/4" "paneling" I was trying to use.





So I used the first panels I made for a template



And after several hours, here is what I came up with.
Each panel had to be built up to set level in the door, and cut out for the door handle bar that goes up behind them.





And the front side

[Purplehaze]

So next up is to figure out a way to mount them to the doors, and make it so they can be easily attached, and detached. Here is what I came up with.

Notice the small blocks on the door. They are only there to allow the JB Weld to set up. Check it out!



First I drilled holes in the proper places, making sure the panels line up correctly. Then I added the groves to allow the t-nuts to go thru.



Then insert the t-nuts from the backside, with some jb weld to keep them in place.



And the block is just temp to allow the nut to be held into place while the jb weld sets up.



An in side view...



Okay, so now that is done, time to figure out the outer panel!

[Purplehaze]

A little layout to see what's ahead...







So next, I used the old panel again as a template, after cutting it first. And this time it's for the outer panel.



Came up with these





Then after hitting the edge with a 3/4" roundover, time for a test fit!





Ahaha, finally starting to show what I had in mind...



So next I cutout the holes for the sealed chambers for the subs.





And that's where I called it a day! So now I just need to make the sealed chambers, then frame up the rest of them, and get them glassed.
This is where the fun stuff begins!

Stay tuned, I'll update soon as I can! And thanks for looking!


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[Purplehaze]

Okay well I got a little bit done the past few days, not what I had hoped to accomplish, but still it's getting there.

Started assembling the sealed chambers for the 8" subs.









Before gluing them together I drilled the holes for sub mounting, and glued in tnuts from the back side.







Now that they are together, time to wrap them in fleece, and glass em up! Remember, this is only to seal them off separately from the other woofers.



Got the fleece "resined up", and the 1st layer on the outside



Then I sanded them to prep for a second layer on the outside, and one inside as well



So here goes the inside



Inside is all glassed up now





Now for another layer on the outside



Then after sanding them again, I cut out the inner panel and started assembly.






And that is where I called it a night. So today I just gotta finish cutting dowel rods, cut out the new arm rests, finish assembling the panels, get them wrapped in fleece, and start glassing away! It's getting there, slowly but surely...

Also I'm thinking about a plexi window possibly...

Stay tuned!

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http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/132828-kickin-cruiser-stage-3-door-panels

[Purplehaze]

Well I got a little more done yesterday, until my girl came outside around 6:00 and asked me to hang with her. She never asks, so of course I did! Work can wait, I was getting really aggravated anyway. So today we are going to Columbus to check out a show, taking the day off from work on the car, or at least part of it... I should be back on it by tomorrow.

Anyway here are the pics from yesterday of what I got done.

First I cut the holes in the mounting panel for the subs.



The subs came with these plates for extra clearance, so I used them...



Then I started cutting out for the plexi windows






Got them cut



And then a little round-over







Then I started trying to cut the dowel rods to mount the speaker rings, but that's where I got aggravated. I couldn't cut 2 pieces alike to save my life! Ended up with a bunch of different sized and angled pieces that I'm not even gonna try to use. So I decided to wait and go cut them at my dads, using the table saw.
I also realized I need to cut another hole in the mounting panel for the 5.25" to sit the way I want. And I need to cut out 1/4" inserts for the window, to use as fill. As well as some other small corrections.

So hopefully by tomorrow I'll be back on it, and things will go smoother. Thanks for checking it out, stay tuned for more!



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http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/132828-kickin-cruiser-stage-3-door-panels

[Purplehaze]

Okay so how about an update? I got some stuff done yesterday, and borrowed a camera until I get a new one. So here we go!

First, I started with my headliner. It had been setting in the living room since I pulled it to install Second Skin. Well, my girl finally asked me if I could do something with it, so I said sure! I figure I'll go ahead and cut and dye it now, and put it back in, so it will be out of the way. I may need to cut it a little more once the wall is in, but that should be no problem. So here is where I started.



I laid it upside down to mark it for the cut, used my 4ft level to make a straight line.



And bam!



Then some dark grey dye. This is just to get by until I can afford to re-wrap it in suede. But it don't look bad at all!



Then I got back to the doors. I got the dowel rods all cut at my dad's the day before, so I just had to assemble it all with glue, nails, and screws. Also, I needed to join the sealed chambers to the outer panels, so I screwed them into place, and glassed them up. Check it out...

Assembly



One door down, one to go



And both doors together



Now to permanently join the sealed chamber with the outer panel



1 layer of cloth, followed by 2 layers of chop mat





Also got a little help

This is Caysen, my step son. He will be 3 in September, he is super sharp for his age, and he wants to help me every time I do work.
He LOVES to work on things, and he has natural skills for sure!
So I figured he may as well get an early start! If he is doing this at the age of 2, imagine what he will be doing 15 or 20 years from now!



So now they are ready to be wrapped with fleece, and glassed up. I hope to get at least 3 layers of glass on them today, 2 outside and one inside.
I'll update later tonight. Thanks for looking!