Pontiac Grand AM - FULL Sundown Audio Build

[BeAlLsTaR13]

Just doing this for S.O.T.M. purposes, to make it easier

The build is just gonna be a direct copy/paste from whats in there now, may add, and/or may take some stuff out

All Comments Here Please!:

http://www.stevemead...1

Now lets proceed shall we:

Headunit

Alpine CDA-9887

Mids + Highs

Front - JBL P660c 6.5" Components

Rear - Powerbass 4XL 6.5" Mid-Range

Subwoofers

2 - Sundown Audio Z12v.2 w/ V.3 Soft Parts/ Nightshade Cone/Surround

Amplifiers

Sundown Audio SAX-100.4D

Sundown Audio SAZ-3500D

Electrical/Wiring

- DC Power 275 AMP Alt

- XS Power S3400 (under hood)

- XS Power D2700 (in back)

- 2 1/0 Pos runs (Knu Fleks OFC), 1 1/0 neg run (GSI)

- KnuKonceptx Fleks 4 gauge, 8 gauge

- Kicker 4 and 2 Channel RCA Cables

- SecondSkin Damplifier Pro, Audiowrap, Audio Technix Sound deadening

All of this will be going into my same 2002 Pontiac Grand AM SE (see link above for pictures of the old setup)

Pics of car:

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Heres for pics

I have been getting equipment in since the end of January, so i'll post in the order i received it

First up, Amplifiers (SAX-100.4D, SAZ-3500D):

Now some Sundown SWAG:

And a vid of the Sundown Amplifiers:

[BeAlLsTaR13]

Now for speakers

Now my original plan was to run Image Dynamics CTX65cs components upfront, unfortunately i can not use them due to mounting issues in my vehicle.

I had even made these nice speaker rings for them:

Here is a pic of one of my Powerbass 4XL 6.5s in there:

and then the ID 6.5" Mids:

I have since sold those, and picked up a pair of these JBL P660c 6.5" Components. Now i know these fit because i had a single mid laying around from the same set (long story) so i was able to test fit that exact mid on spot, and sure enough they fit, so i will be making seperate rings for those soon

Pics of comps:

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Now for some stuff i already had that will continue to be used in this build:

XS Power Batteries:

(D2700 on left, s3400 on right):

These are some nice batt terminals i picked up made for my D2700:

Head Unit (bought it back in november of 2010)

(EQ in the above pic will NOT be used - sold it a few months ago)

[BeAlLsTaR13]

all my installation accessories Remember i am leaving my current run of Kicker 1/0 for positive, and i have a 1/0 run of negative, so a total of 2 positive and 1 negative

12 slot barrier strip, i stole this idea from getlikeme's build to run my door speakers through this incase i move amps further/closer and dont need all new runs of wire all the way down and just extend it from the strip

new voltage meter

125ft of speaker wire

all new 19ft kicker 2 and 4 channel rcas

50ft of primary wire (red - for amp turn ons) and 15ft of 10g knu wire for inside the enclosure

10x 300a fuses, 2x 250a fuses, 10x 1/0 ring terms, 11x 8g ring terminals, 5x blue led rocker switches, along with the spades for the barrier strip

8ft blue knu fleks, 8ft black knu fleks for amp to box

blue/black knu fleks 4g for batt to sax100.4

all new 1/0 wire, 18ft of knu fleks to add to my current hyperflex 1/0 run (total of 2 pos runs) 3ft blue and black for batt to saz3500d, and 4ft black 5ft blue fleks for all new big three wiring

think i got just bout everything covered, think that just about covered what i need eh? just need ONE more thing, matching kicker 1/0 fuse holder for under the hood

[BeAlLsTaR13]

i went out and bought a new dash kit. i plan on running separate switches to my amps, plus a few to control LEDs, now my idea was to have the switches in the 1/2din pocket under the hu

so i found a door shim and got creative:

my switches:

i didnt get pics of the process, but all i did was measure lxw of the pocket, drew it out on the shim and used a razor blade to cut and took a little sand paper to kill the rough edges, as well as to cut any access wood that allowed it to not fit perfectly

made my speaker rings today, they fit great, i wasnt going for the flush idea since i needed the 3/4" spacer anyways and if i made them flush, that would leave me with not enough room

tried to take as many pics as i could, but i just wanted to get it done, plus i had to make a few test passes to make sure it was on

got my router

36x16 sheet of MDF

and now at this point i completely forgot to take more pics until they were done lmao

after they were all sanded and done

fits perfect

[BeAlLsTaR13]

I didnt know you knew how to glass too! Good chit

below is some more progress on my dash kit:

i glassed the panel i made to make it stronger so it doesnt split when i drill the size hole for the switches (7/8")

only did the one side though, shit STINKS

getting my points drawn out

drilling through

now since the shim is so thin, i expected it to break, a chunk broke but it is nothing big or bad, i just taped over it and put a layer of fiberglass to help hold it together, i'll work on that when i get home tonight since it should be cured by then

switches on the panel:

heres after 3 hours of the glass drying:

since it appears the middle hole is the only one thats off, what i think im gonna do is just not put one there and paint over it so it appears to not even be there

have my amp switches on the right, LED switches on the left

[BeAlLsTaR13]

Final resin coat:

first coat of primer

sanded

first 2-3 coats of black

heres the final product of what i have so far, yes i left the other side empty for now, i'll do that another time when a) i have LEDs again and aren't lazy.. IMO my setup > things that look cool

here what ive got now though

before:

after:

and the official final product:

i'll eventually redo it some other day, this was just a trial run and im pleased so far but eventually it'll bother me lol so i'll end up redoing the whole dash kit when i get a new hu this summer

also, the white you see above the led holes, its just scratched paint i can just go over that with a sharpie, same with on the right side of the panel as well from when i was getting it in

[BeAlLsTaR13]

made a little more progress today, doesnt appear to be much, but it takes pretty long to do it properly lol

ran my 3rd run of 1/0 today, i pulled the old ones out though, trimmed the ends and re ran those as well, all 3 runs through stock grommet ftw

started by tearing the dash apart for when i rerun the rca cables:

driver seat removed to aid in running the 3rd run

all the wire

first run of neg through

running down the track

first power run going through

took a hole saw and drilled holes for the 3rd run of 1/0 since i had no room along the track to run it

3rd in

[BeAlLsTaR13]

well i got my rcas and speaker wires ran, so now all i need to do is just hook everything up as far as the speakers go which i'll do tomorrow

cleaned up that nasty mess of wires i have from all my LEDs, just pulled em out

barrier strip

location for my barrier strip:

running rcas

HU back in

thats it for , good thing to have all wires ran though since all i gotta do now is the physical installation of the equipment

list for tomorrow:

front stage installed

rear stage installed

go to lowes/home depot and get a sheet of MDF

go to my buddies and have the wood cut

start box build tomorrow night, and hopefully finish it Wednesday