First Build; Volvo S40

[kamikazi117]

This is my first actual build. I've just gotten into the "real" audio scene this year, so I've got about 384723423 billion things to learn.

So please no bashing, Only way I can learn is to have someone else with better knowledge passing it on.

Here's my ride. .

[larrys95civic]

Love those cars man, now on with the build pic!

[kamikazi117]

Here's all the equipment so far.

[kamikazi117]

Best and biggest money saving upgrade you could ever do

The Big 3!

Already burned up one alt. I managed to pick up a used one

from a totaled 2009 S40 with only 13k miles for $50.

Scored big time, so I'm being as nice as possible to this one.

It's stock, I'm pushing 150a...wooo

1/0 wire = $ adds up quick!:

Here I had to grind down some aluminum on the head so I could get the 1/0 terminal to fit.

The block to chassis ground fitment:

Battery to chassis fitment:

Alternator to Battery fitment:

Finishing it up with heat shrink and wire wrap:

All cleaned up:

[kamikazi117]

This portion of my project was definitely the hardest, complicated,

and most time consuming. The reason I did this was because the stock

radio is just this little screen with a small plug with about 10 wires

for the air temperature control and fan control. There was also two

digital wires, one for the speaker outs to an amplifier in the trunk

and one for the antenna in from the amplifier. Weird..

This dash piece gets all the credit from Dave at Sounds Unlimited in Hobart, IN

Doesn't look to complicated but its got a perfect curve on the bottom to fit my

dash just right:

Here I'm getting it all lined up on the dash so that I can get a slot in my

dash for the wiring:

Cutting this hole was the scariest part for me because I knew there was no turning back:

Took out all the center console so that I could run the Front, Rear, and Sub RCA outs

and the remote wire from the radio:

Wiring Harness:

I used some external double sided tape to hold the piece on:

Here it is finally finished, I'm seriously happy with the way it turned out:

[cc_audio]

Nice start, wiring looks good. I've heard some horror stories with them T6s, but when you build the box be sure to put some really bright white LEDs inside behind the woofer. Why you ask? Because the cone is transparent and it looks really cool lit up. Get to work and keep the pics coming!

[kamikazi117]

Nice start, wiring looks good. I've heard some horror stories with them T6s, but when you build the box be sure to put some really bright white LEDs inside behind the woofer. Why you ask? Because the cone is transparent and it looks really cool lit up. Get to work and keep the pics coming!

I haven't had any problems with my T6 its proven to be a brute so far. Its running at 1 ohm with my 1300D amp.

What are some of the bad things you've heard, just curious...

[kamikazi117]

Door Speakers and Wiring:

This part wasn't so bad except for one door..

This is the same setup in all 4 doors:

My future goal is to fiberglass the stock speaker

cover and have the 6.5 speakers at an angle. I

think there looking a bit crappy right now.

Here's the insides of the doors panels.

+ to + ; - to -

The Front Right door was the one I had the most trouble with.

There's gasket on the inside of the frame and another on the inside of

the door that completely block anything from getting in or out.

The worst part was that the gasket on the frame was blocked by the glovebox,

so i had to remove the glovebox. Then I had to take the door off to get my

hand in there to fish the wire through.. A pain but it's always worth it in the end:

Some pictures from the rear door:

Best way to not get your wires mixed up:

[kamikazi117]

My amplifiers:

The amps are powered by 1 run of 4g wire hooked up to a 3 way fused distribution block.

They are each grounded by 2ft long 4g wire hooked up to were the spare tire hold down bolt

would normally go. The remote comes from the head unit. The inputs come from the RCA outs

from the head unit.

Tarantula 1300d mono block:

This PowerBass amp was more less an impulse buy, just a bad decision.

I'm planning on replacing it with a SoundStream TX4.560 for the door speakers.

This PowerBass though is an ASA 200.2x 400 watt 2 channel:

Some extra Pictures:

[cc_audio]

Tinsels are wimpy and break right at the former, and if you get them moving too much (say too far below tuning) the bracing will break away from the cone or the former. Soundstream brags about they're new and improved excursion capabilities, but once they start getting some throw to them that's when they give up. I was going to swap out a T-4 for one of these a while back. I have such terrible luck that I'm now OCD when it comes to buying anything, I research and research like crazy, especially for electronics. And after seeing a lot of people having the same failures I stuck with my T4. Its handled hell and back for me so far. I have no first hand experience though so, if she works she works. You put some LEDs behind her yet?