Wicks' E46 M3 Build. Hertz 3-Way Set from Tony D!

[Wicks]

Couple little updates....

My white baffle got all dirty and messed up with the fixes to the crack so it needed some paint touch-up (....a whole rattle-can worth of touch up):

Spraying paint inside your car is a PITA....

The fumes and over-spray can really be annoying.

I just did it in small bursts and kept a vacuum running in the car to suck up the fumes so they weren't too overwhelming and so that very little of the airborne paint adhered to the rest of the interior.

Those little imperfections at the bottom of the baffle............don't worry about those lil guys, I have yet another plan for the front baffle.

I don't have a tablesaw or room for one for that matter.

I've needed to make some precision cuts and rips here and there too. I had a leftover gift card for Lowes, so........another tool to the collection:

I didn't like my previous baffle fiberglass trim piece, so I decided to make another one:

Here you can see I made a wooden framework around the baffle so that I get a much cleaner way to transition from the fiberglass to the baffle.

1st layer of cloth laid down.

[Wicks]

Remember this video:

All that trunk rattle was not making me happy.

Given how my trunk is designed, I can't really seal off the back of the trunk due to all the wires, actuator and etc.

Previous discussions (CJ18) got me thinking...

The only real way to do this is to port up through the rear deck rather than firing through it.

So..........

Prepped and ready:

Here we go, no backing out now...

Cut completed:

Metal removed:

BOOM, rear deck ported:

Now for the other fun part, incorporating the extended port through the rear deck lid.

Notice the uneven surface across the lid...

A lil Great Stuff to fix that:

...and a lil more:

Then glue some felt on the straight edge so I can stretch it tight over the surface and glass it:

I'm in so deep in this build that this car ain't ever goin' back to stock

Stay tuned, some good updates should be coming...

[scooter99]

Like where this is headed!

I posted too soon!!

YOU SUMBICH!! I JUST GOT ALL GIDDY INSIDE!! WOOT!! MOAR MOAR MOAR!!

[WastedTalent]

So this is where he's been at the past few weeks. Haven't seen any posts or haven't had him hit me up recently.... lol. Lookin good.

[Mtnbikecrazy55]

Some fuckin balls man, nice job thus far!!

[Robertvon]

Great build man ...... I'm so glad I found this ...... I love it when people take there time to do it right so much more rewarding in the end ....you are a true craftsman WICKS!........ I have e46 sedan build I'll be starting soon I've been gathering thing's up for while and almost ready to start it .

WICKS....I have one question in your opinion since you've been working in the e46 trunk so much and really know what can be done in it..... would you say 2 15s could fit?

[Raptorman]

Wow you got some wicked balls for cutting into that deck. Was easy for me since I got a POS that I don't plan to resell, lol. Nice man. Looking great.

[satish1015]

hey! i've been keeping up with this post as much as I can.. i have a 08 550i and i've been trying to find a HO alternator for it, but it's difficult and everywhere i checked said i needed to get a universal one, and custom fab a bracket for it.. did you have to make a bracket too? or was yours a direct replacement?

[Wicks]

Some fuckin balls man, nice job thus far!!

Thanks!

I came to the realization that there is no way I'm returning this thing to stock so if I ever sell it, the new owner better like some bass!

Great build man ...... I'm so glad I found this ...... I love it when people take there time to do it right so much more rewarding in the end ....you are a true craftsman WICKS!........ I have e46 sedan build I'll be starting soon I've been gathering thing's up for while and almost ready to start it .

WICKS....I have one question in your opinion since you've been working in the e46 trunk so much and really know what can be done in it..... would you say 2 15s could fit?

Thanks Dude, I appreciate the comments. I do take pride in my install, one of the reasons why its taken as long as it has.

Awesome, always great to see another E46 on the block.

Ask away, I've been threw a LOT with this car so I do know some details that I wish I knew beforehand.

I actually originally wanted to do a pair of DC XL15's when this was in the planning stage but I couldn't fit them on the angled baffle setup that I came up with so I had to go with 12's.

Sure you probably could put a pair of 15's in the trunk but you'd have to set them back in the trunk mounted vertically.

I wanted mine at an angle and pressed up against the rear seat as far as possible to give me as much trunk room as possible.

You'd have to make a bigger box that was set further back in the trunk so as long as you were OK with using most of the trunk, then it'd work.

Good luck if you attempt it. Keep me posted, I'd love to see how it goes.

Wow you got some wicked balls for cutting into that deck. Was easy for me since I got a POS that I don't plan to resell, lol. Nice man. Looking great.

Thanks Man, I was pretty hesitant but its the only real solution to get the bass in the cabin and get rid of my trunk rattle.

Big props go to Cody (CJ18) for really sticking the idea in my head and then to Rogue's E46 build.

I checked out Rogue's rear deck fabrication and it really inspired me to jump into it.

Anybody that hasn't seen it should really check it out.

http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/133804-dd-9512-in-bmw-325i-rear-deck-build-lots-of-kerfs/

I'm diggin' your new wall setup in the works....

hey! i've been keeping up with this post as much as I can.. i have a 08 550i and i've been trying to find a HO alternator for it, but it's difficult and everywhere i checked said i needed to get a universal one, and custom fab a bracket for it.. did you have to make a bracket too? or was yours a direct replacement?

Thanks for dropping in again.

550i...nice!

I got mine from Mechman who told me it was a direct drop in, but it really wasn't.

I don't think I have a pic of it, but mine came with a big aluminum block spacer.

The bottom mounting bolt goes from my alternator to the spacer block and then another bolt from the spacer block to my engine block.

It works without needing any special mounting brackets or anything, I just wouldn't call it a drop in.

Have you checked Mechman? I see a lot of good things about Singer as well.

As for general updates, I'm sorry I'm a little behind. My fiberglass noobism is still in full effect.

I'm having to redo my fiberglass baffle trimpiece AGAIN... since I don't like how the second one was fitting.

I need to get two custom fiberglass pieces to overlap and mate together, look straight and clean and be very thin so that they fit under the top of the rear seat...

I think I finally have a good idea so this weekend should see some progress.

[Wicks]

My rear deck lid covered in felt.

Sure enough the felt was way too think and didn't adhere to the deck lid very well either.

Wasn't going to work so I ripped it off and found some leftover red suede which was supposed to match my cinnamon interior. It didn't so I had it laying around.

It was thinner than the felt so I figured I'd try it out.

With a bunch of resin:

NOPE, didn't like that either. Still wasn't adhering very well and the resin wasn't able to saturate the material either.

So off with that attempt:

I also didn't like the smoothness of the great-stuff foam under the cloth either so I wanted to sand it down more.

I remembered seeing Sky High Car Audio (Rabe) use "8-way" stretch fabric from Joann's on some tweeter pods. I went there and they had no idea what I was talking about, but I came out with this "performance stretch" fabric which must be pretty close.

After test fitting it over the deck lid I still didn't like the fit. This new material was definitely thin enough, almost too thin and it highlighted every small bump which would have caused issues sanding because I'd end up going all the way through the fabric.

So after thinking about it some more, I just said screw it and went with the body filler to smooth out the surface.

The great stuff foam helped to reduce the amount of body filler that might have been needed and helped keep the weight down on the final piece although its still going to be a bit heavy after all is said and done.

Here is the second baffle fiberglass trim piece I made:

The reason I'm remaking it is this:

The lip that sits on the rear deck lid is jagged, rough and not clean enough for my liking.

I wanted to use a strip of aluminum along the deck lid to get a nice substantial clean edge BUT there's no way fiberglass cloth soaked in resin would stick to aluminum.

So I brainstormed a bit and came up with this:

I used a 1/8" x 3/4" strip of aluminum and spray glued some fiberglass cloth around it as a base.

Then screwed it in place and now the fiberglass cloth and resin have something to "bite" into and adhere.

AND here we go:

While my fiberglass was curing, I moved back to my trunk.

The little "pod" I made to hold my Punch200 highs amp was not working out as I intended.

I was a PAIN to squeeze in and out of the trunk due to the tight fit I have in this corner of the trunk.

It was also going to be a pain to cover with vinyl or some other finishing touch.....so I'm scrapping it.

Since I'm porting directly through the rear deck, I am no longer bothered with trying to seal the back of the trunk area off.

So I played around with some of the trim panels and came up with a cleaner solution for the fuse panel / amp mounting:

Has a ways to go yet but I think it will give a much better overall look when complete.

Another nagging problem is how far the actuator extends back into the trunk.

It really interferes with my trim panels being smooth all the way across the trunk.

Did some searching online today and I think I found a solution.

More to come!