Loud & Low 8th Gen Civic - UBL #3 - The Final Chapter - Up to date

[scooter99]

Next I cut out the middle with the jigsaw.

This is where it'ls gonna go. Over the amp rack edges.

Ok now that we're good to go on that, let's get this floor trimmed out and done.

Picked up some two sided tape from Home Depot. This stuff is expensive! This is barely 30 feet and was $11.00. WTF!?!

Taped up the back of the trim panels.

And now we're ready for some flush trimming.

Close up

The weapon of choice! Porter Cable Router!

With a flush trim bit!

Made short work of it, and we're done!

Final product after popping off the templates. Now I need to cut it in half so it's two pieces. The one piece whole won't fit in the trunk. I'm not fighting that battle! So a center line was measured and made with a speed square and is ready to be cut.

Now it's ready to go in the trunk.

[scooter99]

Driver side in

Passenger side in

Trim ring in..........sort of.

The back of the amp rack was sitting too high. I actually remembered at this point that it may have to be trimmed down, and now that is confirmed. LOL

Bit better look

So I took a break at this point and met my wife with the kids and had dinner. Was nice to take a break and let the mid rest. Then I got back at it.

This is what needs to go. From that corner along the back

To this corner on the other side.

That's about how much needs to come off. But I wanted to do it from the back side.

Marked and ready to cut. Now I know it's not straight. I knew it wouldn't be. I knew it wouldn't be when I made it originally. That's why I figured it would have to be cut.

Now it's ready to go back in.

Much better

And it's much better. Sits down where it should be.

Does sit up a bit back here, but that's from the amp rack. I need to get some nutserts so I can anchor it down to the floor. Does anyone know where I can get some good ones as well as the driver? I'll look on the interwebz but I figured someone may have a good place. I'm going to need quite a few inserts so hopefully I can find some for a decent price.

Better view of how it sticks up. Only about 1/8 - 1/4", but it's enough to mess some things up possibly.

See I can push it down and it flushes right up. So as soon as I can get the nutserts and get the amp rack anchored in, this will sit down just fine.

[scooter99]

With the floor up and running and ready to go in, it's time to start on some trim panels. So I got the 3500 out, and now we're gonna make a template to go around it.

First, we need to protect it though. Don't want to scratch the top or anything else for that matter. Little blue painters tape will do the job.

Measured out a 1" rim around it, and flipped it upside down. Not sure if this is exactly how you do it, but hey, I'm learning as I go and this seems like the most logical way to me.

Little measuring around the back side and it's a rectangle with a border and almost a template.

I wasn't really fond of the hard corners though so I decided that the top off the paint primer can looked like a good fit to the size. So I grabbed it and rounded off some corners.

I think that looks pretty good and balanced.

I took it outside and cut the outside of it with the jigsaw, and then it dawned on me it was about 8:30 and it was a little late to use the power tools. So I decided to knock off for the night. Tomorrow I'll be back at it and we'll get this moving some more.

So that's it for tonight. There's oh so much more to come. I'm rollin now. New ideas, based off these ideas, and if you all know me, sometimes it takes doing something and having to redo it to get it right. And quite frankly, I'm ok with that. Because in the end, It's going to be welllllll worth it! I know for me, I'm learning a ton! This is what I like to call fly by the seat of my pants installing! Enjoy the ride!!

[scooter99]

Just thought I'd share this before heading off to dinner with the fam. Not much of an update, but I feel GREAT about this one! Check it out!

Then I adjusted the trunk latch a bit to allow it to actually shut. I was concerned with this exact thing when I came up with this idea originally. So after some adjustment, it's closing on it's own and I'm very very happy about that.

Got a couple of things yesterday.

The last 2 (for now) of the 6 xp950's. I am still contemplating doing 8, but It's just too tight in there for the 4 on each side cubby. I think I can fit one somewhere else over there, but I have to explore and see. But I think the 3 will be good, so I'm going that route.

Also got the nutserts in as well.

So hopefully I can get some stuff done tonight. I'll have to wait and see what happens.

I have the nutsert tool and a couple other things at home I got the other day, but I forgot pics. I'll get them this weekend. Just some Diodes for a project, and the nutsert tool, and a stick of aluminum for buss bars from Kyle! Thanks buddy!

[scooter99]

Ok so I haven't been able to do any more work since Friday night. Yesterday was super busy, and today I have things to do in the morning that will most likely spill to the afternoon. So I'm not sure if I'll be able to get back on this today or not. We'll see. But here are some updates to post here.

First I metered the 2 new batteries. I need to make up a bunch of pig tales and charge them all I think. Let's get started with the pics.

New battery 1 out of the box. 12.68 resting

New battery 2 out of the box 12.65 resting. Nice!

This is the orientation

Had to stack some aluminum brackets on the back. The batteries are smaller on the bottom than the top.

If I didn't they'd look like this, and not be straight. BTW, does anyone see the issue with this label? I'll let you guys look at it before I tell you what it is! But you guys are smart you'll figure it out.

Started with some flat stock on the bottom

leveling out the first battery

Then a piece of angle on the top of it. The reason for angle on the second and third battery, vs flat on the bottom, was because it needed to be attached to something and I couldn't very well screw into the battery. So, angle will allow me to screw it to the cabinet.

second battery on etc.

Got my table saw out. I was going to stop and build a cabinet for the table saw and the router, but I don't have enough plywood around to do it, so I proceeded forward.

Top piece and bottom pieces cut, for both racks. I ended up making new ones so, because of the angle aluminum brackets. I decided to put them on the sides and not just the back. This way the batteries are easier to slide in.

All the pieces cut and ready for assembly.

Got the layout marked

[scooter99]

and then drew the lines on each one.

Next it was time to cut aluminum brackets. 4.5" each.

8 brackets and 2 base spacers

Getting the drill press set up with a fence and counter sink bit. This didn't work out as well as I thought. I ended up drilling holes, then coming back and taking the drill bit out of the countersink bit and just used that base part. The aluminum shavings kept getting jammed in the space between the drill bit and countersink blades.

End result

All pieces are brushed up and cleaned up with the bench grinder and the steel brush wheel and now they're ready for mounting.

Drilled some holes for the mounts

Had to cut these guys off. I don't have any 1/2" screws. Gotta use what you got sometimes.

So out came the air saw. BAM DONE! First two were with an old blade. The third one, and other board was with a new blade. Love this thing!!

Looking good.

Next up was the sides for all 4

Back to the drill press

Ready to go on

and on with a couple small issues.

See that the screw heads aren't completely flush. This may or may not be a problem. We'll see.

Next I stacked them up for a test run. I like it. I do have to do some trimming though. The top and bottom pieces are too wide making the sides and the gap between them and the batteries too wide. SO I'm going to take off about 3/8" from the top and bottom pieces and that will put them exactly where I want them.

So that's where I'm at. Like I said, I hope I can get back to them tonight, but we'll have to wait and see what the afternoon holds.

To comment or see the behind the scenes chatter, check out my build log, linked in my signature. Thanks for checking in!

[scooter99]

Let's get onto the pictures.

Can barely see the lines on each side there but it's about an 1/8th on each side I'm going to cut off. Trying to get it down to about 7 7/8".

Old one on the left, and new one on the right after trimming the top and bottom pieces.

7 7/8" Right where I wanted to be.

Time to put everything together. Got my glue, my straight nailer, all the pieces, towels, hmmmmm I'm missin something!

Ahhhhh yes, my sunday afternoon drink! Captain Morgan Black, and Diet Coke. Yes DIET coke, don't hate!

Time to work. Glued and nailed every piece.

Frame one is done.

Got my measurements off that, and went and cut the backs.

Frame 2 done.

Time for backing. Glued and nailed this on as well.

First one is done and ready to test fit.

Was a little tight with those screws not being completely flush mounted. So that might be an issue.

Little lip there, I can hit that with a flush trim bit, but it's not really that big a deal in back.

Both done and ready for a test fit! The test fit failed. I have a video that will go up soon. The boxes are too wide to go in. They're too tall as well, but I can fix that part. The problem is where the wheel well is at, I've cut as much as I can cut, and the box doesn't just slide in and work. Unfortunately. SO, as frustrating as it is, I'm back to the drawing board. Battery Rack V2 is a failure at this time.

I didn't get any pictures of trying to put them in place. I was just simply too frustrated at that point. I'll see if I can get some pics of it. I'm thinking about some things at the moment also, that I may be able to use this afterall, but I'll have to hack the hell out of it. So we'll see. Video is still uploading, and I'll post that when it's done.

I'm headed back to the drawing board and see what I can come up with.

In the meantime, I think I may move on to something else. I need to get the floor anchored down, as well as, get some bracing under where these batteries are going to go. So I'll work on that and anchoring it down next.

I need to move forward somehow. I probably need to just step away from the batteries for the moment and come back to them later.

More to come. Thanks!

Here's the video:

[scooter99]

Ok we have success! I went out tonight with my hour or so of free time, and I whooped the trunks ass!! I will not be beaten by some wood and metal.

I decided, instead of trying to start over, I would take what I have already built, and even as painful as it would be, hack at it until it fit. I knew the inner part of the boxes would not be impeded, allowing the batteries to slide in just fine. But I figured that it was the extra inch I added by using 1/2" birch to build the boxes. I didn't think about that when I was test fitting. Thankfully, it only effected me in a couple of places. Let's get on with it.

So this is about how tall it is. It's about an inch and a half.

It's also a little wide.

So I had to make some alterations to it. Cut the bottom off, that'll save me a half inch. Half inch isn't very significant you'd think, but with what was behind where the cut would be made, it appeared that it might impeded withe the outer part of the fender. OBVIOUSLY we don't want that!!!

That's a bit better. I'll only be cutting out about a 3/4"-1" now.

Had to remove the deadener, it'll gum up the blade.

This is about where I'm going to cut. It's actually ends up only being the lower part of that wing. Just above that line, or right on it, is the seam where the two pieces meet. So the seam won't be cut out. That's a good thing.

The carnage!

It's much better. It's gonna fit height wise now, but there's still some work to do on the sides.

[scooter99]

This is where it's at now.

This was where it was at before.

So I started drawing some cut out lines.

Did some notching and we're in!!

Did some notching and we're in!!

Put the batteries in, to make sure we have clearance from the trunk arm.

There's plenty. It'll end up being close after the trim panel goes in, but as long as that arm can go down unimpeded, it's all good.

Then I did the same thing for the driver side.

After a little work, it's in.

Side view. So now we're back to moving forward!

So that's it. Next I'll get the floor anchored, and then get the kreg jig out and get some holes drilled in these racks. I know it looks a little rough right now, but it will be good in the end.

Thanks!!

[scooter99]

Little video for you guys.