2013 GTR SQ/IQC Competition Build

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Now onto the trunk lid Ipad mounts:

this was somewhat of a late addition to the project...but we wanted to bsure that the overall finished matched the angular sci-fi theme in the trunk, and that the ipads are both solidly mounted yet easily removable.

So joey came up with a system where the ipads slide into a grove and the open end is capped via a magnetized cover to covered everything and prevented the ipads from moving.

first the two ipads were laid out on the trunk lid cover and two pieces that they will slide into are fabricated:

the mounts will be bolted to the factory carpet and they inturn will secure via the dozen or so mounting clips, but joey installed an additional rivetnut to serves as the main securing point for the rack:

skipping a few steps as it was pretty late in the build processor, joey made a back mold off the carpet cover, attached a front panel, sanded it smooth and blended it intot he shape of the carpet. attached the two sliding panels at a slight angle, and then fabricated an angular top cover panel.

a triangular theme was then routered out of the middle of the top cover inline with the shapes present in the trunk:

and all the pieces primed and painted, while the pieces where the ipads will slide in got what we call "Simpliciflock" material, which is a very thin suede like adhesive backed material to increase traction:

once everthing is in place, and the bolt secured to the rivet nut. two blue LED strips were installed to give the cutout the same type of lighting as in the trunk:

and there you have it, the finished product, with the ipads secured and the lighting on:

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Finally, saving the best for last, the complete trunk fabrication:

some of this will not be in the right chronological order but i think it works best to follow the entire build process

Joey started by sound proofing the bottom portion of the trunk floor.

next came the main metal frame that will house all the amp rack related pieces. this was built out of pretty heavy 1" bar stock, here it is being constructed on our welding table and then test fitted in the trunk

next mounting tabs were welded onto the frame that will allow it to be bolted secured at four points via 5/16" rivetnuts and bolts:

then a mock up of the moving amp rack was made out of wood and tested to ensure that the idea would work:

and the real mounting frames for the amps was contructed out of 1/2" bar stock. one of the frames, where a hook and cable will attache for the two stage movement, was further reinforced with a triangular truss:

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next came the side pieces that makes up the frame portion which tilts up and down (the rectangular amp racks pivot within them), which are made out of 1/2x2" bar stock, with the pivoting points secured to them by ways of a a round section of tubing inserted into the bar stock, the front arm that the actuator attaches to is also welded to the frame at this point.

here you see the intricate pulley and cable system that will allow the three amp racks to pivot in unison once the outter frame has reached a certain point of elevation:

these are the side pieces that are welded to the individual amp racks, with threads tapped into them, so basically, a bolt via nylon washers can be inserted through the holes on the outter frame (mentioned and shown earlier), threaded into these holes, and allow the frames to pivot around that point:

perhaps a better way to see what i mean is by looking at the assembled movable amp rack:

the pieces are then individually primed, and painted:

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moving to the subwoofer enclosures. first, mounting rings were fabricated for the two zero pro 10s and the thread inserts installed. becuase the mounting holes were pretty close to the edge, the inside of the mounting rings were slightly chamfered to give more material for the threaded inserts to bite into:

next, the sides of the factory trunk trim was tapped off, the amp rack assembly bolted in place, and two mdf quater boxes were fabricated and positioned next tot he amp rack:

the edges of the mdf pieces were then filled and extended to the tape:

then the whole area was maked off and fiberglass laid onto the side carpet and the wooden portions:

once the glass cured, the two side pieces were removed and as you can see, now we have a combo fiberglass/mdf back mold that lines up perfectly with the amp rack, the ring baffles were then aimed and attached:

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next, using some adjustable curves, joey routered out two top cover pieces that attafch to the mdf portion of the enclosure, and then pulled puppy love mold cloth across the entire frame, thus forming the outter shape of the enclosurse:

once that cured, the boxes were reinforced from the outside via more fiberglass:

using the stevemeade impedance and resoance meter and a math formula, joey was able to determine the interior volume of the two enclosures, he then glassed in a filler board into the bigger of the two enclosures so that the two sides are virtually identical at .86ft^3 unstuffed and 1.0ft^3 equivalent with blackhole stuff, verified again by the SMD test meter:

the, the top floor cover piece was fabvricated that went around the amp rack and sub enclosures:

the attention as then turned to the cosmetic trim ring and extension arm around the subs...here is the ring:

and the basic outter shape of the extension arms fabricated:

then Joey, using strips of wood and the right outer bit, created the triangular cutouts that will be present across the install:

these shapes were then translated onto a snap in trim insert and test fitted to the two subwoofer arms:

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next, the curved ends of the arms had filler applied and sanded smooth, with a curved cutout at the attachment point to the rings to make it a smooth transition:

next, the trim panel that will reside towards the front of the trunk was fabricated in a similar fashion:

then joey made the two flanking arms that will reside next to the amp rack to give it a sunk-in modular look are fabricated in a similar manner:

and the back portion of that shape was also fabricated:

the single led floodlight idea was there from the beginning, and joey and jj came up with an "imperial tie-fighter cockpit" kind of design to house the flood light, and this was the drawing joey came up with prior to some very dilcate router work to make it into a 3D shape.

here you see that routered out section sitting in its own holder that has been attached to the back portion of the amp rack surround:

the whole shape was then filled with more wood and filler until its a solid section with a holder:

all the arms and pieces were then put back into the car for a full test fitment:

then comes the other pieces that attach to the arms (yes i said more pieces lol), first are these trim pieces with 1/8" smaller openings that will be secured to the inside of the arms, these will be painted blue later to form the thin blue border trim:

then a whole bunch of threaded inserts were installed onto the inside of the main arm panels, these will be used later to bolt down both the painted inner trim panel and the edge lit textured plexi glass panels:

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next a whole bunch of mdf strips were cut that will serve two purposes, one is to create a channel on the back of the arms that will allow the LED strips to go into, the other is that they will have magnets embedded in them that will allow these pieces to drop into the arms and bond securely to matching magnets embedded in them (yes i am confused too lol but it works)

for the inserts inside the triangular openings, originally joey was going to use grille mesh, but a random sifting through a parts bin at a local plastics store revealed these textured acrylic sheets that would give us a unique look and pass the led lighting a whole lot better. If you are wondering, these are usually used for ceiling lighting fixture covers anyway, here are the pieces of plexi test fitted to the backside of the arm inserts, attached via the previously installed threaded inserts and bolts:

next, main floor board was filled and matched to the shape of the oem trunk:

ever the perfectionist, Joey then decided that the rectagular led holder did not match the triangular shape and cutsouts, so he then made a new holder in a trapezoid shape and mold a new holder into the back portion of the trim panel:

Joey then wanted a bit more texture and color than a flat carpeted floor so he designed and made two more two piece trim panels that will attach to the main fake floor:

here you see them being test fitted onto the main floor, and also the effect they will have once the main surrounding trim panels and arms are in place above them:

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next, all the arms had their corners reinforced with a bit of fibertlass, and additional filling and smoothing of the ends.

and then it was time to wrap the outter pieces in dark graphite vinyl:

while the inner inserts got a layer of primer:

and all the peices were once again test fitted into car with the fit and finish tested on the arm inserts:

jumping back in time a little bit, here is the fabrication process of the front wall of the trunk, this has a vent in it to allow bass to flow into the cabin, and also sides the back wall, the actuator and the dsp. the various trim pieces attach with rivet nuts while the grille trim panel can be easily removed for access to the dsp and the actuator by ways of more neodymium magnets:

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next the back panel around the amp rack was painted and vinyled, and some testing of the plexi attachment was made:

next, the front wall of the trunk was masked and painted black, so no silver would show through the front grille mesh and throw off the look of the trunk:

and crap load of trim pieces were painted in black or blue:

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the top of the enclosures were then carpeted with black carpet, and the exposed part of the factory carpet was also rewrapped in the same material:

the orignal back of the zero pro sub's motors were shiny and kinda stood out, so joey repainted them textured black to match the rest of the trim pieces.

the sub enclosures were then stuffed with blackhole Stuff, and the subs bolted in place. here you see the silver ring that held the gladen zero pro etchings were removed, they were rotated so the letters would line up correct and mirror each other:

next, joey fabricated various filler pieces that go between any gaps beteen the outter frame of the amp rack and surrounding trim, and wrapped/painted them. the smaller pieces are at the front that hides wiring under the floor:

next the front wall was carpeted and painted, here you can see clearly where the embedded magnets are that allow the front grille to snap on:

here all the led strips are secured in the channels and wired in place:

and all the led wires along with the techflexed speaker cables are now routed to their respective place.