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I decided to install my mechman today because when I was tuning it yesterday and taking it for a test spin I noticed my voltage was struggling in the low 13s. Not bad but not good. Now it sits 13.8-14 when full tilting and this is before I wire a switch to bypass the stupid ELD in my civic.... Gotta love hondas

Now onto the mechman. As I was going to install this the first step was to compare the parts one last time. When I did this I noticed some defects in the paint that disappoint for the price I paid...

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Now these are in no means terrible but still noticeable...

Besides the cosmetic issues this thing works great. I will know more when I run the ELD bypass but I would still recommend mechmans if your looking for a HO Alternator. It was simple to setup and pretty much plug and play except for one thing. The bracket for the upper (longest) bolt had a huge gap, about 1/2-3/4" between the inner edge and the mount location. Now to fix this I just used this deadspace as a place for my lug to fit inbetween and as my upgraded ground. This makes it annoying to remove the ground but I think it was a great fix for my issue.

However if you ever plan on doing an alt change even for an oem one I would suggest getting a helper because doing the fan belt by yourself is a pain in the rear x2. Still is possible but not fun. 

I will be replacing the belt in a few days but I decided to use the old one until then. From my testing tonight the belt is tight enough even though the pulley is smaller on this alt than the oem one. 

 

I digress. Here's some more pics;

old and new alts

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I already had the 1/0 run for the positive so all I had to do was change the fuse from 100 A (stock alternator put up about 70-80 if that) to a 300 A fuse more fitting for the 1/0 wire. I also went ahead and ran a ground from the front battery to the alternator mounting location for good measure. Used some zip ties to make sure the ground wire doesn't fall onto anything hot like the radiator hoses, exhaust and shield, etc. I also had to change up my negative terminal to fit the extra lug for a total of three 1/0 lugs and one 4 or 8 gauge I don't remember but it was the stock ground.

 

Instructions for those who are curious 

If anyone wants pictures to help them install an alternator on an 8th gen civic just send me a message and I'll post some with step by step, but the general jist is first disconnect the negative battery terminal (can do the positive too if it makes you feel good) then there are two bolts one easily seen near the engine and one right below the pulley. The tensioner uses a size 19 and the bolts for the alternator brackets are 12s. If the oem alt is stuck after remove the bolts you just have to keep working it out until its free, a screwdriver can help a little but try wiggling it to free it. After that its plug and play in the reverse order, starting with the top bolt and then the bottom. Plug in the connections then re attach the fan belt, making sure that it is aligned properly before starting it. Double check that! 

If you wondering on fuse size just fuse to the size of wire you have. Most upgrade with 1/0 so a 300 a will do if it is OFC 1/0, but If you run any other type of wire research the fuse rating. CCA and welding wire can hold less current than OFC but still gets the job done, so just be careful.

Here is a great source for fusing information, but I don't think this includes CCA/welding wire fuse sizes

 

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Was able to setup a lot today.

4 channel amp is all set except for the speaker wires I will be running tomorrow. Hopefully those molex connectors are not too much of a pain in the ass...

I also setup my distro block (didnt get a pic yet) ran 4 gauge +/- 

Also got my LEDs above the amp rack put in by soldering up a DC jack from a kit I ordered a while back. 

The pics I managed to take. I just finished the LEDs around midnight and took it for a test spin. I definitely am loving to new box. At low to medium volume it sounds very clean and crisp but when I go full tilt I lose the mid/highs so the music sounds like shit, but I will be fixing that shortly. 

Voltage is still sitting 14v (ELD not bypassed) and hovers around 13.8/14 when playing full volume. I'm not to sure my volt meter is accurate so I ordered another one that is easier to see while driving. Currently I am going off the head unit volt meter so we will see how these numbers change when I put that in. Sometimes though I will be sitting at 14.8 for a little bit then drop back to 14

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Power lines and ground lines so far, not including the distribution block I added. I'll post a pic of that tomorrow

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DC jack I cut up close to the jack and soldered on some 16 ga wire to make my connection to the distrobution block with. I used eyelits that I crimped then came back with some solder to make sure they wont fall out over time. 

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I installed my volt meters today. Both the Stinger and Blue Seas volt meters are pretty sweet for the price. Now if I had even more put into this build I would have pony'd up some more cash for a VM-1 and others but for a daily system I think having a digital and analog variant is sweet. I have a toggle switch for turning on the digital and backlight of the Blue Seas one so when I am driving I can always know my voltage at a glance and when I'm parked I can see a more accurate reading from the Blue Seas analog meter. 

One thing I will state is that for looks I opted to hook these into my distro block and fuse there rather than some other place and hook directly into my amps. 

Now for dem pics

I soldered on after crimping these connections because I could. I am no expert but I know the basics of soldering, so this worked out pretty good. Only mistake I made was with the switch - I should have just used crimps and not solder because it melted some of the plastic... might end up needing a new switch later if this one ever has its prongs fall out lol

Back side

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How I wired

Because there are basically +/- posts on the back of the Blue Seas Meter I used that to get my 12v constant for my switch and Stinger Meter. I also soldered the Blue Seas yellow ground (backlight) wire to the negative crimped and soldered connection for the Stinger. Next I soldered my Blue Seas red 12v constant (backlight) wire to the blue remote wire of the Stinger, connecting those two together on the upper blade of the switch. Finally I connected a scrap wire 16 ga (same I used to make the positive run from the distro to center console) from the positive Blue crimp and soldered connection to the other blade on the switch. I also found a ground and tested it with my dmm and then made a jumper with crimps and soldered blue connectors on either side (16 ga wire). 

Diagram  (Website Used: https://www.draw.io/)

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Pics of install

Car off

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Running

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LEDs (RGB) not just blue

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Distro Block

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Getting closer to putting in my new speakers for the front stage.

Today I ran the wire for the passenger side (tweeter and woofer) but I didn't get to run the woofers wire through the molex connectors yet. Additionally,  I sound deadened the outer skin of the passenger door. 

Pics for sound deadening

Stock speaker location. I decided to use almost a whole sheet for the outer skin by running two long sheets and another shorter one for the mid section of the door. Then came back and added some above, below and on the lower round pipe support for the door. I tried to create a bond between the outer sheet and pipe but the top turned out better than the bottom. 

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Left cavity just above the stock speaker location

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Looking from left cavity towards door hinge. You can see the lower pipe support and the extra sheet I applied to adhere to both the pipe and outer skin. 

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Looking from right cavity towards door hinge

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Looking from right cavity towards door lock mechanism

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I used cloth tesa tape to tackle some of the rattles I hear occasionally on lower volume listening. I think it worked out pretty good except I couldn't fix one of the connectors that seems to connect to my door mechanism. It seems the female side in the door is loose but I use some tape on the male part to fix at least that. Might revisit at a later date to fix if it becomes an issue.

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Vapor shield back on. I know that the gaping cavities will kill my mid response but for right now I just want to get the new speakers in and tested. I will save making a cover sheet with rivets etc for another date. 

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For my speaker wire I just ran from the factory tweeter locations in the dash corners and zip tied to the stock ones so the wire wouldn't fall out. The woofer wire I left some extra by the kicks so I can run it through the molex later. From there they went under the carpet and under both the front and rear seat cross supports and finally through the carpet and by the amp. I have some temporary tape and paper to label each wire so I can come back later with the heat shrink I got when I cut these to fit. The tweeters with be on my two rear channels and the woofers on my two front channels, so I can adjust the tweeters separate from the woofers. 

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Ran the rest of the wire for the driver side and hooked it all up to the amp. Also managed to sneak the woofer wire into the doors through the boot hole just under the molex connectors with a little fanaglin. Tested out and compared the pioneer ran off the headunit and the new components off the amp and they sound sooo much better. I will say the tweeters are really harsh so I am glad I am active so I can tone those down without hurting my woofers output!

I might make a video comparing the differences idk yet. 

Kept the tweeters in stock locations with a little hot glue to hold it in place.

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Woofer temporary installation. Will come back with more sound deadening around the adapter and some more of the second skin weather stripping rope around the adapter to seal it better. However, I will say the sound is amazing compared to anything I have ever heard. 

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Molex connectors and boot

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I have been busy tweaking my system. Tuning/re-tuning, and finding my daily listening volumes easily because of the active setup I can just adjust the level of my subs or tweeters super easy on the head unit. I think I have to tear apart my rear seats and side passenger panel to solve a rattle but I'll do that at a later date...

The t2 components are super nice but its hard to show them off. What is a good camera to record this stuff with?? My One Plus 3T just sounds like its dying 

Heres some links from today. Idk how to post videos on here or if you even can? without YouTube or something

https://joshdashef.tumblr.com/post/175187770737

https://joshdashef.tumblr.com/post/175186873673

https://joshdashef.tumblr.com/post/175186835746

https://joshdashef.tumblr.com/post/175186766071/suicide-boys-demo

Sorry for so many cuts used Snapchat to get these. I'll use my regular camera next time. Voltage dipped between 13.5 and 14 throughout the song, but I see better performance when driving instead of parked.

All in all I'm happy with the results and now onto prettying it up and rattle hunting!

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Noticed that some of the clips near the speaker were not seated properly. Turns out the plastic rim that surrounds the speaker rim was rubbing against the speaker and preventing the clips from being pushed in entirely. Fixed it up with some flush trim clippers and a knife then put some foam tape on for good measure. Also decided to put some damp rope all behind the speaker adapters then when they were re-mounted I shoved some all around the adapters.

You can see the plastic sitting on the speaker rims just barely down and left of the screw

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After pics with plastic trimmed and foam tape applied (really hard to get the camera to focus on this but the best I could manage were these)

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Trimming and applying the foam tape

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Damp Rope

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I removed the speaker then the adapter so I could apply a layer on the backside of the adapter then remounted the adapter and applied more surrounding the adapter. 

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Unfortunately I still have a rattle somewhere in my passenger door that seems to be higher in the door. Might be a loose cable I missed... Regardless I noticed a small improvement on the mid bass after this little project. 

Driver side is the same way so I'll be doing the same thing on that side too. [Done]

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Rattle update: 

Turns out to be because of a short cut I have been doing to make the door cards easier to take off.

The handles each have a screw and a center pop clip but I never re-installed the clips so the handles have been rattling whenever the volume goes past 50s. My fix was to take the door cards off and put a penny to quarter sized piece of the damp rope and smoosh it in with my finger. Now no more rattles :D besides the one in my rear...

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Testing out my new battery charger from XS power. 

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So far it seems to be working great, and tops off my rear d3400 nicely. I've been running the battery without a charger to top it off for about a couple weeks and when I hooked up the charger it went green within a minute or two so I guess my alternators been working as intended.

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