Pt Cruiser/Mazda 3i Builds

[Purplehaze]

Thanks for the advice on the CVRs. Since the AQ SD subs only come in dual 4 ohms coils, and I need a 1 ohm load, that would force me to the HD series.

Hey man, I just now caught on to this, and I don't mean to sound like a know-it-all. I may be thinking about it wrong. But if you need a 1 ohm load, wouldn't you want D4? I was thinking you were gonna do 2 amps, one amp per 2 subs, rt? If so, the D4 ohm is what you want, so it can be wired down to 1 ohm? Of coarse if your talking about a single amp for all four subs, then u need D2's. If I just missed something, then my bad.

[ptcary]

Hey man, I just now caught on to this, and I don't mean to sound like a know-it-all. I may be thinking about it wrong. But if you need a 1 ohm load, wouldn't you want D4? I was thinking you were gonna do 2 amps, one amp per 2 subs, rt? If so, the D4 ohm is what you want, so it can be wired down to 1 ohm? Of coarse if your talking about a single amp for all four subs, then u need D2's. If I just missed something, then my bad.

No problem you have it right. It is just me trying to decide between 2 subs vs 4. Right now I want two 18"s, run with my current amp 1100 watts each. My friend/pro who knows this stuff better than I do says he thinks i would be happier with 2 or 4 15"s in a 4th order wall, but I want 2 18"s!

He is guiding me on swapping steering wheel in the Mazda this weekend, so I am going to pick his brain on 4th order walls.

I am still undecided.

[ptcary]

Well I cold not leave the wheel alone, no silver spoke and no black spoke!

Burlwood! Took it all apart and wrapped it in vinyl. (I know you guys are into carbon fiber, but I really love this color against the black interior! I also have done the dash panels and the interior door pulls.)

[ptcary]

Mazda MID arrived today and I got started right after getting home from work. My 3i Sport does not have the factory center speaker, so I had to work with the longer full plastic trim piece that is there; which required moving the instrument cluster, didnt have to unplug it, just remove the two screws and set it to the side. The rest was pretty straight forward, find all the screws to remove and pull out the old one. It works so far, senses which door or trunk is open, was able to set the time with the dash buttons, and the screens look great. My red screen is blank because I have an aftermarket head unit. It really serves no purpose, just says Hello and Goodbye with the ignition on/off.

Here are some more pics, Steering wheel this Saturday!

New wheel is in....

[FieroGrande]

Looks really nice. Your making it sexy one step at a time.

[ptcary]

PT planning continues. My long time friend/pro installer has a lot of subwoofer info and is helping me with the 4th order plan. He has a wealth of info and experience from all the years he worked and all the manufacturer schools he attended. He has kept a lot of info on 4th orders and ported enclosure designs; and gave me some great info to model my new wall. He still says I would be happier with 15"s vs 18"s, but I really want 18"s, so we'll see.

I am knee deep in a few projects for the Mazda right now, so the PT will be rebuilt later this summer.

For those who don't know the history, the PT is kinda wild now, so I bought a brand new 2010 Mazda 3 a while back to be my daily driver but did not want to go crazy modding it, but that didn't last long. It's already got a complete Eclipse SQ setup inside, alarm, wheels, and some factory upgrades.

In my ebay search, I came across this new old stock Eclipse 2" center channel speaker for the Mazda. It will go where the factory center channel speaker would be in the dash. That is a Stinger crossover in the pic, but I won't use it. I need a 300hz passive.

I recently found a wrecked Mazda 3 GT to get some parts off to add to mine. I bought the MID trip computer, leather steering wheel/column, and the electroluminescent lighted gauge cluster. Well as you know those parts are not just a quick install. They require reprogramming and a lot of research, luckily I found a Mazda Master Tech at my local dealer to help figure them out.

After confirming that my Mazda was prewired for the factory fog lights in the front bumper, I swapped my turn signal lever for the one off of the GT column for the foglight switch.

[ptcary]

At home today waiting for the maintenance guy to come recharge the A/C....summer is coming!

Finished the Mazda center channel speaker today. Found a new old stock Eclipse 2" center channel on ebay and could not pass it up. Mazda offers a factory center channel in the Bose cars, I have a center channel in the PT also, and knew it would help the Mazda sound great, too.

Eclipse 80201 2" center channel with 300hz crossover:

Plenty of room above the a/c duct, and where the factory center channel would be:

Had to tear down the dash to get the panel out:

Had a chance to use the new Dremel Trio to cut the hole:

Wired it all up and taped the passive crosser in:

Test fitted:

Done! Tested it with a U2 concert DVD, and it sounds great, perfect amount of fill:

[sounddesires]

white lips look badass...

[ptcary]

Amp upgrade in the Mazda this weekend. I wanted an Eclipse 5 channel, but they are getting harder to find since they withdrew from the aftermarket.

I went back to my old favorite.....Hifonics!

This is a Zeus 5 channel. Running it at 990w RMS and it is great. It can do 1480 watts, but since my Eclipse sub is rated at 450w, I think I will leave it alone.

Also wanted some more rear fill since my 3 only had the rear door speakers. I found some new old stock Eclipse 4" Point Source components for the rear deck.

The center channel is still powered by the head unit. The amp is running 60x4 and 750x1 RMS.

Haven't really tuned it yet. I have an RTA on my laptop and just downloaded the Focal Discs, so I have some work to do.

I still want an RF 360.3 when they come to market.

Next will be an XSPower battery, most likely a D5100R.

**Nothing new with the PT. I have not torn into it yet for a rebuild. I am still leaning towards 15"s or 18"s in a 4th order wall.I really don't want to tear into it until I am sure what I want to do. I have learned so much since I built it, I wanna try something new.

[ptcary]

Some more work done to the 3. No changes to the PT, but it is so strange to me how friends and coworkers are impressed by the PT even though the buildis a few years old now. I really want to tear into it, but it's gonna take a lot of energy out of me to rebuild it; so I want to wait and make sure I really know what I want. Still leaning towards 4 15"s in a 'Hoopty wall' but 2 18"s in a 4th order would be nice.

Anyway; been spending my time and money on the Mazda lately.

Bought front and rear seats out of a 2009 Mazdaspeed 3. Real leather and Alcantara inserts. Huge improvement.

Swapped the headunit for a factory style 8" screen; nav, bluetoooth, DVD..

Suede shift boot and Momo knob.

GT rear bumper upgrade from the black insert one that came with the car. Racing Beat dual rear muffler.

JBL MS-8 ready to install. Added a red insert to the display so it will match the Mazda red dash.

New Hifonics Zeus 5 channel amp. The MS-8 will go in the space above it.

Decided I wanted more trunk space so I pulled the ported box out and fiberglassed a small sealed enclosure built to Eclipse specs 0.5 cu ft and it will get 750w rms from channel 5 of the amp.