Pt Cruiser/Mazda 3i Builds

[ptcary]

Still waiting on aeroports to arrive, then I'm going to pull the front interior out of the PT and the front 4 subs to get the aeros installed. I want to re-route some of the wiring under the carpet while the seats are out.

Meanwhile, I just brought home the second car. 2010 Mazda3i Sport. It is going to be my daily driver so I can keep the PT nice and as my weekend toy. The Mazda is not getting a big system, only adding some tweeters to the front doors and a single 8" sub in the trunk. SQ all the way. Keeping the factory deck. I already ordered an HID kit, factory rear spoiler, and a homelink/autodim mirror!

I can't have two custom cars, and the PT needs a custom paint job, maybe two tone white and silver, not sure yet.

[Rebel4055]

That PT looks sick!

[ptcary]

That PT looks sick!

Thanks! Now that I have the Mazda daily driver, I can get more work done on the PT. The aeroports arrived and if the weather holds out I can get started on them this weekend or next. I have to pull the seats and center console out of the car and pull the front four subs out to get the aeroports in. It should be worth it though, it will drop the tuning from ~43 down to ~32 hz!

The wall is getting new carpet too; and the Omnifi is coming out and going into the new car, cause the PT is pretty much ipod based anyway.

The Mazda is getting a very mild upgrade, just tweeters being added to the front kick panels, and a single sub fiberglassed into the side of the trunk, but that will be later on.

[ptcary]

Well, time to get back to working on the PT. I had to do a few things to the new Mazda just to "move in".

The Mazda will be getting the Eclipse headunit out of the PT and the the PT will get the previous Eclipse single din unit that was in there. I just can not justify having all that function in the PT when I won't be driving it very often. It will still have an SQ oriented deck, ipod connection, playstation 2 and DVD playback.

The Mazda will probably just get the headunit, not sure about a sub yet, it is OK with the addition of the tweeters up front now. It is getting a Clifford two-way alarm and the factory power locks that it did not come with. Most of the stuff I want for it will not be stereo related. (Ground effects, wheels, factory stuff.

OK, I lost my way on the PT doors, and still have a second set of door panels to play with. It really only needs more midrange coming from the doors, it has plenty of highs and midbass, so I am back to planning stage for the doors.

Here is a recap of what happened with the sub enclosure tuning. I started off squeezing Steve's awesome enclosure design into my little PT Cruiser. It was fun, yeah I could have changed a few things, but I learn as I go. I just HAD to have 8 subs, the only other way I would have considered this would be with 4 15"s. Airspace was really tight. I was just over the minimum for the Hifonics ported specs. I played with every port calculator that I could find and came up with conflicting numbers. So to be safe I built the ports to Hifonics specs which are supposed to be 38 hz. I know the polyfill was a mistake cause it must raise the tune, but I was sure it would help with the airspace.

Now completely relying on Torres' calculator. I actually have a 43 hz tune, and these subs roll off -3db in a sealed box at 43 hz, so I guess I actually had the sound of a sealed box. So I put covers over the ports to temporarily seal them. It struggled to hold 140 db on the meter.

The more I have read about port area, the more I came to think my ports were way to small and I should have followed my gut feeling and made them bigger more in proportion to what Steve did in the Hoopty (for visual reference).

So, this time around, I am again taking somewhat of the easy way out. I am going with prefab PSP aeroports. 6 of them. They are the 4" ones, and I should not have to cut them. According to Torres' calc. They will net me a 30hz tune. I am pulling the polyfill out of the enclosure. Since the inside of the enclosures is not perfectly smooth and there is 2"x4" bracing in there. I may actually end up with a 31-32 hz tune, but that is still a huge improvement over it's present tune.

All this should only involve removing the front 4 subs, to get the polyfill out. Using a hole saw to cut the port holes, and I am re-carpeting the wall, it needs it.

This will take me the next few weeks to complete, we are just now getting some relief from the summer heat for the first time here in Austin. I have the new Mazda to drive everyday, so I don't have to get the seats back into the PT to make it to work in Monday mornings anymore!

Anyway, for the few diehard fans of the PT here are a few pics....

Sorry for the angle, got the seat out this morning and started eyeballing where the ports will go.

Here is the pic of the existing port, I started pulling the polyfill out.

Here are the new ports, there will be 3 per side. PSP 4" aero's. I have two spares for later on.

[sounddesires]

MAN THAT REAR SECTION IS TITS!!!

[Hotdog]

How do you like that DMP1?

I just picked one up for a great price.. Do you use the software that came with it or do you use openfi?

Have you tried Changing the hard drive out on it?

I guess it can been done fairly easy I have been searching for stuff. I want to get a 200gig drive for it and put my whole mp3 collection on it but you have to use openfi for it to work from what I have read.

[ptcary]

MAN THAT REAR SECTION IS TITS!!!

Thanks, everyone kept wanting to look through the back thinking they could see through the box to the front, so I had to do something in the back to break up the plain two-tone wall back there.

Update while I am here, the PT is a mess right now with no seat and full of saw dust, still working on the passenger side.

[ptcary]

How do you like that DMP1?

I just picked one up for a great price.. Do you use the software that came with it or do you use openfi?

Have you tried Changing the hard drive out on it?

I guess it can been done fairly easy I have been searching for stuff. I want to get a 200gig drive for it and put my whole mp3 collection on it but you have to use openfi for it to work from what I have read.

The Omnifi is fun, but an iPod is so much easier. I am running openfi, but I think you have to use the software that came with it to use the wireless part of it. At first, I used a laptop hardrive with it with no problems.

[ptcary]

Well since the Mazda is not getting anything SPL related. I figured I would just post pics here in my PT log. I went ahead and ordered Eclipse 3-way 6.5" components for the front doors and Eclipse coaxials for the rear doors. I'll add an Eclipse 10" sub, but finding a decent price on an Eclipse sub amp might take some work.

PT pic first. No progress other than a ton of sawdust in the carpet and the top two ports holes rough cut; as always, my hole saw collection has nothing that fits so I had to wing it with a jigsaw! But the aeros will cover them nicely when done.

It'll be 3 aeros per side not 4 and the tune should be right at 30hz according to Torres calc. This is alot lower than the previous tune, so it should sound really better. I am also reverting back to an Alpine headunit for its small and quick volume number range compared to Eclipse. Steve is right (as always) it is tough to control a large sub setup with a push button volume compared to a knob.

And some Mazda pics. Moved the Eclipse over from the PT, since I won;t be driving the PT as often, it did not need all the extra stuff in it.

Getting ready:

Mazda passenger side dash comes completely out and is an installer/customizers dream! It is perfect for an amp or two or a carputer in there. I mounted my Eclispe ipod/LAN and Sirius module to the outside of the storage compartment, so I still have both the glove box and the storage compartment free to use.

I did place the Sirius antenna inside the dash on a metal pad that Eclipse provides, and it works great.

All closed up, just need to run the dimmer lead over to the drivers kick panel, and run the rear camera wires to the back.

Gotta get back to the PT now!

[sounddesires]

lookin good man