Infinitely Baffled The Do-Over. :P

[onebadmonte]

Today is the day of no return. I've hacked my door panels and from the looks of it some might assume I used a hatchet. Here are some pics of the carnage.

The door panel

Here is the drivers side door

Up close of the hacking

Here is a shot of the passenger side. This shot gives a good view of the area I am working with.

I'll be making a simple pod by stacking some MDF pieces. Sorry no fiberglass work here. I'll keep it simple, I think it'll look good. More to come.

[onebadmonte]

I've got some work done on the speaker pods I'll be using. Here is what I have so far.

Here is the basic shape. I've got the stack screwed together. I'll use a drill press to drill the mounting holes and the center pin hole for the jasper jig. Having all four pieces screwed together ensures all the holes will line up when I glue the pieces together.

Here is a piece ready for the mounting hole to be cut with the jasper jig. The mounting hole is 7" in diameter.

Since all the holes are the same I was able to hold down the piece by screwing in down on to the table from underneath the table.

Here are the pieces on my art table.

This is a close up of the top of the pod assembly. The angle cut in the corner is to clear the bottom of the dash. The slot towards the bottom will capture the door panel. Hopefully this will make for a clean install. The profile is a bit rough, but it'll finish up with some sanding and filler.

Here is my craigslist pick up of the week. $30, but from the looks of the base this saw was pulled from the bottom of the Mississippi. I recommend one if you get the chance to get one, be warned though if you've never messed with a bandsaw you'll have hell setting up the blade to track properly on the wheels 1st time around. Be careful. Muahahahaha.

If you were wondering why I drilled mounting holes through all four parts, here is why. I am using 1/8" drill bits as pins to align all four pieces together for glueing.

It's finally coming together.

I used a hydraulic press to keep the parts together while the glue sets. Check it, my Monte Carlo in the back. Yes, I bought into the konaki e-boner.

This is a before and after sanding. I'll use a little filler for the low spots.

This is the finished product just before painting.

I'm using a light coat of stone textured paint. I'm hoping for enough texture to match the plastic inside the car.

The paint has dried. Now it's time for the final touches. Here are some more of those fancy threaded inserts. I'll use some for the woofer and I'll also use some to mount the pod to the door.

More to come soon. Thanks for looking.

[onebadmonte]

Today I finish prepping the doors for the pods.

First is the hacking of the sheet metal to clear the woofers magnet. Yes I'm using a jig saw, yes I am latino.

Round. Impressed?

How about a little carnage?

Here is the passenger side door prepped with sound deadener and a second skin speaker tweaker kit.

Up close of the driver side door.

Up next the finished product. Stay tuned.

[knowledge]

you deff doing work son

[bigredishott]

watching!!! like the IB Reminds me of something I seen back in the day.

[rusty959]

Nice work. Those screw in things definitely seem nice, I might have to find something to use some with. I don't know I would feel comfortable using them for a sub though, I prefer to sandwich the mdf. Not sure if those would hold in a wreck or something, though im sure they are fine with just 500 watts.

[onebadmonte]

you deff doing work son

Yup. This is my test mule so I can hone in my skillz for my big project.

watching!!! like the IB Reminds me of something I seen back in the day.

Thanks. Way back in the day I heard and Orion IB setup. I've been wanting to do one ever since. The car I heard was back in 94.

Nice work. Those screw in things definitely seem nice, I might have to find something to use some with. I don't know I would feel comfortable using them for a sub though, I prefer to sandwich the mdf. Not sure if those would hold in a wreck or something, though im sure they are fine with just 500 watts.

Thanks. The inserts make things easier when doing mock-ups because I'm able to install the piece, check for clearances, then remove and modify as necessary. When mounting heavy woofers I guess you can sandwich these inserts between the layers of MDF. As for holding up in a wreck, I wouldn't know, I avoid them at all cost.

Everyone, thanks for looking. I'll have pics for the final product soon.

[onebadmonte]

The day is here. The pods are done and installed. Please save all flaming for the end of the presentation. Thank you for your cooperation.

The driver side door open.

The driver side door closed.

Looking up at the pod. Check how the top corner of the pod follows the line under the dash. Clean.

Side shot of the driver side door closed.

Humanoid model in vehicle. Good clearance.

Passenger side door open.

Passenger side door closed.

Looking up at the passenger side pod.

Alright fellas, lets hear it, don't hold back.

[EclipseChris]

Looks fuckin awesome. Keep up the good work, and paint those pods.

Maybe you said it and i didn't read, but whyd you pull the mag on the one driver?

[onebadmonte]

I got a little work done on the ol creampuff this weekend. My old US Acoustics USB-4085s have made it back into my set up. One of the 4085 is powering the front Powerbass 3-1/2" co-axials and the rear MTX Thunder Axe 5-1/4" components. The other 4085 has been bridged and is powering the Peerless OEM 8" Mid-bass.

These are my crossover settings so-far:

Subs to Mid-Bass crossed at 60Hz at 12db/oct

Mid-Bass to Mid-Range/Highs crossed at 500Hz at 24db/oct

Rears hi-passed at 125Hz at 24db/oct

Putting the amps in really woke up the system. I give the 8s the thumbs up if you have some power to feed them. I've been enjoying stuff like Spoon, REM, and Joan Osborne. At high levels you can feel it in the pant legs. They blend well with the subs. Still have some work to do like up the electrical, but so far I am happy with it. Here are some pics of the amps in place. Please excuse my wiring. Once I have everything worked out I'll make some nice RCAs and clean up the power wires.

The crossover adjust-ability the MS8 provides has me spoiled. I am bummed the sub-sonic is limited at the low end to 20Hz. The nice thing is the slope is adjustable from 6db/oct to 24db/oct. Cruising IB style I have the sub sonic filter slope set at 6db/oct. The auto tune works like a champ and is very straight forward. The icing on the cake is the Logic7 processing. Turning the Logic7 processing on and having the listening position set to the driver puts the image right in front of the drivers seat. This is amazing from me because the drivers side 3 incher is blocked by the gauge cluster. The gauge cluster and the driver side window funnel the sound right at me. With out the MS8 I would have to bias the balance dramatically to the right speaker to get an even balance. At times I'd be at biased almost 80% to the right. The Mid-bass turned out great. Especially for the price, then again to make them work I had to sacrifice the door/door panel. Well see how long this last before I up and change it all again. Don't tell the wife I said that. Let me know what you think.

Cheers.