TRU681

http://www.soundstream.com/sub/team_install.html
Do you mean like the Rx-8 in this link.

Rotary Rasp

iTrader: (2)

Isn't that just the stock nav lcd?

TRU681

I'm kinda confused. :o Do you mean putting my Navi/Dvd player at where the stock unit is at?

momo

Yoooooooo pimp my ride. I'm just hatin. I wish I had that kinda skrill to blow on my ride. Make sure that you post pics, when your ride is all hooked up.

flip

wowsers.. everyone's pimpin' up their soundz.. i'm JEALOUS!

KamokuWan

Without it being to forward of me, what is a ballpark cost for something like this?

TRU681

PM sent.

TRU681

Here's a mini update.My titanium 30band equalizer being installed to my seats under a 7inch clarion monitor.Seats are being sand down & will be painted.Also my trunk cover is starting to form.

dmp

How about a running Cost estimate?

lol j/k :D

Great work! It'll be very cool!

TRU681

Here's a little update on the trunk's fiberglass cover being built up.It will be 4 seperate pieces when it's completed.The last piece will be the middle part where my 15farad capacitor will sink down.Hope the trunk will be finish by this weekend.After that my rear deck will be built, PS2 built in glove compartment,wire everthing up & send all the pieces out that needs to be painted.Hopefully it'll be done in 2-3more weeks. Man haven't drove my 8 for almost 2 months.Being driving a bucket 97 carolla :D but it's all worth the wait!

RWagz

Looks to be shaping up nicely (pardon the pun).

This is the point where I introduce myself - I'm just a random dude from WI who is currently marooned in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait in service to the USA as an Army soldier.

I've already saved over 13k and have only been on orders for about 5 months (3 overseas). My math tells me that I'll be able to afford one of these beautiful machines when I get back home January-ish '06. This will be my first true 'sports' car. I've always been a huge car-audio fanatic, so it would only be natural that I want to go further than I ever have before in trying to create something beautiful in this car.

I'm going to try to fit two IDMax 12's in mine, but I might have to settle for the 10's, given the claustrophobic dimentions of the RX-8's trunk. We'll see...it's a long way off but it's one of the few things driving me here. Going to my "happy place" is closing my eyes and imagining I'm flying down the freeway in my RX-8 blasting the 'tunes.

Rotary Rasp

iTrader: (2)

Thats great man, were you looking into getting the auto or the 6 speed?

TRU681

Good choice in the IDmax subs.They are excellent subs that handles a lot of power & it's also an excellent sound quality subs unlike the spl subs that sound like crap but loud.The trunk dimentions are horrible.My installer could of done something a lot more crazy if the trunk was a little bigger but I'm satified with the design scheme since I designed myself mostly.I tell the installer how I want it & he tells me if he can build it & since I gave him a huge budjet, he just can't say I can't do it.Good luck on your new RX-8.You wont regret buying this car!It's a joy to ride an Rx-8.

RWagz

They make a AT? Just kidding!

I'm definitely going for the 6-speed. My installer's budget is pretty much as deep as my pockets go....it kind of helps that I'm my own installer. It's too fun to let someone else do it.

TRU681

That's even better that you're doing your own install so that it's your own piece of art !I wish I know how to fiberglass & fabricate stuff.

RWagz

Fiberglassing and fabrication is something you just need to decide you want to do - start out small. You might think I'm kidding, but fiberglass the inside of a small tupperware container. It will give you a good idea of how fast resin hardens and how hard it is to keep it free of air bubbles.

You do have to be kind of quick about using the resin after you put the hardener in, but that's what practicing beforehand is for. It also helps to not do it in hot weather, which makes it harden even faster. Some people use less hardener/catalyst but that can be a formula for failure as the resin could fail to fully harden if you add too little catalyst.

The point is you learn it mostly by feel and repetition. There are tricks you learn along the way, but it's mostly a confidence thing. That goes for fabricating stuff with wood too - it helps if you get a group of friends together who all want to do their own installs. Each person buys a power tool - router, drill, circ saw, ect - that way you spread the cost of tools out but you can all use the tools, not to mention the help of a couple extra hands, which can be invaluable during some parts of an install.

The best trick with fiberglass I know is Grill Cloth. You know all those nice curves people make in fiberglass and such? Grill Cloth is the key. You stretch and staple it down over your enclosure frame and apply some resin to it, and then add layers on top.

One thing that is a pain in the butt (but the most important part) is finishing the fiberglass - roughsanding, finesanding, priming, painting. I often take the most care with my final layer of fiberglass so the finishing goes easier.

No matter what you do, remember to do your 'glassing in a WELL VENTILATED WORK AREA. Rwagz has gotten very, VERY loopy on polyester resin fumes a few times because he was not smart enough to follow this rule.

Since I am still set on 12" subs I will probably have to custom fab my own sub enclosures, even though the 4080's look so damn sexy. I may have to proposition a certain forum member for 12" rotary accent speaker grilles.

TRU681

One day, I'll practice in my garage. The thing you mention about the grill cloth on help making nice curves is absolutely correct! That's what my installer did when I droped by the shop to check on the progress.He tells me the steps when he was working on my car.It was after hours so I can stay there & watch him work. Rwagz sounds like you know pretty much everything about fiberglassing & fabricating.Good luck on your project & do post pictures because it'll definately come out great!

TRU681

Here's a mini update.Here's my trunk lid piece finally it fits perfectly after alot of sanding & trimming.

XeRo

another cool trick that i use is fleece...yes fleece... after the 3rd or 4th grille cloth layer. It will take a little while longer to dry but the tighter weave of the fleece will provide more thickness and strength to the box...

forbidden

Here is a small heads up that we encounted with our first RX8 that came through. The ground return in this vehicle was absolute crap. It had a return resistance reading of 23 ohms. This was with the BIG3 upgrade to boot. The customer would not allow me to solve this issue any further as he took a proper ground to be a nice short chunk of thick enough cable to a close bolt as being a proper ground. This is not the case and for any of you guys that have a system that requires alot of current, make sure that the ground return reading is below 1/2 ohm. Failure to do so in this customers case resulted in a blown Rockford amp (is that good or bad - depends on you), not once, but 4 times before the customer allowed me to ground direct to the battery. Electricity is an algebra equation, what you do to one side you must do to the other. The ground wire is the most important wire in the system. Make sure that you measure the ground return resistance reading and verify that it is below 1/2 ohm. Make sure that the shop you take your car to has done this as well, 99.99% of car audio shops do not check this important fact about grounding. Need more info on this topic, I can be found on www.the12volt.com with the same user name.

This is a great site, I wish I would have found it sooner to aid me in the second RX8 that we have in progress right now.

TRU681

Thanks for the heads up.I'll make sure I let my installer know & have him check this out!

Rotary Rasp

iTrader: (2)

Any more pics of the lcd mount above the radio. I'm going to try and fab mine this weekend. Can you ask your installer for any tips he learned while making yours?

truemagellen

I want a LOT more info on replacing the return ground and really anything related to it

grounding on this car has been hell...as the actual groundable chassis is TINY! there are so many alloys/body panels...everything that makes the car light and sporty doesnt make a good ground though

ok could you and others start a thread on just proper grounding or do you recommend just a direct wire to the battery with a relay to cut power?

forbidden

If one of the mods sees fit, have them go to my primary response site at www.the12volt.com and copy and paste my grounding article from the car audio forum. Lots of good information there. As far as the RX8 goes, we found it necessary to ground direct to the battery for as low a return resistance reading as possible.

A good ground is not about the amount of metal in the chassis or skin of the vehicle, it is about passing current from a battery, through small factory wires, blended chassis metals, spot weld joints, glued together unibody panels and then finally at the last bolt that the installer assumes is a good ground point. All the while the installer did not consider the danger that lurks between that bolt and the battery.

truemagellen

thanks...Forbidden...I'll look it up...there shouldn't be any trouble copying the article to this forum...and even siting your username