The Minivan (Lot's of pictures!!)

[MiniVanMan]

Here it is, my work in progress. Hell, I guess it will always stay a work in progress, but some trials and tribulations, and at least I have a great sounding, if not completely done aesthetically, system.

First, before anything, the Big 3, and a Yellow Top. System doesn't seem to need more than this.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v641/glevii/DSCF0699.jpg

Next the amp rack. YAY!! For "Stow & Go" seating. Okay, so one seat will always need to remain up, but that's a small price to pay to have all this crap out of site. I need to take more pictures. This is only the bottom portion. The wiring is all dressed now as well. The top shelf contains the Hifonics and the Coustic XM-5e. You'll love how I did the speaker wiring into the amp rack. But once again, this picture was taken before completion.

Oh, and before anybody asks, Yes, that is a cap. No, I do not know if it's helping anything. Why is it in there? Because it can't hurt, and I had it laying around.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v641/glevii/DSCF0709.jpg

Here we are with the door treatments. Basic SecondSkin from the first production. Got it real cheap, something like 100 sq ft for $125.00 from Anthony and SecondSkin. I like the stuff, 'nuf said.

The pods are glassed right into the door. There are two baffles, a base plate and the actual speaker baffle. The whole thing is glassed together then glassed into the door, then more SecondSkin over the fiberglass. You'll also notice that the pods are angled. The way the stock door panel is designed dictates that it has to be done this way. There's not a lot of mounting depth. and the door panel speaker grill has this lip that woud interfere with the speaker. So I angled the pods. Like it's such a bad thing. I got about 15-20 degrees out of them, making my noggin only about 45 degrees off axis from the speaker. Not bad. The panel that has been removed from the door panel will be replaced with a custom fiberglass one that will accomodate the pods. More future work.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v641/glevii/DSC02174.jpg

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Next is the first attempt at tweeters. I have these fantastic stock 5 1/4" mounting locations up on the dash. It seemed a shame to waste them. So, I build some baffles, mounted them, threw some Dayton DC28F's in, then spent a couple weeks trying to tune them. Just couldn't get it right. The lower end of the tweeter sounded horrible due to reflections, and all sorts of issues. The biggest issue was the staging was way to forward in the cab. It sounded like it was going away from me instead of coming at me. Then with reflections it just messed it up all to hell. So, the Daytons were taken out and replaced with the Morel MDT38s.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v641/glevii/DSCF0702.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v641/glevii/DSCF0703.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v641/glevii/DSCF0704.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v641/glevii/DSCF0706.jpg

Here are the MDT38's. I LOVE THIS TWEETER. It's a fantastic match with the Seas sonically. Everything sounds amazing. Very seemless, and accurate. Stage is up where it should be, and it's wide, open and airy. I love it.

Well, enough of that. Due to the fact that this tweeter is almost 3" deep, some more creative design would be needed. I originally hot glued them to the top of the dash just to get an idea of how they'd sound up there. The A-pillar seemed to be the best bet for a mounting location so I put them as close as possible to the pillars. Can you say GHETTO!!! Well, after listening and feeling that is was safe to move forward and cut up my company vehicle even more, we got out the air tools and started carving away.

First is the service access hole to get to the mirrors from the inside. Seemed a good place to start to get some extra room.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v641/glevii/DSC02178.jpg

Next was to aim the tweeter and set it. The white piece is a carved up, and shaved piece of PVC. This required carving up the panel obviously. Gonna be hard to hide this part when I have to turn the vehicle back in. Oh well, I'll figure something out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v641/glevii/DSC02180.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v641/glevii/DSC02179.jpg

Now out comes the modeling clay. The PVC added a basic shape, and just gooped on a bunch of modeling clay to get a basic form. We then covered the form with fiberglass.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v641/glevii/DSC02181.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v641/glevii/DSC02182.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v641/glevii/DSC02183.jpg

This is pretty much it for now. The tweeter pods have been sanded and the first coat of bondo has been applied. There is still a lot more work to be done. But it's getting there. Right now it's functional, if not extremely ghetto. But, hey that's the fun, right??

I'll keep you guys updated.

[Ludemandan]

I'll keep you guys updated.
Do that! It looks like it's going to be clean.

[n0c]

Stow and Go is sweet! I was about to ask, but then I read your post lol. Definately post more pix. Maybe I can steal some ideas for my hatch. :D

[niceguy]

Haha, not bad....was wondering when I'd see some pics...maybe I'll get my camera out as well whenever I figure how to upload pics :)

Very nice job mvman....


Jeremy

[AzGrower]

ON the A pillar tweeters, why not just use the PVC and then some liquid plastic to fill in the gaps. Its much easier on those kinds of pieces than doing the fglass work. Its called SMC Hardset Filler and you can get it from Urethane Supply Company. In fact Amazon.com has their store in their online shop. Thats where I bought mine, it actually came out $3.78 cheaper than ordering direct.

[cam2Xrunner]

Good job so far man!







Hey AZGrower, thanks for posting this info.

ON the A pillar tweeters, why not just use the PVC and then some liquid plastic to fill in the gaps. Its much easier on those kinds of pieces than doing the fglass work. Its called SMC Hardset Filler and you can get it from Urethane Supply Company. In fact Amazon.com has their store in their online shop. Thats where I bought mine, it actually came out $3.78 cheaper than ordering direct.

I'm working on an A Pillar install right now and this stuff looks like exactly what I need. :)

[jisturm]

Nice. I love it when you hear a little rich sound out of a grocery getter.

[mojako]

is that the MDT38 tweeter on the a-pillar?

[chad]

ON the A pillar tweeters, why not just use the PVC and then some liquid plastic to fill in the gaps. Its much easier on those kinds of pieces than doing the fglass work. Its called SMC Hardset Filler and you can get it from Urethane Supply Company. In fact Amazon.com has their store in their online shop. Thats where I bought mine, it actually came out $3.78 cheaper than ordering direct.

Before I go hunting that stuff down..... Does it come in different colors or do you add color to it?

Chad

[AzGrower]

Before I go hunting that stuff down..... Does it come in different colors or do you add color to it?

Chad

Its just plastic filler, it has a similar color to body filler, its a greyish blue. Usually its not used in the final phase, its for fabrication purposes. Which means you use it before your final finish, either vinyl, or paint. It easily sands down.

[MiniVanMan]

ON the A pillar tweeters, why not just use the PVC and then some liquid plastic to fill in the gaps. Its much easier on those kinds of pieces than doing the fglass work. Its called SMC Hardset Filler and you can get it from Urethane Supply Company. In fact Amazon.com has their store in their online shop. Thats where I bought mine, it actually came out $3.78 cheaper than ordering direct.

Well, I will definitely keep that in mind for the next project. We have 2+ vans that will be worked on. These are company vehicles and all my coworkers have them as well.

I'm a little leary of using anything that will adhere to the tweeters. That's one of the reasons I use the modeling clay, then fiberglass over that. It kept the tweeters isolated. I guess being creative I can still isolate them.

One more thing. If there's a product that will actually "bond" to the plastic in the panel, that would be FANTASTIC. Fiberglass and bondo don't bond at all, so I have to be extremely careful to make sure the pod fits absolutely perfectly so it will sit flush against the panel. Going to be a huge pain in the end.

[shinjohn]

Keep up the good work, and keep us posted on your progress!

I think minivans are a heck of alot of fun to work on, having worked on my wife's Honda Odyssey myself!

FYI, some of the work I've done and things I've been through on that vehicle, if you're interested:

http://www.pbase.com/shinjohn/odyclub

I've often found that a nice look around Home Depot or the local hardware store can give you some great ideas. Though my tweeter pods in the Odyssey are mounted in a completely different configuration than you, I thought you might be interested in my use of PVC pipe elbows to create tweeter pods for the MD100 tweeters used. It saved me a heck of alot of time relative to glassing and/or plastic forming and such, and the end result wasn't bad at all. (take a look in the "Stage 1" gallery)

Anyhow, good luck!

[niceguy]

Nice install page shinjohn....minivan installs are fun.....


Jeremy