05 Monte Carlo LT Build

[bigbubba]

Originally Posted by millerlyte

I think I have about 1" or so between the magnet and the window.

... Which reminds me, I have yet to somewhat accurately measure just how much the 8s are jutting into the door panels.

Which also reminds me, I will not be having door panels again until I cut them properly AND cover them with vinyl. So probably not going to have them back on until early-mid summer.

Which reminds me, I have to also figure out how to take them apart to upholster them in the first place.

Which reminds me, this is probably when Ray is going to come inform me how he takes his door panels apart and post pictures of it.

No door panels means you won't be coming to the Murfreesboro show this weekend, right?

[millerlyte]

Oh no, I'll be there... I made my own special kind of door panels for that.

[req]

nifty build.

[Notloudenuf]

Originally Posted by strakele

Careful you don't hit your legs on the steering wheel. Or your head on the roof. Or brush up against the uncovered door leaving raamat goo all over you

None of this happened.
I was one of the 3? lucky people to check out this car at our meet Saturday. Poor Ally had spent from 10 until almost 3 getting her car ready to demo. I listened with what I think was a 30 second tune on it as well.

I really liked what you had going on. I was especially impressed with the ~$7 8" woofers you had in the doors. They were really strong and distortion free. I think you made a good (or at least a lucky) choice on those.

I did move the seat ALLLLLLLLL the way forward so my knees were hitting the dash so I could hear it the way you listen to it. It had a good center image from either that position or the comfy position.

Thanks for the goo free, comfy, non head injuring demo.

[bertholomey]

I had the opportunity to get a demo in as well, and I was very impressed. There was a very good center image with great tonality and believability. The sub was well balanced, and the presentation was very pleasant.

This car is going to be a Monster once Ally gets done with it!

[DAT]

Ally, you wanna Tune my system?

[captainobvious]

I like where you went from the start of your build thread up until this point. Really nice work you've done Ally. Im curious- If you loved the 8945 so much, why not go with the Usher 8955 as a replacement? More low frequency extension, less distortion, more cone area- it's a win-win!

Im thinking of testing them out in my doors as well. (I currently have the old Peerless XLS 830491 drivers in there now and they are very nice, but I have some 8955's at home tempting me to test them in the doors. If you'd like to test a pair out I may be ableto work that out with you. If Bertholomey vouches for you, it's good enough for me. A friend of his is a friend of mine.
What are the temporary, temporary drivers in there right now?

Oh and btw, If you thought the 8945 magnets were big... lol
I believe these are close in depth to the 8945 magnet but significantly bigger in diameter. Very beefy and impressive drivers.
Dammit, just talking about them is making me want to try them out in there...

[millerlyte]

^^^ There's my cue to post my much-needed upgrade.

I don't have the Ushers installed anymore, nor my temporary 8s I loved the hell out of them while I did though. The punch they deliver is quite satisfying. Jason was always quite appreciative of what I had in my old setup, though it was nothing like it is now. He'd be a great wingman, that's for sure.

Commencing massive update in 3, 2, 1...

[marvnmars]

aaaannnddddd pause.

[millerlyte]

Where to begin... In early May, I nixed my Usher 8945s in favor of a pair of pro Beyma 8BR40s to live in the kick panels. That's what sparked the whole upheaval of my front stage, which included the following:

• Go doorless
• 8" midbass in the kicks
• Relocate 4" midrange to the corners of the dash

Here's what I started with:



Since parts of the project were not by any means simple for a newbie, and not something I was totally comfortable doing without some more experienced help, I turned to Mark. As usual, it came out looking great. First things first, the 4s gotta go. To make that happen, so does the whole dash.





I never want to do this again, ever.

Next, space for the mids was cut out using a little handheld dremel. The metal was extremely thick and hard to cut at certain angles, and it wound up taking twelve hours. Around midnight, had gone from looking like this:



Stock corner of right side of dash, from the outside


To looking like this:


Cut to fit.

Later, with baffle cut and sound treatment applied to the .75L enclosure (ideal for the 4" midranges):



They were then installed, but I forgot to take pics of them. But they're in there.

Next came cutting the back piece of the dash that covers the actual skeleton of the dash itself in which the drivers were installed in. It's a long strip separate from the rest of the main dash piece, and thankfully snaps in and out with relative ease. It was covered with thin black grill cloth for a nice fit and finish:



Like so. Eventually, the pillars will follow the same suit, but for now they're stuck with the same old carpet.

Now that there was room for the new 8s, allow me to introduce my brand-new Beyma 8BR40s:




Ta daa.

[millerlyte]

Fortunately I took more pictures of the kicks than I did the dash. Here is what it looks like at its core:



The enclosures were built out of ¾” MDF like so:





Covered in deadener:





Then wrapped back up in the carpet:






And after installing grill covers and dying the carpet darker:





The only fallback was that I did lose function of my kick brake. Providing my brakes don’t spontaneously fail me, I think it was a worthwhile trade off.

[millerlyte]

Next up, cosmetic upgrades. I was getting really sick of the way my doors looked stock, so I bought some real vinyl and tried my hand at spicing up the doors a little.


*YAWN*





Far from perfect, and the fact that none of the pieces were removable added to the challenge, but for now, it’s not too bad for a first try.
Next to receive some color was my engine bay. In keeping with the red-and-black, I decided to paint the strut braces, engine mounts, and plastic engine cover.

I went from this:


To this:




I can charge my battery in style now that the power and ground clamps match the color scheme of the engine bay

Originally,I was going to throw some pics of my trunk install. But during the build, something went terribly, terribly wrong and fried one of my amplifiers. It’s out of warranty, so I’m stuck with a back-up amplifier that no longer matches the other, and so my trunk install is put on hold indefinitely until I can afford new amplifiers.

All in all, getting to experience more complicated projects like putting speakers into the dash was a great learning experience. Not only does it sound WORLDS different from my old setup, but seeing how something like that is done has paid off so that I now know how to do it when the time comes to do a similar build in the distant future.

As far as sound quality goes, it is by far and large the most dramatic difference I’ve heard in my car, and the best sounding it’s ever been, even with only a few hours of tuning. Without any tuning whatsoever, the stage is already above the dash.

To those who have sworn by the mantra of “once you go floor, you’ll never go door,” I completely understand now. I do have some tweaking to do as far as the kicks’ enclosures go, but thus far I am beyond impressed with the way it sounds now. Night and day doesn’t do it any justice. The stage extends much deeper and further than it used to, and songs come alive in ways I’d never before imagined. While I still have plenty of work to do on the tune, its capability to excel in mod ex has reached a whole new level.

[iroc2nv]

Very nice miller !!

[pocket5s]

Originally Posted by millerlyte

I never want to do this again, ever.

I know exactly what you mean. When I got mine all out I had this sense of "uh, what do I do now??". At least yours is back together though. I'm hoping to have mine at least close to done by finals.

[marvnmars]

yyyeeeaaahhhhh unpause, it looks great, the door panels look very nice, huge upgrade from the basic black. all the work to get those 4"s in the dash looks like it has paid off in abundance for you...nice work ally...if you love the kicks, you may have to rethink your fondness of a stick shift...the extra peddle leaves very little room in many cars.

[millerlyte]

Originally Posted by pocket5s

I know exactly what you mean. When I got mine all out I had this sense of "uh, what do I do now??". At least yours is back together though. I'm hoping to have mine at least close to done by finals.

It's mostly back together. Missing a few screws and forgot a piece of the plastic vent tube

I also somehow managed to misplace my front passenger chevrolet mat...

Originally Posted by marvnmars

yyyeeeaaahhhhh unpause, it looks great, the door panels look very nice, huge upgrade from the basic black. all the work to get those 4"s in the dash looks like it has paid off in abundance for you...nice work ally...if you love the kicks, you may have to rethink your fondness of a stick shift...the extra peddle leaves very little room in many cars.

Thanks. Yeah, that's about the only good thing about having an automatic is that I can fit some big ass speakers in the kicks. That said, there are many manual cars that can still fit smaller speakers in the kicks as well. I'll just have to find one of those next time I go vehicle shopping. Best of both worlds

[bbfoto]

Wow, I admire all of the work you've put into this! Pulling out the dash (and gettin' it back in!) is a daunting task! Looks great, thanks for posting all of the photos here, and from the Vinny Comp as well. So this is the setup you rocked at Vinny?

marvmars, regarding the clutch pedal, yes it can get in the way, but usually not as bad as the E-brake foot pedal. Most cars with a manual transmission move the E-brake to the center console between the seats, which obviously helps. Be glad you don't live in a country that's right-hand drive. (I split my time between Los Angeles and Australia).

[bertholomey]

Originally Posted by millerlyte

Next up, cosmetic upgrades. I was getting really sick of the way my doors looked stock, so I bought some real vinyl and tried my hand at spicing up the doors a little.


*YAWN*

For a second there.....I thought Grayson had trolled your post, but then I realized that is impossible



I like the doors - you did really well with the red / black throughout the car! Hey - is that the 2012 NC Spring Meet disc I see

I went from this:




I can charge my battery in style now that the power and ground clamps match the color scheme of the engine bay

I like your changes here as well!

All in all, getting to experience more complicated projects like putting speakers into the dash was a great learning experience. Not only does it sound WORLDS different from my old setup, but seeing how something like that is done has paid off so that I now know how to do it when the time comes to do a similar build in the distant future.

As far as sound quality goes, it is by far and large the most dramatic difference I’ve heard in my car, and the best sounding it’s ever been, even with only a few hours of tuning. Without any tuning whatsoever, the stage is already above the dash.

To those who have sworn by the mantra of “once you go floor, you’ll never go door,” I completely understand now. I do have some tweaking to do as far as the kicks’ enclosures go, but thus far I am beyond impressed with the way it sounds now. Night and day doesn’t do it any justice. The stage extends much deeper and further than it used to, and songs come alive in ways I’d never before imagined. While I still have plenty of work to do on the tune, its capability to excel in mod ex has reached a whole new level.

Thanks for the update Ally.........I have heard bits and pieces of your changes, but it is very cool to see the pics of the progress......now if I can only hear it.......Maybe at the NC Fall Meet.

[strakele]

Originally Posted by bertholomey

For a second there.....I thought Grayson had trolled your post, but then I realized that is impossible

Obviously. I'd never post a picture that blurry



Anyway, I'm disappointed I wasn't there to help with the big upgrade, but after looking at the pile of dash parts on the ground.. maybe it was for the best. It looks good in pictures, and I can't wait to hear it in real life.

Hey Ally, how bout some nice pics of the "updated" trunk?

[Notloudenuf]

I am super impressed!
You are fearless when it comes to designing/tuning/installing in your car.
I am particularly impressed with the door accents. It looks like a whole new car now!

And....yay...bigger speakers for me to put my stupid feet on...sorry in advance.

[millerlyte]

Originally Posted by bbfoto

Wow, I admire all of the work you've put into this! Pulling out the dash (and gettin' it back in!) is a daunting task! Looks great, thanks for posting all of the photos here, and from the Vinny Comp as well. So this is the setup you rocked at Vinny?

Yep. This is my fourth (?) show ever, and it's the only one where I've gone into it actually tuned properly/prepared/nothing went disastrously wrong. So by default it was a success this time. The feedback I got was something I can work with and not wonder what they'd say if I'd actually finished the tune. All was well.

Originally Posted by bertholomey

Thanks for the update Ally.........I have heard bits and pieces of your changes, but it is very cool to see the pics of the progress......now if I can only hear it.......Maybe at the NC Fall Meet.

You haven't heard it, cause it is an entirely different sounding car. Not even comparable in the slightest. When's your next trip down to Atlanta?

Originally Posted by strakele

Obviously. I'd never post a picture that blurry

Screw you.

Anyway, I'm disappointed I wasn't there to help with the big upgrade, but after looking at the pile of dash parts on the ground.. maybe it was for the best. It looks good in pictures, and I can't wait to hear it in real life.

Speaking of piles of stuff on the ground... I have a porch full of wood scraps for you clean up when you get back. Thanks for reminding me

Hey Ally, how bout some nice pics of the "updated" trunk?

How about... no. No feeding the trolls. Go away, troll.

4/10. Subtle. I'd tell you to try harder, but don't.

Originally Posted by Notloudenuf

I am super impressed!
You are fearless when it comes to designing/tuning/installing in your car.
I am particularly impressed with the door accents. It looks like a whole new car now!

And....yay...bigger speakers for me to put my stupid feet on...sorry in advance.

It's ok, that's what the grills are for. I can't reasonable expect normal-sized people to not brush their feet on them anymore. They're pretty big now.

[AccordUno]

Talk to me about the 8BR40. How do you like them, x-over points, and what not. looking for some 8s for the kicks.

[Mic10is]

very nice

[audiovibe]

I'm diggin the new 8" in the kick! How did y'all get the factory carpet to mold to the kick so well?

[millerlyte]

The footwell itself is very deep, so there was plenty of room to build the kick outwards and still have it fit nicely. I was pleasantly surprised that it turned out so smoothly. It's a big speaker, but it doesn't stick out like you think it would when you look at it in person.

I plan on wrapping the grill in the same material the back of the dash is covered in, dying the carpet a darker black and seeing if I can't make them all but disappear at first glance.