DIYMobileAudio.com Car Stereo Forum banner

The Biggest Project I Have Ever Taken On by Myself :) SQ TL version 3.0 - 500+ pics!!

56K views 131 replies 71 participants last post by  BuickGN 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey Guys,

Haven't posted anything to the install log section in about two and a half month; mainly because since the last project, I have been working almost nonstop on the biggest project I have ever taken on by myself. Just finished the car and had a great competition debut at my Norcal MECA event this past Saturday. With my long awaited vacation coming a few days away, I figure I better finish this humongous install log and post it up before I leave. :)

The car is one that long time members will recognize, it is Mike (ChicoOG)'s 2005 Acura TL, it is the third time I am working on the car and the fourth or maybe 4.5th system in total. But I am fairly certain that this time, I will be the last iteration...maybe small pieces will change, but the bulk of it is gonna stay.

Before getting to the log itself, I want to make sure to thank the following people, for without their guidance, support and expertise none of this would have been possible:

• Scott Baughman for setting up the entire deal with ORCA• Nalaka and Duane from Orca for all their technical and sponsorship support
• Scott Welch for his superb tuning ability and dedication on working deep into the night.
• Justin and the team from Oznium.com for their help with LED lighting products
• Steve (Whiterabbit) for his awesome soldering skills in fabricating RCA cables for the project.
• Lucky from AAMP for providing us with Stinger products at a sponsored rate
• Natan Budiono for providing us with the internal schematics of the OEM TL headunit
• Matt Roberts for working his magic using those schematics and supplying us with the "best sounding Acura headunit in the world" :)
• Kirk Proffit for lending us his old stock HU to modify
• Clay with Polaris for his help setting up with AAMP
• Shelly and Aaron from Zapco for their help with the dual dsp6 and simblink products.
• Jeff from photoshootmycar.com for making such an awesome display and system diagram.
• Various guys on DIYMA such as Niebur for helping with tips and tricks.
• Robert Rugani for additional help with Zapco related questions
• Various installer friends like Jon Kowanetz, Jon Webb, Troy McGregor, Brittney Parker and other for offering their help and encouragement during the project.
• And last but not least, Mike for trusting his car to me once again. :)


I am sure I forgot some people, so for that I apologize.Let’s get to the system itself.

As usual, goals:

1. To create a system with a high level of sound quality and a car that we can eventually take to world finals and SBN.
2. To create a system with a classy visual appearance augmented with a few unique touches throughout.
3. Focus almost obsessively on attention to detail, things that are beneath the surface but can be fully appreciated by fellow installers and install judges.

In other words, we wanted to build a car that can post very respectable scores for SQ and install, and look good doing it. That’s it! My common MOs such as stealth and space savings were completely thrown out of the window… Very quickly I realized this would be the most involved project I have ever taken on since I started working by myself; with many challenging aspects that I would need to overcome as a one man operation, but in the end, it is just about keeping my head down and keep on working until it’s done. I truly believe that given my very limited ability and experience, this IS the best effort I can put forth at this time.

I want to warn you now that there are well over 500 pictures in this log...and because of that, I will not be able to devote as much info to each picture or the whole thing will take forever. I will also break down the log into a few sections, with the completed pics first, and then followed by various sections of construction pics.

The project involves quite a few brand names and products, but partial sponsorship came from Focal, Mosconi, Stinger and Oznium.com.



COMPLETED PICS

The signal starts with what appears to be a normal OEM Acura TL headunit, all the stock functions will work as before, rear view camera, radio and CD play back:



Pop open the glove box and a rack housing a Zapco DRC-SL remote control unit and a digital voltmeter is revealed. The outer portion is trimmed in OEM cream ivory vinyl while the trim is a red suede like material. Having the DRC up front enables front seat tuning and instant preset adjustment:



The front stage utilizes Focal's Utopia Beryllium No.7 three way component set. The 6w3 Be woofer is installed into fiberglass kick panels, molded off the stock panel and wrapped in ivory tan vinyl. Here they are with the Focal grilles snapped in place:





The 3" Utopia midrange and the TBe tweeter went into a set of custom molded A pillar pods, with the two drivers on the same plane firing across. The mod is trimmed in tan grille cloth. Here they are with the Focal grilles in place:





A shot of the entire front stage with grilles attached:


And here is everything with the grilles removed, showing off the Be drivers in all their glory:










Moving onto the trunk, here is what you see when you lift up the lid. A complete boxed trunk design with all new panels was fabricated. All the outer panels are wrapped in graphite colored Alcantara, while the trim is the same red suede like material found on the glovebox rack. Three Mosconi amplifiers reside in a vertically oriented U-shaped rack, with a AS300.2 on the left sending 300 watts RMS to each kick panel mounted Utopia midbass woofer, a AS200.4 in the middle powering the midrange and tweeter with 200 watts a piece, and another AS300.2 on the right sending 1100 watts RMS bridged (4ohms) to the subwoofer. The sub – a Focal K2P 33KX 13” subwoofer, is inverted on the floor, while dual Zapco DSP6 signal processors take up the rack in front. All the major pieces of equipment sit in their own wells lined with red “suede”, with vertical sidewalls that is interrupted by a layer of frosted Plexiglas. On the roof of the trunk there is another panel with a small red strip at the back trimmed by more red “suede”; (We will get to that later) while a opening on the room panel allows bass to vent into the cabin properly.

It’s a bit hard to proper describe the overall look with words, so I will just post the pics…it was hard for me to find the right angle to make it look right, and I do believe that this pics really don’t do this one justice.























So now let us take a closer look at the lighting. The frosted Plexiglas rings are all edge-lit with Osmium’s Million colored RGB water proof LED ribbons. Over 40 feet of the stuff was used throughout the trunk. A two channel RGB controller allows me call up virtually any color under the sun via credit-card sized remote control. The Little red strip at the top of the trunk is actually a programmable LED signboard I took out of its original casing and molded into a new rack. Using another larger remote control, I can program up to 9 custom messages to be scrolled across the screen…a feature that I haven’t really seen before in car audio and something I thought could add a little creativity and uniqueness to the overall project.

Here is everything fired up:


 
See less See more
45
#60 ·
I have always been grateful that Bing blesses us with these install logs. Kind of a "how to" on doing outstanding install work.(Not that it would be easy to replicate.)

Thanks Bing, for taking the time to post this!:)
 
#64 ·
I really like the stock looking interior. Is this car a daily driver as well?

BTW It looks like we'll have nice weather at OBX, I am going to be in there next week as well. One of the absolute best places to go, forget everything else and enjoy family and the beach.

James
 
#65 ·
I have showed my one of my good friends your work.
He was so impressed with your work, I though he will send his car over your way lol.

Anyhow, that kind of work is just speechless to me.. ;)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top