I'm building the truck and setting up the audio at the same time, so I need some help with planning and makeing wise decisions. This was my Dad's truck that he bought new and it has very low miles so I should get a lot of life out of it. It sat outside its whole life so the paint was shot.
First thing, make it pretty. Here is what I started with.
Nice clean body, straight, hardly any door dings, and ZERO rust! :thumb:
Two week after I brought the truck home, my neighbor backing into it :
It had the old square dash and I found the newer style so I did a full interior swap:
The truck has been in the shop for just over a week now. I will let the pictures do the talking. I'm pretty happy with the results so far and I think the end product will be better than I'm expecting.
While the truck was in the shop, I started on my audio plans and built a box. This may not be the box I use long term because I want to build a custom fiberglass enclosure, but for now it will work and it's a cool conversation starter.
What's this? Just a crappy case of Miller Light sitting in the extended cab, no reason to break in and steal that...
Wait, what's this??
Down firing 8". In this picture, I am using the stock sub out of my TL, but I bought a ID8v3 D4 for it and will install it when it arrives!
I bought a bulk pack of Second Skin with the tools I need to install....Not sure if damper pro alone is going to be enough, but I don't think I want to spend any more money on it at this point. Maybe stage 2 I'll add more. Open for suggestions in this area.
I also just picked up a pair of PPI PC275's for the amp duties.
I still need to pick a set of 6.5" components. I'd love some high end untis, but I think I'm going to go with Polk db6501's for now. They are shallow and will fit easily behind my door panels and won't hit the glass. I'm open for suggestions still on this one.
I'll post more as I move along. The truck should be out of the paint booth in 3 weeks, so I'm focusing on gathering my audio equipment to install when I get it back.
Wow, thanks everyone for the compliments! The cool thing is that any 24 pack of bottles can be used, so I have 3 right now that I switch between every so often...I'll post pictures later. It turns out to be a great size too, it's about .47^3 ft of airspace which is on the large size for a sealed box for my ID8 (.45 is their recommendation). So I will add about 1/2 a pound of polyfill and it should sound great for a cheap little box until I get a custom fiberglass enclosure built.
I went to the shop yesterday to drop off some more parts and they are doing an amazing job on the body of the truck. I told them it didn't have to be perfect and my guy said "well, we're here doing it, so we're going to do it right" so they have spent a lot of extra (but free) time blocking it etc...so the final product would be great. I'm excited.
I love the old school hardbody, what is the final color going to be. Also love the beer box enclosure, I wonder if you could cover the box in resin to make it permanent and not get worn. I am building my box as a clone of my spare tire in my blazer, love sneaky stealth installs.
It's going to be the factory dark gray color. I didn't want to respray the jams etc. I am doing a multi-stage on it though, so it should pop pretty nice.
No need to resin the box, just drink another case of beer and throw a new cover on it! :laugh:
I like this truck a lot. My Dad used to be the service manager for a Nissan dealer and I was always around these trucks. Nice choice of amps BTW. I just sold my PC275 on here about 2 months ago.
Whoa! Looking really nice! TO be honest, I am much more intrigued by restorations/builds on "run-of-the-mill" cars than I am by rare collectibles. I don't know why, I just am.
And consider me a fan of that sub box as well. :thumbsup:
Sub'd. That box is the coolest thing I've seen in a looooong time. You could replace it with an even worse beer like Natural Light to lessen the chance of somebody breaking in
No update on the paint yet, but I did make a simple stereo diagram. I have all of the equipment ready to be installed except for the wiring and small items.
** EDIT: Correction, I will be using Image Dynamics CTX65CS Components (updated picture).
I'm not sure how big the amps are but if you're looking for ideas for mounting, I recommend looking toward the jump seat cavity. I helped my brother in law put a stereo in his 96 and we used the space behind the jump seat - we used the passenger side but if I remember right there's a driver side jumper as well. We actually removed the padding so it was just the "door" and when it was closed you'd never know there was an amp in there. Did this in my old S10 as well, makes for a very stealth install and in my opinion it's better than under-seat mounting where the amps are exposed to snow and mud and anything else that gets dragged in on your feet.
Yes, that is exactly my plan...I started taking the seat apart and couldn't really tell if I could keep the door without the seat. I would like to do that and then do a nice fiberglass amp rack behind the door. The amps will fit in the cavity (tight) but I think it will work. Do you have any pictures or more details you can share with me on how you did this?
It's been a couple years since we did it but if my memory serves the trim panel has its own hinge. Can't post pics yet (not enough posts) but go here to see a schematic of the jumper assembly:
I will have new pictures soon...Body shop called and said it's painted. Just needs color sanding, rear window (switching out to solid window vs. slider), tint, and Line-x in the bed. Hopefully I will have it back by the end of the week.
Here's a link to a similar one over on Car Audio Magazine. Just for some ideas if you need some. I don't particularly care for the color but the install is great!
Cool build....I remember being in my early teens living in College Station when the hardbody and mazda b series trucks were the popular mini truck choices...In Memphis now but wearing a aTm shirt as we speak lol...
love these nissan pickups. used to have a 94 a few years back, ended up rusting the undercarrige out because my brother\parents never took care of it, but it was a champion if regular maintenance would have been done it could have lasted twice as long. it was somewher around 250k miles when the break lines rusted off haha.
northern winters + salted roads = bad for cars. keep up the good work. i really like the truck.
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