I pulled most of the interior and got started on the insulation kit. I'm surprised just how heavy the carpet is in the C6 compared to every other car I've worked on. The passenger side is noticably heavier and they apparently added some reinforcement and extra insulation for 2009. Luckily, the whole insulation kit weighs only about 3lbs! It does wonders for reducing cockpit temps as well as road noise. It's about 8mm thick and spongy feeling.

The insulation kit is a bit of a jigsaw puzzle to put together. I had to patch and cut pieces to fit the two "pods" on the center tunnel near your ankles on each side. Not too bad, just a little time consuming to get it to my satisfaction. The aluminum tape is difficult to work with cleanly, but the result doesn't look bad considering my somewhat sloppy application of it.

I also swapped the Bose 10" subs in the door for the Dayton 8" midbass. I'm using the signal wires for the self-amplified subs as the speaker wire for my mids. I just soldered and heat-shrinked a short length of speaker wire to go inside the door cavity via the main grommet above the speaker. This gives me a pretty clean wire routing and I can pick up the other end of the signal wires near the stock amp in the passenger footwell where I'll make the connection to my high power amp output along with the tweeter/horn wires later.

Staring at the inside of the door, I also had time to think about how having the window down might color the midbass response with a highly reflective surface right behind the driver. My solution was to drape some rubber mesh (tool cabinet shelf liner) across the back of the mid and adaptor plate. It was initially held on with 3M super77 adhesive, but it's also sandwiched between the adaptor plate and the door frame when installed. This should be just enough barrier to break up direct reflections without impeding breathing. I trimmed the excess mesh after tightening down the adaptor flanges to the door.

 

I'm jealous.

 

Owning a Corvette myself I am intersted in how you plan on getting a sert of horns under the dash esp. with it being a manual. There is no way I would try horns in my C6.

 

why didnt you go with a 10" midbass

 

I spent a fair amount of time checking the C6's for under dash clearance at work before I pulled the trigger on buying one and doing the horns in it. There should be enough room, but your toes will be behind the horn body while driving. The footwell is deep enough that I shouldn't have to worry about kicking them even when enjoying "spirited driving" on track. I'll make it work, I know it's been done before somewhere...

I looked at a bunch of drivers before getting the Dayton 8's. I didn't see any 10's that looked like they'd be as clean from 80Hz-1.5kHz as these for anywhere near the price. I'm only doing a two-way (active) front stage, so they have to extend to wherever the HLCD picks up. I have plenty of sub, so I don't necessarily need the extension. I'm not convinced that bigger is always better. The 8's should hold their own. My previous install sounded great with Peerless 6.5" mids in the BMW. This should only do better.

 

Love the color, I am painting my show truck a similar shade of blue. Looking good so far!

 

I finished both doors and moved on to the horn install. There's a surprising amount of room under the dash if you're willing to make some compromise. I could have mounted the horn bodies closer to the edge of the dash, but the idea was to push them as far back as possible to improve staging. There is also nothing good to attach the mounting straps to that far toward the dash. Moving them deeper starts to encroach on toe clearance for the pedals, which is a big no-no since I plan on road racing the car and need to be able to dance without thinking about missing the horns. There was more lateral room on the C6 than my previous M3, so I pushed the driver further to the outside and trimmed the edge of the horn flush with the mouth opening. I ended up trimming the hood release switch to clear the horn body. It's still functional, and I have the horn mounted as far back and out as possible. The final location is about 4.5" deeper than the bottom of the dash panel. I still have access to both the OBDII plug, footwell light, and HVAC vents.

So, yes the driver's horn fits fine. The passenger side should be much easier, but that'll wait until tomorrow. I may take a shortcut and just order a pre-made amp rack from the same place I got the insulation and midbass plates from. I honestly don't see me coming up with something better without spending way too much time to do it.

 

Sorry for asking this but the picture doesn't really show it.
Is the horn parallele to the floor?
Doesn't the underdash obstruct the opening of the horn mouth?

 

Wow; just wow. I applaud you for tearing into a brand new vette! I get all kinds of crap when I tell people I'm going to tear into my brand new Sierra Denali. Especially since I only made it a month with the factory pcm/tcm tuning in it. I'm really curious about the horns. Everyone raves about them but I have yet to hear a set. Anyway the car looks great so far!

 

Wow; just wow. I applaud you for tearing into a brand new vette! I get all kinds of crap when I tell people I'm going to tear into my brand new Sierra Denali. Especially since I only made it a month with the factory pcm/tcm tuning in it.

Oh, I have plans for the powertrain too...

Tearing into the PCM calibration doesn't scare me since I do that for a living.

 

Why did you use copper plumbers strap? :laugh:

Looks expensive, did they not have gold plated?

(please see the above as a joke and not an attack It sounds funny in my head)

 

nicer

 

Mmm. Turbo. Now I'm really jealous!

What do you use for the tuning? I'm currently running EFI Live but I'm a novice at best. I'm getting a lot of help from another experianced tuner. I'm hoping sometime this summer I'll be throwing in a Mast Motorsport cam and a set of American racing lt's. Its amazing the differance a little tuning has made on the L92 motor. Even more so with the 6l80. Just the removal of the TM was night and day.

 

Mmm. Turbo. Now I'm really jealous!

Uhhh hmmm *cough*... that's TWIN TURBO.

 

Nice. I'll be keeping an eye on this install as I have some horns ready to go into my '63 Impala, although unlike you I have plenty of room
(I say ready, though I have another install on the list ahead of the Impala.)

Anyway, I had it in my head that the bass driver should ideally be on the same plane as the horn (?). (Mounting in the door or kick panel would suit me much better too.)
I'll be keen to know how yours sounds.

 

I'll be using HPTuners for the reflash. This is actually the demo car that I use for my business where I teach EFI calibration classes to enthusiasts and shop owners. My day job is as a powertrain calibration engineer for one of the Big 3. I am very familiar with how these things work. The MAF will stay (but in a new housing), and I will also have the complex equation-based VE model tuned correctly for boost as well. All of this will be without going to a custom operating system, since the factory OS is more flexible than many realize.

The straps must only be copper plated, since they're very attracted to the neo magnets. It's just what I had on hand when doing the install. You literally can't see it unless your head is on the floorboard. The horn is not visible from outside the car or in the driver's seat. I can "paint" them with a black Sharpie if it helps.

The Flu is kicking my ass right now and I'm working with an out of town client this weekend, so the project is on hold for a bit.

 

WOW! I gotta give you credit, I didnt think the horns would fit. Looks like I need to get under my own dash and have a look!

 

That picture was taken with the camera sitting on the front edge of the driver's seat. The horn body is flush with the closeout panel directly above it, so it's darn close to horizontal. I can tweak the straps on either side if needed to level it, but we'd be splitting hairs here.

The other (angled) photo shows it better. The closeout panel is not perfectly smooth, but I think it'll be close enough. Does anyone here really have enough experience (or data!) to show where a perfect coupling of the horn body to the dash makes any sonic difference? I suspect that by the time I'm tuning it in and listening, any mismatch between the top of the horn body and the bottom of the dash will be the least of my worries. They're as far back, apart, and level as I can get them. Time to move on to amplification and signal processing.

 

Saweeet! I love installs for cars that are meant to be driven.

 

In my E39, I had the horns mounted closest to the edge of the dash as possible. As an experiment, ou could make a panel out of 1/8 wood and 'slip' it in to see if it makes THAT much of a difference. The only thing I can think of it improving is irregularities for the staging and MAYBE a bit more precise imaging. It would be nice if Eric Stevens would chime in. Also, I am most interested in how the different compression drivers would sound, any idea on the crossover point? what slope?

Besides that, it looks good!! I wish I could put a 8" in my doors like that.

 

Glad some one had the balls to mod a new car this should be good when finnished and with some extra power by your pics.
Can i ask what is good about using horns as i have never heard horns before?

Good luck with this all.

 

Can i ask what is good about using horns as i have never heard horns before?

Good sir, (Had to be a little British!!) The advantages of horns is basically it allows for a single source (speaker) to be placed as far forward as possible in the vehicles interior. Along with proper design of the horn body, it allows for accurate imaging and staging. Of course, the drawbacks are rather large themselves and they include. Mounting-Not the smallest things.
Space- in the footwell for horn bodies an not hitting your feet.
Tuning- it is rather picky about crossover points and equalization.
Matching with the rest of the system. In my opinion, you need a very strong mid-bass to compensate for the inherent efficiencies of the horn design.

I hope it helped. The major manufacturere of Horns is Image Dynamics in California, headed by Eric Stevens. A little more research will lend loads of in formation for you. Here is a picture of my horns in my BMW as another install utilizing horns. They are the same horn assembly as eficalibrator is using.

 

Thanks for the heads up on horns i will have to get some and give them a try some day!

 

This looks like its going to be good! Nice work so far...can't wait to see the turbos installed!

 

I actually heard a E36 with the horns integrated into the bottom dash panels so there was no loss of footwell! I thought it was tricky and different.

 

nice work- not too many 09's running around with 3 horns

 

Ummmmm.......3 horns?? Am I missing something here??

 

lol a pair of horns under the dash and 1 horn under the bonnet (honk! honk!)

 

Just a suggestion, but you may want to trim the horns the same on both sides so they are as far apart as possible, it may help the sound stage. I've installed several sets of horns, the littlest adjustments can make a big difference. Nice Install BTW, I love the mids!