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DIY - 2016 Venza build log - I am going to keep at it until i get it right 😊

83K views 543 replies 59 participants last post by  AudioGal 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey all, I thought i would share my ideas, build and journey out there with the masses . I am no professional and I like to try different approaches and ideas. Learning as I go.

My goal is to get as close to the 2 channel home audio experience in my car as I can. My previous Yaris build was a great learning experience and I am going to build on top of that.

I do not have the system fully planned out and I am faking it till I make it. This is a SQ build not a boom boom or sql build.

I am going to use all my previous equipment.

tweets - Brax ML1
Mids - Brax GL6
Midbass - Brax ML 8
Rear fill - Brax GL3
Sub = ?

Proc. - Helix Ultra

Amps - (2) helix C-fours
(1) helix C-one.

Source - Fiio m11 pro - coax out
and maybe deck integration.

All positive , sharing of ideas, and inquiry focused conversation welcome and negative stuff keep to yourself please.

Let the journey begin with a .........

Vehicle selfie :D

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#237 · (Edited)
Okay, I am now playing with the proper version of the rack. All amplifiers have been accrued.

Brax 2400 - Left side of car mid and tweet. I am going to run the left sub on DVC using two separate channels at 2 ohms each.
Brax 2400 - Right side of car mid and tweet. I am going to run the right sub on DVC using two separate channels at 2 ohms each.
Helix C-four - rear fill and perhaps a future center channel just to play nothing more or something else TBD
Helix C-One - rear sub ( TBD) for 15-30 Hz duties :)

Helix Ultra on the main shelf layer under the helix amps. I am going to build a tilting top shelf .

Power distribution and grounds are on the main base later as well under the 2nd helix.

I am also planning some fans , just have to figure out what i want.

I will have some sort of custom beauty panel which is in the works concept wise.

the amps will not overlap as the floating amp rack will be extended about 2 inches so there is no overlap. The pic just shows a mock-up of that i am thinking.. I really like the floating amp rack above the rear tire area. It has worked wonderfully this last year. So i am keeping the basic concept.

Left the fun begin hopefully this weekend !!


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#238 ·
Okay, I am now playing with the proper version of the rack. All amplifiers have been accrued.

Brax 2400 - Left side of car mid and tweet. I am going to run the left sub on DVC using two separate channels at 2 ohms each.
Brax 2400 - Right side of car mid and tweet. I am going to run the right sub on DVC using two separate channels at 2 ohms each.
Helix C-four - rear fill and perhaps a future center channel just to play nothing more or something else TBD
Helix C-One - rear sub ( TBD) for 15-30 Hz duties :)

Helix Ultra on the main shelf layer under the helix amps. I am going to build a tilting top shelf .

Power distribution and grounds are on the main base later as well under the 2nd helix.

I am also planning some fans , just have to figure out what i want.

I will have some sort of custom beauty panel which is in the works concept wise.

the amps will not overlap as the floating amp rack will be extended about 2 inches so there is no overlap. The pic just shows a mock-up of that i am thinking.. I really like the floating amp rack above the rear tire area. It has worked wonderfully this last year. So i am keeping the basic concept.

Left the fun begin hopefully this weekend !!


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Those are exciting changes! I’m happy for you that you have found an upgrade path - very cool that the difference in sound / performance was easily discernible. That rack will look fantastic, and now you have all the flexibility you need for the future. I hope it goes well this weekend!


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#245 ·
Amp rack version 2 has begun in ernst. Measuring, designing , remeasurimg, cutting and lots of router work.
 

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#246 ·
And more of the mockup done, aka test fitting 😁
 

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#247 ·
The Brax rack is going to be on hinges and pneumatic lifts , so i can tilt it and get at the DSP and power systems. Beauty panels to be done a bit later. Making good progress and thoroughly enjoying the process !!
 
#248 ·
The Brax rack is going to be on hinges and pneumatic lifts , so i can tilt it and get at the DSP and power systems. Beauty panels to be done a bit later. Making good progress and thoroughly enjoying the process !!
Even my wife was super impressed with that design and execution - next level stuff right there!!!


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#252 ·
Thanks mumbles for the positive support !!!, ya that is exactly what i was thinking large diameter slow RPM fans to keep the dB down as much as possible. Truth be told up here in Calgary I am not sure i need fans as it really does not get that hot here except for a week or two and the amps have stayed reasonable so far. I put some extra height in each section to allow for better airflow in general also and to give my options down the road.

I am going to rig up a temperature and voltage monitoring system to track some data first before i make any significant upgrades on the temperature control side of things.
 
#253 ·
Noctua fans are amazingly quiet, even the tiny 40mm ones that spin fast to move air.

Actually here is a direct comparison (to the extreme when it comes to array of small fans) and it did actually turn out that 21 of the 40mm fans going all at once was no louder than 2x 140mm fans (all Noctua, same series).

 
#258 ·
Okay , spent the day figuring out the lift setup and glueing the rack together and doing a basic rough sanding. Two 26lbs lift cylinders seem to do the trick and will allow me access to the dsp and power stuff as well as the bottom of the Brax 2400 to do up al the .connections. For such a simple
amount of wood there has been far more hours put into this thing then what would seem obvious, lol!

I also mounted tabs for the beauty panels to
magnetically clip to when i get to that stage !!

Next will be a test fit in the car , make any adjustments and then sand and prep the rack for painting 😁
 

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#261 ·
Okay, after i took my dog for a walk i decided to try a test fit.

I am
super excited with how the skeleton frame of the gear rack turned out. Lots of room left, 100percent access to the spare tiire. The floating rack should work great again. To tilt the top shelf i need to put the seats down ( which i was thinking i would have to do anyhow). The fit, access and the setup for clean cable runs is now in place. Beauty panels will top it all off nicely to !
 

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#265 ·
Okay, after i took my dog for a walk i decided to try a test fit.

I am
super excited with how the skeleton frame of the gear rack turned out. Lots of room left, 100percent access to the spare tiire. The floating rack should work great again. To tilt the top shelf i need to put the seats down ( which i was thinking i would have to do anyhow). The fit, access and the setup for clean cable runs is now in place. Beauty panels will top it all off nicely to !
You’ve ruined it 😂 my ocd says the small upright section of birch for the bottom ram anchor should be on the inner ends of the three holes piece so you can’t see the upright part through a hole, and then move the ram outboard so you could see it’s end through the innermost circle hole… my eyes! 🙈🙈

other than that, most lovely work! It’s a thing of beauty for sure and very functional also 👍🏼
 
#262 ·
When in am in the process of painting the rack, inwill
take the back seat out and apply deadening in the back half of the car. Make use of the drying time of the paint. I have a few things i still
need to build for the rack before i paint though so hopefully tomorrow i can get that done and a coat of primer on the rack.
 
#276 ·
Okay, another update. I decided to take a bit of a break from the amp rack and sanding and filling, yuck!! And tackle some sound deadening in the rear half of the car up to and including the rear seats mounts. Driving the car gutted with everything removed proved to be pretty noisy even around town. I did not take any measurements so I am just going by subjective impressions. I only had so much material so i had to focus on the sides of the car, wheel wells and and rear floor area. I can do the rest at a future time when i acquire more material. This is a piece meal job for me that i am fine tackling over time :)

I applied the sound deadening material to the full back area from the roof down where it made sense and full coverage where i could. The before and after driving impression was very noticeable, with significantly reduced exhaust noise and road noise. I have not done anything with the rear doors yet and they where noticeably nosier (ingress) than the areas that were treated. So i definitely need to do the rear doors in the near future and i am very happy with the outcome. Once i get the rest of the rear installed including seats i am expecting even more of an improvement subjectively. Either way it was a lot of work and I am glad it is done. I can now finish out the amp rack and any future sub installation without worry about foundational work projects to be completed. The rear material of the Toyota is pretty thin and resonant and responded well to treatment. So not a fancy update just an update of a basic job that needed to get done😎

One thing i need to do is to figure out a good process for removing the scuff marks from my interior panels. A few years of kids and hauling stuff has left the panels a bit banged up and the Toyota panels seem to mark easily.


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#277 ·
The other task i worked on over the weekend was installing rear fill. I have Brax ML3 speakers that i am going to use for rear fill. Over kill but i have them and they need to be making sound again even if it rear fill. In my case rear fill is not full range sound but ambient, reverb based fill (L-R) etc.

The Venza had a crazy c-pillar speaker mount that made this process far more work than it should of been. The ML3 was to big to fit with an adapter plate onto this contraption so i decided to figure out a more basic solution. I did not want to cut any panels or plastic at all.

What may not be obvious in my build is that although it looks extreme i can put the car back to 100% stock in about an hour or so. I bough wrecking yard front doors panels and a-pillars and i set the stock ones aside. I can remove all my fab work and gear and replace all the stock speakers and panels without any damage done or evidence of what was in the car.

So i need to figure out what i want to do as the ML3 speaker would hit the metal of the car as it stock out more than the stock speaker.

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#278 ·
So i decided to fabricate a shaped adapter out of MDF that i painted black. I would mount this adapter to the panel using deadening material to allow for a firm mount that is removable from the plastic. I maintained the stock grill and also friction mounted it. I could screw the ML3 to the MDF adapter, remove the stock speaker adapter. the rear fill speaker was mounted cable ran and the panel could be reinstalled back into the car over top of the deadened car panels. I also applied some sound deadening material to the trim panel. The MDF adapter was glued to the sound deadening material that was put on the trim panel so it is nice and sturdy. Another job completed, again nothing to fancy 😀

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#279 ·
And a minor update to the amp rack. Hole filled in and most of the filling and sanding completed including some primer work . I am hoping this week to get the amp rack painted in either SEM texture trim paint of bed liner. I am still not sure which i am going to use yet. I am thinking that with Bed liner i do not really need any more primer coats. I am not sure as i have never used that stuff before. I my do a test with the SEM textured trim just to see on a test panel. Just the bottom deck is shown here.

Any thoughts on what would work better and look better?
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#280 ·
Certain days it feels like nothing is getting done, lol so i have taken the approach of treating this build like a marathon and not a sprint. A little bit here and a little bit there each week making some progress keeps the ball moving forward. I was not looking forward to the sound deadening effort but it is done at least up to the point i used up my material . The next tranche, next year will be to do the front half of the car floor and where ever else makes sense. the front doors are already completed so that is good news for me. I want to do the rear doors this year if i can as they definitely stand out now as a source of noise ingress 😲

I am undecided how i want to finish out my amp rack, so I need to spend some time figuring out the beauty panel layout and design. I may enlist some pro help with this part as i do not have the CNC tools, lasers and that type of stuff at my disposal. Everything has been my own DIY effort (blood, sweat and tears lol!!) so far so i need to think long and hard about that option as it would be a shame to no do the whole thing top to bottom. In the meantime i will most likely install temp panels to cover the amps and keep the rear hatch usable. Since my car is a true daily driver and does real chores and is used it needs to stay practical and clean and not be just a show car beauty princess build :ROFLMAO:
 
#281 ·
You have been extremely industrious! Taking advantage of the weather conditions while you can [emoji4] You have a wonderful design philosophy of being able to easily return to stock, and great execution. Good to have this trio us and unglamorous part behind you - it will certainly pay dividends in the future [emoji106]


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#283 ·
You have been extremely industrious! Taking advantage of the weather conditions while you can
You have a wonderful design philosophy of being able to easily return to stock, and great execution. Good to have this trio us and unglamorous part behind you - it will certainly pay dividends in the future



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Thanks bertholomey, you are definitely a source of encouragement and I definitely appreciate it !!! I figured if i spread out the crap work it will be less daunting and more manageable. And at the cost of materials today it is a necessity anyhow, lol!!
 
#284 ·
This part of the amp rack will be totally covered in trim panels so it will not be seen unless the panels are removed. the trim panels will need to be a combination of durable and pretty which will be interesting. I am leaning to bed liner anyhow as i do like the durability factor and save the SEM trim paint when i refinish my front A-pillar pods is what i am thinking.
 
#286 ·
And a basic trim panel design i was thinking about. the idea was to create significant ventilation opportunities through the front and top of the trim panels while keeping it simple and purposeful. I am unsure about lighting as i find most of that stuff i seen done not to my taste at all but i am not ruling something out. The top amp grills would be made to match the ML8 grill look from the front of the car to tie in the look and have something understated and stands the test of time. the rest of the panel would be covered in black vinyl. I am undecided but I thought i would share out some ideas as that can be a great crucible to end up with something better overall. :cool:

the verbiage panels would be done up to tie into the rack and may be lighted, not sure. They attach to the front of the rack on the vertical risers. Just spit balling some ideas and sharing where the amp rack is headed to. Nothing is finalized.

There should be no cables visible through the trim ( beauty) panels and everything should look pretty clean and modern.

I am thinking with this amount of ventilation and in our colder climate up here that fans should not be needed however i could accommodate them in the future if i thought they where necessary :)

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