Just waiting on a few more things then the cutting starts. This will be the new view from the bottom of the spare tire well.

 

Not much happening. I got too tied up with other stuff and just didn’t have time before Aggieland to make any big changes so I decided to let it roll as is minus the Aviator screen swap that I finally finished today. Definitely better than the vertical 10” screen.

 

Looks great. I plan on doing something similar

 

Well…guess it’s time to start updating this thread. I was away running a large project for a really long time but I was collecting parts and planning along the way. I took some time refreshing the car…mostly new front end and repainted the front bumper and hood, new 21” wheels and I had to swap exhausts to make room for the IB vent. My old setup had Helmholtz resonators taking up the space I needed. So that’s been done and as of today the car has a really big leak in the back. I plan to have the new manifold done, subs and amps installed and playing by Sunday. It’s stupid hot right now so I’m gonna work only in the morning and evenings.
Cliffs Notes for the back:
A pair of Mosconi Pro 5/30’s
A pair of Acoustic Elegance IB15AU’s
A single Mosconi Pro 1/10 will also be added to run an Audiomobile Evo 2408 front sub that will be inside the glovebox area and unseen.

 

Plugging along. Salvaged the lower part of the sealed enclosure to turn it into the IB manifold. Lots of test fitting and very slow progress in this heat. Hope to have all the woodwork done today. The baffle will be 2” thick with plenty of bracing once it’s done.

 

Well…the rain had a different plan than I did today…it wasn’t supposed to rain at all.
Ended the day with all holes drilled to get ready for the final bolt up. I had a change of plans when I decided to use the old enclosure bottom to build off of so I had a new stiffener ring made. This one is 3/4” 7075 aluminum…I think that’s plenty stout. 18 5/16” stainless bolts should make for dead solid mounting.
Even with the delay today I think I’ll be adding electronics by tomorrow night.

 

OK…my non-carpenter skills are on full display here but I finally got this thing whipped into shape and ready to cover and bolt in for the last time. Everything is glued, screwed and sealed up with liquid nails. Once I get the manifold and rear seat back in I can build the stand offs to float the amps over the subs…that’ll go quick though.
Of course it’s raining again on a day with 0% chance of rain so I may be shut down the rest of the day. I’m probably 2-3 hours from amp install and wiring. The thing attached to the right side is where my distribution blocks mount. The angled thing on front is part of an addition to get the sealed volume I needed before…it’s being repurposed as an amp rack for the Pro 1/10.

 

Smart move blocking off all that dead space inside the box. Looks sturdy as hell too.

 

Trudging along…the heat, rain showers the last 2 days and feeling a little sick have slowed me down drastically but I’m ready to wire things up now.
Here’s a sneak peek at the almost finished product.

Here’s the bottom of the car with the stiffener ring, mesh and foam. I used a bead of butyl rope around the top of the ring to decouple and seal the edge. Plenty of clearance on the dual 3” exhaust.

And here’s inside the manifold with another layer of mesh to sandwich the foam and make sure it never moves. I’m pretty sure I can lift the car with the manifold. It’s rock solid.

I also had to disassemble the amps to flip the Mosconi logos…can’t have them backwards.

Now to go wire it up and make it make noise.

 

All wrapped up and it’s exactly how I pictured it. I wanted a minimalist install…no wires showing, no lights, nothing but business.
The Pro 1/10 is ready for the coming front sub and everything else does what it’s supposed to do.
I know it was a lot harder than I thought it would be to hide all that crap and keep it under the false floor without losing any cargo room. I’m glad I fought it though.

 

Looks great. Can't wait to hear it.

 

It definitely gets low. I’m not even gonna mess with tuning until after the front sub is done. I’ll just turn it down with the Director until then. Tuning it just to change it 2 weeks later seems like a waste of time. Are you coming to Dylins this weekend?

 

Same. Can't wait to hear it. Will the cover above the subs rattle? I don't think I heard the last setup with the cover on.

BTW - I met a good friend of yours at a car show a few weeks (maybe a month) back. I forget his name. Either you were his best man, or he was yours. He saw the back of the Chevelle and said, "You went right to the Mosconis, huh? My good friend Richard runs those in his Explorer." I knew exactly who he was talking about. He's not the guy with the insane car collection, is he?

 

Probably Tim. He and I do the car show together. Well, not this year since our air show in San Marcos is taking all of our time. We’ll bring back the car show next year.
You should check us out, Jim. www.texascapitalairshow.com

 

The final piece of the puzzle arrived…the unobtainable Audiomobile Evo 2408 for front sub duty. Sometime in the next few weeks I’ll build this in behind the glovebox completely out of sight. I plan to salvage the oem glovebox skin and graft that onto the enclosure for a 100% oem look and invisible sub.

 

The front sub will be the best bang for buck when considering significant improvement in sound.
Good luck with the install.

 

I finally got the car back from a shop that was doing some other work for me and made the last trim piece. Along the top of the amps where they meet the seat there were some small gaps in the seat trim where you could still see some wires, mostly on the right side, so I made a trim piece to cover all that. Small thing but looks more finished to me now.

No trim:

Trim added:

 

Beautiful work! Thanks for sharing your build!

 

In for the front sub build!

 

IASCA and MCA had a local show yesterday and tuned or not I’ll always support those guys making shows happen. I expected dead ass last with the levels being so out of whack…I literally need to cut 20hz 10-12db as a starting point but somehow managed a 2nd in my classes in both orgs. I was quite surprised honestly but it’s some motivation to get the front sub in and actually clean up the tune.

 

I’m no pro so for me the process starts with staring at it and thinking it through. If I can’t build it in my head first then I probably can’t build it.

 

I’ve found that holding things in place and staring at them is a shockingly effective strategy.

But, are you sure the glove box isn’t a worse location than your kicks? The IB kicks in my car work so well that I’ve struggled to have a front sub do better. I had a scanspeak 10” woofer facing the passenger seat. Great tonality and impact, but it localized a bit to the passenger side and detracted from stage depth. It didn’t stay for long. Built an upfiring/firewall facing arc a10 and it staged far forwards and centered but it was obvious that the driver had a lot more distortion and less overall sound quality than the audio technology drivers in my kicks. I took it out. Unless I get my hands on a brax or something of similar quality and make it properly firewall facing, I’m better off with the kicks solo, crossed at 50hz. Your situation may be different but I’m just throwing my experience out there for consideration.

 

Don't know, but maybe it has something to do with hearing the front sub in my ST at Aggie. 🤣 His sounded great and really doesn't need a front sub, he is probably just scratching the itch.

 

The suspense...

 

Well…the sub I bought and the amp for it are up for sale. After we got finished tuning the new subs/amps there’s more low end and impact than ever before…like a shocking amount of impact. I no longer see the value in completing the front sub project.