djwozza Posted August 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 Update with pics to follow shortly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djwozza Posted August 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 So this is where we were last time.... Moving on 1) Marking out beauty board, router at the ready!!!! 2) Router radius the window edges 3) Cut Out Window 4) Edges routered with a beautiful smooth radius. This just takes mere seconds to do perfectly with a router & the correct bit. 5) Edges routered with radius close up detail 6) Beauty board test fit 7) Epicentre Cut Out and router for cables 8) Priming the Box. MDF need sealing before painting as it will suck up paint like a sponge 9) Paint the box window 10) Test fit the Epicentre. Now you see why EPIC was written on the box. The Epicentre is a bass processor for those of you unfamilliar with it. It is used to introduce bass harmonics where there were none at the lowest frequencies ie mostly older music. It is very clever in the way it does it as it uses the existing bass signal as a template, then introduces bass harmonics replicating that original signal, but far lower than they were originally produced. Under normal conditions the Epicentre is on minimum, & only turned up when needed on particular tracks. 11) Router the edges of the board to allow the carpet to fit flush 12) Router the edges of the board to allow the carpet to fit flush (detail) 13) Front side with radius completed on both windows 14) Trimming 1 15) Trimming 2 16) Trimming 3 17) Trimming 4 18) Trimming 5 19) Trimming 6 20) Test Fit 21) Fuse Panel Trimmed (fuse blocks were just placed in picture for effect here & not srewed in) 22) Fuse Panels open 23) Boot takibng shape. Note the same Unipart/Varta AGM Battery I used in the front. Being AGM means it is a faster recovering battery than a normal Lead Acid type, but it is leak proof & safe to fit inside the car. 24) Fuse Blocks and AGM Type battery 25) Amp Board cut out and amps test fitted 26) Amp board with routered cut outs for the Power & RCA/Speaker cables 27) Final test fit of Amp rack before covering We simply ran out of time & weather yesterday, hopefully the last two days of the install will be the last weekend of the month, just in time for a final system tune up before JAE...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 That looks great, very professional I had never heard of that epic centre, what a great idea that is. Are you changing the cable after JAE or going to leave the 4AWG in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sagitar Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Real skills and experience. Worthy of admiration. Well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parthiban Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Lovely work with the router there, well impressed with the install so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djwozza Posted August 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Cheers Sagitar. Parthiban: Yep I wish I had used one years ago, would have saved me countless hours with a file & sandpaper, the results are so easy to achieve & it is ridiculously quick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djwozza Posted August 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Rich tbh I'm not certain as yet, I will get the meter on stuff after final set up/tuning & see how well everything is working. Alternatively if there are issues (which I doubt with 2 batteries & decent condition alternator) there is an ICE guy I have come across who works at an engineering company that is interested in making some offset reducers when I sort him some measurements, so it's a possibility of going 0awg all the way in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djwozza Posted August 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 I could have gone for a really showy instal, but wanted a more kinda factory look than my Lexus so it's subtle but still very nice. The rest of the install is quite stealthy with upgraded speakers behind the factory grills, & a shouty showy boot build wouldn't really go with it. I think I will be happy how it turns out in the end, must be finished by 5th Sept as am at JAE & the car simply MUST be finished!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djwozza Posted August 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 I will give you a demo of the EPICENTRE at some point Rich, but til then here is some more info... http://www.audiocontrol.com/14165/products/The-Epicenter-Bass-Restoration-Processor.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted August 24, 2014 Report Share Posted August 24, 2014 I'm constantly impressed with this install wozza, from the get go it's been nothing short of stunning and a real education to boot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djwozza Posted August 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2014 Cheers Tony, the pressure is really on now though as my pal only has Sat/Sun next week off work before JAE. Can we really in two days: Completely finish the boot Silent coat under the rear seat Silent Coar all 4 doors thoroughly Run speaker cable into each door Make 4 Custom MDF Speaker Spacers Install 1 set of coaxials in the rear doors Install 1 set of components in the front doors & dash Run control cables to the dash for the EPICENTRE & Subwoofer Amplifier Install the Head Unit into the dash Any tidying up plus... A Full system set up session Let's not forget this is all weather dependant too. I'm only 50% sure we can make it for JAE, and that's if the weather holds up..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted August 25, 2014 Report Share Posted August 25, 2014 Blimey that's a hard call in just two days but hay never say never Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djwozza Posted August 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2014 I have a fail safe plan, but it involves borrowing someone's DeLorean & getting it up to 88mph.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted August 26, 2014 Report Share Posted August 26, 2014 Where's NickT when you need him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djwozza Posted August 29, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2014 Fingers crossed for the weather, I need a dry weekend from 8am tomorrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parthiban Posted August 29, 2014 Report Share Posted August 29, 2014 Fingers crossed for the weather, I need a dry weekend from 8am tomorrow Weather's supposed to be pretty good this weekend, good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted August 29, 2014 Report Share Posted August 29, 2014 Fingers crossed for the weather, I need a dry weekend from 8am tomorrow I think your going to get your wish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickT Posted August 29, 2014 Report Share Posted August 29, 2014 Where's NickT when you need him Out working! Mr Wozza, this may be late but I have a selection of 0 gauge cable ring terminals if you need them. I do industrial control panels. They are the ones that then get bolted onto large inverters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djwozza Posted August 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2014 Audio install will NOT be finished for JAE. Mightily gutted & peeed right off. However on a plus note the boot is 99% finished. I just need to order some Perspex tomoz & some custom decals to complete it. I will post up some pics later when I stop looking at the noose.... I'm still going to JAE tho 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted September 1, 2014 Report Share Posted September 1, 2014 Oh well perfection takes time and you would be happy with an half arsed job that we do know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parthiban Posted September 1, 2014 Report Share Posted September 1, 2014 That's a shame but can understand that doing it properly is the main goal. Oh well perfection takes time and you would be happy with an half arsed job that we do know. Think there's something missing from that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted September 1, 2014 Report Share Posted September 1, 2014 Ooops...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djwozza Posted September 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2014 Here is two full days work, 8am-9pm both days this weekend.... 1 Amp Rack Final Test Fit 2 T-Nuts & Bolts 3 T- Nuts 4 Subwoofer Box Mounting Brackets rebated into the (upside down) Amp Rack 5 Subwoofer Box Mounting Brackets 6 Carpeted Amp Rack 7 Amps mounted in position 8 Wiring Up 9 RHS Speaker RCA's plus Speaker Cables 10 Cable Glands fitted to ensure no leaks 11 Closed Cell Foam in Wheel Well to stop the spare from vibrating 12 LHS Cable holes 13 Factory Insulation going back in 14 More LHS Cable access 15 LHS Spaghetti Junction 16 A Little More Organised 17 Bolting Battery Down 17A MDF Battery Clamp Machined Sanded & Carpeted. A T-Nut was installed on the other side of the battery, where a standard Battery clamp is fitted & bolted down into the MDF Battery Floor 18 Fuse Box & Ground Block Cabling 19 Covers On 20 Box Bolted into position behind the rear seats 21 Sealing the Perspex Window 22 Screwing in too early.... The Box is secured by 2 large brakets into a crossmember, the Amp Rack is bolted into the Sub Box via the captive T-Nuts, & we had forgotten to bolt it down before putting the window on. With the Subwoofer already in, there is no access except thru the Window Cavity, so off came the window and the Amp Rack was bolted in, then the window went back in.. 23 Final Cable Installation 24 Amp Rack Bolted Down plus Beauty Board screwed in 25 Subwoofer Lit 26 Subwoofer Lit Close Up 27 Boot Install Arty Shot 28 Friggin Front Speakers We were out of time for JAE, working under a floodlamp for the final picture there. It would have been great if it was finished... Problems arose due the boot taking much longer than expected, which goes along with pretty much every detail on this complete install. So much so in fact I want to rename this thread as "Mission Impossible"!! Once the time was ticking along yesterday it was "ok well lets ingore the rear doors sound deadening & rear door speakers for now" as that was the only way were going to get the Head Unit in & Front Door sound deadening & Front speakers installed. Once the Front Door Panels were removed it just went from bad to worse. I mean much worse. For starters the Door Speakers won't fit, the rear spiders on these expensive speakers will simply not fit into the current aperture as the Honda OE Speakers had a Neo Magnet which is tiny in comparison, which allowed for the Honda speaker frame to have a much much smaller spider. . Honda Speaker rear view JL Audio Spider & Magnet This will need cutting out (google pic) We need to make something a little bit like this (Google pic) I thought the Lexus was a pain, that car was easy compared to EVERY single thing on this car!! We have got to construct unique MDF spacers (no eBay 165mm MDF speaker spacer rings here) that will need loads of fettling to fit inside the door panels, the Honda Speaker is approx 150mm in size (a pretty unique fitment) with the plactic mount taking it out to about 155mm in total, but my woofers are an industry standard 165mm across, the area inside the door panel will be very tight and require a lot of messing around just to get the speaker inside, let alone the MDF Spacer. This kind of custom work takes ages & we simply ran out of it for the car to be finished in time for JAE. The bad news doesn't stop there however. The rubber conduit carrying the cars electical gubbins into the front doors is not just a hollow sheath like it is on the Lexus. Honda ( in their infinte wisdom) have chosen to instal connector blocks at each end where it connects to the door frame & to the actual door itself. At first glance even drilling into these connector block & feeding my chunky speaker cables thru is a no go as there is no simply no space left available in the block. Looks like it's a front doors off job just to run the speaker cable!! I could short cut this by using the existing Honda wiring, but tbh I'm not keen on doing that. A set of components worth nigh on £400 driven by and amplifier (similar existing model) that retails at £500 with a signal from a Head Unit that costs nigh on £1,000 deserves to have HQ speaker cable all the way from Amplifier to crossover to woofer without any joins to cheap stuff along the route. If I can find an easier way of doing it then i will, but I might as well put some £50 components in if I was going to splice into the existing Honda wiring. I have a few things to do in the mean time, I need to construct a cover for the battery and order some perspex for the front of the amp rack. I just need a few days away from the car to gather my thoughts and recover some enthusiasm before it gets a full on attack. It might have knocked me down for JAE, but anyone that knows me understands that I am never beaten, battle will recommence in a week or so, with hopefully 1-2 more full days until EVERYTHING is 100 completed. "Mission Impossible"? Nah mate, Mission nigh on Impossible!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted September 1, 2014 Report Share Posted September 1, 2014 That boot install looks good, I'd be proud of that Shame about all the problems you've had, do you wish you had bought a different car now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djwozza Posted September 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2014 The thought had crossed my mind. Getting meningitis and the associated medical issues (that still plague me now) was never part of the plan. If I had bought an Audi A4 TDi it would probable have broken down by now, but at least the install would have been finished!! There are still a few minor finishing touches needed in the boot, but as of right now it is 100% wired in and functional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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