This install is 90% done. I tapped off the rear speaker positive and negatives with my friend and he helped me with the measurements, drilling, cutting as well as overall design of the amp/cap/xover rack. The LOC mount was somewhat of a last minute addition, but we found a place for it and it fit nicely. The cap is oriented in such a way that to see the voltmeter on it's top, all one has to do is drop the rear seats. 95% of the bolts, nuts, washers and lock washers we used were size M5, but the bolts varied in lengths. As far as the design, my friend deserves most of the credit, but Evilcartman's How-To is what we followed to facilitate all of this.
So I decided that the Shaker 500 in my '11GT isn't even adequate to lick the manure off the boots of my old '96 Cobra's Mach460 and I wanted more sound.
I ended up acquiring:
-Shelby Kicker 8" sub pair for the doors
-Shelby Kicker 5x7" speakers for the doors and rear deck
-Kicker ZX350.4 4-channel amp
-Kicker ZXSUM8 Summing/Line Out Convertor
-Kicker KX3 Crossover
-4 Farad Capacitor
-4 gauge power and ground wire for amp with inline fuse
-3 terminal blocks, one each for the positives, negatives and accessories
-Monster-brand speaker wire to run to all the drivers
-20 gauge wire to run to the 12v switched/remote (gray/violet stripe) wire near the stock amp
Things I learned about this install:
- If you have SYNC/NAV, you lose the NAV voice.
- If you have SYNC/NAV, you lose the beeps the touch-screen buttons make
- You will retain your mute function from the HU when the voice is speaking, but as previously stated, no SYNC voice or prompts.
- You can still make/receive calls with your bluetooth cellphone, they can hear you, but you cannot hear them from the speakers at all
So, the above list I still need to work out, and I still need to find a place to put the remote bass gain though the RJ-45 wire for it has already been run. Since there's cuts already in the carpet below my driver's seat I'm thinking I'll pull the seat out, run the RJ-45 to under the seat and mount the remote bass gain there with the knob facing forward.
Something else of note, I used tap-splices to keep from hacking into the stock wiring. If I ever remove this setup I'll just use heatshrink to cover where the tap splice stripped away the insulation.
We made everything in the back to be quick release as well. Like M5-size wing nuts that hold the amp rack up and all the wires that go to the terminal blocks, except for the analog input, which goes to a pair of female RCA's attached to the rack itself on the driver's side toward the back near the cap. The rack can be out of the car in less than 15 minutes, the LOC in less than ten.
Making the measurements for the cap's board:
More cap measurements:
Lining up the mounts for the cap:
Fitted on the MDF board nicely:
Drilling the holes for the cap mounts:
Test fitting with the cap mounted:
Decided to make every bolt custom length:
Grinding wheels for the Dremel got expensive:
The brackets half way done and bent as needed:
Test fitted with the two pieces of MDF board with the brackets:
Here it is finished, and hung from the center of the trunk:
Here's the LOC mounted on MDF; ran out of paint so that's later:
Passenger side shot; note the terminal blocks:
Better shot of the terminal blocks and cap:
Driver's side shot of amp rack:
Shot of cap from inside the car:
Love these grills:
Here's the 12v wire with the fuse tucked away:
So I decided that the Shaker 500 in my '11GT isn't even adequate to lick the manure off the boots of my old '96 Cobra's Mach460 and I wanted more sound.
I ended up acquiring:
-Shelby Kicker 8" sub pair for the doors
-Shelby Kicker 5x7" speakers for the doors and rear deck
-Kicker ZX350.4 4-channel amp
-Kicker ZXSUM8 Summing/Line Out Convertor
-Kicker KX3 Crossover
-4 Farad Capacitor
-4 gauge power and ground wire for amp with inline fuse
-3 terminal blocks, one each for the positives, negatives and accessories
-Monster-brand speaker wire to run to all the drivers
-20 gauge wire to run to the 12v switched/remote (gray/violet stripe) wire near the stock amp
Things I learned about this install:
- If you have SYNC/NAV, you lose the NAV voice.
- If you have SYNC/NAV, you lose the beeps the touch-screen buttons make
- You will retain your mute function from the HU when the voice is speaking, but as previously stated, no SYNC voice or prompts.
- You can still make/receive calls with your bluetooth cellphone, they can hear you, but you cannot hear them from the speakers at all
So, the above list I still need to work out, and I still need to find a place to put the remote bass gain though the RJ-45 wire for it has already been run. Since there's cuts already in the carpet below my driver's seat I'm thinking I'll pull the seat out, run the RJ-45 to under the seat and mount the remote bass gain there with the knob facing forward.
Something else of note, I used tap-splices to keep from hacking into the stock wiring. If I ever remove this setup I'll just use heatshrink to cover where the tap splice stripped away the insulation.
We made everything in the back to be quick release as well. Like M5-size wing nuts that hold the amp rack up and all the wires that go to the terminal blocks, except for the analog input, which goes to a pair of female RCA's attached to the rack itself on the driver's side toward the back near the cap. The rack can be out of the car in less than 15 minutes, the LOC in less than ten.
Making the measurements for the cap's board:
More cap measurements:
Lining up the mounts for the cap:
Fitted on the MDF board nicely:
Drilling the holes for the cap mounts:
Test fitting with the cap mounted:
Decided to make every bolt custom length:
Grinding wheels for the Dremel got expensive:
The brackets half way done and bent as needed:
Test fitted with the two pieces of MDF board with the brackets:
Here it is finished, and hung from the center of the trunk:
Here's the LOC mounted on MDF; ran out of paint so that's later:
Passenger side shot; note the terminal blocks:
Better shot of the terminal blocks and cap:
Driver's side shot of amp rack:
Shot of cap from inside the car:
Love these grills:
Here's the 12v wire with the fuse tucked away:
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