Completed installation

[mikeb]

Finally completed the installation of my system for now.  Installed sound deadening in the doors a couple of weeks ago and spent three days this last weekend stripping out the interior and installing sound deadening on the floor and backwall.  Installed two jbl amps on the back wall, BP1200.1 for the sub, and a 180.2 for the front components.

 

Installed Rainbow pro 6.5 components in the front door and a 10" Adire Brahma sub in a sealed box firing forward under the drivers side rear seat.  I'm using an adjustable line driver from Navone engineering to interface between the stock cd player and the amplifiers.

 

It sounds great, still need to play with the adjustments to get the most from the system, but I ran out of time.  Haven't decided about replacing the head unit yet, we'll see.  I've read a couple of reviews about the stock delco head unit and the signal to noise ratio is about the same as aftermarket decks, but you do get more adjustments and features on aftermarket decks, but when you replace them you blow a  stealth installation out of the water.  You can't really see anything different in my installation from the stock installation.

 

The sub is installed in a .5 cu. ft. box before displacement and it sound great, so far couldn't be happier.

[NeXuS1]

sounds like you have a nice system going so far.

 

pulling the interior out of anything is a pain. i did it in the 89 doing its system. after that i didn't mess with anything for about 6 months. in some older car i've seen people set the aftermarket HU back into the dash then removed the face off the stock HU and use it as a cover when the car is parted and poof, instant stock radio again. but that will only do so much. if it can even be done in the newer truck dashes. in my 95 i could barely fir the monitor into the dash so. anyways. if you drive around in parking lots or any other busy place "bumpin" your stereo that just gives away any stealth you had.

[DeezBlueZ]

Hey mikeb, do you have any pics of the install?  I was wondering how you mounted your amps to the wall of the cab?  Did you use self tapping screws?  I was curious of how much room behind the seat there is for amp mounting.  I just wanted to be sure and not drill through the cab  :0

[mikeb]

Yea tearing out the interior wasn't too bad, but applying the sound deadening to everything took a lot of time, the system install wasn't that bad.  Too bad I choose the wrong time to install, I took a trip up to my dads house and did it in his driveway, put the parts in the garage.  Three 100 degree days in a row, only good thing was they had a breeze blowing for the three days.

 

My exact thoughts on removing the face of the head unit and covering a new head unit up.  Just hate destroying a perfectly good head unit to do it.  Wish I could find a broken stock unit to experiment on.  They have some nice motorized head units that flip around and hide, then you could velcro the stock face on.

[mikeb]

Don't have a digital camera, but I did take some pictures and when I get them developed I'll try and post them or I can email you a couple.  I used a piece or 3/8" subflooring material very dense stuff.  I used a couple of angle brackets at the top and a couple of self tappers on each bracket.  The brackets are mounted to the double wall part of the rear wall up by the top, did'nt want to go through the exterior wall either.  It worked really well. What I want to do eventually is installing a 1/4" black adonized aluminum plate for the rack, then I can tig weld brackets to the plate and make it look like on piece.  

 

Right now the two top brackets are all I have holding the rack because I was at my dads and didn't have access to material to fabricate a couple of 'L' brackets for the bottom, but it's very secure like it is for now.  

 

There's more than enough room to mount a couple of amps behind the rear seat, but I can't raise the seat all the way up anymore because of the middle cable support for the seat will hit the amps if the seat is raised all the way, going to remove the seat again and space the amps out a couple of inches and then it will clear no problem.  That's why I used the wood for the amp rack so I can change things around a little before getting the final layout and making the aluminum plate.

[DeezBlueZ]

Thanks for the info mikeb!!  Was just lookin at doing the same thing.  Seems like mounting the amps lower on the rear wall will help with the seat clearance problem, and still maintain stealth appearance.

[2k2TahoeSS]

i dont know if this was mentioned in the post becuase im too lazy to read it all, but AC Delco puts limiters on their headunits to cap off the extreme highs and lows.  They do this so that the owner won't blow out the stock speakers.  Getting a new headunit would greatly improve the range of your audio setup.  Congrats on install.

 

Ben