16psibrick

iTrader: (10)

Hey guys, its been a while since i worked on a 350z hehe, but just did one for local member and long time friend Anotheraznguy's 05 TT show car

here is a direct copy and paste from my post on diymobileaudio.com

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Its hard to believe but once up on a time, 350zs and G35s made up about 80 percent of my customers base After while of what seems to be the same install over and over again with slight variations, i decided to stop marketing myself and gradually, less and less Zs and Gs came in and i moved onto other models.

But it was nice to get back into a car that i can almost take apart blindfolded after about a year and a half hiatus...(ironically my next project is another 350z lol)

This one is also somewhat unique and a shift from my usual focus, it is a pretty dedicated show car belonging to a long time friend. A 2005 350z that has seen several iterations over the years...but had been twin turbo charged since about 5 years ago. This time when i saw it, it sported a air ride system, a brand new color changing paint scheme and other goodies.

The goals for this build therefor is quite different than my norm:

1. To create a system for extra points during show judging, as the car had a lot done but no audio system

2. to retain all the components of the air ride system in their current positions into the design as they are already set by the hose routing etc.

3. still keep it clean simple and classy as i dont like to do wild painted volcano sub enclosures also cant go too crazy as it is on a relatively modest budget

so SQ is not the goal here, though due to the speakers i used, i have to say this car sounds pretty decent

So lets take a look at the car...these are actually NOT the wheels the car currently runs on, but umm...cheaper ones he drove down to me on (if you can call AMEs cheap by any stretch of the imagination lol)

here is the car dropped fully...talk about ON THE GROUND

the colors change really shows under the sun...oh well...













The signal starts with a pioneer Avic-F900 navigation headunit that has been in the car since the age of the dinosaurs lol, lovely screen background to see everytime i started the car though:



for his front stage, the goal was to have the speaker visible yet not hinder driving, so i molded a set of door pods to show case the speaker. they are wrapped in one piece black street suede/alcantara, which is a bit of a pain if you worked with it







if you look around the speakers, you will see a trim done in CF vinyl, a theme that carries over to the trunk. the black suede is identical to the material on his headliner and other parts of his interior soon to be upholstered.



and the passenger side:









and a quick shot of the interior:



in case you are wondering, the speakers are the Illusion Audio Luccent L6CX point source set...its a high end set with a full bi-amp capable passive xover. I chose this set for its sound and to show case it all in one location without a separate tweeter:





a few quick build pics of the pods:

first molds were taken off the locations:



once cured, they were pulled off and trimmed to the desired shape:



the ring baffles were aimed and attached:



mold cloth pulled and resin applied...once it cured, excess cloth was trimmed:



next the pods were reinforced from the inside heavily with a mixture of duraglass and resin to make them very solid and the exterior rough sanded:



next, filler was applied and the two pods sanded smooth:



the inside received a layer of STP gold damper to reduce resonance:



next, the pods were wrapped in black street suede, and the trim rings were done in black CF vinyl:



the two were then mated with staples to form the final pod:





and then they were secured to the door:







next are four quick wiring shots of the bundles, just to show that even though this is not a focused sq install, the bundles are still neatly ziptied every few inches as they run throughout the car









so moving onto the trunk...as it turns out, this was one of the tougher 350z builds i have had to do...the air tank and pumps were okay, as they took up the front portion of the hatch...but the main control box and the plethora of air lines was in the spare tire well itself, taking up valueable room. with the limited budget, i also could do anything too crazy, so here is what i came up with

a new fake floor was built in the back and wrapped in black alcantara, in the center is an Illusion Audio Luccent L10 10" subwoofer, flanked by a pair of Mosconi Gladen M-line amps, a 4 channel powers the front stage bi-amped with 75 watts x 4, and a M600 mono amp runs the sub. I chose these amps becuase their unique brushed aluminum/titanium tile look works well to contrast against the black suede and cf vinyl.

there is a blank CF vinyl trimmed panel at the front for him to add sponsor logos, emblems, pics of naked chicks...whatever he fancies :P

the air tank and pump are are their old locations but on a new board trimmed the same way, and i cleaned up his hoses and wiring a lil:











a closer look at his tanks and pumps:







and a shot from the above:



for some additional visual pop, flip a switch and edge lit plexiglass borders around the sub and amps glow white

Unfortunately, even though i ordered the same color LED strips, one of them somehow was more blue tinted than the others. this will be addressed very shortly with a replacement strip, but hopefully you can get the idea now:





here is what they look like in a darkened garage, again i apologize for the blue tint on one of the strips







Even though its simple, here is what it looked like when i got the car, with the center floor removed...so i had to quite a bit of um...wiring organization to get it to all fit, but the control box presented the biggest obstacle, and cannot be moved due to where the hoses go under the car. the rear battery i removed becuase with his new alternator pulley and upgraded front battery, it was no longer needed:

16psibrick

iTrader: (10)

now comes some build pics, which will be relatively simple.

first this is the rather flat subbox as i wanted to keep the floor oem height. its .55 cub feet sealed. the top part trimmed in black CF vinyl:



these are the three amp flush mount trim panels before and after CF vinyl:





these are the four top fake floor panels pieced togehter:





here is the front panel that houses the tank and the pumps...i cut a hole on the driver side that lines up wtih an access hole in the floor, so all the wires and hoses pass through it, into the section behind the seats, and then through another hole into the hatch floor, connecting to the control box. hard to see and i forgot to take pics of it, this section is secured to the car via two bolts and two rivet nuts into the metal floor...i guess you will just have to take my word for it lol





here are the three back floor sections trimmed in black alcantara:



the clouded plexi rings were attached:



and the led strips secured in place, i forgot to take a pic of the black tape that went around the edges to prevent any light leakage:



and since i had very little clearance above the air ride control box, the blank trim panel upfront is a piece of 22 gauge steel sheet with CF vinyl attached:



the center panel is press fit, so he can access the fittings and air lines on the control box without removing the amps and other electronic components:



and finally, a few shots of the wiring:







so thats it...quite different to do a car that doesnt require hours of tuning but tonality wise, i have to say the L6cx illusions sound quite good, once again, like all the other illusions i have done thus far, very natural, smooth out of the box...no real issues to speak off...good strong midbass extension, though i have these highpassed at 100hz to protect them during blasting...

so time to rest my back, which had turned slowly to dust while working on a car that is dropped this low. lol

cheers,

Bing

T-dizee

iTrader: (6)

wow! awesome work man!

ImWeeZzel

iTrader: (27)

not my cup of tea, but that's some really nice quality work. Owner needs glow sticks and techno music

JERZ350

iTrader: (2)

Yes, very nice quality work, I just cannot stand that rear bumper though
.

KingBaby

iTrader: (3)

Top notch

kacz07

iTrader: (15)

+1,000,000

SirMichael

iTrader: (1)

That is a clean install.

This is probably something that should be searched but how do you come up with the template for the trunk piece? Do you have a digital file, do you us the plastic piece that's in there and just trace, or use cardboard first to size up exactly what your looking for? A digital file would be great to try different things quickly.

Anyway, nice install.

sintaxeror

iTrader: (3)

How do you make the clouded plexi rings? Just route them out and scuff them?

Junkster

iTrader: (3)

Ive seen this car before, Didnt TNT paint this car? What happened to the wheels it had on before though? Looks like someone sunk his battle ship! blehhh lol

DarkCreep

iTrader: (1)

Those are temporary wheels that he used to drive there..



OP your work is amazing!! I love how nicely done everything is without being over the top.

JaE35z

iTrader: (11)

amazing build, outstanding work