Bmf's big bumpin bonanza

We only had the single large 1 and 1.5 Farad caps to play with. Haven’t seen the grid style like that. Would have made installation cleaner.

 

I just got the amps. I don't know if I'm sold on caps yet. I've heard about 50/50 for/against.

 

Oh, caps are total BS IMO. But someone sold me on that PowerGrid being "different" and I went for it. It definitely stopped headlight dimming in the first half-second of punchy bass hits, but anything longer than 1-2 seconds dimmed my shit anyway.

2ndary and/or beefier battery is always the best solution.

 

I figured a battery in a battery box in the bed wouldn't hurt. Easy jump point to boot.

 

I'd see how it behaves first.

Is your stock alternator 100A? I saw some smaller ones when Noah and I were looking to get him my low-mile spare.

I don't agree with beefier alternator as a worthwhile solution to bolster the electrical system to compensate for amp draw. It'll help your battery stay on top of extra draw, but that's about it.

Having a larger and/or isolated battery pool to pull from is the real solution. But I'd only be bothering with the extra battery and draw if I installed stuff and found excessive problems with dimming etc.

I know that 1000w amp is going to be drawing a lot, but if you've got a new, decent battery, I think you'll be fine. You'll know soon enough. If anything, maybe upgrade to AGM + diode first.

 

Pretty sure it's still 100A. If I'm full tilt on the amps fishing 1300w, that leaves about 10A left over IF my alternator is putting out 14.4v. So any recommendations on an AGM or just stick with the tried and true?

 

I think you'd be fine either way, honestly. I don't even have AGM in my truck. I'm using NAPA Gold, but mostly because NAPA was nearby why my alternator took a dump on my way to work.

 

Caps are great for short gap fill in for the lack of amperage. Nothing beats the solid big 3 upgrade and a true high output alternator that provides solid amperage at idle. Not sure if those are available for the first gens but they’re absolutely necessary for Bass heads at idle. The last big stereo I had was about 15 years ago in my ranger. Even with under drive crank pulley the aftermarket h.o. Alt still put out 150 amps at idle and around 200 at 2000 rpm.

 

Alright, I got started yesterday. I stripped the interior and started cleaning to begin with. That interior was gross. I ran a drill brush over it then used an extractor. It was pulling up brown even after the 3rd pass. I ended up running out of extractor fluid since I only had 1/2 a bottle.

















Here's an after. I was parked under a tree so the pics are pretty shitty. I think I can get more out if I get more extractor juice. I still have to do the seats too.





With that done, I moved onto the door speakers. Tweets didn't really fit right, but I made em work. Someone already got in here and hacked up the wiring so I just worked with it.











Rear door speakers were still stock. Weird.



Not any more.



With that done, it's time for the amps.



Test fitting the amps.



This is where I ended up.



That 1000w is a big fucker. It still sticks out past the seat even with it all the way back. Good thing nobody's gonna be in the back seat anymore!



So yeah, my stupid ass forgot I didn't have any speaker wire so I called it a day after 7 1/2 straight hours. I can't find a good spot for the main fuse under the hood so it may just sit next to the battery or zip tie it up somewhere. I'm gonna grab some wire today and get the deck installed then it's ready to send it to get the box made and installed!

 

I finished cleaning the seats today. Nobody was open that had good speaker wire, and I'm not putting that lamp cord "speaker wire in, so I'll just let the installers do it. Well, unless I find some good stuff at the shop or get some on Monday. Anyways, here's a few pics.

Before:









After:










That was 3 passes with the drill brush and extractor. 2 full tanks of juice and 2 nasty ass tank empties. I'm amazed at the difference. I think I need a few more passes on the seats and interior. 326k miles has a way of building up some funk.

 

Hey @bmf4069 looks good. Any chance your rear door cards are still off? If yeah, can you get me some fairly exact center-to-center measurements on these bolts bolts so I can start mocking up a template for 6x9s for my rear doors?

I'll probably have my rear doors off soon enough, but would love to get ahead of the game a bit.

​

 

PS - seats look awesome. I reckon if you got a damn steamer to those bastards you'll pull up hella more.

Believe it or not, Simple Green (the green one, not the purple) works outstanding for removing funk from center consoles and door cards, anywhere you lay your arms on. Only do it if you can pull the part out and vacuum after.

Also, pulling the carpet totally, Simple Green the shit out of it, wheel brush to agitate, then lay on a flat surface, and pressure washer with wide tip will get it to nearly OEM cleanliness.

 

Theyre back in, but i can pull them again easily to get you a measurement, no problem.

I've already fucked myself by not having speaker wire and forgetting to get sound deadening. I think a few more passes with the extractor should get me good.

 

Dropped off Ironman at the box builder. My incompetence, lack of time/planning, custom box, and laziness are gonna cost me. I had to have them drop the speaker wires to the amp, install the deck, adjust the amps, set the main fuse and hook it up, and build the box. Oh, and sound deaden the back wall. Dude quoted me $1750 for all that. At least a full day on just the box build. Seems high, but box building is a black magic art, and I just didn't have time to finish the prep work. I should be picking it up Thursday evening.

 

I was about to reply, if you're going to sub out any single part of the job, make it the box. It is black magic art, and a proper enclosure designed to fit the constraints and parameters of your specific driver makes a massive difference.

But yeah, shame on you for the other shit.

 

Ugh, I feel awful about it. I hate subbing out work I can do myself. All because my lack of 16/4. All I needed was 20'. All the shit I didn't do probably added $600 to the total. I got such a great deal on the box for my van(pre rona and I used to work there) this price was a big oof. But the place I used to work for doesn't build boxes anymore and reco'd this place.

I watched a bunch of car audio videos just to bring myself up to speed a few months back. Box building is some voodoo shit I'll always avoid. Unless I actually had all the tools to do it. But they use all kinds of jigs and router bits that doesn't seem feasible to buy just to build 1 box.

 

What are you using for a cleaning setup there? Looks good.

 

I used to design boxes in high school on some DOS-based software that also worked in Windows 3.11, I can't remember the name this morning but feel like it had a Q in it. It's part of the reason I got my 1st job. Like @KNABORES stuff, I used to deisng and build all my own as well. I don't know if I'd do it today. I have all the tools but have no clue what box design software is out there these days. With the tool I used to use, you could input the params of the driver into the app and it would do a bunch of calculations for you, offer up generic suggestions, let you tweak as needed. Probably been 25-30 years since I saw it last. I'll see if I can dig up the name. I mentioned it here or elsehwere in the past.

 

https://youtu.be/cM4kqL13jGM

 

I sed a drill brush set and an extractor with "not for portable extractor" juice in it with hot water. Worked pretty well but the carpet and seats were kinda crunchy the next day, so either I didn't get everything out, or they need a few more passes.

 

Im curious to see if the removal of your door panels for the installation of that sound-deafening material will 1. Work and 2. Not result in shaky door syndrome.

I've helped remove door panels off of two Toyota trucks in the past, and both times the door panels were shakin' and bakin' after reinstalling them. Ofcourse, a banging sound system will overrule these sounds

 

I did notice some additional vibrations, but I think it was due to the new speakers.

I did also notice, the insert with the armrest isn't as snug as it could be on these trucks and I actually intend to use some deadening matt on the rear of the door card. I think it'll help considerably with that.

 

Box builder took a littler longer than expected, but it's back. Pics:













This fucker is LOUD. They didn't have their dB meter set up, but he estimated low 140s. You can feel it. Things on the armrest vibrate off. The mirror is unusable. It's hard to see straight. I fucking love it. I need to get the proper gain set on everything with all levels at 0; I think it was preset on bass boost when they set them. Jesus this thing hits. My gf heard me from a few blocks away. It was rattling everything inside the house when I pulled up. I am that guy. I am the menace to society. I still need to button everything up and do a few more cleanings, but for now, this is bmfs big bumpin bonanza. I hope yall enjoyed the ADD riddled journey. Any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to voice them. Just speak up, cause I can't hear that great right now...

 

Wow! That looks nucking futs!

 

How is it secured in the cab?

And what's the point of having rear mids at this point? The box is killing any rear staging!

I imagine that thing hammers! Any idea what freq they tuned the box to?

 

It's tuned to 32hz. I kinda fucked with it on the way home and turned to equal to all zeros and listened to some A7X and it sounded good at moderate volume. Still some tweaking to do.

Oh, and yeah. The rear speakers are worthless at this point!

 

Looks like it rocks! Your setup reminds me of when I was 16, I had two M&M Godfather 12s behind the seat of my ‘81 Toyota regular cab. Many vehicles and many systems later, I am good with the JBL setup that came in my ‘22 TRD Pro Tacoma.

Enjoy and I hope that you don’t have tinnitus like me when you get old like I do.