reedal's '03 Tahoe build

[reedal]

Look what came today

D3400, SHCA shirt, and VM-1.
Here's the 555 side post adapters


Out with the old


And in with the new


Unfortunately it's been raining all day and right after I put the battery in it started raining harder. So that's all I got done. Battery installed, power wire from front to back battery. Hopefully it won't rain so much tomorrow like it's supposed to and I can at least run my remote wire from the HU to the amps, and knock out the big three. Then I'll be bumping all the way to the TDH show Saturday.

Here's the blue interior LED's in daylight

 

[reedal]

So today I decided to start to make some door pods to put in the factory location. Only started the passenger side for now. Didn't use enough hardener though. So hopefully tomorrow it'll be nice and hard

My canvas


All taped up (neither 3M nor Duck brand painters tapes work for shit on door panels btw)


And a couple layers of glass and resin later


Tried my damnedest to get rid of all the air bubbles, but hopefully it won't effect it too much since that's the side that will be against the panel. Looks better than the last time I tried glassing some tweeter pods. Tomorrow I'll start on the drivers side door and get to work on this one while the drivers side is drying. With a little more hardener that is.

 

[reedal]

What do you do when your only cutting wheel for your dremel breaks and you're too lazy to go back to Home Depot? Use the sanding wheel attachment it's messy but it works

 

[reedal]

So going through my pictures I realized I never captured the big three. Although the only important pictures are when new stuff arrives and box building anyways. Here's the big three: alt positive to battery positive, alt case to battery ground, battery ground to frame



Gotta get a new dmm cause I ****** up the screen on accident. It was just a cheapie from Home Depot so not too big of a deal. Hopefully in the next couple weeks I'll have the singer 270 hairpin in, and soundqubed will have their pro audios back in stock for me to order. Then I just have to wait for them to fix and return the AQ 90x4 and I'll be golden for a little while. Next thing after that is a new box.

Edit: also going to upgrade from the 250A fuses I have to 300 and run another positive to the back, and run more speaker wire.

 

[reedal]

Slowwwwwly getting the door pods ready for some speakers.

Wrapped in fleece


Getting ready for resin


Remembered gloves this time


And ready to dry


Took the picture in the shade, but moved them into the sunlight afterwards. Hopefully I'll have them finished by next weekend. Won't get anything done tomorrow, and the wife will be home soon so I doubt I will have anything more done today either.

In other news, I bought some rubber stoppers to put under the feet of my amps to help absorb some vibration and raise them up a bit for better cooling from underneath.

Things that need to get done:
-Design and build a new enclosure
-Design and build a new amp rack
-Purchase door speakers
-Run more wire and ground for rear battery
-Find a place to mount VM-1

If anyone follows this, sorry it's slow and not the greatest, but time and money are tight, I do what I can when I can.

 

[reedal]

All dried up and ready for body filler and paint


A little test fit. Has a little bit of a gap on the high side corner but I think once I actually mount it it'll be a snug fit.


The drivers side 6.5 has the parking brake lever/pedal in the way though, any tips on bending it out of the way?

 

[reedal]

Well this is what I got done today. Covered in body filler (I'm not very good at that part at all) and a little bit of sanding. I think an oscillating sander is in my future though. Finish it up tomorrow hopefully, prime/paint it.


Can you tell which one was the first? Too much hardener


First layer dried and sanded, and a second smoother layer


Time for some Fiber Optic homework

 

[reedal]

Bought this sander attachment for my B&D matrix drill



Sanded the pods down to 240. Still haven't decided what I want to do with them though. They would look better matched to the interior, but I don't care to try wrapping in vinyl or anything, and I kind of want something to offset them from the rest of the tan/beige interior.

 

[reedal]

Picked up a package today




270A 6 phase hairpin powder coated blue to match the Tahoe, and I'm itching to put it in. But that will be a project for tomorrow.


Got a little dog tag shaped keychain


And everything in the box (no severed head...)


I've got a couple hours before the sun goes down. I've got a horrendous headache, but I'm going to work on gap filling the pods where they sit in the door panel (thanks mark CAF for the helpful videos). Tomorrow I'll pull the stock alt and belt, put on the new alt and shorter belt and crank 'er up. Ordering the soundqubed pro audios here in a minute too. I'll try to get pictures as I work on it this weekend

Edit: also, SoundQubed is sending my 90x4 back this weekend, hopefully be here next week, and here shortly I'll have tunes in my ride again. Then it's on to box building and sound deadening (as funds are available of course).

 

[reedal]

Today's progress:

Pulled the old alternator. Here it is next to the shiny new Singer 270


270 installed


Voltage with no load


At some point in the near-ish future, I'll snap a pic of voltage at idle with the music full tilt, but not today. Went for a ride to test and full tilt it only dropped to 14.6 (~1.7k rpms). I'm satisfied so far.

Door pods fit good, only one gap that isn't going to be visible so I'm not worried about it. No pics. Need to mount them to the door still but that's after they get some color on them.
Only issue installing the alt I had was the new 3/4inch shorter belt being a ***** to get over the pulley, and the stock charging wire lug was a little small to get on the bolt, started drilling it a little bigger, it caught on the bit and the bit found my finger. No worries, all is good, and more updates will be coming before long. I have a feeling a new box will be in the picture very very soon....