Walling a Hyundai Hatch

[RAD 0]

Hey guys, just thought i'd see if any of you were interested in checking out my progress walling my spare car. It's a 1995 Hyundai Excel (Accent for CAN/USA) hatch, pretty boring and poorly made car, but it's good enough to keep, cheap enough to sacrifice to be walled.

Here's what the car looks like (not actual car)

Had it for 5 months as a daily driver, i've had the front stage installed, battery and elec partially done, and a temp sub setup installed. But now it's time to go all out and have some fun with the subs. Sometime this week i'll be recieving two Mach5 IXL.18's, and the plan calls for 12cubes ported @ 30hz for some nice lows.

Quick parts list for anyone who's interested:

- Alpine 9886i Headunit

- Polk Momo 6.5" splits

- Epsilon EA5000D monoblock

- Atomic APSPL 10's x2

- Magnat 360 classic 4ch amp

- Odyssey PC2150 battery

I'll copy and paste my posts from another forum into one post, for anyone who wants to see the previous work.

Cheers, feel free to ask any questions.

[RAD 0]

---- From another build log ----

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Anyway, the stock speakers were giving me the craps, and the one in the drivers side door doesnt even work since the leads were rusted. After work, i stopped by a local pawn shop and found a pair of Polk Momo splits in pre-fab pods that fit the doors perfect, like so:

Notice that the pods are mounted onto the wrong doors. Turns out i cant fit them properly because the bulge for the tweeters would hit the dash, so they had to be swapped over.

Doors need a little deadening, picked up a pack of 6 DNA 12"x12" bitumen sheets. From my previous build on a BMW, i had this as a dynamat roller:

But its gone missing, so i put together something just as crude:

Paint roller with a piece of metal tube. With that in hand, i rolled said bitumen sheets onto the outer skin.

And theres an extra layer of dynamat where the speaker sits.

And now for the part that'll make you all go WTF. Chatting with a mate a few weeks ago, he mentioned he was working on an old VB commodore that had a cheapo install with a couple of 12" subs in it. He said instead of dynamat, they went the el cheapo route and used caulk, which was pumped into the boot lid, which worked a treat apparently.

Since this is just an excel and not a beemer where parts are cheap, i'm taking a gamble and doing the same. Used an ad ahesive caulk thats apparently slightly elastic, but absorbs sounds/vibration. Pumped it around the side intrusion bars and gaps:

Already, when you tap on the door, its a dull thud and not a hollow tinny ding, so something must be working.

6 sheets doesnt go far when your doing 2 coupe doors. Had to dip into the good stuff (spare dynamat sheets), but since its the drivers side its more important to have the good stuff here.

Edited June 22, 2008 by RAD

[RAD 0]

---- From another build log ----

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Mock it up

Tape it up

Deaden it

And have a listen

Not loud cause its only off my headunit, but sounds fairly good, right down to about 50hz. It can actually play DJ billy E's 'beats 4 my van' fairly well. Only got to open up the baffle and use the 12awg instead of factory 20awg.

Edited June 22, 2008 by RAD

[RAD 0]

---- From another build log ----

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Now, with the Polk's having such a big bum on them, i had to cut moar from the pods to get any sound flowing into the door itself. Everything around the black line got Jigsawed off. Check the stock speaker i pulled out, can anyone say rusted? It died a deserving death.

Anyway, poking around some SQ forums, the idea i got was that the bigger baffle opening you have, and the better seal to the door, the more midbass you get... So out comes some liquid nails, and whack on a bigger baffle

'Course the tinfoil hyundai calls sheet metal had to be cut...

... And its gone. Closed cell foar around the baffle, and little sheet of Dynamat for a rain roof. 12awg from the X-over to source should be plenty once i put an amp to it.

All thats left is to put the door trims on.

Played the doors off my new Phoenix Gold amp for the beemer, good feedback from my mates regarding the clarity, and theres plenty of midbass on the drum kicks and bass strings. This SQ thing is interesting huh?

Still had a few hours left, so i thought i'd try doing the big 3 while i was at it. Overkilled it with 0g all round for the Batt > Engine block and Batt > Chassis.

Nice 14.3v float off an old battery thats been kicking 'round the shed for years.

Tried doing Alt > Batt, but the alternator would'nt take a 0g terminal. Tried 4g, which worked...

But i cocked up by not disconnecting the battery negative first, and while i was tightening the nut to the positive post, my wrench touched the engine block. BANG! :shok: I crap myself quite well, and blew the alt fuse in the process, so now the car is immobilized. Least i learnt that the grounds work well

Edited June 22, 2008 by RAD

[RAD 0]

---- From another build log ----

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Something was waiting for me on my doorstep when i got home

A big-ass surfboard. Epsilon EA-5000D

I'm 6'4" and it's makin me look small.

specs:

• 1920 watts RMS @ 4ohm

• 3360 watts RMS @ 2ohm

• 4980 watts RMS @ 1ohm

• 5136 watts RMS @ 1ohm: 16v

• 6060 watts RMS @ 1ohm: 18v

Only need it to do half those ratings, but moar watts is always good.

Check the pics, in either spot there aint much room left

Edited June 22, 2008 by RAD

[RAD 0]

---- From another build log ----

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So, everythings just kind of being thrown in without much of an install, but i'm more interested in listening to it that looking at it.

Mach5 still havent landed in aus yet, so i'm going with the Atomics for the meantime. Found an ex Atomic rep on ROE who pointed me in the way of a new box design for daily usage.

2.9 cubes @ 33.3hz. Crazy low tuning for an SPL sub that has a Fs of 45, but somehow it works. Plays quite low, into the high 20's, and has a fair bit of authority without losing much of their punch.

Tried a hairtrick with these little guys, hairs were lifting up, but not covering the windows but they'll make plastic shopping bags dance happily enough.

Moar pics:

battery box needs a new lid, the 2150 is too big for the one supplied

The box is wedged in tight, a perfect fit

battery tray is bolted to the boot

9886 squeezed in

USB extension is in a spare accessories bracket, im yet to fit the remote gain stealthily into the spare in the right, but you can see where it'll go

Buckle up in the back

ZOMG messy

And runs going through the body. Laugh at Hyundai's attempt at sound deadening, that little patch doesnt help

Edited June 22, 2008 by RAD

[RAD 0]

Now for the stuff you'll actually be interested in! Yea the rest of the build isnt too interested, just me killing time until i could get my hands on the IXL.18's. Sorry if i posted quite a lot of replies, i'm not trying to up my post count or anything, just copied and pasted from another thread to this.

.....

Anyway, this is where things get interesting for my little excel, cause It's time for a wall. First things first, out with the seats, the spare wheel and trims...

In it's place will be 18mm MDF and 2x4" pine. It's hungry for it, so theres 4 sheets waiting to go in

"Feed me MDF!" it cries

Check out the sand it's decided to snack on, that's not good for it

A couple of MDF offcuts fill the gap to make it sit level with the back. Screwed in above the fuel tank, 2-3mm too far with the drill bit and i'm gonna puncture the fuel tank

How the floor sits

That's all i got done today, not a whole lot cause it rained quite a bit and i had to keep stopping and starting. Will finish off the floor and work on the sides + top the rest of this week, see how much time i have.

[pimpedout97x 4]

lookin good

kinda looks like the floor in my car

[RAD 0]

Yeah it's simiar in a way, of all the wall threads i've been through on various forums, one thing that sticks out is that its really important to get a good solic floor laid out. That way, when you have to hit the skids and stop in a hurry, your wall doesnt crush you

Except thats where the similarity ends for us, yours looks removable, while mines glued and screwed into the bodywork forever!

Well, i got a treat from the postman, a pair of Mach5 IXL.18's

Check the size compared to my Atomic APSPL10!

I beefed up underneath the floor with 2x4" wood, so the floor wont flex in the dips where the spare wheel and fuel tank are

And the rear quarters are on for good with some sikaflex and 2" chippy screws.

The rear quarter windows have been blacked out completely, thanks to a $2 can of spraypaint. Just dont want anyone peeking at the car to see a wall of wood inside and get curious. The roof and window panes are in too, braced with an extra sheet of 3/4" MDF. Pics soon, just had lunch and i'm back to work!

[RAD 0]

Here's some more of what's going on for today...

The roof in all its glory

As you can see, the 0% tint works well!

And i'm starting to add in the back from the wheel wells, to the end of the boot. I'm not going right back to the opening of the hatch, im leaving room for possible amps/second battery or a spare wheel.

Til tomorrow...

[RAD 0]

It's coming together fairly quickly, i'll have a full outer shell by tomorrow, minus the baffle. It seems to take you guys only a couple of days, but this is my first and its a huge learning step. Having only basic tools like a cordless screw gun and jigsaw doesnt help. Anyway:

The back wall is going in, a sign that im getting closer...

[jonbearsmt 919]

very nice

[Dr. Johnson 1]

I agree with ^^^^

[jonbearsmt 919]

do you have more grounds in the back besides that one body ground pictured?

[RAD 0]

Nah its just the one body ground, the amps are connected directly to the battery. I relocated the battery so i didnt have to have 2-3 runs from the engine bay.

The one body ground looks dodgy, but it starts the car the instant you turn the key, and i've had no electrical probs running a 5kw amp.

Damn, that reminds me i gotta upgrade my alt charge wire from 10g to 4g or 0g.

Thanks for the comments guys

Edited June 30, 2008 by RAD

[pimpedout97x 4]

Except thats where the similarity ends for us, yours looks removable, while mines glued and screwed into the bodywork forever!

mine is bolted through the body with 1/2 thick x 4" long lag bolts

[RAD 0]

Holy chit, i missed that part

Hope their high tensile, dont want them suckers shearing when you hit the skids!

[RAD 0]

I've been busy the last few days, havent updated here, so i thought i'd throw in some choice pics.

Anyway, the walls mostly finished, inside there's 2 layers of 3/4mdf, i'll put more in later. Here's a pic with all my edges sealed with silicone:

Today i got a start on the baffle, again 2 layers, but from the advice of some other guys, 3-4 layers is where i want to be with 18's. Just marking them up for the cutouts:

Cut and a test fit with the Mach5's:

Tested the baffle and subs in the car, damn they make it look SMALL!

Wired both up for the hell of it, even if the baffle is still leaky, and no port. Hooked 'em up to a 2x65w 2ch amp, so their each seeing 30-40w at most. Still damn loud, and they LOVE 30~hz.

Had a bit of a problem, the original specs Mark gave me were for 12cuft for both, but after measuring the wall, it came to be almost 24cuft, its bigger than it looks! Mark updated the specs, and i'll have the port done tomorrow, then we'll chuck on some real power and see how they play

[Adrian_D 520]

That should be massive loud

[pimpedout97x 4]

lookin good!!

[sick6ness 1]

lookin good!!

Agreed, nice job there, lets see a vid when you have them up and runnin!

[RAD 0]

Well, it's up and running, just not finished off or sealed up. I'm still experimenting with different ports, originally Mark specced me up a massive port, 250sqin 26" long, but anything other than having the windows up sealed saw the subs unloading. Damn low tuning though, made the chassis flex!

Halved the port to 125sqin, much better for music as it really shone during most rap/rnb tracks, just tuned a couple hz too high to miss some lows.

Pics:

Big port, almost 4cuft with braces at the back to hold it down:

Port cut out and in, nice sealing with the duct tape

Slipped a screw, pierced the surround. Tried superglue, but it swelled up

New port, will be removable soon:

[Adrian_D 520]

I love using duct tape to seal removable ports

Anyway, did you try shortening the big port ? IMO 125 sqin is a bit on the small side for a pair of 18's

[RAD 0]

No, have'nt tried shortening the port, but i think i need to. I added a third layer to parts that needed it, covered gaps/seams with silicone, and pine bracing to stop the baffle flexing. Instead of going from loud to damn loud, it went the opposite way: my wall actually got quieter, and i'm real pissed off. its not all that louder than my old atomic 10's were, apart from more air movement.

Maybe the extra wood inside has changed the box size and thus port tuning, maybe the subs are choking from 125sqin? Although my box specs in cuft and port sqin are close to what Steve Meade has, and he managed to put 4 18's in his box?

I'll put the big port back in, shorten it if it seems too low. If the subs still unloading with that port, i'll cut a 1/3rd off of the width and try that.

[Mark LaFountain 1,054]

fun looking build, hope it does what you want it too