Big Dave's Truck Project

[mrogowski 6]

Here's some shots and a little writeup from Dave on the amplifier canopy he built for this install:

Canopy steel frame- 40 pounds of ceiling amps are bolted into welded nuts, attached to a 1 1/4 steel angle frame, that HANGS from the Factory Tethered seat belt bolt mounts at the front; spans to the rear of the cab where the 1.5" flat bar extends over the back of the 1.5 inch ply rear wall (thus- hanging again- for additional support. Mechanically - the amps can not fall).

From the top of the canopy, the horizontal amps are mounted to a 1" sq steel tubing skeleton, which ties the top, amp pods and rear wall together - hanging from the top steel mounted frame as well as the shear support on the rear wall. This skeleton also mounts the DVD screens on each side.

The 3/4" angle steel, center floating amp rack is bolted with 1/2" bolts, through the 3 layers of 3/4 ply (into T-nuts) AND supported underneath from the sub box structure.

In the sub box build pics- you will see a 4x9" 'platform' in the center of the box - tying the 2 front and top speaker baffles together, anchored into the center divider of the sub box and fiberglassed from the top and underneath, making the entire structure, interdependent, from floor to ceiling.

The back 1.5" ply wall is anchored into the back of the truck cab, at the factory seat belt mount locations, and the upper shoulder belts and bottom factory bench seat mount locations also.

From this wall, the canopy is bolted with 8x1/2" bolts, and HUNG from the tethered seat belt locations. So the amps themselves don't rely on the wood structure for support, but rather the steel structure, attached to the factory belt mount locations - strongest points in the truck cab.

The wood basically is cosmetic and used to attach the trims and fiberglass components. This design SHOULD be durable enough to withstand the vibrations from bass, off-road travel, stiff suspension speed bump jolts and MOST IMPORTANTLY - in the unfortunate event of a crash or rollover, everything will maintain its attachment to the truck cab. Can't have 40 pounds of amps over head and 40 pounds behind your head that become projectile missiles!

This is the best way I could determine to anchor all the components for safety!!!! MUST be anchored into truck steel rather than wood. This is the MAJOR difference between why its taking months to build - rather than a shop, 'screwing' pieces together and sending you on your way! This MUST be structurally safe in case of a front end crash or other mishap!

[F-150 Murphy 0]

This is simply amazing

[mrogowski 6]

Here's some shots of the DVD trim and screen:

A shot with the screen in

[B7L|BL4Z3R 4]

you have some mad fab skills dave

[Kanaworm$ 292]

Amazing craftsmanship!

[Duran 387]

This guy disgusts me

['BIG DAVE' 0]

THANKS for the kind words! This HAS bin more labour intensive than I intended. One thing led to another, then, hmmm, what IF I change this, and ..blahblahblah, 5 months later! Arrrggg No friends came to help, so while I'm sanding, nothing else gets done!

The door pods, DVD trims, tweeter pods & dash are now painted! Gotta say, it looks sweet! I do all my own work- to keep the costs down, and was sketchy of the enviornment in my garage- if I could contain the dust and control the overspray- (using car paints for the fiberglass), and they turned out great! (if I must say so myself, lol).

Mark @ MACH 5 AUDIO has the pics- he uploads the progress. They'll be posted asap. Just trying to get the sub box ready for paint. The angles I have on these parts, are so erratic and accute, vinyl wouldnt work, ( a preferred medium to carpet for me), and would have required MUCH less prep work! But- I figered this is gonna show off the SUBS, so why not 'giver'!

The color I wanted in Basecoat/Clearcoat was $600 a gallon for color (NOT) and $200 for a litre of Clear (NOT), so I opted for the single stage Acrylic/Enamel with a 'Wetlook' hardner. Workded great. Skimmed in 1/2 hour so no more dust would stick. Easy to apply (with a car paint gun- $18.88 on sale at Princess Auto Farm Equip Surplus Store, and 60 gal compressor). Pretty much just tools & equip one might have for hobbies, ie: auto racing or 4x4 builds, etc. LABOUR is the key. Anyone can do anything, if they give themselves enuf time and WANT to get involved! Shops would take ur First born to cover the hours involved for these kinda builds, so DIY is the only way to go.

I showed the 'how to' pics, so all who are interested in spending some of their time, could get an idea of what goes into this one and perhaps they might get inspired to try some things themselves? MY WAYS arent the only ways to achieve a desired result, but they work for ME and there's lots of different ways to get the end result.

I found some great vids on YOUTUBE on fiberglassing, and box building etc. 20 years ago, we used GrillCloth to Wrap cuz it stretched good and 'glass mat just turns to snot when the binders 'whet', so we thot- hmmm, what else could we use that would impregnate with resin?? THEN someone thot of using FLEECE cuz its thicker. I saw a vid using 100% Polyester- guy says its 1/4 inch thick! I havent found that meterial yet- but that would remedy the need for multiple layers AFTER the fleece wrap- cuz fleece is still not that thick.

Luck to all and keep building!

[mrogowski 6]

So Dave did some painting at home - it turned out *really* well! Interesting choice of colour too

[indytrucks 1]

That color is spectacular. I love it. That and the copper he is using will look great together. Can't wait to see some of this stuff installed.

[lithium 358]

DAMN!!!

[Maddenkid2011 3]

UPDATES!!!!!!!

[eriley 0]

wow this is awesome! I don't know if it has been said, but where did those dist. blocks come from? I like them.

[Duran 387]

He makes the tweeter pods I made look like poop FORGET YOU DAVE!!!!! FORGET YOU!!!!!!!

[Solid_State13 1]

Fantastic job man, this truck is going to be amazing when you are done with it

['BIG DAVE' 0]

Thanks all The dist blocks are Tsunami- we have a surplus salescenter in Canada that has everything from farm equip, to army, to auto, to hydraulics to meat cutting saws! Every now & then they get a batch of car audio stuff. I'm always rooting around their bins for anything I can use in an install, or robotics, linear actuators, motors, electronics, etc and they had the 2/0 ANL-(wafer fuse ) and the 4ga AGO(large glass fuse) holders, cheap price- looked good, so I picked them up. U gotta be there at the right time cuz they may never get the stuff again so its a weekly trip to see whats new in the store

The Tsunami capacitors have a 'cap top'- that is a 'topper' for a single capacitor- it has a Dig display Volt meter, Low & Hi cut offs for ur system voltage and an audible alarm if the voltage drops too low. Gold plated mounting screws etc- they were packaged seperately, from Tsunami, and then marked down to 1/2 price, so got them for $6 bucks! Cant make a circuit board Dig Volt meter for $6 bucks. Went to an industrial cable supplier and found a trunk cable with 12 conductors- like a telephone cable, so going to pull the dig displays off the circuit boards and extend them to mount in different places. Might put one for vehicle voltage, one for system voltage, one for front battery, one for the back batts and on each amp- then I'll be able to determine if the truk is running and the back batts are only at 12 volts- then I KNOW the front main circuit breaker from the Isolater has opened.

Also- IF ur careful, u can scratch the silver coating off the back of ur rear view mirror- WITHOUT scratching the glass and mount the display inside the plastic housing, so u got a trik Volt meter display, easliy in ur sight line and can get an Additional Point in competitions for Unique Ideas Applied to Installation!

[Mark LaFountain 1,054]

this is on a whole new level. great work!

[sound=vibration 34]

sick... i need to learn how to fiberglass

[mrogowski 6]

Big Dave is the man! I hope you stick around to share a few more tips you've learned.

['BIG DAVE' 0]

Thanks Mark & Mark, & all! Ya- when Mark G mentioned I had my own business, after I won the Canadians, I started my Install business. Took me to Ottawa, for 3 different shops- I did their hi-end custom. Wasnt interested in 'Deck & 2' & 'Deck & 4 ' for car dealers. Wasnt interested in car alarms or remote starters. Didnt fit under the dash for one thing! lol. Just like doing the 'one-off', custom, competition systems. Ha- I sold more JL & Phoenix outta my house than the shops in my home town! lol.

So, when the economy took a dive back East, I moved west in '97. Came to a hi-end 12v specialist shop. THEY put me in the back installing remote-starters???? on the oil rig workers truks! NOT interested! Then, 8 months after I moved (4000 miles) to work for them, the owner sold out to a potato-head who drove the business into the ground!

I bailed b4 he took me down with him! Went to a Chain-store install- that was WORSE! They had 16 year old kids on the sales floor and they'd run back and ask me- "How much for a plexi-glass sub box?" Oh- YEAH! Cool! My kinda customer! SO, I'd head out front to talk bucks and see what their budget was and what they had in mind.

The kids & manager would cut me off at the door and say- "Its ok, we got it- how much for the box- $200 bucks??" I said for Custom, plexi, molded to fit car?? $200 bucks?? I'm outta here! and went back to welding.

This stuff is COOL- but NO ONE will pay for it and a shop couldnt keep the doors open- its just waaaaay to labour intensive. BUT- all things good usually take time eh- thats why MOST of the slickest stuff is DIY & Jobbers like us. The 'core' of Car Audio! We'll be here a long time after the 6x9's & Button-starters r long gone!

Scuffed all the painted pieces today. Going to Re-Paint them tomorrow! I havent painted in like 20 years and have to do the sub box- THATS gonna be a challenge, so figered, rather than 'practice' painting a piece of wood and wasting the paint- the pieces I had done, werent quite as shinny as I'd like them, so going to re-paint them and get a good top coat on them to make em shine!

Got the iso & breaker bracket made & welded yesterday- that'll get painted also tomorrow- well, later on this afternoon. Finally getting some nice weather for it! Pics to follow.

Then- just the sub box to finish & paint and it all goes in! WOULD like to get it in within the next 2 weeks? Trak opens this weekend for Test n Tune & my missle is STILL under a tarp- arrrgggg. Gotta get that out and running for next weekend!

Take care all, & any questions- fire away! )

[Mark LaFountain 1,054]

I hear ya about those retail stores, they are only interested in making a "fast" buck. Problem is they burn so many customers, they never wanna pay what your labor is worth by the time the find you. If they could only find you first?!?

Great job, and keep up the great work, we all appreciate your work on this site, I can tell you that!

[chad y 1]

Amazing work!!!! I can't wait to see the finished product.

Chad

[mrogowski 6]

Not much to report but Dave decided to repaint his pieces. He mentioned that he thought the first paint job went on too thin. So here are the shots on that:

[Mark LaFountain 1,054]

this is just a awesome thread. keep up the great work!

[TRP 42]

Awesome stuff man, it is great seeing some an extensive build like this, and with amazing quality and craftsmanship!!! Great job!!

[Maddenkid2011 3]

Lovin the Orange. Keep up the good work!