July 6, 201015 yr Author I would like to hear how your setup sounds someday. I know I planned a trip a couple of years ago and I was quite unsure of the setup I was going to get, but I do have my subs. I have 2 21" DP's now. I would like to hear the difference between them someday.Where are you located? If your in SC you're within a few hours. I dropped off my bracket for auto cad and laser cutting. They're going to get back with me on pricing but within the month I should have my quads on. I got a sweet price on 1.5" threaded rod for bracing, so the new boxes should be braced nicely Hopefully I'll have this done whenever you decide to come through this way.I can get better pricing for buying more of these quad brackets at once. If I did a pre-sale/group buy on here would anyone be interested in a high quality, low cost quad bracket? We're talking half the price of other companies, and I'm all about saving myself some money. Not trying to compete with any brands, just get a few people in on like a group buy of these to get a low cost. They could be modified to fit 2 or 3 alternators I believe.
July 6, 201015 yr Oh I forgot to post- I got a new table saw to replace the one that was stolen! Hopefully I'll be doing box work in a week or so Nice saw. I have a Ridgid too, and just can't believe the quality for the price.
July 10, 201015 yr Author Template for the quad bracket -cad drawn and laser cut. A few adjustments needed made, but the real thing should be on my truck by monday or tuesday.Again, these are just templates, the real one will be much thicker steel:Thoughts?
July 10, 201015 yr Author Thank you. I figure at least doubling the power to the subs should make a difference- and it'll be running at 15 volts instead of 13
July 15, 201015 yr Author I've finally got a working bracket complete! Please comment on here guys as I'd love to hear feedback.It's still not finalized, it's going on the vehicle for testing and if all goes well more will be made and powder coated. Since this is the prototype there was no reason to pay for powder coating yet. I need to read the forum rules and see if I'm stepping on any toes here but I'd like to offer these to the forum for a presale price of 3-350. This includes everything necessary for install. I've purchased alternator brackets before that required drilling mounting holes, or a degree in engineering to figure out since the directions were not narrated and it came in a dozen pieces. This is two large plates that only fit one way, and should take less than 1 hour for anyone with a wrench to install. On to pics:A front shot, again before powder coating:A back shot of the main piece:A side view of the edge. Pulleys added - important first step to make things easier for installation. Lock- nuts and spacers with grade 12.9 metric bolts.First alternator in placeClearance from pulley to alt is about 1 mm. This is necessary to give the best belt wrap.The plug for the alternator on this bracket should now be attached and the bracket bolted to the vehicle. It's dark and raining like crazy right now, so I'll post install pics tomorrow. Then it's just 10 minutes of bolting the extra alts in, and however long it takes to do the wiring.I'm using a XS Power VCM, which requires extra wiring. I started but my soldering gun tip was messed up, and I bent it the rest of the way in frustration. I spent almost 5 hours today searching for plugs for my alternators, only to end up crawling through the mud in a scrap yard chopping the harnesses out of wrecked GM trucks lol.I would have had this bracket on if it wasn't for my inability to find these plugs locally. I spent probably 5 hours searching today. I will have to find a supplier online and order some new ones I guess. Soldering in a small piece of extra wire to one plugXS Power will tell you not to splice their harnesses. I don't want to alter my factory wiring so I did it anyway. I split the two center wires, and added about 1 foot of my own. Soldered in, covered in heat shrink tubing, and zip tied back up.I started on the 2nd plug when my soldering iron died.More tomorrow, hopefully vids too. Again this is a lot more work than it looks like, so please post up some thoughts guys.
July 16, 201015 yr Author Aw, not a single comment? Oh well, more pics and a vid. I got it up and running, it works perfectly so far. I'm going to give it a week or so of daily driving before proceeding with powder coating and stuff. It's MUCH louder with the little bit I turned it up, but I had to turn the volume down because coffee was shooting 1-2 feet in the air out of my SEALED mug. I didn't want to get things nasty so the coffee has to go before cranking the volume again. I have never had it leak besides when it's on it's side, but I guess there was enough slosh action going on lol.Pics:I soldered the plugs, I've been using some adhesive lined shrink wrap from Fastenal, it works great.Industrial velcro, I used big enough pieces to allow me to move it around some if I change things in the future. I was considering the vcm and a separate volt meter for the back. Anyway.VCMMounting to the back of the plexiRunning the wire and soldering to the steering columnFinished product before powering upPoweredBefore anyone starts busting balls, I have some more wiring to do tomorrow, and a lot of cleaning up. Things are not going to be left like this, but I wasn't going to leave it at the work site just for a half hour of zipping wires up.Again this is a prototype and has not been powder coated yet. I'm going to run it for a while and see if there's anything to improve on (so far there isn't).Sorry I didn't get more pics, it was 90 degrees with 100% humidity and a hot engine. I just wanted to get it done.About 1/4 inch between bracket and electrical box, though there's plenty of room above and below the alts to run wire.This took a lot of cussing and effort, so please at least criticize it if nothing else lol.My voltage dropped to 14.6 for a second once while at idle, but jumped back up to the 14.8 it's resting at hot. I'm ready to go out in the country and turn my amp up Vid just uploaded
July 16, 201015 yr Looks great man. Turned out damn nice.I need to hear this one with that extra powa should slap pretty hard..How do you like that VCM? I ordered one last Friday, but it has not arrived as of yesterday. Hopefully soon.I should have brought the boss by this week and let your Wardens rip his little head off. lol
July 16, 201015 yr Author come do my alt bracket for my trailblazer lol.If it's a 4.3 v6 or 5.3 v8 I can do that. Seriously, email me at [email protected].Looks great man. Turned out damn nice.I need to hear this one with that extra powa should slap pretty hard..How do you like that VCM? I ordered one last Friday, but it has not arrived as of yesterday. Hopefully soon.I should have brought the boss by this week and let your Wardens rip his little head off. lolIt's a lot louder, I'd say pretty close to the 4 18s though I can play it a lot longer. The amp just gets so hot with 95 degree temps and 1 ohm operation. I'm dying to buy another amp and run both subs at 2 ohms, maybe if I can sell some of these brackets I'll have extra cash Really stop by, bring whoever. There's a lot of rewiring to do now but it's 80-90 percent of what it will be volume wise.The VCM is niiiiice. I like it a lot more than my MLA. It's a pain to install from scratch, where the MLA was just plug and play, but the flexibility and digital display are awesome features. And it's a ton cheaper.
July 16, 201015 yr Good to hear on the VCM.I am going to install mine in that same spot. I have a stinger gauge there now and like that location best in our trucks.What did you use to tint it? Window tint?
July 16, 201015 yr Author Good to hear on the VCM.I am going to install mine in that same spot. I have a stinger gauge there now and like that location best in our trucks.What did you use to tint it? Window tint?That may have been a better choice. I used Rustoleum lens paint- like for blacking out tail lights. It allowed me to recoat until I got the amount of tint I wanted, and I figure it wont discolor like cheap tint. I wasn't sure what % to use or I probably could have stopped by my local tint shop for their scraps but oh well. It's done now, but I might redo it down the road if I run out of other things to work on
July 16, 201015 yr Author I get mine at autozone in the help section,or where they keep the fuses. I would love to get them there, but mine doesn't have them. They said they could order them for 30 a piece, but I want quite a few, so we're talking an awful lot of money. I don't mind spending 10 bucks, but 30 each? Found one website with the right plug, but they still want $20. I'm trying to find a good website with this plug in 2 wire or 4 wire form:http://www.naparts.net/Charging-Starting-Systems/AlternatorsGenerators/Painless-30705-Alternator-p8203534.html
July 17, 201015 yr Author Short video before my camera died. I'm very happy with this setup, though I'm getting the inch for more cone area and more power now that I have the electrical for it I need to get this metered as is and see what sort of gain I have from this upgrade, build a new box or 2, then I'll look at more power and such.
July 17, 201015 yr If I didn't know any better i'd say you have some cone area in there, probably some power too... lol.Wish I could fit 2 wardens, I really need to get home and see just how high I can make my box.
July 18, 201015 yr Awesome job. Good luck getting the other amp, I'm looking forward to seeing that happen. Your alt job looks sweet, very professional imo.
July 19, 201015 yr Author Awesome job. Good luck getting the other amp, I'm looking forward to seeing that happen. Your alt job looks sweet, very professional imo.Thank you. I hope it happens sometime soon, but with my truck taking a bit of a back burner it'll probably be a while. I'm really loving the sound of 2 1000.1s @ 1 ohm, but I would want at least 7 or 8 batts before I made that upgrade. I think if I can redo some things I MAY be able to fit 5 alts on that side, let alone the other side of the engine. It would be pretty nice to have 1000 amps at idle, though most likely overkill.
July 20, 201015 yr Author I'd ask what your thoughts were, but I'd like to actually mess with it some more up around bbuy. I got some wiring cut and soldered for tomorrow, but I wont do the real work till tomorrow probably.
August 10, 201015 yr Been following this thread.Im digging your truckNice jobThanks for the idea of mounting the VCM did the same thing in my 99' Yukon DenaliWent with grey transparent plexi and painted the backside with flat black andtaped off just enough to show the led'sI have a double din in mine too...Unless I missed it, I saw no mention of BatteriesHow many batts are you running?
August 14, 201015 yr Author Thanks, no new TL scores. Huge audible difference so I'm hoping for some decent gain. I wont know until I get out to a show maybe next month.Been following this thread.Im digging your truckNice jobThanks for the idea of mounting the VCM did the same thing in my 99' Yukon DenaliWent with grey transparent plexi and painted the backside with flat black andtaped off just enough to show the led'sI have a double din in mine too...Unless I missed it, I saw no mention of BatteriesHow many batts are you running?No sweat, it mounts really well there.I only have 4 XS Power batteries at the moment. I had a d3100 under the hood but I like the look of the smaller 3400. I then have 3100s in back.I intend to go up to at least 7 or 8 batteries, but right now my voltage sits so well I'm working on other things.
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