Posted February 22, 201015 yr I helped a friend of mine out over the summer on his Lightning. System composed of...Pioneer head unit2 sets of 6.5 Polk components 4 10" Polk subs Memphis 5 channel amp1/0 wiring2 Kinetik batteriesCustom fabbed door pods, battery trays, and amp rack.The sub choices were limited due to budget and space. All factory power and grounds upgraded to 1/0 wire and a high ouput alternator is planned over the winter. All power and signal wires have been kept seperated. The cab floor, rear cab wall, and doors have been fully sound deadend. Sub enclosure. 3/4" mdf used with 3 internal braces. This was built by my friendAmp rack. Used 3/4x3/4x1/8" angle and some flatbar for mounting it to the back wall of the cab.Amp and box installed.Head unit and sub controller installed. This was not an easy fit lots of "trimming" was required. Looks almost factory now though.Doors lined and ready for panels. This deadener requires a foam layer after the mat.This is where I really earned my keep. First set of door pods I've done. Learned alot on these.I started by laying down a couple of layers of woven glass cloth for a base. Then layed flatbar with bolts welded on into the base. I just used a little bondo to hold the bars in place. These will be used to bolt the pod to the door. After that I masked off door for 2 part foam. Built a "frame" around the area to be foam filled.Once everything was ready I mixed the foam and poured it in. The next four pics were taken inside of 5 minutes. This stuff works fast.60 seconds after mixing foam2 mins.5 mins.After foam hardend I trimmed it with a saw blade then sanded it to roughly the shape needed with a cheese grater and 36 grit.Next I layed a layer of woven glass over the pod. Trimmed it to desired shape then test fit on vehicle.
February 22, 201015 yr Author Once fitment was good I applied filler and finalized the shape, primed, sanded, primed again, then painted. We used a textured low gloss balck which turned out nice.Bolted onto the door panels.doorsBattery box.Well I finaly finished this thing. Man I have to say I'm very impressed with the Memphis amp. Powers the system very nicely. Overall very pleased with all the gear. Here are some more pics of misc stuff I snapped pics of as we wired it up.Battery box smoothed and ready for prime, undercoat, and paint.These are the side post adaptors I made out of some aluminum angle. Plasti-Dipped them for corrosion resistance and safety against arcing.Also Plasti-Dipped all the crimped lugs. Then heat shrink and finaly the rubber boot the lugs came withHad to modify the front battery tray to hold the Kinetik. Went with a nylon strap for simplisty. Also mounted the fuse holder to the factory battery tray.Rear battery installed (never mind the flat bar hold down it's being replaced) on frame rail, all the wires ran and fuse holders mounted.Front battery installed. All factory wires were upgraded. Man this thing took me a whole day to wire. I thought it turned out nice for the amount of wires there is.I'm looking into adding a higher output alternator over the winter but it does real good now with just the pair of Kinetiks. The Polk stuff sounds real clean. The Memphis 5 channel is a great choice for those with limited space. I'm not a fan of touch screen shit so I'm not loving the head unit but it does work well. I'll see how it sounds after some more break in time.
February 22, 201015 yr Nice install, all those little things you done made a big difference and never seen fiberglassing done that way but it looks easier. Any tips on that fiberglassing method would be nice if you had some spare time (you can pm me if you dont want to clutter your build log), thanks.
February 22, 201015 yr Wow man good work on everything. The door pods look almost factory in texture and color. And the battery terminals with the plasti-dip look really good, wouldnt have guessed they werent factory!! Very nice build log!!
February 22, 201015 yr That is very clean work. I like that "attention to detail" style install work .
February 22, 201015 yr Nice build. You have given me some ideas on how I can change my doors around. Thanks
February 22, 201015 yr Author Nice install, all those little things you done made a big difference and never seen fiberglassing done that way but it looks easier. Any tips on that fiberglassing method would be nice if you had some spare time (you can pm me if you dont want to clutter your build log), thanks.Nothing to fancy about the glass work. I just choose to use heavy weight woven cloth instead of chopped mat. The woven cloth has much better strength and builds thickness quickly. Was there something specific you were wanting to know?Wow man good work on everything. The door pods look almost factory in texture and color. And the battery terminals with the plasti-dip look really good, wouldnt have guessed they werent factory!! Very nice build log!!I tried real hard to make this have a "factory" look to it. I paid close attention to the lines that already existed and designed around them.Great idea using the foam Awesome idea. Im gonna steal it!The foam isn't cheap but allows more creativity with less effort. I've just seen enough fleece over a tear drop frame to last a life time. Wanted something original and it worked out great.That is very clean work. I like that "attention to detail" style install work .I'm big on details. Sometimes the smallest details make the biggest difference in the end.Nice build. You have given me some ideas on how I can change my doors around. ThanksThats why I posted the pics. Glad they got your gears turning.Wow! Sweet looking door pods Thanks for all the compliments.
February 22, 201015 yr very clean, even the positioning of the wires. looks very nice.i like the battery tray with the built in block for the fuse holders to mount on. top notch work. any videos?
February 23, 201015 yr Author dude that is awesome awesome AWESOME work!!now, come do mine!!!I could use a vacation. Too bad I can't leave my kids home alone that long. I'd love to get the hell out of Michigan.very clean, even the positioning of the wires. looks very nice.i like the battery tray with the built in block for the fuse holders to mount on. top notch work. any videos? I tried to make all the mounting points unseen. Kind of like the pieces were floating. It's hard to tell but the amp rack was done like that also.No videos. My buddy put the truck in storage for the winter shortly after we completed it. I only did a rough tune on it for about an hour, haven't even heard it since.
February 23, 201015 yr very nice install I really like the doors and headunit They do look damn near factory
February 23, 201015 yr thats really nice. i really like the door pods that you built. is that a single cab or a extended cab?
February 23, 201015 yr Author very nice install I really like the doors and headunit They do look damn near factoryThe head unit was a challenge. I was surprised when my buddy said just start cutting until it fits right. His truck is super clean w/low miles and was 100% original before we started.thats really nice. i really like the door pods that you built. is that a single cab or a extended cab?It's a standard cab so it was a very tight fit. If it was an extended cab I would have done a ported Fi set up. The 4 10"s put it down pretty dam good though.
February 23, 201015 yr Great work man. That install is hella clean. After I saw you use the plasti-dip I went out and got some today. My local Home Depot only had the spray can in-stock but for only $5 I couldn't resist. If the weather permits, I'll be trying it out tomorrow.
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