97'scort

It's been awhile! I figure I should update everyone on the progress of the car.

First of all, big huge props to Methodman0666 for the install. We spent a good two weeks working after-hours until about 1 am to get this finished (and when I say "we" I mean "him").

The whine, for those of you who remember part II of the whine, was solved by running a new power wire straight from the battery in the trunk, with a Scoche grounded power noise filter.

Without further ado, lots of pics of the install:
5 layers of fiberglass curing

This is where the amps will end up: behind the rear seats, on the floor. If you fold these seats down, anything long enough to rest on them has a considerable gap between its bottom and the floor of the trunk near the seats. Since this is basically wasted space, the amps can live there We'll make a removable cover just for extra protection too:

Sub box is just about done! The carpet you see there needs to be coated in resin, then cut around the trim ring. Inside the box needs another round of glass, but it's getting there!







I also have some shots of the suspension/differential install that happened right in the middle of the audio install:

Front struts removed, Powerflex sway bar bushings in:


New Meyle control arms and ball joints, along with the Powerflex control arm bushings! Those tie rod ends and end links are new, but I did them last fall. Amazing what one winter does to your stuff, huh?


Rear shock assemblies in place, with the H&R Cup Kit shocks and springs:


Ground Control RSM's strutting their stuff (I iz funny, no?):


Another rear end shot. I'm not a huge fan of those half axles laying down like that for fear of the U joints, but Frank insists they're fine:


New (for me, anyways) 3.15 LSD from a '95 M3, with only 30k miles. Redline gear oil on the bench with assorted hardware. All the flanges have been swapped here to match my axles/driveshaft. Took me a good couple hours to clean this up when I got it:


Front struts starting assembly on the bench:


Here's Garrett with one piece. This piece goes over the middle of the actual amp rack for everyday use, so the amps aren't exposed. Note the excellent scroll work and hand sanding that made the Focal logo in the middle:


A sheet of clear Lexan glued to the underside:


And finally, a shot of Candy Apple Red. LED's will be countersunk into the main body of the frame, so when the cover is placed on, the Focal logo will light up red:


I didn't have very much time to take shots during the mad scramble to finish this project. However, I have the "final" shots here! I say "final" because it's about 99% done, mostly little trim bits here and there, but still good enough for me to show! Garrett did an outstanding job on this and I can't begin to thank him enough. Here's the result:




















Audio gear installed:
- Pioneer DEH-8MP head unit with iPod adaptor
- Alpine PXA-H700 audio controller
- Focal FP 1.800 and 4.75 amps
- Focal Polyglass 27V2 sub, 130V2 front components, and 130CV1 rears
- Optima yellow top battery
- Scosche interconnects
- Connection Audison wiring

97'scort

I'm also going to add that the whole point to this system was that I wanted something amazing, yet it had to be completely functional. I needed to be able to get groceries, my snowboard, whatever into this car. I still needed my spare tire.

Guess what? It's all there. The floor in the trunk is laid over the factory trunk mat, and can be removed easily (if you know the right order ). Spare tire is fully accessible. In total, I lost about 3 cubic feet of trunk space. Amazing huh?

The Wizard

iTrader: (2)

Very nice and neat job.

MTT

iTrader: (17)

Very Nice work guys.

black magic

Nice work! Looks very pro.

methodman0666

i would hope so it was done at my shop lol pics look great !