1996 Ford Mustang GT Convertable
This car is actually my girlfriend's car. Yes guys, she is really into cars, does most of the work on her car herself and is quite god at it. This car has come a long way sense I have known her. She grew up around her dad who was always into cars, mostly restoring old classic cars and trucks. The car of course is purple, her favorite color. We are both into sound quality compititions and like my own car this one has gone through many upgrades with both the audio and the styling side of things. So take the time to scroll down the whole page and see it progress...
Click HERE to go straight to her newest audio system setup
Here is the car in its stock form. Not a bad looking car stock.
Here it is after she got her new 18" Momo Twin rims and lowered it using Eibach Pro lowering springs. With this combo the ride height is pretty low but the wheel well gap it perfect.
Above are a few pictures after a few interior mods and adding some bass. She painted some of the interior pieces to help pull the purple color into the car. She also installed a Kenwood flipout while she was at it. To help add more bass she installed two Polk/Momo 10s runing off a Zapco C2K 6.0. As always purple wire was used whenever posable. This was the start of what has turned out of one very killer sounding car that has take home its fair share of trophies and will hopefully bring home even more. Read on for more details.
Her first real fiberglassing project was a simple one but was still a great learning project and it turned out great. It was taking the factory rear speaker grills and modifing them to fit an MB Quart 5.25" grill. Again the purple color was used and she even mount a purple neon ring around the tweeters. Sounded kind of cheesy but in the end it looked really cool..
Time for the first big audio upgrade!
In 2004 we both competed for the first time at Spring Break Nationals. I competed in sound quality and she competed in SPL. After seeing what both where all about she desided SPL was not her thing, especailly not with this car. After talking with people in SQ, looking at the cars that sounded good and talking 100s of pictures we both desided to redo our systems. The pictures below are of her rebuild. There were many challanges with this car. For starters the trunk opening is very small. Then you add to that the fact that it is a convertible which takes up even more space in the trunk and now you are working with a pretty small space that is a very strange shape.
After first coming up with a design that she liked, and that we thought would all work, we wanted to make sure things were not going to move in the trunk. To make sure everything was going to be as solid as possable we actually dropped the gas tank and used lag bolts to bolt down the bottom pieces solidly in the trunk. These two pieces would become the center piece that everything in the install would be bolted to so they had to be extra strong. I think it worked out well.
Next on the list was the enclosure. To make things a little easier we actually used the two Polk/Momo prefab. enclosures she already had. We bolted them together bottom to bottom so that the end of the encludes had the curves. This would make it easier to fit it where we planned for it to go, more on that later.
As things progressed a little more you can see better how the enclusures are going to fit. After bolting the enclosures together we placed then down into the spare tire well at an angle. Then braces were made to hold the enclosures in place. Now you can see why we went through so much hassle to make sure the two bottom pieces were super strong. Those pieces had to hold the enclusure at that angle. If they were to move it would throw off all the rest of the install. Also she made templates for the side pieces and cut them out of 1/2" MDF. These will later hold power and ground blocks on one side as well as EQ and crossover on the other.
Next up was biulding the amp racks. There are two, one on each side of the enclusure. These will of course hold the amps and the Zapco Synbilinks. Orginally when we were at this stage of the build we were going to use three, one for each amp. Later, with equipment changes, we ended up only using one, letting the crossover divide things up using Zapco DIN cables. All of the amp rack was constructed out of 3/4 MDF.
Her she is working on her car with her protector, my Bulldog Chevy, never far away. He watches her like a hawk, always watching to make sure she is OK. He has even gone so far as to not let cars pass my driveway. He would just stand all big and mean looking in the middle of the road to block their way. Not to worry, I lived at the end of a very bumpy dirt rode with only one house past mine so its not like he is standing in the middle of a main road. My neighbors thought it was funny when he would do it. I would really hate to be someone if they really did try to hurt her and he is around. She can can stand up for herself but he would not let things get to far out of hand. Otherwise they are both super sweet.
OK, back the buildup. Next was making the top trim panel. This ended up cut in two in order to get it in and out of the trunk...remember, small opening. These would cover all the just the top of the amps and the enclosures. When all completed the amps would be flush for a nice clean look. They were covered in the new carbon fiber vinyl.
What was really going to make this install stand out was going to be the door panels. We planned on actually molding a piece of plexiglass to the contour of the lower part of the panel, molding it into the door, then painting the whole panel except for a small window that would show off the crossovers mounted behind it. We had seen this done on flat sufaces but never actually molding the plexi. We even talked to a local custom installer that had done it a few times on a flat suface. He gave us a few tips as far as sanding and painting it but he did not think the molded part could be done. Guys, you should know NEVER tell a female they can't do something. Anyways, I am not one for someone telling me that either so we both set off on this little adventure with great hope, a ton of questions and no one really to ask. We first started off by getting door panels for a Mustang with manual windows even though her car has power windows. On the manual window panels were the window crank would have been would now become home for a 6.5" Polk/Momo midbass driver mounted inverted. Where the factory grill once was was filled to make a new home for a set of Polk/Momo 5.25" component set. The grill was modified so the tweeter could be mounted in the center. Now for the fun part. For a mold for the plexi window we cut the actually panel out a little bigger then we wanted the window. We then used that piece as our mold. We tried many different ways to heat the plexi including the oven and a heat gun. It was actually quite fun messing around molding and bending plexi, you can do quit a bit with plexi. It took a few tries but once we got the shape right it was time it fill. She then took over on this project and saw it through to the end. She placed the molded plexi piece in the hole in the panels, taped then in flush and filled then from the back using plastic filler. Then its all about the sanding and smoothing the panel out. You dont have to worry about sanding the plexi, in fact you will probably have no choice but to sand some of it to get everything perfectly smooth. When everything is the way you want it sand the plexi with some 800 grit to get the big sanding scratches out of it and then when you clear coat it the clear will fill in th rest of the scratches and make it look like new again. Cool trick, right! OK, back to her panels. She would work on them but feel like she was not getting anywhere. She even took one to a local high end custom shop to the same installer that she had talked to before. His solution was to "throw them away and start over" and was then nice enough to hand her a piece of flat plexi with a beveled edge explaining that is the only way to make it work. Now, correct me if I am wrong, but the last time I checked the panel was not flat, close but not flat, so how would that be fixing the problem. Needless to say after much thought she was not about to do it that way and at that piont was out to prove, mainly to herself, that she could do it. Well all I have to say is that I think the panels turned out AWESOME!. She even taught herself how to paint so she could paint them the same color as the outside of her car. She also repainted all the other pieces she had purple in her car before, just now it was actually automotive two stage paint and looked way better. After getting the panels done it was on to the doors. She used mirrored purple plexi that was a very close match to the color of her car to use behind the windows on the panels. She then mounted the Polk/Momo crossovers on the purple plexi and of course used purple wiring.
Next was a quick place to stuff her IPod. It was a last minute thing but a pretty cool idea. The case is mounted behind a small panel so you can just pull the IPod out to use it, return it to the case and pop the panel over it to conceal it.
Above are pictures of the "behind the scenes" wiring. Again she did most of it herself. Its pretty tindy but after a few shows we both learned to could have make it better. Guess that will have to wait for the next upgrade. Here is a list of the equipment used in this setup:
Kenwood 911 CD/DVD Flipout
Audio Control EGL EQ
Zapco SP4-SL Crossover
Zapco C2K 6.0 amp on subs
Zapco C2K 3.0 amp on midbass drivers
Zapco C2K 2.0 amp on front stage
2 Polk Momo 10MM Subwoofers
Polk Momo MM465 midbass drivers
Polk Momo MM455 front stage
Above are some pictures of her and her car just for fun.
The above pictures were taken at Spring Break Nationals this past year.
At Spring Break Nationals people really seemed to love the looks of her car. Because of working to get the install, mainly the doors, done in time we did not have a lot of time to spend tuning the car. That hurt her in the SQ area, but we both know what the car was capable of from past events. Team Zapco took notice of her car after seeing her amps, and after talking with the some of their very helpful team members, we found out that a few live within a few miles of us and they offered to help if we ever needed it. Also Polk Audio took great interest in her car. They liked the we that her presented their products in the install, loved that fact that she conpeted in sound quality events and of course thought it was awesome that a female did her own install as well. They talked in great length to both of us about her stepping up to Polks new SR line of drivers.
After the great time we had at SBN, seeing all the great cars, talking to fellow SQ competitors, and looking forward to upgrading all the speakers in her car, she desided the trunk area was not up to par with the rest of the car. After much thought and looking at the 100's of car audio photos we had taken over the years to get ideas, we set out to totally redo the trunk. This might not be a huge deal to some but the trunk of a Mustang is one very odd shape and the opening is very small. To add to this task is the fact that its a convertible and of course she still wanted the top to work correctly. This makes the small Mustang trunk even smaller. She also wanted to upgrade a few things while we were at it. One being to up the size of the subs from 10s to 12s to help get a little bit more output, mostly in the sub-bass range. She also wanted to up the power of the front stage with the addition of another Zapco C2K 3.0 and then use the Zapco C2K 2.0 for rear fill. So now we had larger subs and one more amp to squeeze in this small space.
The plan was to build fiberglass enclosures in each side of the trunk for the subs. The Zapco C2K 6.0 and the two Zapco C2K 3.0s would be mounted down the center in a curved pattern. The Zapco C2K 2.0 would be mounted on the trunk lid with maybe some screens and/or speakers for playing video games to be added in the future. Power distubution and the video switching amp would be mounted on the back of the amp cover pieces on it own piece. This will help cover the seam as well. This sounds simple enough but that was far from the truth.
Other upgrade plans included: to upgrade her head unit to the new Alpine IVA-W200 double DIN CD/DVD touchscreen piece along with an Alpine PXA-H701 processor. With these two units she will be able to used the fiber optic feature for best sound quality and have total control and tunablity right front the main units. She also wanted to use Alpines new Full Speed connection for use with her IPod.
Below you will find a ton of pictures taken in the process of this rebuild. I hope you enjoy. We have worked hard, learned a ton and had a blast doing it. It should be finished soon!!!
SUBWOOFER ENCLOSURES
The first thing we started with was building the sub enclosures. We started by taping off the area we wanted to fiberglass. One side of the trunk had the gas filler tube running through this area so on the other side we used a cardboard tube in about the same place. This would help keep each side about the same shape and size and also would add strength to that side. After everything was taped up good it was time to fiberglass. The first few layers were fiberglass cloth and later layers were fiberglass mat. After 3-4 layers it was strong enough to take out. You have to take your time here but it did eventually come out! Once both sides were out of the car we added a layer of fleece to the whole inside to make sure it was good and strong. As you can see from the picture of her standing it the enclosure these things are super strong. Next we trimmed the fronts so they were flat, and added a piece of MDF for the main part of the fronts. The curve of the MDF will be the same curve of the center section, more on that later. The inside curve was routered to allow the fleece to be stapled to it and get a flush fit. The MDF front was attached using fiberglass as well. In the mean time two speaker rings were made for the subs. Polk Audio was nice enough to send us a blank basket of thier new SR 12" subs since she had not gotten the new subs yet. This way we could make sure everything was going to fit just right. The rings were made out of 3/4 MDF with the outer edge routered out again for stapling the fleece to. The rings were then put into place using some scrap MDF laying around and hot glue. It was a little tricky getting the angles jut right and making sure there was enough clearance for the subs since we planned to mount the subs inverted or magnet out. Next step was to stretch the fleece and staple. Then we soaked the fleece in resin and reinforced it from the inside with some more mat. Now for the really fun part, LOTS OF SANDING! Also, its hard to see in these pictures but the top of the enclosures meets right up to the trim line around the top of the trunk. This is something you dont see very often. Usually you see people making trim panels to make everything line up right but we wanted as few pieces as possible. The tops of the enclosures mate up perfectly and actually start out under the trim line and then smoothly transverse to in from of it on the sides so it can meet up with the center pieces that go around the amps. This makes for a very clean look but really did give us some headaches. After everything lined up,was test fitted about 100 times, and was finish sanded, they were painted using the same base/clear as the outside of the car. She paints really good now and they both came out great.
AMP RACK
Next on the list was the amp rack. It had to be strong as it would be hold three of the four Zapco amps, each weighing in at about 12 pounds. It also needed to be removable because in order to get the sub enclosures in the trunk they needed the space of the spare tire well. The enclusures can only fit through the trunk opening sideways, then you have to lower then into the spare tire area to turn them the right way before putting them in their rightful place. Quite a pain but the outcome will be well worth it. We also wanted to get the amp rack as close to center as possible but the spare tire well is off center quite a bit. (More challenges of a Mustang trunk.) Anyways the angles of the amp rack also had to be perfect to make sure the amps line up perfectly with each other even though each one is at a different angle. We wanted to make the rack out of metal but we did not have access to a welder so we used 3/4" MDF instead. After much measuring and calculating to get everything right, the main ribs were cut for the backbone of the amp rack. The ribs were joined together using a few small pieces of 3/4" MDF. The assembly was predrilled, glued and then screwed together for added strength. Three boards were then cut for mounting the amps. These were made of 1/2" MDF and were positioned carefully as to make sure the amps would line up correctly. These were then predrilled, glued and screwed to the main ribs. The bottom board was notched out to allow access to the lower mounting bolts. For the top mounting we actually used an existing metel brace in the trunk to make it easier and stronger to mount. After everything was complete we then covered the whole assembly in resin to prevent water from damaging it, just in case. The whole amp rack including the amps was then covered in tape so that nothing happened to the amps in the process of making the center panels.
SPARE TIRE WELL MODIFICATION
Now we needed to modify the tire well a little to get things as centered as posable. We knew that we might not get it perfectly centered but we wanted to get it as close as possible. We ended up having to modify one area a little. We cut the sheet metal and bent it the way we needed. Right behind this area was the fuel lines and filter so great care was taken here not to damage any of that. We also ended up modifing the mount for the fuel filter so it would clear everything safely. We then fiberglassed over the bent sheetmetal. This area would never be seen but we still wanted to protect the metal so the inside was painted purple of course and the underside with black. The end result was the rack was less then a 1/4" off center.
AMP TRIM RING
Now onto the amp trim ring. This will trim out the amps and give us something to staple the fleece too. This started out as one big piece cut out of 3/4" MDF. It was then cut into four different pieces. We then used radio back strap to join the pieces together at the right angles to match up with the amps. The ring sits right above the terminals of the amps and is flush with the top of the amps. The outer edge is routered as well.
CENTER PANELS
This step was the one that worried me the most. Here we needed to make a piece, or pieces to fill in the space between the enclusures and the amps. We cut two pieces of MDF with the same shape as used in the front of the enclosures. These pieces were then screwed to the enclosures from the inside. This gave us the outside shape. The center of course was the amp ring. After taping everything off fleece was then stretch and stapled. I wanted to get the shape as even as I could so I had to stretch it pretty tight, so tight I had to used a concrete block to keep the center ring around the amps to stay down. Because of this and the strange shape I had to soak the fleece in stages. Thats not my first choice but it was the only option. I soaked the sides first and let it dry overnight, this way it had some of its own strengh so I could remove the bloke and then soak the front and back sides. Then after a few more layers of fiberglass mat to make sure everything was solid the whole piece was then cut straight down the middle in order to remove them. We will also notice from the pictures that that back of the pieces, where it mates with the back of the car and the back of the sub enclosures, were not fully laid out. We choise to do this in order to make sure that we got the sub enclosures perfect before making that part of the center pieces. Sense we were doing some of these parts all at the same time some things had to wait for other parts to get finish before completing the next part. Once the sub enclosures were done and fitted intot he trunk we completed the rest of the center pieces making sure everything lined up correctly and the pieces flowed together at critical areas. These piece were then sanded smooth using no body filler of any kind, just resin. This was done because we planned to cover these pieces using an aluminum coated cloth to give then a cool unique look. We had never used anything like this before. Its much heavier and less workable then standard fiberglass cloth. It was aplied carefully in sections using clean resin. The cloth ended up being more transparent, meaning you could see the standard resin surface through the cloth. This required multiple layers being needed. We sanded the surface smooth inbetween each new layer. The end resolve was a really unique look you dont see everyday and tied in perfectly with the brushed aluminum inserts of the amps. Fitting these pieces into the trunk is quit a task. They must be put in in the very center of the opening with some force. Once in the opening and down a bit they can be slid to the side and then popped down into place. They were actually biult so that once in the car they are held in place under there own tension.
RADIO TRIM PIECE
Another part of this upgrade we did not really expect to be a problem was swapping out the old two single DIN radio bezel for a newer single double DIN bezel. In the craziness of trying to get this whole project done we did not think to much about this step. She got on Ebay and bought the new bezel. In the mean time we had a ton of other things to get done so not much thought was wasted on this until the new bezel arrived. Once we both looked at it and thought about how her dash was laied out we both knew this was not as easy as just swapping out the two pieces. After a little research we found out that even though her basic model and style of Mustang did come with both a two single DIN setup and a single double DIN the dashboards are actually different depending on these options. The mounting pionts and supports in this around of the dash is quit different between the two options. Making things more challanging was the fact the with the double DIN option the factory radio was mounted ISO style, meaning it was mounted to the dash itself, not the bezel. Because of this the double DIN hole in the bezel was a bit smaller then a standard aftermarket double DIN whole. In order to fit the double din in her dash we had to cut off he center mounting tabs that the old bezel screwed to. We also had to trim the sides a bit to allow room for the new bezel. It was quit obvious that ISO mounting the new radio was going to be way more of an undertaking sense there was absolutely nothing to mount it too without fabricating a complex bracket. We opted to mount the radio to the bezel instead. To do this we first cut out a ring to mount the DIN can to. This was made out of 1/4" ABS and was about 1/2" wide. Then we trimmed the bottem of the DIN hole on the new bezel. Then, using Fibertech plastic filler, we attatched the ABS ring to the back side of the new bezel with the smooth side out. The trim ring of the new radio covers the seams so there was no real need to fill and sand them. The new bezel was then primed, sanded and painted the same base/clear purple as the outside of the car.
AMP REPAINTING
WIRING
