Speed3 Install Log

[TruRed]

I posted some pics of my install in another post, but I figured I would do a more detailed install log of the whole install. Sorry there are some detailed steps missing, but I never intended to do a step by step when I was taking pics. Hopefully someone can get something from the photos and whats involved.

Empty shell

RAMM Matt is place

Door skin off (one of the nice things about the Mazda 3)

Layer of Matt on inner door

Layer of ensolite (I think thats how its spelled)

Modified door skin to accommodate the 8" Dynaudio mid-bass

Ensolite on the outer door skin

Laid the wooden rings on the factory kick panels

Wrapped with stretchable t-shirt material from local fabric store

Panels drying with first coat of resin (installed 2 layers of woven matt after this step)

Test fitting Dynaudio 3" midrange in panel

Dynaudio 8" mid-bass in door

Made a mold of tire well using fleece material from local fabric store. I laid the fleece in the tire well, then laid the wooden built frame on the fleece and the round wood disc at the bottom of the tire well. I then stretched the material tight and stapled it to the wooden frame. Once all tight I began to soak the fleece with the resin.

Tada!! Once dried I removed the mold from the tire well and installed 5 more layers of fiberglass matt.

I built a rectangle top for the box and cut out a rectangle shape in the top. I then cut the woofer ring. I layed the cloth material down on my work bench. I laid the woofer ring on the fabric and shot it to the table with a nail gun. I elevated the box top above the woofer ring with dowel rods and stretched the fabric tight between the two to create the shape.

Once dried, I unfastened the parts from the table and here is what I have

Test fit of the JL12W6

Some high build primer and a lot of sanding

Here you can see how it will sit in the box. The curve portion of the box will get covered with 3/4 mdf and become the amp
rack.

Painted red and installed in the car

Here you can see how the amps sit on the amp rack. I forgot to take pics of the bit one and the 3rd JL amp that sit below these two amps.

Finished passenger kick installed

Drivers kick

Finished amp rack. Wrong color silver. It will be pulled and repainted with automotive paint to match the factory wheels.

Some night pics

Shane

 

[tomcat323]

that is beautiful! great job!

 

[TruRed]

Thanks dude. I just figured I would post so that others might get an idea of the process of a build. Hopefully others will see how easy it is to build the kicks and give it a shot themselves. I still have full use of the dead pedal on the drivers side with the speakers in the kick.

 

[dizwhoadayjohn]

that still doesn't look as easy as you put it. my route was just simpler than building my own box and stuff. i just pull everything, dynamat areas i want . then just throw in a small box for the sub. all this work by you only gets me jealous lol
Real nice work bro

 

[TruRed]

that still doesn't look as easy as you put it. my route was just simpler than building my own box and stuff. i just pull everything, dynamat areas i want . then just throw in a small box for the sub. all this work by you only gets me jealous lol
Real nice work bro

The kicks are a great beginner project for most to learn from. The kicks in our car are easy to work with. Most beginners are intimidated building kicks for the first time because with most cars you have to make an entire mold of the area. I think this scares a lot of beginners away from tying to glass. The hardest part about building the kicks was making the circles from the wood. That was the most time consuming part of building them. Just glued them on and wrapped the panels.
If I needed to use my trunk, I probably would have gone your route. Since nothing goes into my trunk, I could play around with it a little more.

 

[kvndoom]

How do you get that door skin completely off? It has been the BIGGEST pain in the ass hindering me from deadening my doors the way I want to.

And excellent work, BTW. One day I'll just drop my car off at your house, hand you a check and tell you to call me when it's done.

 

[TruRed]

How do you get that door skin completely off? It has been the BIGGEST pain in the ass hindering me from deadening my doors the way I want to.

And excellent work, BTW. One day I'll just drop my car off at your house, hand you a check and tell you to call me when it's done.

You have to remove the window to do it. Its not hard though.
Once the door panel is off, plug the window switches back onto the harness. Roll the window down until you see the silver bolts holding it onto its tracks appear in the two small holes at the bottom of the inner skin. At this point, use some blue tape and tape the window to the upper portion of the door frame so the window does not fall when unbolted.
Once taped, take a 10mm socket and remove these two bolts. Lift the window out of the door and set a side gently.
Remove the rest of bolts holding the motor to the inner skin.
Now remove the remaining bolts holding the inner skin to the frame.
The reverse (reinstalling) is not as easy, but only on the first door. The 2nd one is a cake walk. Just be sure the window is back in the track, and test it before you install the door panel back in place or put sound deadening material on the inner skin. It will take about an hour to remove both doors, but expect about double that to reinstall them since you will probably not get the first door right the first time. If you do, then congrats(fuoops) .

Shane

 

[Sport6]

Awesome, you are a brave soul gutting the whole car for that.

They sell (www.mazda3carpet.com thicker carpets that would help with sound deadening and just better feel/look. Though it would have been easier to tell you that while you did the project, just thought I'd share that.

 

[TruRed]

Awesome, you are a brave soul gutting the whole car for that.

They sell (www.mazda3carpet.com thicker carpets that would help with sound deadening and just better feel/look. Though it would have been easier to tell you that while you did the project, just thought I'd share that.

Thanks. I will check out the link. I probably need new carpet anyway. Drivers area is pretty worn.

 

[Doozy]

woah! great job.

 

[FrequentFlyer]

Since you used a 3 way set with dome midranges, it's not too hard to make kicks for these. It's not very easy to make kicks in this car if you plan on using big woofers, like 6 1/2". Trust me, I've tried. The mounting depth on those domes is not much and they don't really need an "enclosure" like a woofer does. They also don't have to be aimed directly at the listener like a standard midrange woofer does.

 

[TruRed]

Since you used a 3 way set with dome midranges, it's not too hard to make kicks for these. It's not very easy to make kicks in this car if you plan on using big woofers, like 6 1/2". Trust me, I've tried. The mounting depth on those domes is not much and they don't really need an "enclosure" like a woofer does. They also don't have to be aimed directly at the listener like a standard midrange woofer does.

How right you are. That is why I did away with my Quarts. They had a 4" mid, but they were only a 1/2" deeper than the domes, but still wanted some kind of enclosure.

 

[RedKatanax9]

Wow, very nicely done. Great info too.

 

[TruRed]

Wow, very nicely done. Great info too.

Thanks!!(dance)

 

[AWDRACER6]

My god!!! What the crap....How did you come up with all that!? I wanna damn ride! Good s*** man!

 

[uthemang31]

Thanks!!(dance)

Where in Winder are you?

 

[TruRed]

about a mile South of 316 on Hwy 53.

 

[Saskatchewan17]

Badass man. I love it. I'm not a big audio guy, but you really did this up right.

 

[J-Speed Inc.]

Looks sharp!

 

[TruRed]

Looks sharp!

Thanks!!