Complete Builds

With the door speakers installed, it’s time to move on to the trunk. The enclosure for the Hertz subwoofer will take shape in the left side trim panel of the trunk. To prevent accidental damage to the vehicle, the trim panel is removed from the car, and temporary stilts are made to keep it’s shape on the table. The entire surface of the panel is covered in 3M high quality masking tape, and a few coats of mold release wax are applied. A Sharpie line marks the outside boundaries of the area we want to capture. Fiberglass mat and resin are applied, over and over. For the subwoofer and the power it will receive, we need to build up a layer at least 3/16″ all over. Before taping the panel, we temporarily added 1.5″ to the floor of the panel and then taped over it. When the enclosure is removed, it will hover 1.5″ above the floor of the car so that the factory trunk mats can be reinstalled without modifications. When building enclosures like this, we also add a black pigment to the fiberglass resin so that if it ever needs service in the future, the enclosure will have a clean, uniform appearance. With the back half of the enclosure removed, the front is built from 3/4″ MDF and attached. The seam between the wood and fiberglass form is sealed and reinforced with our own custom mix of chemicals we call “The concoction.” The trim panel is back in the car, and the enclosure is temporarily held in place with the telescoping rod. With fiberglass molds, there is always some shrinkage. We pack filler into the small gaps between the trim panel and enclosure for a perfect fit.

The enclosure is wrapped in matching carpet and bolted in place. We machined this grille from wood, plastic, aluminum and steel. The colors and design mimic the factory tweeter locations on the front pillars of the Jetta. A thin 1/8″ ring of polished aluminum around the grille shape really makes it unique. The grille is securely attached with a set of hidden plastic snaps, and is also easily serviced by prying off the entire grille cover. The red glow comes from the new trunk lighting. The original light was replaced with a pair of very bright red LED bulbs. The power for the system comes from this Arc KS300.4 amplifier. Arc amplifiers are the choice of many professionals who compete in the sound quality arena. Next to the amp are the passive crossovers for the Hertz Mille components in the front doors. Everything is attached to a fully welded steel rack we built, which will bolt into the top of the trunk for easy service. In this picture, all of the components are prewired, leaving just a clean pig tail of wires that come out the side and quickly disappear behind the carpet on the side of the trunk.

The first step in one of our custom installations is prepping the vehicle. Areas of the car that will see a lot of traffic, like the back bumper, seats, running boards, etc. are covered in tape or plastic sheeting to protect them during the entire installation. We use these wire carts to organize the equipment going into the car, and the parts coming out during installation.

2013 Volkswagen JettaWhen taking on a specific car for the first time, it is important to analyze the audio signals from the factory radio to ensure they will be suitable for aftermarket components. Most cars use some form of built-in EQ to make up for the shortcomings of the factory speakers. When the rest of the equipment is upgraded, the EQ curve is still there and can make the new gear sound even worse. This AudioControl RTA is listening to the audio signal between the radio and factory amplifier. The response after the factory amplifier has a heavy EQ curve, but as you can see to the left, the response out of the radio is flat. This is ideal for our purposes.

2013 Volkswagen JettaNow that we have found a level audio signal, it is time to see how strong it is. Playing a 1 KHz tone through the system and listening on the wires with an oscilloscope shows how strong the signal is, in volts. It also shows clipping-when the audio begins to distort-which in this vehicle is never. On a clean signal, the maximum volume level has no distortion. At the maximum level, it also has 4v of output, comparable to a high quality aftermarket radio.

2013 Volkswagen JettaThis Jetta was built with the “Fender” audio system, Volkswagen’s premium audio system. The speakers are completely different drivers than normally found in the Jetta. In the doors are dual voice coil 6.5″ mids that are riveted in place in classic VW fashion. What is different is these speakers also have a slimy layer of butyl rubber to give them a good seal. To remove the speakers, the rivets need to be carefully drilled out and the speaker pryed from the panel. The speaker has the mounting flange near the back of the speaker, so it sticks out about an inch from the panel.

2013 Volkswagen JettaWith the factory speaker removed, we cover the metal surface behind the speaker with Black Hole tiles. These thick brownie like squares disperse the back wave of the speaker to eliminate vibrations in the outside skin of the vehicle. We have removed all of the factory rubber slime on the back of the speaker, but and will use our own butyl rubber to seal the speaker to the door panel.

2013 Volkswagen JettaTo mount the new Hertz speakers, we machine spacers out of layers of ABS plastic laminated together. The rings are covered with a layer of butyl rubber to seal them and bolted through the original four holes. Then mounting holes for the Hertz speakers are drilled and tapped into the plastic. Finally, a set of hex head machine screws hold the speaker tightly. Finally, a ring of open cell foam is adhered to the front of the speaker, so the entire front side of the cone is sealed through the factory grille opening. This way, none of the sound is wasted in the space between the speaker and the door panel. It may not seem like much sound would be lost in there, but in a A/B comparison, the loss is significantly noticeable.

Here is a quick look at our process for building a custom composite enclosure for a BMW 5-Series sedan. In this installation, we have made the most from wasted space, while still maintaining the original functionality of the car. The last part is very important to our process. What we do needs to sound good, and look good, but that is not enough. It still needs to be serviced by mechanics, and our enclosure covers the access to the car’s battery. When completed, just like the original trim, our enclosure is hinged at the bottom to allow full access to the battery and other electronics in the rear fender. The subwoofer never needs to be disconnected or removed to do it.

Let’s take a look at how we do it:

This is the passenger side of the trunk, as it came from BMW. This space is not particularly useful for storage, but will make a perfect enclosure for our Focal subwoofer.

We could have wasted a lot of time recreating this exact shape out of wood, plastics or fiberglass, but the original panel already fits perfectly. We do not always modify original car panels, but very often in an older car like this, there is no reason to put it back to stock later. First we built up the forward edge with MDF, and then coated the entire inside with several layers of fiberglass mat and resin. The original carpet on this panel is polyester based, so our fiberglass will chemically bond with it, and in a short time this piece is incredibly strong.

The way we layup the front is a bit of a trade secret. The technique is revolutionary, and yet so simple. If you want to learn it all, you will need to attend one of our boot camp classes at the store or through Mobile Solutions USA. I will give you a couple hints: 1. This is one piece 2. It comes right back off the enclosure 3. No fleece. I don’t keep a lot of secrets on how we build things, but the man who developed this technique makes his living by teaching others how to do it, and I respect his wishes not to give away the technique.

Once the fiberglass layer has cured, it is removed and trimmed with an air saw. This is probably the most dangerous part. Not the saw, it will barely cut skin, but the dust. Fiberglass dust from trimming these solid panels is like breathing in microscopic razor blades. We always wear face masks for this portion of the procedure. Next a series of 3 MDF speaker rings are laminated together and attached to the panel. First they are attached with CA glue just to keep it in place until the following layer cures. The green you see is a long strand fiberglass and body filler mix that dries extremely rigid. The top two MDF layers are enough to let the subwoofer pass all the way though, where it will sit and attach to the third. This will countersink the woofer 1.5″ inside the face of the enclosure, which will make more sense on the next step.

Alright, I didn’t get a picture of the next step. Here is what happens: We attach the two halves of the enclosure. This is done by covering the lip of the back half with a generous layer of the long strand filler. Then the two halves are clamped together until cured. Any material the oozed out the edges is sanded down and the enclosure is ready for upholstery.

Here is our enclosure installed in the car. The reason we recessed the woofer so far in was to make this grille insert. The grille is made from two MDF rings wrapped in black vinyl, with a piece of aluminum mesh sandwiched between them. By understanding the thickness of each upholstery material before we started, the rings are machined so well that the grille stays in place without fasteners. We will cover that topic in another post.

All of the raw materials used here to create this enclosure are available in our online store. Just click Shop at the top right of this page.

Building a subwoofer into an SUV can be a bigger challenge than it looks. Most of them are full of wide open space, but the real trick to a professional installation is to add the bass response the client needs while retaining as much of that storage space as possible. In this case we utilized the storage compartment underneath the driver seat. There is a deep dish compartment under each side, but the passenger side was occupied with the car’s battery. Instead of building a big block that gets into the way of rear storage, we used up this dead space.

The first step was removing the plastic dish under the seat. This opened up a much larger area, and by using only wood we were able to capture .6 cubic feet of air space. We could have gotten more with a fiberglass mold and installed a 10″ subwoofer, but that would put this install over budget and behind schedule. The enclosure was sealed air tight, sharp corners rounded over as we always do, and wrapped in matching OEM style carpet. The subwoofer of choice here was the Kenwood eXcelon shallow 8″ subwoofer.

You are probably thinking an 8″ sub won’t cut it in an SUV… not the case this time. This 8″ Kenwood really delivers with only 250 watts of power going to it. In fact, we had to back the bass down quite a bit because of all the rattles in the truck. The dome lights were doing the Harlem Shake and the sunglass holder had to be coated with a layer of sound damping to control vibrations.

In the end, we had another satisfied client who had the sound she wanted, and only gave up a little bit of dead space she didn’t know was there to begin with.

SRQ Custom Autosound is Florida’s expert in integrating iPad’s into vehicles of all kinds. This time we have taken on a Lexus ES300 and placed the new iPad Mini in the dash. We can’t give you all our secrets, but we can show you how our process happens.

Then the vehicle first came to us, it had a new Pioneer AVH-P1500DVD as the source unit. This unit is not ideal for iPad integration, but we were able to add Bluetooth functionality to it so our client would not have to purchase a new unit. Here is how the car looked when we got started:

The first steps were adding the Bluetooth, in this case an iSimple interface that translates Bluetooth audio into the AUX input on the back of the radio. Also, we needed to create the depth needed for the iPad Mini, while retaining the radio. Luckily we were able to remount the radio 1.5″ further into the dash using the factory Lexus brackets and not have to modify the A/C box behind it. Once everything was secured in place, it is time for us to fabricate the trim around the radio and what will cradle the iPad Mini.

Using MDF, we started with this base plate that frames out the radio and relocated hazard switch. The client said we could lose the hazard switch if we wanted, but at SRQ Custom Autosound it is important to us not to lose any functionality of the car whenever possible. This trim is slowly built up with precision cut layers until we have a single piece that frames the radio and cradles the iPad. The iPad Mini is held into this cradle using a dozen magnets concealed in the top of the frame. The iPad Mini can be easily removed using the finger groove on the right side. You can faintly see the circles where three more magnets are embedded that will secure the trim around the iPad Mini.

Now all that is left is the trim that will frame out the iPad Mini and help keep in locked in place. This trim is machined from a piece of 1/4″ PVC. PVC is an excellent choice for this application. It is more durable than wood, less surface imperfections than ABS plastic, and bonds easily with the glue that locks the magnets into the back side. PVC does create a very sharp edge when machined, so we use a 1/16″ radius router bit to make all the edges safe to handle. The trim is secured in place with three magnets matching the three in the trim around the radio. Grabbing this plastic frame in the corner without a magnet allows it to come out easily.

We weren’t the first group to install an iPad in a car, but I will wager we were the first to do it in a 2013 Maserati Gran Turismo C. It takes a lot of guts to tear into a car this new and valuable to try something no one has done before. It also takes a lot of faith on the part of our client, a local dentist who has trusted us to customize his rides for nearly a decade.

This installation is special for another reason: this is the first documented installation using the new iPad Mini kit from Mobile Solutions. If you have read our blog, you have seen that Mobile Solutions, and it’s president Bryan Schmitt are the premier fabrication training facility in the US. We are lucky enough to host Schmitt annually to train our technicians and others from Florida’s top shops in the latest tools and techniques. Mobile Solutions designed this universal iPad Mini kit as a time saving solution for technicians to quickly and accurately integrate the iPad into a variety of applications.

The iPad Mini kit is made from several layers of CNC machined PVC with embedded magnets. The magnets are strong enough to hold the iPad at any angle, and automatically align the cover piece when it gets close to the cradle. The thick border around the iPad can be easily machined as needed for a proper fit in any application. Many technicians are used to working with ABS plastic, but PVC machines easier and will bond with a wider range of materials easier than ABS. I encourage any technicians or do-it-yourself guys to check our Mobile Solutions if you plan to install an iPad Mini.

Now on to how we integrated this kit into the new Maserati. The first step is removing the factory dash from the vehicle. Although the radio is designed to slide right out the front of the dash in seconds, removal of the LCD screen above it was not so easy. Every piece of the dash, from the wood grain, glove box, switches, even the plastic around the steering wheel, had to be removed first before the center portion containing the LCD screen could be removed. This process was nearly two hours, and as always every piece and fastener we removed was cataloged in a plastic bin so that later everything would go back in it’s place.

With the dash removed, two important questions are left: “How to secure the iPad?” and “How to integrate the audio?” We will start with integrating the audio. The factory radio in the Maserati has no display on the front, information is shown on the instrument cluster and on the LCD above it. The important controls for the radio are also available on the steering wheel. To us, that means we can relocate the radio inside the dash and run the controls from the steering wheel. There was one important feature that was not present on the wheel, the button that switches the radio from AM/FM to Sirius. To overcome that, we soldered to the circuit board inside the factory radio and created another button on the back side of the steering wheel to accomplish this.

The factory radio also has a 3.5mm auxiliary jack in the glove box. By tracing the wires to the back of the factory radio, we were able to wire our own audio cable directly into the factory radio. We also added a high powered charger with Apple’s Lightning connector to keep the battery in the iPad fully charged.

Now for fabrication. The iPad Mini kit is almost a perfect fit for this dash right away. Using our table router, the kit is shaped little by little until it slips into the factory opening easily. The edges are sanded, the dash is taped up and the gaps are filled with body filler. A little finish sanding and this piece is ready for paint. To secure the cradle to the dash, we built mounting tabs from other pieces of PVC and bonded them to the cradle. Finally the cradle was painted with House of Kolor’s Hot Rod Black and reinstalled. I wrapped up the fabrication in a paragraph because it was really that quick for us. The fabrication was only 10% of the time spent on this installation because the kit from Mobile Solutions made it that easy.

The Buick Grand National is a unique vehicle. Only available for a short time in very limited numbers, the Grand National is easily recognizable and very valuable almost 30 years since it hit the streets. This car is a very desirable example, made in the last year of production, and in excellent condition. The vehicle was previously owned by our neighbors at S/S Motorsports, who tripled the horsepower and added many upgrades to the body and suspension to handle the power. The new owner fell in love with the car right away, with everything except the sound system.

Most Regal’s of this time came with the same audio options: a pair of 3.5″ speakers in the dash, and a pair of 4×10″ speakers in the rear. Those have to be some of the worst choices for quality sound ever. This car had the rare “Concert Sound II” option which added a set of 4″ speakers to the doors. With almost all of the audio systems we design, it is important to us and the client that the original look of the car is not lost is a sea of electronics and speakers. Obviously we have to make changes, but those changes should reflect the lines and style of the car they are in.

Our first step was removing the old equipment and seeing what room we had to work with. The radio was easy, with the factory cassette player yanked in favor of Sony’s top-of-the-line mechless headunit. This piece does not have a built in CD player, instead the operator inserts their phone or other USB device into the front of the radio. As CD’s begin to go the way of the cassette tape, these unit will continue to increase in popularity. You can also see the two gauges added by S/S Motorsports when they upgraded the engine.

To upgrade the door speakers, another set of 4″ speakers simply wouldn’t do. The largest speaker we could fit without cutting into the original plastic door panels was a 5×7″. The extra length of the speaker did pose a problem for the original Concert Sound II grilles. We carefully removed the badges and carpet wrapping, and rebuilt the grilles to fit the Focal 5×7″ speakers. Then the grilles were wrapped in the same carpet and the Concert Sound II badge was reattached. Only a true critic of this classic would be able to tell that these grilles are 3″ longer than normal. The 4×10″ speakers in the rear were completely rotten from age. Our original hope was to install a pair of 6×9″ speakers in their place, but that would have either caused us to modify the drip rail of the trunk lid or not create a tight seal on the speaker. Neither of those were acceptable options for us. Without a tight seal between the front and rear of the speaker, the bass frequencies from the back side work their way around and cancel out the bass coming from the front side. Instead, we installed another set of Focal 5×7″ speakers that, with a little help from Stinger RoadKill, sealed tightly to the car without cutting of the chassis.

For amplification, the 5-channel HDP5 from Hertz was a great choice. The tiny footprint (smaller than a sheet of paper) and huge power output of 900 watts was just what we needed. The subwoofers are also from Hertz. Then Energy line of subwoofers allowed our client to enjoy the bass the way it should be, without overpowering the system. Then enclosure is a sealed design, using multiple layers on the front baffle to give it dimension. The amplifier is flushed into the right side of the enclosure to conceal the wiring. As always, we covered the trim in matching materials, and for an extra effect, we fabricated thin rings wrapped in black vinyl that cover the mounting screws on the subwoofers.

The finishing touch was when the client told us he wished these cars were available with cup holders. We fabricated this two-tone solution that attaches solidly to the car and fits the lines and colors.