Fabrication

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.

We get asked all the time, “What else do you do here?” It is often tough to give a response to this question, because there are so many other things we offer at SRQ Custom Autosound than car audio. You may already know that we offer full in house upholstery service, but there is much more. This Nissan 370z is an excellent example of some of the restyling we can perform on your vehicle. Of course we also installed a top shelf audio system in this Nissan 370z, and we will cover that as well.

Like many of our new clients, this one came to us after having a terrible experience from another store. They attempted many of the same style changes that we executed, but the quality of their workmanship was not up to par. Luckily for everyone the other store was able to strip off what they had done and refund our client, so we could start with a blank canvas. Our clients original goal was to spice up the exterior of the car with some carbon fiber accents. Originally this included the roof, emblems, and pillars behind the doors. The other store that attempted this had jagged cut marks, wrinkles and bubbles. We took our time over an eight hour day and got every detail just right.

During the other store’s attempt to wrap the roof, they tried to wrap the roof and the antenna without removing the antenna. This had a tragic result. We took the time to remove the entire top half of the car’s interior so that we could properly remove the antenna and then wrap the two pieces separately. While we had the interior apart, we also wrapped the headliner and sun visors in black suede. We found several panels on the inside of the car that could also benefit from some carbon fiber accents.

While all of this was happening, we also took the time to smoke the factory tail lights, while leaving the reverse lens clear.

For audio upgrades, we replaced the stock radio with Pioneer’s flagship radio, the AVIC-Z140BH. The factory amplifier was removed and replaced with an Arc Audio KAR series that powers the Hertz Hi-Energy components up front and the JL Audio 13TW5 subwoofer in our custom made enclosure. In all, by the time this audio system was completed, we did not have to drill a single hole into the car, and only had to modify one little piece of plastic in the car. We are able to create an amazing audio experience and still be able to return this vehicle to stock when it is time to sell it. No one else in our area can do that.

As a retailer, we are shopped daily for the best price on a particular product. We are often shopped for the best price on the installation of those products as well. I will demonstrate in this blog entry that unlike a Pioneer video headunit, all installations are not created the same. The subject of this comparison is a late model Mercedes Benz E55 AMG sedan. Our client originally had all of his equipment installed at another Sarasota retailer, and left satisfied. Why wouldn’t he? To be honest, when we got our hands on the vehicle, it sounded great.

The car has a Clarion headunit and Phoenix Gold speakers, amplifier and a pair of Rockford Fosgate 10″ subwoofers. Our store doesn’t sell any of that equipment, but it is still all good quality gear. The reason that we encountered this vehicle was because of a small problem after the installation. After getting the car back, the Airbag light was on in the dash, so the client took the car to have this fixed. The dealer was unable to clear the light, and that is when the concern came in. The dealer, who is familiar with our work and has complete trust in our ability, brought the car to us to see if we could find where the other retailer had caused this fault that would not go away.

After a quick look through the installation which seemed OK on the surface, we found numerous problems behind the scenes, and provided an estimate and redesign of the audio system. After seeing examples of our work and the testimony of the dealer, we began work on rebuilding the car. I have a soft spot for European cars and I really did not feel that the original installation lived up to the image of an AMG Mercedes. Without selling the client any new equipment, we changed everything else to make the car look better, sound better and work better.

The first problem we found right away was the amplifier installation. With the car totally assembled, no one would know what is happening behind this trunk panel, but that doesn’t make it right. The amplifier is a Phoenix Gold 1300.5 5-channel amplifier that runs the speakers in all four doors and the subwoofers. In this case, the amplifier is screwed into the block of wood you see behind it with two screws and that is all. The block of wood is not mounted to anything, the whole thing is more of a wedge fit, I cannot imagine this is how Mercedes would have done it if they wanted an amp there. You can see a pair of noise filters dangling from the amplifier as well, which were only needed because the signal cables used on this installation are the cheapest wires on the market.

Whenever we add an amplifier to a vehicle, there is a fuse inline that protects the battery from explosion in case there is an accident where the battery cable becomes pinched. The rating on that fuse is important too. The fuse needs to be big enough to allow the power needed by the amp to flow through it, but not needlessly big that it will not serve its purpose in an accident. The Phoenix Gold amplifier is 1300 watts, and can easily consume 120 amps of electricity when played hard. The fuse in this installation was only 60 amps, which creates a bottleneck limited the current flow to the amp and its potential.

Here is a view of the package tray behind the back seat of the E55. This looks pretty good on the surface, and I have to say it is some of the best fabrication work I have seen from this retailer. However, some serious corners were cut during their installation that do not make this worthy of the vehicle. The surrounding panels in the car are all gray suede from the factory, but this new package tray panel is wrapped in black speaker box carpet. The suede panels that are on either side of the tray originally tuck into this tray, but those locations were covered over and the suede panels were simply smooshed to the side. All three of the headrests for the rear seat were permanently removed to fit the box for the two Rockford subs that is suspended from the package tray.

This is the view of the enclosure from the trunk. In principle this is a great way to funnel all of the sound from the subwoofers into the car and eliminate trunk rattle, but not with these subwoofers. This is typically done with shallow woofers so that the enclosure is only 2-3″ thick, this one hangs almost 9″ from the rear shelf, and makes it very difficult for storage. Again, the wrong color carpet is used to wrap the box and raw metal is exposed above the box.

Here is the body of their box separated from the package tray. It is also separating from itself. The numerous layers of wood that are stacked where the subwoofers were mounted were not glued to each other, only nailed. There were leaks between the layers, and anyone can see how sloppy the holes cut for the woofers are. This box with the subs weighed in over 60lbs, and was hung from the package tray by a dozen wood screws. The package tray is only a 1/4″ piece of wood, and would likely not survive the weight and vibrations forever.

This is the radio installation. Like many vehicles, the factory radio is ergonomically shaped to the dash and requires a mounting kit to make an aftermarket unit fit properly. This is the dash kit made by Best Kits, the same one we would use. Some parts of this kit were cut off, then glued back on, and there are several gouges from screwdrivers on the kit. It just looks terrible.

Here is our radio installation. We took this beaten and battered dash piece and brought it back to life. We also made it an exact fit to the Clarion radio with fiberglass filler, then applying a texture and repainting.

Here is the process where we created a new package tray for the E55. This one incorporates the Mercedes star as part of the grille over the subwoofers. We used aluminum mesh to match other accents in the vehicle, the correct AMG suede and finally the center piece of the trim is a charcoal acrylic shape that keeps the car looking classy and really pops. We also reshaped the sides of the tray so that the factory pillar covers now fit as they were intended by Mercedes.

You have to look closely to see the Phoenix Gold amplifier hiding in there, but it is. Bolted securely to the structure of the vehicle, the amplifier is easily accessible, but will no longer fall back and forth in the fender.

Finally, this is the view of the completed trunk. Our new enclosure for the subs is twice the size of their box, but because we made better use of the space available, almost the entire trunk is still usable. Also, the enclosure we built was first modeled using the best computer programs, something that allowed our enclosure to play 6 dB louder than their box. 6 dB is substantial, otherwise they would have to add six more subwoofers or 1500 watts of power to get that much more output. We were able to do it with physics and good planning.
This is not a unique example, we encounter a similar situation almost every week. Before you trust someone to put your vehicle under the knife, ask to see detailed examples of their work. We can show you this level of detail on over 100 vehicles, and no one else can. For 2011-2012, SRQ Custom Autosound was recognized as one of the top 50 car audio retailers in the nation. Owner Ryan Pepsin was also recognized as one of the top 15 installation technicians in the country.