redoing entire system in mini, finally

[pimpedout97x 4]

new stuff:

HU: nakamichi cd-400

boston pro60's up front

jbl gto936's in back

12" 05 xxx

probably kicker amps.

putting all the h/k stuff on ebay as a package, except the harnesses becuase its too hard to remove it without messing something up lol (cd changer, hu, h/k amp, speakers, aux input)

made the rings for the 6.5s. i traced the factory outer part of the baffle and cut that out, then cut out the middle hole for my boston pro60 mids to fit in. im gonna have to figure out how to make the tweets fit in.

the rings:

bought this panasonic cq-c7413u HU, its decent, i hooked it up and drove over a brick road going 50+, and it only skipped once or twice. but i dont like how it looks. i want something that looks factory, and has to match the amber interior lights (which the panasonic did, you could choose like a billion diff colors) but the panasonic, being all glossy and everything, just stood out too much IMO. i just bought a Nakamichi CD-400 off ebay for 225 shipped. should be here soon.

the stock system actually isnt really that bad..its pretty damn good IMO. just want something louder.

for real fill, i just ordered a set of JBL GTO936 coaxials.

[pimpedout97x 4]

was searching all over the place today under the dash, etc, on where i could mount the crossovers. only con's about these components: the crossovers are the size of footballs lol.

well i couldnt find anywhere under the dash, and they wouldnt fit behind the radio, nor the kick panels. and i wanted them hidden, but if i put them in back, that was 2 extra runs of wire i didnt have to run (tweet/mid) so i went and grabed one of my door panels, looked behind, and i notched out an area on both on the inside, they fit VERY snug, and i zip-tied in all 4 corners, and put a piece of felt on the top, just incase it hits the door, which it wont. with the zip-ties, its very tight and snug though. IMO, it came out really clean, and i like it. i also put the felt around the speaker grille becuase that sometimes rattles against the door, and its annoying. common problem with mini's.

let me know what you think.

first off, i marked where i needed to notch for the crossover to sit in the panel. white-out FTW.

then i cut away with the dremel.

felt around speaker grilles:

tomorow i run speaker wire from the amp to the crossover, RCAs/remote wires, and wire for the 6x9s, and remove the factory speakers, HU, amp, etc. then i just gotta wait for my JBL 6x9s, and my Nakamichi HU to arrive, then ill be set!

next project will be sound deading, just the front doors though. for now.

then the xxx whenever i have Robin build the box

its a slow build though, i only get to work on it after work/school.

[JimJ 11]

Going to need to seal those holes up with Lexan or something solid...going to kill any chance of midbass response with gaping holes like that in the panel. But, looks like you don't have anything else in the way, so it should be easy.

[pimpedout97x 4]

heres the deal, im gonna try it before deadening, etc, see how it is, then ill go from there. also, i dont know if youve seen the XTC foam baffles on partsexpress? well i ordered a pair of them, im gonna try them with those on as well, see how it sounds. itll prally completely kill the midbass, so what ill prally end up doing is cut off the bottom half, and only leave the top half, because the way my windows are made, water leaks thru them, not much, but water drips in when u wash, rain, etc, so alot of MINI owners do this to protect their mids. so ill prally just leave the top part of the foam on the top to protect it from water, and cut the bottom off, and ill see about the hole in the door, i hate that big ass hole! lol

but other than that, its coming along nicely IMO.

cant wait for my JBLs and HU to get here so i can put my interior back together. i have my back seats on my kitchen table LOL

[Bigpete123 1]

nice! you're gonna love the CD-400. Great bang for the buck, and mostly unnoticeable by potential thieves... most of your friends will think it's a POS because it won't have crazy japanimation-style graphics and strobe lights. But it sounds fantastic.

[pimpedout97x 4]

nice! you're gonna love the CD-400. Great bang for the buck, and mostly unnoticeable by potential thieves... most of your friends will think it's a POS because it won't have crazy japanimation-style graphics and strobe lights. But it sounds fantastic.

i agree, some already asked why i ordered it, except a couple of my friends who are into car audio and post on forums, etc. lol.

but to be honest, it does look stock and like a POS off brand, but just cuase what it looks like doesnt mean it wont perform well

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

Wow no side impact beams.

[///M5 2,833]

I thought you were going to say,

Wow, no wall.

[pimpedout97x 4]

rofl!

im uploading new pics now...

like i said, im doing this system right, its gonna sound pretty good, and its going to contain only 1 set of components, and a set of 6x9s for rear fill. no eminence, and no 50 speakers hahahah

[pimpedout97x 4]

well today i ran speaker wire from the rear (where the amps will be) to the front doors for the crossovers. what a PITA. but its clean, got both doors done, and im happy with how it came out.

removed passenger back panel to run speaker wire/RCA's

beefy little 6x9 "sub" (harmon kardon)

rca's

you can sorta see the speaker wire i ran through here (for the drivers door)

so much easier working with the seats out.

heres how i ran the wire through the little rubber tube things in the door jam. it was pretty complicated in this car, it wasnt just get the wire through the tube, and your done.....MINI decided to make it complicated.

this plugs into the door, and there was no where to get wire through. so what i did was drill a hole in this harness (where i drilled, it looks like something plugged in there, but theres no wires running to that side of the harness)

ran the wire through it

then this is the piece that is in the side of the dash (other end of the rubber tube thing)

put the wire thru that, fished it thru under the dash, under carpet, and to the back of the car.

then i got the things put back in the door

wire inside door and you cant see a thing in the door jam

[Bigpete123 1]

looking good.

[pimpedout97x 4]

got the nakamichi cd400 in. it looks badass!

compared to the panasonic i bought, and didnt like.

no flash:

flash:

stock vs nak

Edited April 26, 2007 by pimpedout97x

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

Nice find on the Nakamichi.

[Bigpete123 1]

sweet, that looks like it fits your car nicely. Same deal with my car- the orange lights and the simple face plate make it look like it rolled out of the factory that way.

[pimpedout97x 4]

ya im gonna love the nakamichi

[pimpedout97x 4]

today was a slow day...i was tired and i slept half the day, and didnt start working on this til like 630 lol...then it got dark...but i got some non hardening modeling clay, put it around the mdf ring to seal the gap, screwed it in.

i also got my 6.5" XTC waterproof foam baffle things from parts express today. i tried a mid in my room with the baffle, and w/o, and i didnt really notice a difference, but it was also off like 50w lol. but either way, i decided to cut them up, leaving just the top half, so any water that leaks through my window seal, will hit this baffle, and drip to the bottom of the door, not my speaker.

i cut the bottom outer half for the bottom, just so when i screw the mid in, it sits level with the top. thats all i got done today cuase i only worked on it for like an 2 hours, that included eating and going to walmart for the clay lol