Oh my God, what the hell have I bought yet again!?
- Thread starter Lopéz
- Start date
Bit more fiddling done this weekend
First off I decided to change the droplinks as mine were a bit worse for wear, as described in my tech post:
Happy with that, I happened to look to the right and noticed something wasn't all as it should be at the base of the A post
Sigh! More grinding and welding then!
So out with a 10mm socket and off with the wing (yes, I struggled for a while before I found the 8mm bolt behind the headlight)
Quite like the "Mad Max" look.....
Here is the area exposed:
After getting jiggy with the grinder:
Actual hole is pretty small, I have to go to a wedding party tonight so will patch it after the GP tomorrow. Need to do a bit of pinhole filling on the area to the left of the hole, and then it can be painted and the wing can go back on. Then next week I'll do the other side.
First off I decided to change the droplinks as mine were a bit worse for wear, as described in my tech post:
Happy with that, I happened to look to the right and noticed something wasn't all as it should be at the base of the A post
Sigh! More grinding and welding then!
So out with a 10mm socket and off with the wing (yes, I struggled for a while before I found the 8mm bolt behind the headlight)
Quite like the "Mad Max" look.....
Here is the area exposed:
After getting jiggy with the grinder:
Actual hole is pretty small, I have to go to a wedding party tonight so will patch it after the GP tomorrow. Need to do a bit of pinhole filling on the area to the left of the hole, and then it can be painted and the wing can go back on. Then next week I'll do the other side.
Soldato
- Joined
- 13 Sep 2003
- Posts
- 8,506
- Location
- Glocestershire
I recon by the time Lopez has finished with this car we could actually fill it with water, ala Top Gear and it would just stay there.
Forgot to ever update this at the time but I did eventually get round to welding up the A post:
With the car solid again I moved my attention to the ICE. I've always liked loud music when I'm driving and really wanted to improve the standard Manta system. I had a Kenwood USB head unit already, it was the awful little speakers and total lack of bass that was getting me down.
So, I decided to make a snug fitting and relatively discreet ICE install. The metal part of the parcel shelf was creaking and groaning like mad which was getting really annoying, so it was an ideal excuse to get rid of it!
Most of you will recognise the ICE from my Volvo Lowrider
Started off by marking up and cutting a basic sub box from 18mm MDF. I used long wood screws to fix it all together and then sealed it from the inside. The box is designed to be exactly the depth of the boot (including the original shelf) and the top panel is exactly the same width as the original metal half of the shelf (albeit not as deep)
This means that in effect the new sub box will be the first half of the shelf.
Then I covered it in acoustic cloth using Dunelm's excellent heavy duty spray adhesive:
And fitted my cheap and nasty Ebay subs. "MAXIMUM BASS" apparently! At £16 for the pair I couldn't really argue:
Then I mounted my amp - another Ebay cheapskate purchase. But amps are relatively simple pieces of kit so I thought economising here would be fine. I had this setup in my old Volvo and it worked brilliantly. I know you aren't really supposed to mount amps to the sub box but killing a £35 amp isn't really the end of the world so I did it anyway:
After this I thought I'd better check the box would actually fit. Bingo! Doesn't slide an inch side to side which is exactly what I wanted, and the depth is perfect:
This is where I discovered I'd made a mistake. When I measured up I forgot to take into account the amount of space the amp takes, preventing my sub box from mounting flush against the back seats. So instead, I cut a spacer bar from MDF, carpeted it up and wedged it between the seats and the sub box. It doesn't move a millimeter because it's such a snug fit and fits the bill perfectly.
I then cut the rear parcel shelf using the old fibreboard one as a partial template. Smoothed all the edges off with an orbital sander which made a hell of a mess in the garden. I test fitted it along with the spacer bar and tried to shut the boot. SPOT ON!
Here it is in place:
Now I needed something to stop the sub box from sliding backwards. Using the old boot carpet as a template, I cut a sheet of hardboard, and fixed a small strip of wood to butt up against the sub box. The whole lot got carpeted and slotted in. The sheet of hardboard is wedged against the rear panel, so it can't move, and the strip of wood stops the sub box from sliding back. I need to make the small infill panel that goes on the left side but I was running out of carpet:
I didn't want the rear shelf to be a featureless plain sheet so I considered a few options and decided to go with 2 raised sections, just to break it up a bit. So first I marked out:
Then cut up some wooden strips with the mitre saw:
All screwed down and the edges sanded smooth. It gives the shelf a bit more rigidity and some contours:
Went with 8" JBL GTO speakers. I've always used JBL in the past and been happy with them. I'll amp these shortly but for now they will run off the head unit. The Manta has a lot of parcel shelf hence I chose such big units:
Fitted the speakers to the shelf. Even though this will be carpeted over the I thought the grilles would give the speakers some protection:
And started the carpeting. I tested what effect the carpet would have over the speakers. Almost none. If anything some of the tinnier treble is a little muted. Happy with that, I stretched the carpet tight over the raised sections and glued it down.
One of many test fits! When I was happy I screwed the shelf to the sub box with some small piano hinges:
I still need to stretch the carpet tight around that corner but the install is basically done.
Looks relatively stock which is what I was aiming for:
Same from the inside:
And subtle from the outside:
Now I need to wire up the rear speakers, finish off that boot floor panel, and then I can start thinking about how to get some sound into the front. The original design leaves a lot to be desired! Thinking of making some footwell pods but not sure at the moment.
With the car solid again I moved my attention to the ICE. I've always liked loud music when I'm driving and really wanted to improve the standard Manta system. I had a Kenwood USB head unit already, it was the awful little speakers and total lack of bass that was getting me down.
So, I decided to make a snug fitting and relatively discreet ICE install. The metal part of the parcel shelf was creaking and groaning like mad which was getting really annoying, so it was an ideal excuse to get rid of it!
Most of you will recognise the ICE from my Volvo Lowrider
Started off by marking up and cutting a basic sub box from 18mm MDF. I used long wood screws to fix it all together and then sealed it from the inside. The box is designed to be exactly the depth of the boot (including the original shelf) and the top panel is exactly the same width as the original metal half of the shelf (albeit not as deep)
This means that in effect the new sub box will be the first half of the shelf.
Then I covered it in acoustic cloth using Dunelm's excellent heavy duty spray adhesive:
And fitted my cheap and nasty Ebay subs. "MAXIMUM BASS" apparently! At £16 for the pair I couldn't really argue:
Then I mounted my amp - another Ebay cheapskate purchase. But amps are relatively simple pieces of kit so I thought economising here would be fine. I had this setup in my old Volvo and it worked brilliantly. I know you aren't really supposed to mount amps to the sub box but killing a £35 amp isn't really the end of the world so I did it anyway:
After this I thought I'd better check the box would actually fit. Bingo! Doesn't slide an inch side to side which is exactly what I wanted, and the depth is perfect:
This is where I discovered I'd made a mistake. When I measured up I forgot to take into account the amount of space the amp takes, preventing my sub box from mounting flush against the back seats. So instead, I cut a spacer bar from MDF, carpeted it up and wedged it between the seats and the sub box. It doesn't move a millimeter because it's such a snug fit and fits the bill perfectly.
I then cut the rear parcel shelf using the old fibreboard one as a partial template. Smoothed all the edges off with an orbital sander which made a hell of a mess in the garden. I test fitted it along with the spacer bar and tried to shut the boot. SPOT ON!
Here it is in place:
Now I needed something to stop the sub box from sliding backwards. Using the old boot carpet as a template, I cut a sheet of hardboard, and fixed a small strip of wood to butt up against the sub box. The whole lot got carpeted and slotted in. The sheet of hardboard is wedged against the rear panel, so it can't move, and the strip of wood stops the sub box from sliding back. I need to make the small infill panel that goes on the left side but I was running out of carpet:
I didn't want the rear shelf to be a featureless plain sheet so I considered a few options and decided to go with 2 raised sections, just to break it up a bit. So first I marked out:
Then cut up some wooden strips with the mitre saw:
All screwed down and the edges sanded smooth. It gives the shelf a bit more rigidity and some contours:
Went with 8" JBL GTO speakers. I've always used JBL in the past and been happy with them. I'll amp these shortly but for now they will run off the head unit. The Manta has a lot of parcel shelf hence I chose such big units:
Fitted the speakers to the shelf. Even though this will be carpeted over the I thought the grilles would give the speakers some protection:
And started the carpeting. I tested what effect the carpet would have over the speakers. Almost none. If anything some of the tinnier treble is a little muted. Happy with that, I stretched the carpet tight over the raised sections and glued it down.
One of many test fits! When I was happy I screwed the shelf to the sub box with some small piano hinges:
I still need to stretch the carpet tight around that corner but the install is basically done.
Looks relatively stock which is what I was aiming for:
Same from the inside:
And subtle from the outside:
Now I need to wire up the rear speakers, finish off that boot floor panel, and then I can start thinking about how to get some sound into the front. The original design leaves a lot to be desired! Thinking of making some footwell pods but not sure at the moment.
Thanks. Considering boxing in the rear speakers at some point but I'll see how it sounds first.
Standard front set up as far as I can work out is one single dashboard mounted speaker right in the middle. That's it!
Standard front set up as far as I can work out is one single dashboard mounted speaker right in the middle. That's it!
Cheers. It's just about being methodical and neat and thinking a lot first before you start measuring and cutting.
Here was my first effort - it's banged together from ply and chipboard, weighed a tonne, fixed together with nails, badly cut and measured.
Only difference this time was I used the right materials for the job and took my time.
The wood cost £15 and I had enough leftover to make a new shelf for Kate's Golf, the carpet was £18 for 3 metres I think, and used about a tenner's worth of glue. So all in all not particularly expensive, just time consuming to build.
Certainly did, two of them sat very neatly in the old storage bin space behind the seats - sound lovely and punchy.
Fitted my new OMP replica wheel. Yes, it's a FAKE Corsica 
Tell you what though, it's very nice to use. The old Irmscher wheel is peeling badly and I get little black "marbles" all over my hands every time I drive it - in the end I had to wear gloves to drive it on a cold day, it was disgusting.
Only problem is I can't reach my indicator stalk with my fingertips any more
Tell you what though, it's very nice to use. The old Irmscher wheel is peeling badly and I get little black "marbles" all over my hands every time I drive it - in the end I had to wear gloves to drive it on a cold day, it was disgusting.
Only problem is I can't reach my indicator stalk with my fingertips any more
Im wanting to get one of these, whats the quality like?
Also, whats the diameter, how deep and where from
I know theres a guy on retro-rides selling them.
Soldato
- Joined
- 4 Jan 2004
- Posts
- 20,802
- Location
- ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Nice work with the speaker box. If you want the lightest strongest box possible, then go for 1/2" or 3/4" baltic birch ply. It's very good but a little on the expensive side.
Normal ply is a little less strong, but still much much better than MDF in terms of strength and weight. Chipboard is better than MDF, but not quite as good as ply, but if the box is not huge then it won't affect the weight too much if you use chipboard.
That looks to be a sealed box from the pic, in which case it's not really a problem if it's airtight or not.
In fact, when I was using a sealed box in my car, I actually drilled a small hole in the box so it was not airtight, as the temperature of the air sealed in the box used to make the cone go in and out due to the volume of the air changing when the car got hot or cold.
I like the wheel too, can't beat a bargain!
EDIT: As for amp on the sub box, I've done it before now... I find it's not a bad idea to whip the cover off and go crazy with the hot glue gun, make sure all the components are not loose. The caps and toroidial transformers are especially prone to vibration, these look like little cans and donuts if you've not seen them before.
Normal ply is a little less strong, but still much much better than MDF in terms of strength and weight. Chipboard is better than MDF, but not quite as good as ply, but if the box is not huge then it won't affect the weight too much if you use chipboard.
That looks to be a sealed box from the pic, in which case it's not really a problem if it's airtight or not.
In fact, when I was using a sealed box in my car, I actually drilled a small hole in the box so it was not airtight, as the temperature of the air sealed in the box used to make the cone go in and out due to the volume of the air changing when the car got hot or cold.
I like the wheel too, can't beat a bargain!
EDIT: As for amp on the sub box, I've done it before now... I find it's not a bad idea to whip the cover off and go crazy with the hot glue gun, make sure all the components are not loose. The caps and toroidial transformers are especially prone to vibration, these look like little cans and donuts if you've not seen them before.
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