Project SuperCrew

Here is a picture of the AV system currently installed. It consists of a Panasonic CQ-DVR909U head unit that plays DVDs, CDs, and VCDs. It has 5.1 surround sound and a built in motorized center channel speaker (very cool!). The monitor is a 5.8" Panasonic and is mounted to a thin metal plate that is attached to the inside of the CD pocket above the HU (not motorized). Coming soon....TV Tuner and new headrest monitors for the rear seat.

Other Interior Mods

We recently installed a NU-Image flame gauge overlay and an AC panel overlay. The quality of the Nu-Image products is excellent! Both the gauge overlay and the AC panel overlay fit perfectly and look great. The lettering on both is blue and the gauge panel flames light up at night for a really cool effect.

Tonneau Cover Headliner

Here's a picture of our home-made tonneau cover headliner. Why pay a hundred bucks for one when you can make it yourself? We bought two cans of 3M Spray Adhesive and a piece of black indoor/outdoor carpet from our local home improvement store for less than $40. The install was pretty easy, but another set of hands comes in handy! We used a wallpaper roller to press the carpet around the curves and a small blade razor knife to trim the edges. The install took about two hours, but was well worth it. It looks great and we saved a few bucks!

New Sub Enclosure

We've recently decided to replace our subwoofer setup in the SCrew. We plan to use a single 10" sub and the existing amp (Cadence Z8000). The problem with the SCrew, is that there isn't much room to work with. We don't want to put the sub under the rear seat because we want the seat to still be able to fold down. The only place left is behind the rear seat. Getting this sub to fit is going to be a slight challenge, but we're up to it!
We started by ripping out the plastics behind the rear seat, and laid down some good sound-deadening material. This should make the rear wall a little stronger and help cut down on rattles. The second thing to do was build the box. We used 1/2" MDF to make the basic box. The individual pieces were measured, cut, and laid in the truck for final tweaking. The pieces were then put together using Liquid Nails and 1 1/4" drywall screws. The box was then placed back in the truck for more tweaking. We then test fit the sub and realized that a small area of MDF would have to be removed to clear the magnet. We took a router and a roto-tool to remove some material, and then sanded it smooth. This can be seen in the pictures, on the right of the inset area, near the middle of the box. The next step was to figure airspace and install the center brace, which is actually the right side of the sub enclosure itself. The right section of the box will house the amp. The rectangle cut-out on the side of the center brace is for the speaker connection plate. The next step was to fiberglass the inside of the enclosure. This will serve two purposes in our installation; To strengthen the enclosure, since it is made of 1/2" MDF, and to ensure a completely air-tight chamber for the sub. This was our first attempt at fiberglassing anything, so it was a learning experience. We purchased our supplies from our local home improvement store and got to work. We used an all-purpose resin and hardener, and some fiberglass mat. The picture to the far right shows the difference between fiberglass mat and fiberglass cloth. The mat is on the bottom and makes a stronger piece, so this is what we chose for our box. The cloth is used for odd shapes as it can be stretched. We put on our rubber gloves and cut the mat into strips so it would be easier to work with and mixed our resin and hardener according to the directions on the container. We then laid the mat strips in place inside the enclosure and used a throw-away paint brush to soak the mat with the resin mix and worked the mat into place. All of the air-bubbles were worked out to ensure a good bond. This is the first of two layers we are going to lay down.   (To be continued....)

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