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Thread: 2016 Challenger R/T Plus

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    Senior Member chithead's Avatar
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    2016 Challenger R/T Plus

    Hello again friends

    It's that time again, another build log from the notorious not gonna finish it - chithead. Let's start with some pictures of the car first:





    And the heart of the whole install, or beast of it all - the infamous UConnect 8.4a:



    Knew right away, that has to stay. It controls too many parts of the car, to even consider replacing. So, how do we work with it? Have read some pretty poor reviews where others have tried to grab signal, noise afterwards, etc... but what the heck. Have to hold some glimmer of hope, there has to be a way to work with it, right?

    My first thoughts were of course, which processor, what amps? Lightbulb. Already have a trio of Zapco DC amps collecting dust. Might as well put them to good use. Not really wanting to go with a bazillion watt setup right now anyways, so these should be perfect. But, there is a problem... the logos are green! And I don't mean neon, or grass, or swampwater green, nooooooo. It's sage/hunter/winter/chicken/baby poop green!



    First thing first. That has to go. Amps are black... logos are green... car is white with blacktop package... lots of black accents on white car... black amps... white logos? Yeah!



    Nooooooooo... that has to go!

    Are you not entertained?!?!


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    Senior Member chithead's Avatar
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    Re: 2016 Challenger R/T Plus

    Let's step back... and take another look. If you do, and look very closely, then this becomes visible:



    Wait, is the lettering not black?



    Oh my. That is definitely a dark grey:


    Can we draw inspiration from this? But of course:









    Oh yeah, thought I'd test out the enclosure from the WRX for the Morel Ultimo 12 - it fits

    Are you not entertained?!?!


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    Senior Member chithead's Avatar
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    Re: 2016 Challenger R/T Plus

    Ok, no focusing on speaker choice yet. Still debating on two different paths with that. For now, let's just focus on getting the signal to the amps, and utilizing those. After two weeks of research, a duh huh moment from papacueball led me to say, what the heck. Nothing to it but to do it. So with a trim tool and two fir tree clips, we pop off this under dash piece:



    After that is removed, and looking up near the OBD port to the left side of the car, beware... for right above the emergency brake pedal, the factory amplifier lurks in the shadows:









    Alright, so we have the amp location, where to grab signal from, wire colors, but now what? Still haven't located a diagram to determine which wires are what. Another super member here, pocket5s, was very helpful, but still up against a wall... until this beauty appeared upon the browser for which I view the glorious findings of the interweb:

    Are you not entertained?!?!


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    Senior Member chithead's Avatar
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    Re: 2016 Challenger R/T Plus

    A glimmer of hope has been revealed! Onward, my friends! My thought was this. Need a way to grab signal, but also go back to stock if desired. Another shout out to papacueball for the idea here. Ordered a pair of 20-pin PSU extension cables from eBay:





    This will provide plenty of pins for anything I would hope to achieve. Cut those in half in preparation for this project:



    That's right. Ballers assemble this type of complication on their kid's Thomas the Tank Engine table. Boom. The Zapco high level adapters prepped:



    Each adapter gets a bright color, and the black are for the grounds:



    Went ahead and assembled the adapters for the OEM speaker wires:



    Here is the completed harness for getting signal to the Zapcos:



    Getting ready to start cutting:



    And here is everything cut, stripped, soldered, and shrank:



    A diagram I made to make it easier to follow upon installation:

    Are you not entertained?!?!


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    Senior Member chithead's Avatar
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    Re: 2016 Challenger R/T Plus

    The way I understand it is this. Dash speakers on these cars with the Alpine six speaker setup, play from 400Hz and up. Door speakers play 400Hz and down. Rears are supposed to be a full range signal. EVERYONE that does an install in these cars grabs signal from the rear speakers for their subs. With a tone generator and my ear, I couldn't hear full range from them. Sounded like about a 80Hz roll-off. So, I went ahead and added a second Door input for the amps (Door2). This way, if there is indeed a roll off on the rear speakers, then can just swap a Symbilink cable from Rear, to Door2, and voila! Also, if I decided to sum signal of the Door and Rear to raise the crossover point from 400Hz on the woofers, can add another Symbilink cable, and let the DC amp combine the signals together.

    This explains why the Zapco adapters are labeled:

    DASH
    DOOR
    REAR
    DOOR2
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    Senior Member chithead's Avatar
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    Re: 2016 Challenger R/T Plus

    Oh, this is inspiration from my good friend Glenn

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    Senior Member chithead's Avatar
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    Re: 2016 Challenger R/T Plus

    Some random pictures. Pretty neat to have the battery here:



    Got a pretty cool idea on how to grab power and grounds:



    Checked the Zapco Symbilink cable lengths too, should be ok

    Are you not entertained?!?!


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    Noob JayinMI's Avatar
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    Re: 2016 Challenger R/T Plus

    Nice. I like the PSU extension idea.

    Jay

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    Senior Member chithead's Avatar
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    Re: 2016 Challenger R/T Plus

    Thank you! I have to admit, they were cheap, and I have to believe price reflects performance. While stripping all of the wires, one of the purple ends broke off. It wasn't a necessity, as the car only has six speakers, but it has given me an over sense of worry. Terrified that it could happen again, just plugging and unplugging the harnesses. Or even while driving, just from the road conditions. Glenn suggested adding a silicone adhesive around each wire in the connectors as a precautionary measure. Found some yesterday that will hopefully work well, just have to add that to them soon.

    Sketching out ideas for the amp rack/subwoofer enclosure securement right now. Thinking the middle section of the trunk floor just needs replaced with a custom piece. Should be the easiest method, and still provide all the security and safety one could wish for.

    The biggest debate, is whether to use the Ultimo 12 sealed, or try IB for the first time with those GZ 15's. REALLY leaning towards the IB setup. Especially if 8" woofers fit in these doors, the way I've seen them squeezed into previous year model Challengers. Fingers crossed, won't know for sure until a door panel comes off.
    Are you not entertained?!?!


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    Senior Member astrochex's Avatar
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    Re: 2016 Challenger R/T Plus

    Sherlock chithead has a nice ring to it! That is some sweet work.

    What is the connector/terminal/? that you are using to grab power and grounds?

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