2012 Charger - Veronica

[pocket5s]

I was going to wait until I was much further along or even done with this build, but what the hell, I'm bored at work so here go...

I bought this charger last fall after I got my truck stolen last April. My wife quickly named it Veronica and I thought it was fitting.

The primary goal was being an SQ comp car, after my miserable first attempt with my truck in the 2012 season. It is also my daily driver and our road trip car. Those were at Erin's GTG might caught a glimpse of it before the wife took it out shopping It runs high 14's in the 1/4 and I got 27mpg coming back from Alabama. Can't complain.



Yes, it's a hemi...


This was 1 week after I bought it. I took it the local drag strip on Saturday midnight drags. The silver charger belongs to a good friend's wife. She was there to race another friend in his v6 blazer (she won).



Anyway... The build will consist of the following:

1. Factory HU
2. Pac adapter
3. Rane RPM88 for processing, with a PSU build by Todd Luliak (highly on the forums)
4. JL Audio XD amps consisting of
   
   1. 2 600/6's. Each running a side of the car
   2. 2 1000/1's. Each one going to a coil on the sub
5. JL single 13W7AE in a dual mode setup. One for SPL and another for SQ
6. JL pair of ZR800's for midbass in footwells
7. Fountek FW146 5.25" drivers for midrange
8. Vifa XT25's for tweeters

[pocket5s]

Because we all love pictures...

Tweets are a holdover from my truck, and actually never made it into the truck..



These will be going in the doors:



Delivery day for JL stuff:




The beast:




A little XD Love:

[pocket5s]

While I was trying to decide on what JL equip to order, I did a quick RTA of the factory setup.


As you can see, it drops off at about 24db per octave at 100hz 8khz. That sucks lol. This measurement was a primary driver for not using an
after amp setup, like an Audio Control piece or even JL's CleanSweep box. Teh PAC unit connects between the HU and the factory amp, converts the audio signal to RCA and lets all the canbus functions continue to the amp so none of that is affected.

[pocket5s]

One of the first things I did was think about the trunk layout, especially given this will be as much show as go.
I decided to start learning Google Sketchup and whipped up a model of the trunk.




The sub box will go in front of where the Rane is positioned. The side 'boxes' are the cavities behind the wheel wells. One will probably house a 2nd battery and not sure if the other will have anything or not. The spare tire sits under the biggest panel and I will not use that space. It is being held in reserve for something else

At one point I had some mockup HD amps and was moving them around, positioning them where I thought I wanted them. But then I changed to XD amps and didn't get back to that.

However, once I did get my amps in I started mocking up the amp rack. It's still too damn cold to work on the car itself and it doesn't fit in the garage, so I'm doing what I can in the garage without it. Here is the current layout:



The amps will actually be bolted to 1x1 steel square tube, which will be behind a thin panel, much like this plywood piece I'm using to mockup.
The amps are positioned so the wiring is all contained between them, and all the wires will go through a center section. In other words, all the wire holes will be
lined up for a symmetrical look.

In between the 600/6's will be the fuse block, which I will make from aluminum flat stock.

[pocket5s]

In front of that will be a beauty panel with an acrylic section that has the shape of the grill of the car:



The Mopar and JL logos will be laser cut out. It has the shape of the grill because, well, I took the shape off the grill:



I took a picture of that, brought it into Adobe Illustrator and traced it out in actual size. That will be sent to the acrylic guy and cut out.
The panel will be edge lit with red LED, so the logo edges whould be lit up. I'll probably put acrylic under the amps as well, but I'm still thinking about that.

And at the moment that's where I am at. This weekend is supposed to be nice, so I'll should be able to do start some fab work. Probably weld up the amp rack frame first and go from there.

[decibelle]

I wish I had an "acrylic guy," he sounds like a useful fellow...

The trunk-grille idea is wicked, Robert. I am especially looking forward to seeing how that turns out. You got some fine equipment selections there, buddy. Staying tuned!

[pocket5s]

I wish I had an "acrylic guy," he sounds like a useful fellow...

The trunk-grille idea is wicked, Robert. I am especially looking forward to seeing how that turns out. You got some fine equipment selections there, buddy. Staying tuned!

Thanks

The acrylic shop is Eaton-Quade in OKC. Jason Owens recommended them and has used them in the past for stuff. I emailed the guy (Doug) a picture, gave him dimensions and said how much? 1/4" was $65 and 1/8" was $40 or so. I had to double check that was with the cutouts and everything. Yep. Far cheaper than I was expecting and saves me hours of work making templates, routing, cussing, etc.

I plan to have the car listenable by Todd's GTG. It may not have more than a couple hours tune on it at best, and the cosmetic work won't be done, but it should be playing music.

[chithead]

Can't wait to see how this one unfolds. I'm all excited about the equipment choices, and the Charger too of course

[BHinkle]

Beautiful car and interesting looking build. What's the plan exactly for the 8's? I'm curious to hear your thought's on the Founteks as I've not had a chance to hear those mids yet. If they're anything like the FR89's you'll be sitting pretty.

[Kevin K]

Excellent. Can't wait to see and hear it.