Jay's 2015 Mazda 6i Touring build thread

Also going on over 5 weeks since I ordered my AE subs. The website said average turnaround of about a week. I new they were kinda slow, so I figured 2-3 weeks was being pretty damn reasonable. I explained in my first correspondence (a few days after the order) that I was hoping to have them by mid to late June so I could possible have a system installed and maybe go to The Vinny. That's not going to happen now.

I could probably cancel the order, put in an order for FI IB3's, but I still wouldn't get those for AT LEAST 2 weeks after the fact.

Jay
 
Made some more progress on my driver's door today.

Started with a piece of 12x24x1.5" black King Starboard. Rough cut it to the shape of my speaker adapter template and used a pattern bit to do the initial shape, then a 1/4" spiral flush trim to complete it.











Then I used the pattern bit to trim the sides down to about 3/4" high.



Then I used a 5/8" forstner bit to recess the mounting hardware.



And mounted on the door:





Jay
 
Then I decided to pull the "door module." Which is the big plastic panel that the window motor is mounted to. Nick (Skizer) gave me a heads up on how to deal with it.



Then I applied butyl rope on both sides of the crash bar.



Made some cardboard templates for my deadener, Black Noico 80mil for the outer door skin and some other areas. Sonic Barrier MX4 will be used elsewhere.



Then I made a template for the area the midbasses mount to.



IMG_20170717_174910064_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

I need to order some more butyl, some foam, security hardware and door panel clips.

But I made some progress.

Subs still not ready.

Jay
 
Worked on my car some more after work today. Finished my passenger speaker adapter, and got my (acrylic) dash speaker adapters mostly done.









Jay
 
OK. Ever had one of those days? Today was one of them.

I started by running 12ga into my passenger door...except I forgot I had to put on my Techflex and labels first. So I did that.



Hard to see (phone camera wouldn't focus, but it's clear as a bell in person) but the label says "RF Midbass," and it is labeled every 16 inches.



Then I had to do the same thing I did on the driver's side...relocate a couple of wires so that I could Dremel out a spot for the wire to come through.

Before:



After:



And then ran the wire into the door. Went a lot quicker because I knew what to expect.

IMG_20170730_171732528_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

So, that went OK...then I moved on to my dash speakers. I made two adapters out of 1/4" acrylic yesterday. All I had to do was drill the mounting holes for the speaker and drill the holes for the screws that hold them in the dash. First one turned out fine.



Then when I tried to use it as a template to drill the holes in the second one, the second one broke. So, I made another one. It broke as well. Now I know why you use specific drill bits for acrylic. Yay.

So I don't have any more acrylic (and was kinda pissed anyway) so I switched to 1/4" ABS, since it's easier to drill. First one turned out perfect. taped it down to another piece of ABS to make the second one, and of course the template tape let go 3/4 of the way through and messed up the second adapter. I don't have any more pieces of 1/4" acrylic or ABS big enough to make another one right now.

But at least I have one good one (in 2 materials) to make another one. Or I can use 1 of each and see which holds up better. lol



At that point I took a break and came into the A/C.

Got a few things to do tomorrow, but I hope to get more wires techflexed and run either way. If I'm lucky, I can get amps hooked up and run without the processor for now so I can listen to the radio til next weekend.

Jay
 
I should probably check. I don't think it's a requirement, but I want to compete in Install at some point.
I think the wires have to be mounted down every 12 inches (or less), but I don't believe there's a requirement for labeling.
I was going to go every 12" but once I did the first labels, it seemed awfully close and overkill. 16" seemed about right.

Jay
 
So this weekend, I had a few things going on, but managed to get some time in on the car.

Everything that I need to have sound in the car is run front to back, under the carpet. Other than the RCA's, and cable for the RC Mini controller, all the speaker wires are labeled every 16 inches. Everything is covered in blue/black Techflex tightweave for abrasion resistance.

Saturday night I put the rest of the ends on my RCA's. I labeled both ends.

IMG_20170807_113407832 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170807_113424993 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

And on Monday I managed to run everything front to rear.

IMG_20170807_131854942 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170807_131827360 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170807_121736883 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170807_122116293 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170807_122123714 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170807_122140720 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170807_125552431_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170807_121520672_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr
 
A week or so ago, I sent John from AE a message via FB. I got no response, so the next day I sent him a message through the company email.
Today I got a response from him directly (not Jessica) explaining a little more in depth what the delay was and letting me know he plans to
have them ship out by Monday. I doubt I'll have them in the car before SVR, tho.

Going to try and get sound in the car this weekend.

Jay
 
Well, I had planned to work on the car Saturday night, but fell asleep as soon as I got home.

Sunday, I had to make 4 trips to Home Depot to get screws for remove the push terminals from my C8's.





This should allow me to clear the metal in the door. The terminals might have just been touching, so this should clear it for sure.
I stole the idea from someone in a Facebook group, where someone else did the same thing on their C8's. I thought he's said he used 8-32 screws.

So I went to Home Depot and got some, but they were too big. Just.
Then I went back and something else...still didn't fit.
Then I realized it was probably metric. So, I went back and got some M4-.7 1/2" screws. and they were just too short.
4th trip got me right with M4-.7 20mm long.

I also got my adapter rings for my C3CX's made from 1/4" ABS.



So, I need to wire up the fuse holder, the wire from the battery to the fuse holder and the ground wire to the distro.
Do a couple of things for the turn on, and a few little things. Hoping to have it playing Tuesday now.

Jay
 
OK. Passenger door is deadened (outer and inner skin) with Noico 80mil. Illusion C8 is installed with Fastrings. Today, I'm going to do the Driver's door, connect ground, power, turn on and install the crossovers for the C3CX's and the speakers. Hope it doesn't rain.

The other day, I soldered my 14ga Knu speaker wire onto my C3CX's, and added Deans connectors. I made an inline piece with a 50microfarad cap for tweeter protection, but after talking to Nick Adams, I think I'm just going to put the included crossovers in instead. At least for break in.

IMG_20170813_124148276_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170813_123208311 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

FastRings installed:

IMG_20170814_202204398 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

There's a set of Deans connectors in there, and heat shrunk so they don't ever come apart.

IMG_20170814_201943022 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

A casualty from working on the bike!

IMG_20170814_135401995 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

Jay
 
Well, I almost made it. Everything on the amp rack is wired. All I need to do is hook up turn on and make the wire that goes from the fuse holder to the battery...but I didn't have a 1/0 ring connector. I also need to make a plate to mount the RC-Mini, but for the time being I can just surface mount it on a flat plate at work tomorrow, hopefully.

Jay
 
I have sound! Not very good sound, but sound. lol

I set my crossovers conservatively, until I get more time to play with it. The setup of the 8to12 is a little strange.

Jay
 
Leaving for SVR tomorrow (spectating) but am going to try and spend a couple hours tuning before I leave.
Need to make the mount for my RC Mini and clean the car out, and pack still, besides the tuning. lol

Jay
 
Spent all morning making a mount for my RC Mini (which is just temporary/proof of concept) and tracking down issues that had me ready to tear my hair out.
Apparently, I test fit the passenger coax, and it fit so I bolted it in and put the grill back. Just forget to plug the wires in. Doh!

Then I had my RF Midbass connected to the midrange out of the C3CX crossover. So when I was trying to mute channels What should have been channel 6, wasn't muting, and the dash speaker on that side wasn't working.

Got it all working now. Still no sub, but my AE's are supposed to be here today (of course!) according to UPS.

I had planned to leave around 10am, and get there around 4, but looks like it's going to be more like 7-8pm. *sigh* At least it's the day before the show.
I was hoping to get some tuning done, but I basically (down and dirty) set my gains and roughly set my TA.

Good thing I'm not competing. lol

Jay
 
So, a little update...2 hours after I left I got an email that my subs arrived. Of course. But hey, they're here now, and I have tomorrow off.

Also, my 8to12 Aero isn't saving my T/A settings. I'd set them, close the program down and when I pulled it back up later, all of it was zeroed out. I talked to Nick Wingate about it at the show, to make sure I wasn't doing something wrong, and I mentioned I was using the MOS-BTM but I was going to try the cable (which I left at home, of course) when I got back and he was like "Just use the cable." lol

Then Nick (Apicella) got in my car to listen and turned on Listening Position, Left on my Pioneer 4100NEX...and now my stage is from pillar to pillar, center is pretty good (a little left, wanders maybe 2 or 3 inches rarely) and it doesn't rainbow much. Sounds like it has some potential. I'm going to turn it back off and actually set TA with the processor, because there are definitely some phase/TA issues because I'm only using the front outputs into the 8to12.

Nick (Wingate) also gave me some advice that I hope to implement soon.

Show was a blast.

Jay

Also, I was repping CAJ on Sunday. I might need a new T-shirt, Al. This one keep attracting food. lol
 
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