astrochex first ever build - MINI Cooper S

[chithead]

Now that's some serious dampening. Nice work!

[astrochex]

It needs much dampening love. It's a very stiff car with bad shocks.

[chad]

if you were looking for a loose, floaty car you bought the wrong thing.

[astrochex]

I bought it brand spanking new, following production and delivery. I knew what I was getting. Car audio improvement was not a phrase in my vocabulary. The bad shocks are the main culprit now. In time they will get replaced.

[chad]

how many miles did those things last? (shocks)

[astrochex]

I'm at 126K now. They easily could have died at half that. Its a graceful degredation, one of a number of not-uncommon MINI issues.

[astrochex]

Not much of an update, but an indication of what I will be doing next.

The trunk where the amps will be mounted gets hot, really hot. I'll post a trunk pic tonight. I have measured temps of 150 F on the surface of the amp mounting area. While carpet provides some attenuation, I still see local areas of 120-130F.

I have worked with heat blocking material in the engine compartment on the header shroud. I will use this on the shrouds at least above the mufflers and wherever else I think I need it.

[BigAl205]

For radiated heat, this stuff works wonders http://www.lowes.com/pd_13353-56291-...tix&facetInfo=

[astrochex]

This is what I am using, http://www.designengineering.com/cat...und-insulation .

[astrochex]

So I want to make sure my fuses are properly sized.

Based on the bcae1 system power design assistant, my plan is to use 125amp for the power wire. Then on the distribution block, 60, 30 and 10amp respectively.

The amps all have their own protection, the Helix (75amp), the PPI (30amp) and the Mac (20amp).

Will this plan work or can I make better choices?

TIA