AUDIO MASTER Part 2
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Chris Vautier's awesome 300+ Pro-Class Levin is an absolute drool-fest, and thanks to his anal approach to car audio, the whole shebang was photographed as it was executed. Check it out.
It began life as the most standard Levin in the world. By the time the CANZE Nationals rolled around it was a pure sound machine, filled with high-end Alpine gear and enough bell and whistles to see Chris wander off with a Pro 301 watts plus award tucked under his arm. Installed by Chris and Charles Porter, this definitely is one of the tricker installs seen around these parts.
The fatory battery was a bit of a joke. out it went
The water bottle and fuse box were relocated to accomodate a battery with 600 cold crankin' amps, including an etra heay duty battery mount, volt meter and capacitor charging system
Time for the fun stuff, the dash was removed not a job for the faint hearted
Acoustop sound deadening was layered on the florr and side panels to ensure nothing could escape.
The Alpine CVA1000E was custom-painted black, screen printed and fitted into the dash complete with motorised air vent.
Phoenix Gold F100 firewall grommet with 1/0 and conduit, Kimbre Kable speaker wire secured every six inches throughout the car.
The classy Alpine video screen was installed in the stealthiest way possible.
A low voltage circuit was set into the rear view mirror with new "LOW VOLTAGE" engraved in the glass the test button location is pointed out here
The kick panels begin
The finished product ready for covering.
The lily-assed factory speaker mounts were removed and poly plugs (nine litres of air space ) fitted into each door. The plot thinckens.......
The plugs were completed and fibre glassed.
Barstard thick enclosures (5mm each) were made, each featuring an angle baffle for perfect sound direction.
DeadBeat was used to sound deaden the dors, in case you hadn't noticed by the bloddy great sign. It's adhesive backed for easier fitting.
Grille moulds were custom-built from 10mm thick alloy in order to press steel mesh speaker grills.
The factory rear quater panel doesn't look like it could fit a sub. Suppose Toymota didn't count on nutters like Chris.
The quater panels were modified with grille openings cut into them, and then re-covered.
Poly plugs were made for the rear quarter panels and eventually fibre glassed.
The 10mm thick enclosure with 16 liters capacity and a whopping 16kg piece.
The Alpine SWR-245D ZR ten inchers were colour matched to the DDDrive front speakers.
The factory rear tray was stuffed, and a new one costs $700 Chris makes a kickass fancy new one with a few improvements. Here it is, immediately prior to the vinyling process.
Motorisation switch gear box and tv tuner controls are boxed underneath the drivers and passengers seats. Is there nothing this crazy bastard from Christchurch won't do?
As anyone who's built an amp rack will know, this is not the most enjoyable part of a pro-audio installation.
Chris built new side panels and bomb-bay doors.
The amp rack finished, complete with lighting, amps, and a collection of stiffening capacitors. Note the Alpine equaliser has been colourmatched for the interior. Imagine how much fun it would be reapplying the stickers.
Once the boot was finished, the lads decidded it would be worth motorising the doors using two window motors.
This is the volume-controled fan speed circuit it runs off RCA outputs from the head unit. The more power that is drawn the fater the fans turn.
Here is where the fans drw cool air onto the amps.
After ten months of blood, sweat, tears and huge amounts of time - the levin is finished and ready to compete.
NOTE: this artical was taken from the New Zealand Performance Car magazine issue #34