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ram 1500 express audio build

7K views 28 replies 9 participants last post by  dwhite832003 
#1 · (Edited)
Problem... crappy factory sound system
Solution completely ripping everything out & starting from scratch.

Started out by taking out the back seats and covering the cubbies with blue painters tape. The black electrical tape is to mark out the framing of the seat brackets.


I created a template out of 3 pieces of 1/8" poster board taped together. Walgreens $3.50 per sheet


Then I traced out the template on to a sheet of 3/4 mdf (Home Depot $35 only used two 4x8 sheets total) and went to town with the jigsaw. To outline the inside of the frame I measured 1.5"s around the whole inside perimeter & knocked it out with a combination of a hole saw & jigsaw. The cup holder cutout was a bit tricky. I used home electrical wiring I had laying around to create a jig/form that I could transfer onto the mdf & it worked out great. It's the yellow stuff in the bottom right hand corner of the pic.


I test fit the frame back in the truck everything lines up OK good. I then glued, clamped and nailed the frame to another piece of mdf. Hit it with router using a flush trim bit. Took that and did the same thing on anther piece of 3/4". so now I'm 3 pieces tall.

Another quick test fit.


As you can see I just started to put on 3 more small pieces of scrap mdf to reach the bottom of the floor just behind the cupholders.


I also used a round over bit on the bottom part of the frame.



I then laid a roll of aluminum tape for heater ducts (Home Depot $5) and form wax for ease of removal of the box. I also extended the blue painters tape out a bit to prevent any accidents from occurring and to hold the frame in place while I was glassing it. I purchased all of my fiberglassing products from US Composites. Resin, cloth, matt, catalyst,form wax and resin wax.

My beautiful girlfriend lending a hand with the glassing.


After about 2 layers in the truck dried I removed & added about 2 more layers.


I then laid it on the final piece of mdf glued,clamped and nailed. Used the flush trim bit then roundover bit so there are no harsh corners anywhere. Cut out mounting holes using a circle jig. Now she was ready for spray deadener inside and out. I had to put the super MacDaddy stretch on the carpet and done. I seriously think the hardest part was wrapping it with carpet.


I used a combination of speaker wire knotted and calked on the inside. On the outside I put resin in the hole to seal of the speaker wire lead holes.
 
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#5 · (Edited)
Well the factory radio is nothing more than an expensive lcd clock now. I have sound via bluetooth of my galaxy note 3 into a rockford fosgate 3sixty.3 sound processor. Still debating on what to do as far as a head unit. Original plan was to glass in a Ipad mini but then realized wouldn't be able to pair 2 devices to the 3sixty.3 simultaneously so I would lose out on hands free bluetooth phone calls. So now I'm thinking of just doing a traditional double din radio. To be quite honest I think everything in the aftermarket radio industry Sucks as far as app integration and blah blah blah. All I really want is Google maps navigation. Is that too much to ask for?
 
#7 ·
update

box installed


cup holders still intact


tight fit


how I mounted my amp rack


amps and processor mounted up


6x9 adapters made for the zr650 mids


Where I snuck the 0 gauge through the fire wall


A layer of daynamat went down on the entire floor and back wall. Then routing all the wiring.
 
#14 ·
I know what you mean about needing to flatten. I have been looking at the 3sixty.3 myself (Did not know such a thing existed 2 days ago...I just got the truck 7 days ago). I have the Alpine myself and took some measurements today.




Quite a bit of work to get that flat.

Stellar work on the on the install in this tread. It looks great. From the photos, I cannot quite tell where you have the amp rack.

Did you chronicle your previous install?
 
#15 · (Edited)
Thank ya man. The amp rack is behind the back seat right in the middle.

Here's a link to my last build.
http://www.chargerforumz.com/showthread.php p=1486096#post1486096

If you look at the first picture in the thread the 3sixty.3 actually shows you the factory sound curve of all the channels you feed into it right before it flattens it out for you! From there it's up to you to get things sounding good eq, time alignment ect.
 
#22 ·
I appreciate the link. Good read.

I have been staring at this graph for a week trying to decide what I am looking at.



Is this what the 3sixty.3 is measuring as how the speakers respond AFTER the equalization has been removed? In other words, this is what each of the speakers are capable of?

Otherwise, I would think it would be a single curve that has net effect of all speakers playing without equalization.

Looking at the 3.5s in the dash (Blue and Orange), their capability falls of sharply below 200Hz. The front door 6x9s (Green and Yellow) fall off sharply above 200Hz. So collectively, for all practical purposes, the front appears "flat".

BTW, I got a good price on a pair of Infinity 3032s for the front dash. Post Office lost the wiring harness and Amazon had to resend. Good news is they are overnighting it.
 
#19 · (Edited)
No my truck did not come the fold out storage. From what I've researched those are removable though! Just empty storage cavities. I'm running 2 jl audio 12w6v2's sealed. I don't feel the integrity of the seats were compromised at all using the seat lift brackets. I did have to run longer bolts that I purchased from netaudio's website. Same strength rating as the OEM bolts. The seat belts function exactly the same as factory!
 
#26 ·
Heres my suggestion as far as your head unit woes (If you havnet yet figured out a unit to go with) Check out my thread:

http://www.ramforumz.com/showthread.php?t=178581

Didnt get much activity, so I didnt update it any more, but if you have questions, I have answer's.

Android powered, So your google nav is answered, the sound isnt the best, but with sound processor would solve that, it doesnt fit the best, but you obviously have the skill to fix that.

If you want, message me, and I can get you the seller I used on ebay for the unit. Im at $500 in the radio, dash kit, and wiring adapter.
 
#27 ·
Topsub if you haven't finished your amp rack yet I could elaborate! Idk why I haven't been receiving thread updates on this?
Dengland I actually used Metra speaker harnesses on the charger. So I ran 2 sets of wires into each speaker location one for signal & one for power using the Metra speaker adapter harnesses I never had to cut any factory wiring.
 
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