I want a T5
Sunday 27th May 2012, 21:14
After finishing some DiY to make the main bedroom bigger, I took advantage of the good weather and got made some good progress.
First job I tackled was upgrading the earthing. The existing earth lead from the battery to the body was shockingly small. Probabaly about 10awg and the connection to the body was badly corroded so I simply cut it at the bolt. I stipped the insulation off and it was black and oxidised inside from end to end.
I replaced it with a length of 0 awg that I had aquired and found a vacant threaded hole an inch or two away from the original;, sanded back to bare clean metal and bolted it up good and tight.
While I was at it, I had a length of 4awg and ran an earth from the battery to the engine, connecting at the point where there is an earth strap to the bulkhead. For good measure, I replaced this puny little strap at the same time.
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06122.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06124.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06123.jpg
I then moved to the back of the car where the amp is going to reside and emptied the wheel well and made access to the bare metal. I found a suitable earthing point and fixed an earth post using a hefty hex bolt and nylock.
I termonated the earth with a fancy reducer ready to run to the amp/amps.
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06117.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06118.jpg
Then, I turned to running the live to the rear. I had got lucky on eBay and picked up a full 2awg kit for next to nothing and pulled all the trim along the carpet/doors and threaded it along there from one end to the other. As luck would have it, there is an unused gromet with 3 ready made wotsits to take cables through the bulkhead under the skuttle drain pipe and managed without any bother, to route the live through there and up to the 150amp fuse that I had fixed to the side of the existing fuse box and then on to the battery itself. Until I am ready, the fuse holder has just a blank in it to not allow any current through. The boot end, has a nice 4 way splitter to allow three 4awg leads from the terminal block. I made sure that the cable through the car was tucked carefully away from any sharp edges and cable tied where I could and also used some funky stick backed anchors to keep the cable tidy and stationery.
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06129.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06130.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06131.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06132.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06133.jpg
I then tidied up and started to think about the amp installation......
I have been gathering various bits and have 3 rather good DLS amps (Swedish of course!) and for now, I am going to keep it simple and use my A5 which is a 3 channel (stereo front and mono sub). When time allows, I shall be running with more power and maybe use my A3 and/or my A4.
I started by making a mounting to hang the amp on which looks pretty basic for now but it will be boxed in and carpetted so as to hide the cables etc and all that will be seen, will be the front heatsink.
I mounted the base to the Volvo trim using T nuts after using the pull up panel as the template to cut the shape. The amp itself, is held on with screw in threaded inserts and nice stainless steel hex bolts.
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06138.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06139.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06142.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06143.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06145.jpg
You can see that I have made the depth so as to be able to use the rear dicky-seats and not take up any load space.
to be continued!
First job I tackled was upgrading the earthing. The existing earth lead from the battery to the body was shockingly small. Probabaly about 10awg and the connection to the body was badly corroded so I simply cut it at the bolt. I stipped the insulation off and it was black and oxidised inside from end to end.
I replaced it with a length of 0 awg that I had aquired and found a vacant threaded hole an inch or two away from the original;, sanded back to bare clean metal and bolted it up good and tight.
While I was at it, I had a length of 4awg and ran an earth from the battery to the engine, connecting at the point where there is an earth strap to the bulkhead. For good measure, I replaced this puny little strap at the same time.
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06122.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06124.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06123.jpg
I then moved to the back of the car where the amp is going to reside and emptied the wheel well and made access to the bare metal. I found a suitable earthing point and fixed an earth post using a hefty hex bolt and nylock.
I termonated the earth with a fancy reducer ready to run to the amp/amps.
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06117.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06118.jpg
Then, I turned to running the live to the rear. I had got lucky on eBay and picked up a full 2awg kit for next to nothing and pulled all the trim along the carpet/doors and threaded it along there from one end to the other. As luck would have it, there is an unused gromet with 3 ready made wotsits to take cables through the bulkhead under the skuttle drain pipe and managed without any bother, to route the live through there and up to the 150amp fuse that I had fixed to the side of the existing fuse box and then on to the battery itself. Until I am ready, the fuse holder has just a blank in it to not allow any current through. The boot end, has a nice 4 way splitter to allow three 4awg leads from the terminal block. I made sure that the cable through the car was tucked carefully away from any sharp edges and cable tied where I could and also used some funky stick backed anchors to keep the cable tidy and stationery.
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06129.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06130.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06131.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06132.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06133.jpg
I then tidied up and started to think about the amp installation......
I have been gathering various bits and have 3 rather good DLS amps (Swedish of course!) and for now, I am going to keep it simple and use my A5 which is a 3 channel (stereo front and mono sub). When time allows, I shall be running with more power and maybe use my A3 and/or my A4.
I started by making a mounting to hang the amp on which looks pretty basic for now but it will be boxed in and carpetted so as to hide the cables etc and all that will be seen, will be the front heatsink.
I mounted the base to the Volvo trim using T nuts after using the pull up panel as the template to cut the shape. The amp itself, is held on with screw in threaded inserts and nice stainless steel hex bolts.
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06138.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06139.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06142.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06143.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k602/markbasford/DSC06145.jpg
You can see that I have made the depth so as to be able to use the rear dicky-seats and not take up any load space.
to be continued!