Mrd6's Walled Isuzu Rodeo

So i've been meaning to get this build up for awhile but lost a bunch of the pictures I took along the way because my girlfriend deleted them...

But i recovered what I could and then took more of things I could. Anyways...

Equipment List:

HU Alpine 9887
1 set - Pioneer Premier PRS Components
1 - MB Quart Q4.80
2 - DC xl 18s (m1)
1 - Sundown SAZ 3500
1 - XS d2700 under hood
1 - XS xp3000 in back
100 ft or so of Knu Kolossus Flex
1 - Mechman 220A Alt
Some Sound Deadening and Proofing

All going into my 97 isuzu rodeo as a c pillar wall

My truck (sad without the side mirror, someone thinks its cool to kick off side mirrors around here)


Box Plans

Front view of the box

200 sq inches port area
13ish cubes
Whole thing done in two layers of 3/4inch birch



it is tuned to 36 hz here and has the option to add a port length extender dropping tuning down to 32 hz for daily



This is my first wall build and by far the largest system I have dealt with. The box will be built outside my car and then slid through the tail gate and secured in place (hence all the funky cuts and angles). Then there will be a beauty panel that goes in place to seal everything off the rear of the car and make everything look purty.

My main goal for this is to be a great daily demo machine that pulls a solid hair trick but has a good balance and a front stage that can hold its own in a SQ comp. Also, this wall is being built to be completely removable by one person(besides catching the box) in about twenty minutes.

More to come shortly...

And a few equipment pictures



The components are going to be running active through the HU's crossovers. Tweeters I plan to do glassed in the a pillars and the mids glassed in door pods. They are some beastly looking 6.5s; weigh something like 6 lbs each. First door speaker I have seen that I wanted to show off




Sundown 3500 I got for $580 from DB-r which I thought was an amazing deal! Also some knu 1/0 and my DD-1

dude nice build log so far, cant wait to see it all done, looks awesome ! good luck

basshead92 wrote:dude nice build log so far, cant wait to see it all done, looks awesome ! good luck

Thanks! Me too lol its pretty close though.

A few pictures of my car when i stripped it to do sound deadening and some sound proofing.







Some nice rattly roof braces.



I don't have any of the pictures left that I took when all the sound deadening was completed but you guys know what that looks like, just imagine the same thing with silver rectangles everywhere

I also added an extra layer of 1 inch thick carpet padding under the floor carpet in hopes of keeping out some road noise. I think it helped but it could also just be the placebo affect, who knows.

The roof was also reinforced with 1/2" birch ply secured to all the panels with construction adhesive and great stuff to fill the gaps. I can stand on the roof without it sagging and popping now!

Looks good man, can't wait to see the outcome. I need more info for the birch on the roof trick because my car is long past overdue.

cnutt420 wrote:Looks good man, can't wait to see the outcome. I need more info for the birch on the roof trick because my car is long past overdue.

*long explanation here...I really wish I had the pictures from this part still.

Basically, my roof was split into 5 different segments by the stock roof braces. So i measured the roof section rectangles and cut five pieces to fit. I would have used thicker wood (3/4") but my headliner wouldn't have gone back on with it that thick, go as thick as you can. I said 1/2" but now that I think about it I think I was able to fit 5/8", every bit helps. Then I cleaned the roof and wood thoroughly and made sure there was nothing left on there that would prevent adhesion. Also make sure you double check the fit after you cut them BEFORE putting the caulk on...I checked every single piece except for one and they all fit perfectly...accept for the one I didn't check lol lost some materials with that.

For the actual glue I think I used a combination of PL Premium Construction adhesive and a sub flooring adhesive (both in a caulk gun). I figured the PL premium would add the strength and the sub floor would help to hold it together with all the vibration. The sub floor is more vibration resistant according to the container. There may be better materials out there for this but I don't know about them.

So I put up one piece at a time. I very liberally applied lines of both caulk types so that there was maybe 1/2" to 1" spacing between 1/4"+ thick lines of caulk.

I needed a second pair of hands for this part where I actually put them in place. I had one person hold the piece generally where it needs to go while another person cranked up my car jack to press the piece into and contour to the roof. Set it up and check ahead of time to make sure it can get to the right height. I used a combination of scrap wood and cement blocks to make a base for the jack and what not. Anyways, the next part is kinda tricky, you need to make sure the jack is putting enough pressure to hold it and have the glue spread out and make contact with the roof everywhere but not so much pressure that the roof pushes up out of shape.

Once it was all in place I put a space heater in the car overnight to keep it warm and then checked it the next morning. It was solid so I moved onto the next section. It took me three days to do because I only had one jack but if you had enough it could be a one day project easy.

Not sure anyone will read all that but I hope it helps!

Not shure I'd do that but interesting....

^Curios, why not? Always willing to learn.

Sick build

mrd6 wrote:^Curios, why not? Always willing to learn.

Its not a bad idea. I'm just not shure I would trust adhesive with all the pressure we push in our cars. If it works I'm willing to try it but I think second skin mud would work better. Never know unless you try tho. Ill be watching to see how it turns out....

Wow, thanks... Very detailed info. I may have to try it if it works for you

splcb7 wrote:

mrd6 wrote:^Curios, why not? Always willing to learn.

Its not a bad idea. I'm just not shure I would trust adhesive with all the pressure we push in our cars. If it works I'm willing to try it but I think second skin mud would work better. Never know unless you try tho. Ill be watching to see how it turns out....

Oh okay gotcha. Yeah that was my main question as well, if the adhesive would hold up over time or if it would all blow apart on the first bass hit lol only time will tell. Would second skin mud work on the roof? I imagine it dripping off but it might be thick enough to stay? Maybe that will be a next step if this isn't enough who knows.

Electrical Upgrades! The stock alt in this car is 60 amps peak, before the new alt I had voltage drop with a kicker 400 watt monoblock when i first got the car, it was bad.

Stock electrical with big 3 done in knu kolossus 1/0




In case you couldn't tell from that first picture, this alternator location is not fun to work with. I have visions of eventually doing a 10k watt system in this car but the alternator problem makes me question whether or not it is feasible. I cannot actually reach the alternator going in from the engine bay on top.

To do the swap I had to remove the passenger side front wheel and go in through the wheel well.

I checked with Singer, Mechman, and DC Power and none of them actually made an alt for this car but all gave me quotes for a custom one that would bolt in to the stock location. Mechman was able to give me the best price quote with the most output, 220A tested 226 at 2000rpm according to the birth sheet!

So, Mechman installed



Unfortunately the adaptor harness that came with the alt did not fit so i had to find an electrical wiring diagram for my car and splice into the adaptor and my car wiring to make a little custom adaptor deal, this worked fine and the voltage adjusting pot works beautifully. On initial start up it charges 14.7-8 and then once hot charges exactly at 14.4.

Alt in and XS 2700D replacement battery for under the hood with some copper stock as battery terminals.



The extra 1/0 in this picture is the beginning of my runs to the back of the truck

Nice build. Wire is top of the line

Emery.H wrote:Nice build. Wire is top of the line

Haha thanks man. I am studying to be an Electrical Engineer right now so I figured it really just wouldn't be right to skimp on the electrical in any way

Excessive Amperage makes any kind of alt for any car, but i see you figured it out, ya that would be a pain in the ass to have to take off the passenger side wheel just to get to the alternator.

basshead92 wrote:Excessive Amperage makes any kind of alt for any car, but i see you figured it out, ya that would be a pain in the ass to have to take off the passenger side wheel just to get to the alternator.

Oh yah forgot about those guys thanks, I'll make sure to check with them if/when I decide to go bigger and add more power.

The worst part is trying to tighten/loosen the nut that holds the wire at the positive power out. Even going throught the wheel well i have to cram my arm in to the engine bay and then go to town with a wrench. I have not been able to find a ratchet that will fit back there so it comes down to using a regular crescent wrench and there is room for 1/4 of a turn before having to pull it off and reposition. Takes over 15 minutes for that one nut haha

So I ran 1/0 from the front battery down the frame and then brought it back up through the floor here to where the amp is going to be





More 1/0 amd am awkward view of the false floor here



Unfortunately pretty much all the construction pics are gone so skip ahead and here are some much closer to being finished...

Back wall reinforced with 2x6s



Box sitting in the truck. I was so happy that it fit! When actually secured into place it will be further into the truck



And the MB Quart Q4.80 installed on the side of the wall. Still no finishing panel on the front of the wall yet. I like this amp ALOT for the price I wish they were still available. I got this new for 140 something bucks. I have no numbers for the power it puts out but it is rated 80rms per channel. It replaced the old alpine I had that was rated 100w rms and the MB Quart is cleaner and significantly louder and cleaner sounding. Plus it ha full active crossover capabilities with bandpass options and a clipping light indicator. Impressive features for the price point.



And last but not least a little teaser pic of the subs in the wall. Still no finish panel. Old Hifonics TXi1508D. This little amp was a beast for what it was and a steal when i picked it up used for 100 bucks back in 2008. Still works just as well as when I got it but its going away soon in favor of the sundown. The front of the box is covered in roll on bed liner. I really like the look of it in this car since its more of an off road truck.

Great progress! Box is huge.

wow only took a day ? jk haha. Nice job

mrd6 wrote:

splcb7 wrote:

mrd6 wrote:^Curios, why not? Always willing to learn.

Its not a bad idea. I'm just not shure I would trust adhesive with all the pressure we push in our cars. If it works I'm willing to try it but I think second skin mud would work better. Never know unless you try tho. Ill be watching to see how it turns out....

Oh okay gotcha. Yeah that was my main question as well, if the adhesive would hold up over time or if it would all blow apart on the first bass hit lol only time will tell. Would second skin mud work on the roof? I imagine it dripping off but it might be thick enough to stay? Maybe that will be a next step if this isn't enough who knows.

Second skins mud will dry hard and won't fall off once its on its made for roofs I'm not shure I'm calling it by the right name but its made by second skin. However I was thinking and so the wood dosnt fall on your head mabe use metal straps and thin screws and screw the wood in with the straps being screwed into the center beams you might be OK......just an idea. I'd hate to see the wood fall off during a demo and hit someone in the head and them Sue you over it. Just looking out I love the idea tho I hope it works for you so I can try it.....it might add some dbs never know....

wow only took a day ? jk haha. Nice job

haha I work fast lol no this box took a solid week of working late afternoons when I built it. Just now getting all the pics up though

Second skins mud will dry hard and won't fall off once its on its made for roofs I'm not shure I'm calling it by the right name but its made by second skin. However I was thinking and so the wood dosnt fall on your head mabe use metal straps and thin screws and screw the wood in with the straps being screwed into the center beams you might be OK......just an idea. I'd hate to see the wood fall off during a demo and hit someone in the head and them Sue you over it. Just looking out I love the idea tho I hope it works for you so I can try it.....it might add some dbs never know....

Good info about that mud stuff...is it called sludge? I feel like i have heard that before but might be a different product. The headliner is up so if the wood does come loose it will just make a crap ton of noise being smashed by the flexing metal...at least I hope thats all that happens. But the metal straps thing is still a good idea. If it seems like I am still getting too much flex there I might try that and see if hold at all together better. Good looks!

The Hifonics coming out and the Sundown goes in!

Worked into the night on this one



Sitting here after being screwed into the cover plate about to go into its spot in the false floor



you can se the cut out in the false floor where this will be mounted in



And now flipped over and put into place. Amp guts on display



Matching amp cover plate and wall front. Still no beauty panel in place though.



And finally, beauty panel in place...the money shot!

Wow, thats pretty sick... Definitely need a demo of this one!!!

Looks great dude!