2003 Durango SLT / Project HiJackZX1 CFSC / 56K= D@mn this $h!+ is gonna load slow! - Page 32

HiJackZX1 · 08-29-2009, 10:34 PM

Your comment has me really nervous now. I'll have to step up my game dramatically!!!!!!!!!! LOL. One advantage of the 98-00 is that the SP 360 body kit will fit right out of the box. I have to mod mine to get it to fit.

CabeSipes · 08-29-2009, 10:40 PM

The interior doesnt matter since I will be stripping it to the frame and rebuilding it. I think I will motorize 2 10" lcd off the top of the dash!..........Just kidding!

HiJackZX1 · 08-30-2009, 03:42 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by CabeSipes

The interior doesnt matter since I will be stripping it to the frame and rebuilding it. I think I will motorize 2 10" lcd off the top of the dash!..........Just kidding!

LOL, thats ok..... your the one set on those motorized screens. 10 inch would be way to big. Where my screens fit is the deepest area of the dash, after that you have to start moving A/C ducts around. Plus the whole car is already lazy enough with all its features, if they can flip a screen up for one second then guess whose walking, lol.

So if you do go with it, your not staying OEM? I mean I thought the whole reason for it was to inspire others to do it. If you go too insane, people will obviously say d@mn thats hot, but in the back of their mind they will say, but I cant do that. I don't know if your replacing the seats also, but the seats in the 99 are that 60/40 configuration. So if you decide to have a center console you would have to change it out. I have seen lots of Durangos that swap them out for racing style high back seats. See your lucky, you can build your stuff, me, I have to buy everything. Take my center console for example, I have been trying to build one for god knows how long, and in the end I ended up having to buy one that just so happened to match my interior perfectly. Like the dash screen idea was killing me, but you managed to give me a concept to go by. Now I have to figure out how to pull it out my head and have someone build them (Nexson). Thankfully Nexson seems to know what I am trying to say, he did my dash bezel for me.

So maybe we wont be competitors, because we are going kind of separate routes. I'm desperate to stay as conservative and OEM as possible, and your ripping everything out and starting over. I think our only competition will be features. I am bent on having everything in this truck, I will admit though, I am starting to get pooped out, and I am anxious to just finish, but at the same time I do not want to rush, because that leads to imperfections, which plagued my first 3 install attempts.

CabeSipes · 08-30-2009, 09:09 AM

The SEMA build isnt going to look OEM at all. Its going to be a monster! Not to make a mockery of the work anybody has done but to make everything look OEM and clean is pretty easy and not very fun to build. I want to build a showcase that goes completely overboard so when people say "look at all this stuff in here, so I guess me wanting internet in my car isnt as big a deal as I thought!". I dont think I am getting the Durango anyway, the people havent contacted me about it and I was wanting to get it today. We'll see what happens.

HiJackZX1 · 08-30-2009, 11:33 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by CabeSipes

The SEMA build isnt going to look OEM at all. Its going to be a monster! Not to make a mockery of the work anybody has done but to make everything look OEM and clean is pretty easy and not very fun to build. I want to build a showcase that goes completely overboard so when people say "look at all this stuff in here, so I guess me wanting internet in my car isnt as big a deal as I thought!". I dont think I am getting the Durango anyway, the people havent contacted me about it and I was wanting to get it today. We'll see what happens.

My number one reason for OEM is theft prevention. When people look inside my car, they do not know anything has been really done to it. Only thing that will be noticable are the screens, which most cars have now adays. Everything else is hidden. Even the amps will be out of sight. Only the sub will be seen from the back.

How much were they selling it for? Im serious though, the 2001 - 03 is way easier to work with.

CabeSipes · 08-30-2009, 12:13 PM

I know what your saying and thats pretty much how my avalanche is. If I were to take a car to SEMA that looked stock I would be laughed out of the convention center. SEMA isnt for low key or stock looking setups. Its to show how far you can take something.

HiJackZX1 · 08-31-2009, 12:24 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by CabeSipes

I know what your saying and thats pretty much how my avalanche is. If I were to take a car to SEMA that looked stock I would be laughed out of the convention center. SEMA isnt for low key or stock looking setups. Its to show how far you can take something.

I keep forgetting that its for SEMA.

On a side note, all the wiring is done. I ran everything, I have nothing left to run. I had a small hole in the back of the console to help hold the wiring down when it ran on top of the carpet. I am not good with fiber glassing and all that stuff, so I came up with a different method. In the past I tried to use epoxy putty, which is bad once it hardens weird, its very inconsistent and sanding it is a b!+ch because it tends to dry with air bubbles no matter how much you knead it. I had great results with Bondo Glazing Putty. It dries uniform and sanding it leaves a nice smooth surface. I decided to mix the 2 methods. I used the putty to fill in most of the hole, left a small indent so the glazing putty could smooth out perfect and look seamless. It seems to have worked very well. All I have to do is sand the glazing putty even to the console and it should be set for painting. If this works I will use this method for small repairs, and only on areas that i know people will not interact with at all. That should be fine.

My first set of Alpine speakers will be in tomorrow. I can then finally wire them, and wire up my door controls so I can finally open my windows. I actually have cobwebs growing on the outside corners. I am not sure how long my center console will take. The company seems to be slow as f^&k shipping my console out. They also sent it ground (they had no shipping upgrade option) so that will take about 4 - 9 days. Once I get the door panel off, I am going to go over with some paint to cover up these weird fade spots. One small spray of the flat black should fix it. Once I have the money I am going to start also ordering the rest of my screens. I have 2 EBY701s that need to go in the third row, then two headrest Lilliputs, then a 19 inch VGA flip down from Eonon. One other thing I have to do is buy a mini DVR and another DQP. Because I want my car to record all sides of my car when its on, I need a separate DQP to show all 4 screens for the DVR. Then the current one I have will display only what I want to see, which is the sides and rear. One thing I do need to find is a programmer that can rewire one of the DQP so it will turn on into three way mode by default. I do not want to have to switch to 3 way mode every time I turn on the car. If anyone knows about circuitry and reworking stuff like this, please PM me. I will gladly pay for some one to do this for me.

HiJackZX1 · 09-01-2009, 08:31 PM

Sunday I took the PC apart. I had to clean dust and wood dust from when i tried to make my console. I also had to run new 8 gauge wire for the PC. One thing my PC never had was a case ground. I decided to add one. Its a hook that connect to the case, then I soldered it down. The other end I attached to the main seat frame. Per the advice of rdholtz, I decided to solder the wires for the ground and 12v power. It was so thick and the fact I had to put 3 wires onto one 8 gauge, I didnt feel comfortable. It felt like it would come loose. My only concern now is that I just noticed all the wires go past the sound card. I am hoping it will not cause noise.

I took pix, but I didnt take pix of it completed.

I also finished my front center console. It came out good, not perfect but good!

HiJackZX1 · 09-02-2009, 10:17 AM

In another thread I asked about a gap issue with my new speakers. Jake789 was nice enough to help me.

Quote: Originally Posted by jake789

You can build your own adapter from mdf. A gap will sound terrible.

Read this:
http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95925

Thats a great link. I am not going to go over board like him and use the clay. My idea is to use the adapter that came with the speakers, lay it on top of the MDF, then attach to the doors. My thing is, I am not good at wood work, Well I kinda am, but get nervous easily. Where do I get thick MDF like that. I have never seen it that thick before (actually never looked). I guess I'll try home depot today.

As far as the rest of the install, I had a huge dilemma. I didn't know what side of the speaker wire was + and -. I was beating myself up over it until I decided to examine the wire. Turns out its made in shapes. + is in a square casing and - is in a circle casing. Never seen that done before, but I am glad they did. I guess Alpine knows some installs require custom parts, so they actually made cut outs on the box so I can make the MDF adapter. That was pretty nice and smart of them. While I have the door panel off, I blasted the scratched and faded areas with flat black paint (my interior color), looks as good as new now. I am going to do that to all my pieces. I also finished the center console repair, and reattached it to the floor. Now when I drive I do not have to hold it so it doesn't move around. My car is slowing coming back together and I am starting to get excited about doing this again. Over the weekend I want to repair some panels that I messed up with failed equipment install. One is the bottom piece where my E-Brake and hood release sit. I tried to add a USB DVD a long time ago and it didn't work out. To buy a new piece from Dodge is about $300.00, thats crazy!!!!!!!!!! It sits at the bottom and you cant see it, so patching it up like I did my console will not stand out. I also had drilled a large hole in one of my pillars to hold a web cam, but in the end I didn't like it, so I had the hole sitting there, not looking good at all. I bought a Windows Media Remote for Sling Box and mouse control on the large rear screen. It requires a line of sight to a small IR receiver. I decided to use the hole from the web cam to place the IR receiver. I have to make it look nice and smooth, which should be too hard.

Also, I am still trying to find someone that can reprogram this DQP for me to work in 3 way mode by default. Even a relay system will be fine at this point. i will pay you for your work!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways time to work!

PS: OOPS, I thought this was my worklog, lol.... sorry for the endless bable.

HiJackZX1 · 09-02-2009, 09:44 PM

Well today I left work early. I had to give one of my dogs a bath, he use to be indoors, but because my eldest dog can no longer be out side so I switched them. That didn't turn out well because my more dominant dog was harassing him. I decided I was going to put the old dog and him inside (they are both smaller dogs) and keep my bigger dogs outside. I also decided to permanently separate them. The small dogs would no longer see the big dogs. The eldest is about to die and the other small dog will be re-homed. He was a stray I dint want to keep.

I figured since I had so much extra time, I would work on the new speaker adapters. It was actually fairly easy with the proper measuring and what not. Thankfully Alpine made cutouts to do this. I used a fairly think piece of MDF, and when I tried to put the speaker in, the magnet was hitting the stupid window track and getting stuck to it. So I actually had to make a spacer for the spacer, lol. I used a thinner piece of MDF and layed it on top of the other. Before that though I used wood glue to make them solid. Then on top of the MDF I set the adapter from Alpine. The screws they gave to attach to the door sucked really bad. When I sold my old ones, I had wondered if I should give them the screws too. Thankfully I didn't, because I needed them bad. Two of the screws worked perfect, the last one wasn't big enough for the hole Alpine made in the adapter, so I used a washer. As for the wiring, I decided to fish them through the holes on the speaker connectors then solder them on. Here are the pix of the passenger door installed! I haven't had a chance to get to the driver side.

Thin MDF pieces:

Think MDF pieces:

Installed, thank god for the original speaker screws!

HiJackZX1 · 09-03-2009, 03:19 PM

I got the console today and I was ok with it. It didnt match the interior, their version of black is different then mine. I said no biggie, just have it recovered since it is covered with vinyl (I thought it was plastic). The anger came from when I treid to install it. It isnt 29" L and its not 9" W. Only thing right was height. The box it came in is 29" L and 9" W though!!!!!!!!!! To bad it isnt the f&*king box I am using! The console does look good, so I have rethought my stradegy. I am going to build a box to for the PC, then shorten the new console and place it ontop of the new new PC case. Wrap them both with vinyl to look like one piece. Its more work, but at least the console is mainly done.

HiJackZX1 · 09-04-2009, 12:40 AM

I decided to work on the new console. When I took apart the new console, they did this cool thing with plastic to make the curves on the console. I've decided to follow the same technique to finish mine. In saying that I created the box for the PC. I decided to build the side first, then the top. In the past consoles, when I did build them, I started with the top. This always led to issues. I did the sides and they came out perfect. I then used thick wood to support the two pieces. Then I put the floor ontop and screwed down. I then took a jigsaw and cut the new console in half. Tomorrow I am going to connect the two together and make them permanent pieces. I am then going to use hard foam to make the obvious box underneth more curvy and match the top. I did not pull the vinyl off because I want the upholster to see how it was done by the manufatuer, so he can imatate it perfectly. I am still mad that the company did not give the right measurements. I do feel good that I get to make this my own though.

Here is the bottom PC cover.

This is the bottom with the structrual supports.

Here is the bottom and top set together. Its hard to get a vision because it doesnt look right. Hopefully you can get some idea.

In the next few days it will come together.

vincenttor · 09-05-2009, 04:52 AM

looking good
pretty big

wish i got that space to design in my car
always nice to watch pics

HiJackZX1 · 09-05-2009, 09:07 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by vincenttor

looking good
pretty big

wish i got that space to design in my car
always nice to watch pics

It is fairly big. Its actually taller now then when it originally came. Reason was because I am very anal about certain things and I hated the fact that the console was lower then the door armrest. The front seats match with the center console and armrest, so I wanted the same thing in the back. I worked on the console yesterday and the back came out perfect. I went to PEARL (an arts and craft store) and bought a similar type of plastic that the manufatuer used on the original console. I then matched them up, cut where needed and then stapled. Here is the result.

It actually looks really good. Of course the original vinyl wasnt long enough but it helps paint a picture. The front though was a another issue. I couldnt use the same technique at all!!!!!!!! The front has to be able to support 2 fan grills and still look normal. Plastic will not bend like I want it to so I will have to make it with foam. Then maybe use a resin to harden it once I get the shape I like. I think this will be the best way. Issue is coming up with the shape to compliment both the top and bottom half, and make them look like as one. I guess that will be my project for today.

Fireman · 09-06-2009, 07:14 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by HiJackZX1

I am still trying to figure out what to do for the second row screens. I cannot mount them on the doors because of all the shock from opening and closing. I may have to either put them in the pillars, but they would have to reach alittle, or in the seats, but you all know i dont like that idea. Give me input please!!!!!!!

Honestly, I think that mounting the touch screens on the hinge side of the rear doors will cause minimal vibration from closing. You could temporarily attach something there to watch how much it moves and shocks from opening and closing. Doesn't the Iphone have an ap for a skidpad/g-meter? maybe that'd help? I dunno..just throwing some ideas out there.

User Name		Remember Me?
Password