Went ahead and ordered my tires even though I'm not ready for them just because of the $70 Bridgestone rebate this month. $550 after rebate for the set is pretty freakin' reasonable . . .
Can no longer get the Bridgestone RE-11s I wanted, the Michelin Pilot SS tires are $300 more and the fronts only get 8" of tread actually on the pavement compared to the Bridgestones 9" for the same size. Looked at Falkens, Hankooks, Continentals, and BFGs but I either live with unidirectional tread which I don't like, poor wet performance, or cannot get the sizes I need [like the Rival S]. But, these should perform and look quite well for the outrageously expensive Sabers and if I ever get serious trying to dominate that GTV pro-touring circuit
as I've said before that will require extra wheels I don't mind tearing up and some 200 tread. Let's shoot for "driving the car again" first, shall we?
OK so, on the one hand, the following is what happens when a nearly 60 year old engineer brain won't shut the hell off while the nearly 60 year old health quirks won't cooperate to actually get any work done. But with that "it is what it is" disclaimer aside . . .
Bottom line: My power and sound tray concept for behind the rear seat.
Going from [1] battery up front to [2] deep cycle batteries in back for a number of reasons.
a) Working toward that ever elusive 50/50 weight distribution.
b) Getting 42 lbs. driver's side front weight split into [2] 24 lb weights over each rear tire.
c) This also creates a nice box void up front for my cold air intake.
d) Extra [parallel] deep cycle battery capacity for extended high wattage sound system play at shows, working in the garage etc
and
e) For when my health goes down sometimes for months to find that just the trickle drain from the ECM, sound system etc have killed yet another conventional battery requiring yet another pro-rated warranty exchange blah yadda . . .
[like AGAIN this winter when I was SUPPOSED to be finishing this build]!
Single enclosed subwoofer is attached to the tray made from 3/8" black ABS I found cheap. I will likely cover the outside with the black trunk carpet to dress it up a bit.
I still have actual bolt down connections to the driver's side [primary] battery for the 1/0 AWG wires running up to the engine bay [blind mate for at times extremely high current power and ground to/from the engine bay isn't worth the cost for something that is safe/reliable].
But, flip down the cover [that is not pictured], disconnect just those 2 wires running up front and, thanks to 2 really cool heavy duty blind mate connectors, the entire tray slides out because everything else is wired right on the tray.
Provides a nice-neat-contained medium to wire everything and for service removal if service is ever necessary [??].
Battery one 1/0 AWG parallel down and over and up to battery two.
Battery one 8 AWG power/ground to amp one.
Battery one 8 AWG power/ground to sub.
Battery two 8 AWG power/ground to amp two.
Amp signals input/output to the [2] blind mate connectors at the rear of the tray on either side of the sub enclosure.
Blind mate connectors have "6 INPUT" low current [preamp in] connections and "4 OUTPUT" high current speaker connections.
Here is the only "picture" of the "connector family" I'm using. I have the "CAD model" for the actual connectors I am using but not a JPEG or otherwise I can post here. My connectors have just 6 IN [2x3 pin array in the middle] 4 out [2 blades each side for left/right doors and rear deck speakers] but hopefully you get the idea . . . and of course there is the female mate to this not shown.
3 1/2" speakers in the dash just run off of the 45W/per channel head power. These wire to wire type connectors mount to [2] small blocks that bolt down to the sheet metal behind the rear seat with the mating blind mate connectors on the tray.
This next drawing is just a block diagram at this point with the "wiring" and "cover" layers turned off but, turned on, some things are hidden by the cover and the drawing gets WAY too busy to follow what is what anyway. Well, I can follow it but only because I did the CAD. There is also an extension from the top of the sub that the cover latches to that is not shown. I have allowed for the sub to breathe in the center of the flip up cover. Hopefully it gives [anyone that cares besides me
] the general idea. I wanted to actually make this a box and mount my 6x9s to the lid in an appropriate 6x9 hole directly under the 4x10 deck mount points but that is creating too many clearance problems with the trunk lid hinges etc. But, I am still crunching on that idea some too . . .
Batteries and related containers that screw down to the tray and connection arms . . .
. I epoxied SS1 puffy decals on 88 aluminum rims, looks better than the worn black and white originals.
