Big Blue's Transformation

[BigBrother-84]

Easy peasy - now that I'm in that far.

https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/file/n152975/Dash_Well_%26_Truly_APART.jpg

Boy! The only thing remaining is the dash itself!

[Gary Lewis]

Easy peasy - now that I'm in that far.

https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/file/n152975/Dash_Well_%26_Truly_APART.jpg

Boy! The only thing remaining is the dash itself!

Well, there's a whole lot of wire in that dash. LOTS! I'd sure hate to have to take it out.

[Gary Lewis]

Well, there's a whole lot of wire in that dash. LOTS! I'd sure hate to have to take it out.

Wow! Over two weeks and no update. I guess it is time. (Been busy with doctor's appointments, including another today. But things are looking up.)

Haven't really done anything other than think and check. I'd gotten the assortment of copper washers and finally tried one of those on the Innovate AFR meter's O2 sensor. Instead of clocking at the 6:00 position where it did with the Innovate washer it stopped at the 9:00 position, or 1/4 turn closer to the needed 12:00 position. So I called Innovate and the guy there understood the problem and said there's only two solutions - take the bung down a bit or take some off the washer.

But since the washer is a lot softer than the bung, I have plenty of them, and I can work on it on the bench I decided to take some off the washer. So I measured the two I have:

• Innovate washer: .060" thick

• Amazon washer: .049" thick

Then I did a bit of calculating on the thread pitch. It is an M14 x 1.25, and in my calc's 1.25mm = .049". So that means it is .049"/turn or .012" per 1/4 turn. And the difference in the washers is .060 - .049 = .011". Almost exactly 1/4 turn, which explains the fact that the Amazon washer lets it screw in 1/4 turn more.

So I need to take ~.012" off of an Amazon washer, meaning get it down to ~.037", which should let the adapter clock to 12:00. I'm hoping to do that by working it by hand on a file. We shall see.

[85lebaront2]

Well, there's a whole lot of wire in that dash. LOTS! I'd sure hate to have to take it out.

You don't want to take it out, even with your updates, the main harness is still a royal PITA as it was originally a continuous run from headlight to headlight. This was one of the incentives to rewire Darth.

 

[Gary Lewis]

You don't want to take it out, even with your updates, the main harness is still a royal PITA as it was originally a continuous run from headlight to headlight. This was one of the incentives to rewire Darth.

No, Bill, I certainly do NOT want to take it out.

And now for an update on a different and new subject, a sub-woofer. In a discussion in another thread Scott/krammtocs said he has a Kicker 11HS8 sub and has been really happy with it, saying "The sub really helps round the two door speakers out to my ears."

And my two Rockford Fosgate RFA-64 door speakers and the Alpine SPS-1029S 4" speakers in the Highliner just don't have much bass. So I'm seriously considering a powered sub-woofer like Scott's. My reasoning is that if I'm ever going to do it now is the time as I'm soon to have the passenger-side power distribution box apart and that's where I'd need to add a fuse and run power to the sub. And I currently have the dash apart so running a control wire & RCA cables from the Sony to the sub would be easy.

Given that I did some measuring today and comparing the space below the center console to the dimensions of the 11HS8: 14 1/4" W; 3 1/4" D; & 9 3/8" D. In the right pic below of the platform for the bucket seats and console you can see that it isn't quite 14" between the seatbelts. So while I could force the unit lengthwise between the seatbelts, that's not a good idea as the end of the unit is where the cables come out and the setup switches are.

In the left pic you can see that there is about 15" between the front and rear cross pieces. Although I'd need to cut the cross piece out that supports the front of the console, that would provide plenty of length to put the unit in fore/aft. So I'll need to come up with another way to support the console, but that won't be too hard.

So it looks like the 11HS8, which is an 8" sub, will fit nicely width and length wise. But, as it turns out its big brother the 46HS10, which is a 10" sub, will also fit. It is only 1/8" deeper, and depth is the next issue.

Speaking depth, it is ~4" from the top of the carpet to the underside of the console - the way I currently have the console mounted. So either of the Kicker units would be very close, with the 8" 3/4" away and the 10" would be 5/8". How much room is needed to get the sound out? And, will it rattle the console?

I'm going to tag Scott as I'll bet he's dealt with this. But I'd love input from all of y'all.

[BigBrother-84]

Haven't really done anything other than think and check.

You didn’t lose your time, planing and thinking is a major part of a project "progress".

I'd gotten the assortment of copper washers and finally tried one of those on the Innovate AFR meter's O2 sensor. Instead of clocking at the 6:00 position where it did with the Innovate washer it stopped at the 9:00 position, or 1/4 turn closer to the needed 12:00 position.

Gary, help me remembering.

The goal of using washers is to get the good depth or the correct clocking?

[Gary Lewis]

Haven't really done anything other than think and check.

You didn’t lose your time, planing and thinking is a major part of a project "progress".

I'd gotten the assortment of copper washers and finally tried one of those on the Innovate AFR meter's O2 sensor. Instead of clocking at the 6:00 position where it did with the Innovate washer it stopped at the 9:00 position, or 1/4 turn closer to the needed 12:00 position.

Gary, help me remembering.

The goal of using washers is to get the good depth or the correct clocking?

Yes, Jeff, planning is a major part of the way I do things. So a lot of planning should make it go more smoothly.

As for the washer, it is a copper washer and it is the actual gasket sealing the heat-sink to the bung. You can see the washer in the picture below, and you can see the dimple in the hex. The dimple lines up with the hole in the stem and that hole and dimple have to be facing upstream in the exhaust so the exhaust gasses will flow through, hit the O2 sensor, and then flow out the hole in the bottom.

But with the stock gasket/washer the hole faces to the rear, or 6:00, and with the gasket/washer I bought it faces to the side, or 9:00. So I need to take ~.012" off the washer I bought to get the thing to clock correctly.

[BigBrother-84]

But with the stock gasket/washer the hole faces to the rear, or 6:00, and with the gasket/washer I bought it faces to the side, or 9:00. So I need to take ~.012" off the washer I bought to get the thing to clock correctly.

Got it, thanks!

[Gary Lewis]

No, Bill, I certainly do NOT want to take it out.

And now for an update on a different and new subject, a sub-woofer. In a discussion in another thread Scott/krammtocs said he has a Kicker 11HS8 sub and has been really happy with it, saying "The sub really helps round the two door speakers out to my ears."

And my two Rockford Fosgate RFA-64 door speakers and the Alpine SPS-1029S 4" speakers in the Highliner just don't have much bass. So I'm seriously considering a powered sub-woofer like Scott's. My reasoning is that if I'm ever going to do it now is the time as I'm soon to have the passenger-side power distribution box apart and that's where I'd need to add a fuse and run power to the sub. And I currently have the dash apart so running a control wire & RCA cables from the Sony to the sub would be easy.

Given that I did some measuring today and comparing the space below the center console to the dimensions of the 11HS8: 14 1/4" W; 3 1/4" D; & 9 3/8" D. In the right pic below of the platform for the bucket seats and console you can see that it isn't quite 14" between the seatbelts. So while I could force the unit lengthwise between the seatbelts, that's not a good idea as the end of the unit is where the cables come out and the setup switches are.

In the left pic you can see that there is about 15" between the front and rear cross pieces. Although I'd need to cut the cross piece out that supports the front of the console, that would provide plenty of length to put the unit in fore/aft. So I'll need to come up with another way to support the console, but that won't be too hard.

So it looks like the 11HS8, which is an 8" sub, will fit nicely width and length wise. But, as it turns out its big brother the 46HS10, which is a 10" sub, will also fit. It is only 1/8" deeper, and depth is the next issue.

Speaking depth, it is ~4" from the top of the carpet to the underside of the console - the way I currently have the console mounted. So either of the Kicker units would be very close, with the 8" 3/4" away and the 10" would be 5/8". How much room is needed to get the sound out? And, will it rattle the console?

I'm going to tag Scott as I'll bet he's dealt with this. But I'd love input from all of y'all.

Continuing on with the sub-woofer discussion (monologue?), I talked with Natalie at Crutchfield today. According to her the Kicker 11HS8 is "hands down the best" of the powered sub-woofers, and is the right one for Big Blue given the head unit and speakers I have. She said it "rounds out the music nicely" while the Kicker 10" would be "too much".

So I asked how much room I'd need between it and the console and she said 1" will be enough. But then it dawned on me that there is at least 1" more space below where I'd mount the subwoofer that I can't use because of the irregular floor and the wire that releases the seat mechanism. So I asked about mounting the sub upside down and she said that's no problem at all as the carpet won't really absorb the long waves of the bass notes.

Given that I cut up a shoe box to be the right size and tried it below the console. Sorry about the rotation (we need to move to Invision!), but the pic on the left shows that the sub would fit nicely save for just touching the seatbelt sheaths on each end, so I may have to use heat to bend the sheaths. And the pic on the right shows that the Kicker sub, which is black, would basically hide away below the console. ()

The question is how to mount it, and I probably can't make that decision until I get the sub - assuming I do. But I can see two options - mount to the bottom of the console or to the seat platform. My worry about mounting to the console is that it might make it shake, rattle, and roll. So my preference is to the platform, but I'll have to wait to see about that when/if I get it.

[Gary Lewis]

Continuing on with the sub-woofer discussion (monologue?), I talked with Natalie at Crutchfield today. According to her the Kicker 11HS8 is "hands down the best" of the powered sub-woofers, and is the right one for Big Blue given the head unit and speakers I have. She said it "rounds out the music nicely" while the Kicker 10" would be "too much".

So I asked how much room I'd need between it and the console and she said 1" will be enough. But then it dawned on me that there is at least 1" more space below where I'd mount the subwoofer that I can't use because of the irregular floor and the wire that releases the seat mechanism. So I asked about mounting the sub upside down and she said that's no problem at all as the carpet won't really absorb the long waves of the bass notes.

Given that I cut up a shoe box to be the right size and tried it below the console. Sorry about the rotation (we need to move to Invision!), but the pic on the left shows that the sub would fit nicely save for just touching the seatbelt sheaths on each end, so I may have to use heat to bend the sheaths. And the pic on the right shows that the Kicker sub, which is black, would basically hide away below the console. ()

The question is how to mount it, and I probably can't make that decision until I get the sub - assuming I do. But I can see two options - mount to the bottom of the console or to the seat platform. My worry about mounting to the console is that it might make it shake, rattle, and roll. So my preference is to the platform, but I'll have to wait to see about that when/if I get it.

An update. Janey said "We'd better get it on order!" But I told her not quite yet as I needed to find the Kicker ZISL adapter that converts RCA level signals to speaker level as the 11HS8 has only speaker level inputs. But Crutchfield no longer carries the ZISL. So I called and talked to Cody who said the ZISL has been replaced by the 46KISL, which is in stock as is the 11HS8.

While I had Cody on the line I reviewed my plans and he thinks they are good. He fully agreed with using the sub-out RCA connections on the Sony instead of tapping into the speaker wires as that allows use of the sub controls in the Sony. And mounting the unit upside down is fine. However, he doesn't think I should mount the sub to the console as it will shake it. Instead he recommended mounting the sub to the seat platform.

So now I need to determine how long the RCA cables need to be and whether I have a set that will work. Then we can get everything on order.