Mustang System 2.0

[StangTime]

Thanks for the pics and explanation. No way my fuse holder will fit where you put yours. My fuse holder is "waterproof" in that it's designed to get wet occasionally, but I definitely wouldn't want water pouring on it. I'll have to relook this. Thanks for the help.

Yeah, I noticed your fuse block is for 0gauge. Much bigger. I would say you have a couple options. Maybe you can move it up so it's under the cross brace, protected from drips. Or move it down and further away from the firewall, away from the water. Fab-up some water shield that can be removed to get at the fuse. Or do what you suggested and put it between the battery box and the passenger fender side.

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[mikes2017gt]

OK, so Plan B worked and I'm glad b/c there was no Plan C.

New fuse holder location and when I say it barely fits, we're talking b/t a 16th and a 32nd of clearance b/t the fuse holder cover and the battery box. BUT, "barely fits" means "It fits" so I win. It's well out of the way from where any water would be.

Had to shim one side to keep it "mounted flat" b/c the two mounting holes are not on the same plane.

Using the gray ground cable, I mocked up how/where the wire will run from the battery terminal to the fuse holder. Battery box goes in perfectly. 0-gauge is a PITA to work with. But, I should've run it back when I did the subwoofer/amp install and I wouldn't be doing this now. Plan ahead, people!

 

[StangTime]

OK, so Plan B worked and I'm glad b/c there was no Plan C.

New fuse holder location and when I say it barely fits, we're talking b/t a 16th and a 32nd of clearance b/t the fuse holder cover and the battery box. BUT, "barely fits" means "It fits" so I win. It's well out of the way from where any water would be.

Haha! "Plan C" is never an option.
Nice work! Looks like a great spot tucked in there, nice and dry.
Your next challenge is to get the cable attached to the battery. What are your plans on that? There is a way to use the existing clamp/nut mechanism but your 0-gauge ring terminal might not fit.

 

[Qu8Storm]

Haha! "Plan C" is never an option.
Nice work! Looks like a great spot tucked in there, nice and dry.
Your next challenge is to get the cable attached to the battery. What are your plans on that? There is a way to use the existing clamp/nut mechanism but your 0-gauge ring terminal might not fit.

just make sure you use a wire brush on the terminal so you can get a good connection. It is possible to use the 1/O ring terminal.

 

[mikes2017gt]

Yup, I've already taken care of the powder coating on the nut and clamp assembly. I took apart the whole thing, clamped each little piece in a vise and stuck a wire brush in my drill. No more powdercoat.

AFA physically connecting it: I have the same ring terminal on my power wire as in this pic. It fits fine. Getting the cable to bend enough is what I'm working on right now.

 

[mikes2017gt]

Battery box is back in and I'm fighting to bend the cable enough to connect. I will prevail! But here's some pics.

Battery to fuse block cable all ready to go.

And done. The fuse is installed, so I wont' be connecting to the battery for now. I"ll just tape off the ring terminal and tuck it in the battery box.

 

[StangTime]

Looks like you got all the bases covered. Nicely done!

 

[onlyturbo]

Wow!!! Great job!
How much boost does this add to the car?

 

[mikes2017gt]

If I put a "Type R" sticker on the car, it adds 10hp.

 

[mikes2017gt]

Well, it took the entire day to get the fuse holder done, but it's done.

I had to do a little surgery to the battery box to get the 0-gauge to clear. I had no such issues when I added the battery-to-body ground cable, but that cable comes straight out vs. needing to bend 90-degrees. That k-brace running from the shock tower to the firewall was the problem. I sure as heck wasn't about to cut a notch out of it...had to work around it. If you've ever tried to bend 0-gauge 90-degrees, you know it isn't fun or easy.

Cut out a little more of the battery box than I needed to but oh well. It'll be under the battery cover. I wound up having to grind down the left side of the positive ring terminal. It was right up against the battery. Many would call it "good enough" but I'm not skimping on something so important. I used an angle grinder and put the side of the lug against the top of the disk...like a belt sander, sort of.

The important thing is that it's done, and it's done correctly. The negative terminal is just on for show in this pic. It's currently disconnected.

 

[mikes2017gt]

Today didn't go as planned. I had no idea I'd have to redo the fuse holder location and then wiring it up was challenging, but it's done. I had to get more than this done today in order to meet my goal of having everything installed tomorrow.

So, I got the wiring harnesses completed. They're not as pretty as I'd imagined they'd be, but they're functional and solid. I did the "battery pop test" for the mids/midbasses. The tweets will be direct-wired (no Molex plugs) and I already know they are working. All these heat shrinked connections were completely covered in Tessa tape after I took pics.

I can't say enough about this Fstop Labs "third hand" device. For soldering wires together it is a total lifesaver. I managed without this thing for years, using soda bottles or something heavy to hold the wires still while I tried to solder them 1" above the table top/workbench. This is so much easier.

Still, soldering heavy-gauge wire (in this case, 14 to 22, which sucked) is not my favorite thing. I'm not the best hand with a soldering iron, but everything checked out continuity-wise, and it's all heat-shrinked and Tessa taped.

Tomorrow will be a long day but hopefully a cause for celebration.

 

[mikes2017gt]

Goals: It's important to set them. It's also important to make them realistic and achievable. My goal of finishing the install today was neither of those two things.

But I did make really good progress:

1. Interior panels all removed - done and didn't break any clips! (got lucky)
2. Rear speakers removed - done.
3. Rear deck sound deadened (above and below)- done.
4. Repair rear speaker harness where I tapped it for the old LOC - done.
5. JL DRC-205 remote knob in center console - done.

I couldn't move after I finished all that, so I stopped. I must've folded/unfolded myself into/out of the car forty times, at least to cut a piece Dynamat, grab a tool, etc.

Pics are a little out of order, but there's pics! I had this eyesore to fix. I had my LOC tapped here. As I'm not using rear deck speakers I could've just left this as-is. But someday I'd regret not fixing it now, especially when I was already upside down in the trunk doing sound deadening.

Here's a shot of it fixed. I put a piece of electrical tape around where each tap cut into the wire, then Tessa taped the whole thing. Can't tell anything was ever different. MORE importantly: Bye-bye rear fill (nobody liked you anyway) and hello bass energy in the cabin!

On a related note to the above pic: I did try a little experiment to enlarge the holes in the deck panel. No pics, but basically I took a 1" Forstner bit and tried to drill out an area...make bigger holes, basically. The shelf panel is fiberboard with a thin layer of carpet solidly glued to it. The carpet is not very thick at all. As I was getting down towards the carpet I could just feel that the bit would tear right through, so I stopped. Another forum member was successfully able to do this. I chickened out. Can't reassemble the entire back seat area and trunk without the deck panel in place. Didn't want the car to be apart for a week while I waited for a replacment to come if I messed it up. *cluck-cluck-chicken-cluck*

Sound deadening the deck was a royal PITA. Between being upside down and trying to work right under the rear window...I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad it's done.

Underneath. Working the mat into the ridges in the center was challenging but the deck is deadddddd.

And up top. Same deal with those ridges. With the mat really pressed hard into the indentations the deck is nice and sonically dead now. It was almost ringing when you tapped it beforehand but not now. You can also see the rear speaker connectors. I wrapped them in Tessa tape and then duct-taped them to the rear deck to prevent rattles.

Next up, getting the remote into the console. One 12v power port was harmed in the making of this panel. Used two 1/2" fender washers, drilled out to 5/8" and painted black to mount the remote.

Had to notch the back to clear the cable.

Here the notch for the cable...and there's the 12V power port. LOL! Rest in peace, power port that I never used for anything at all.

Next up was sleeving the cable for the remote. Used 1/2" techflex. Fits perfectly.

Ran the cable along the factory loom.

It's attached to the cable immediately to the right of the fuel pump (fuel pump relay?).

Here's where the cable connects to the remote. It's the little gray box.

And the finished product. Very happy with how this turned out. Credit for the mounting method goes to a fellow forum member whose name escapes me ATM. It took longer fo figure out how to remove the USB/12v port panel and get the freaking power port out than it did to mount the knob in the panel. The panel just clips in, but if you try and pry it out from the front it bends and you'll probably break it. Push it out from behind.

I'm assuming the 12v power socket is a push-fit as well. I tried twisting it and pulling it out but it wouldn't budge. Basically, I wound up just slamming back of the port on my workbench while securely holding the panel with two hands and it popped out. Some little mounting tabs on it broke, but it's never going back in there anyway.

Thanks for following along. More tomorrow.

 

[MrTej]

Nice build, man! You’re going to love the TwK. I just upgraded my shaker system this summer, too, and originally centered it around the Rockford Fosgate DSR1. No matter what I did, I could not get it to sound good with the DSR1. I was able to send it back to Crutchfield within the return window and ordered the TwK instead. What a huge difference that made. Even with the EQ completely flat, it sounded better than anything I got out of the DSR1. I’ve got REW and a calibrated mic, but I’m saving that for a winter project. Just have it tuned by ear for now.

Funny story about the cigarette lighter outlets. I originally mounted my JL bass control knob where you mounted yours. Then when I switched to the TwK, I decided to mount the new DRC in the other cigarette lighter outlet under the HU. I took the old know out and used the hole it left to have my TwK USB cable access. Then I realized something- I have no spare tire, only the goofy can of fix-o-flat/compressor contraption, and I bet that don’t power itself! Needless to say, I’m glad I did not destroy those outlets when I removed them!

 

[MrTej]

Credit for the mounting method goes to a fellow forum member whose name escapes me ATM.

I bet that was me. I recognize those flat black washers .

 

[mikes2017gt]

@MrTej Thanks for the kind words, and yep, I got the mounting idea from you. It's a great idea that works well and looks good. And I already had the washers and flat black spray paint. Free!

It was a toss up for me where to mount the knob, either in the console or under the toggle switches. I have a direct-wire kit for my radar detector that plugs into the rearview mirror, but I haven't hooked it up yet, so I'm still using the 12V port up front.

Oh, and I can confirm that the car starts without the seats connected. You just get the airbag warning light on the dash, but the car runs fine.

You bring up a good point about the tire inflator; you definitely need a 12v socket for that. Though you could modify it and put two little battery clamps on the power wire. I actually tried to incorporate the tire inflator into my amp rack like Dean on 5StarCarAudio did, but I didn't have room. 3 amps, the TWK and the power distro ate up all the space. Plus I needed some room on the amp rack to mount a couple of uprights to support the trunk floor/cover panel. Add that to the list of things I need to do to complete this build. Ugh, more MDF dust!

Glad to hear you had such a positive experience with the TWK-88. I'm looking forward to really using all it has to offer.

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