I’ve been really busy lately and I feel the need to take a break, at least long enough to make a blog entry. I’m working on a 08 charger for New York Jets player Darrelle Revis. The basic concept on the install is for a sports car look, no pun intended. I’m using the basic factory dash, but adding fiberglass molded top trim pieces around the gage cluster and across the passenger dash that will totally change the car's look. I’m changing the vents from the original square vents to a more retro muscle car round vent. To be honest, I think that Chrysler was trying to hard to please everyone by using large square vents that belongs in a truck or a Hummer, not a performance car. I made a carved Jet’s logo and a “24” (Darrells’s number), and one with his team nickname, Rell Rev. I just finished making castings in resin that are now primed and ready for a tinted chrome finish. I’ll post pictures of the chromed pieces in a few days when I get a chance to do them. This is how they start out, carved in a plaster and wood fiber mix that I make; it’s a bit softer than plaster and easier to carve. From this I make a fiberglass, latex, or urethane mold that I can use to make the finished reinforced casting resin piece. I started the door grills with wood and putty, and then molded the casting resin finished pieces that are shown here with a black primer finish. I also cast custom grills for the three JL 12’s. I used a different technique for these because I wanted a kind of evil look, almost like veins on the Celtic flame design. This is the original sculpted mock I did in non-hardening clay from which a fiberglass mold was made. The small football shaped Jet’s and 24 pieces will be mounted in the center of the woofer grills after I chrome them.

Confession; “..all three...took off their cloths..."

I received a provocative email from 18 year old Cindy from California, Cindy wrote;

“….and I want to tell you that I think creative older men are sooo sexy! That’s why I feel comfortable enough to ask you a personal question. I was out at a club with two of my hot girl friends and I guess we all had too much to drink, well any way, as we were leaving, this kind of cute guy asks us if we all want to take off our cloths and go for a ride in his custom car. I watched as all three of them took off their cloths and hopped into the back seat. So here’s my question, what exactly is a “custom” car?”

Well Cindy, I must confess, I’m glad you asked THAT question. The word “custom” has become one of those descriptive words that are thrown around so much in this industry that its true meaning has been lost. Let me describe the levels of what “custom” can be, and what they really should be called.

The phrase “custom audio and video system” can be a bit misleading. Is adding a pair of speakers custom? What about a pre-fabricated sub box and amp? What if you add a head unit? Although all of these are excellent ways of improving your stock sound system, the word “custom” isn’t really an accurate description of what you have. I use this word often myself to describe something that really should be called “after market”, but the “true confession” is that “after market audio system” just doesn’t sound as sexy as “custom audio system”.

What about things like “custom” wheels, tail lights, or even racing seats and steering wheels? None of these “bolt on” or after-market accessories are really custom, they are, well…accessories, best used when the intention is to accent a custom install.

So, you ask, what exactly does Dan consider custom? Custom is when things are either custom fabricated from scratch, or factory parts are modified to the point where their function or appearance is altered. There are levels of a truly custom install as well; from a first impression of “that’s nice” all the way to “holy crap!”

So why am I making such a big deal about the use of the word “custom”? If you approach the building of your dream car by accessorizing or using bolt-on aftermarket components, in the end, you’ll just spend too much money on something that anyone can make, and anyone that has the money can have.

If your dream is to own a custom car, the first thing you need to do is empty your mind of any pre-conceived ideas. I find myself using this phrase a lot, but it’s the best advice I can give you. Don’t look at magazines, and don’t spend days looking at pictures of custom cars on the internet. Nothing kills the creative energy of an instillation artist more that a strict blueprint. There’s nothing wrong with having some idea of what direction you want to go, but try to be open and flexible, as long as you trust the artistic skills of the installer.

So what is the highest level of custom? It’s when instillation becomes art.




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81 Camaro

Here are some PICS of the install we’re finishing up this week, just seats, window tint, and a few small trim pieces to put back in. This is a good example of a three week project. I spent about a fourth of that time restoring and/or modifying some of the factory pieces that were not going to be totally fabricated from scratch. Doing this helps keep the cost and the turnover time of the install down, but still give a custom look.






Rear fill comes from the fiberglass pods that I molded into the factory rear panels. The dash and trim pieces are factory, wrapped in flat finish vinyl. The dash is accented with perfed black vinyl around the aftermarket gauges. The console is also factory, wrapped in padded vinyl with a custom fabricated arm rest and storage compartment.

The doors were completely custom fabricated. I went with a 80’s sporty look for the doors. The fiberglass speaker pods are flush mounted in the MDF and fiberglass panels with a black perf insert. The arm rest is constructed of laminate bent wood. The mounting bolts are recessed and fiberglassed into the arm rest and run through the panel then into the door skin with custom fabricated mounting plate steel brackets.Any questions about this post, email me!

64 Impala

Just a bit of background about the custom install in the 64 Impala that I did about a year ago at the Monaca store. The car had already gotten it’s retro hopper custom paint before I did the install. I followed that direction on the interior with the twist of the hip-hop style using the Louis Vuitton material that the customer chose.


This is the mold made from the mock for the speaker pods. Even though there were only two castings that would ever be made, a fiberglass mold is necessary because the pod needs to made out of one type of material so that the stress of temperature changes over time won’t cause cracks in the paint. Also being made out of fiberglass makes them very light.




The castings seen here were reinforced by adding MDF rings and a frame that was fiberglassed in making the pod rigid.

I molded the Memphis grills into the piece….

And added the final touch of the retro Impala emblems that I carved, molded, and cast. Back in the day, the little star projections on the sides were typical design elements used to show the coming of the "space age".

More on this install later...

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Ported VS Sealed enclosures

Ported VS sealed enclosures; I often get asked which I recommend? There are characteristics of each that make them both suitable, sometimes for the same situation. Let me give a breakdown of a few things about each to explain.

Sealed Enclosures;
Sealed enclosures first off are as much as half the size of a ported enclosure, but that varies according to not only the speaker, but the tuning of the box. A larger sealed box will have a deeper resonance which means it will produce deeper bass than the same speaker in a smaller box, but a large box has less power handling ability. The smaller box will also have less output, but a higher Q which is the tendency for the speaker to resonate or vibrate more at its resonant frequency. The resonant frequency is the frequency at which all objects are most sensitive to vibration. A tuning fork is a good example of something that has a very high "Q". If your goal was to build a SPL (sound pressure level) vehicle your best bet is usually small sealed boxes. The speaker will handle lots of power, and have a high tendency to vibrate in a narrow band. If you have ever actually "listened" to an SPL system you know they sound pretty nasty, no deep bass at all.

Ported Enclosures;
Ported enclosures in the past were thought of as "boomy", but it is possible to design one that has a smooth response, in fact some of the best studio monitors which are designed for a true and smooth linear response are ported. The amount of gain that the port produces can be adjusted up to 24 DB, although that much gain would be very boomy, not to mention abusive for the woofer. One of the problems of a ported enclosure is the tendency of the speaker to vibrate wildly one octave below the tuned frequency which is usually a little below the resonant frequency of the speaker. For that reason, all ported speakers should be driven with an amplifier that has a sub-sonic filter that cuts out these frequencies which are too low to be heard anyway and just waste amplifier power. Ported enclosures are great to give a little more bass in medium to lower powered systems, assuming it’s a good amplifier; ported speaker’s need the control a quality amp has. Besides the much larger size of a ported box compared to a sealed box, there is the tendency for more blown speakers. That down side is aggravated by the fact that most people who want a ported enclosure are more likely to abuse their equipment. If your reason for wanting a port is strictly lots of bass, you are better off getting a larger amp and a better woofer in a sealed box that is slightly on the large side.

So back to the question, which do I recommend? I make recommendations based on these questions and situations;
What kind of enclosure is the woofer you want to use suitable for; not all woofers work their best in both sealed and ported boxes.
What kind of music do you listen to; rap or hip-hop or anything with a generated tone or drum machine producing bass? A ported enclosure might be the best choice for you as long as you’re willing to give up the extra trunk space and are going to use an amplifier that has a sub-sonic filter. But if you listen to this type of music but don’t need or want bone shaking bass and prefer tight punchy but deep bass, a sealed box designed slightly on the large size may suit you better.
For any music with bass that is not electronically recorded like most country, rock, alternative rock, or jazz, a sealed box would be a better choice, its size determined by the speaker choice and the amount of power and deep rumble you want.
Is your goal a serious street pounder or all out SPL vehicle? And then there’s the bigger question; what size woofers to use…….
Dan

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How do you design a great custom installation?

From time to time I’m going to post my views on things like car audio system design, the industry, enclosure design/construction, and the occasional random idea.
This may be a good subject to start with; how do you design a great custom installation? Everyone in the industry has an opinion on how to design one, here’s mine.
First and most important, it’s a car first, I never recommend doing anything that compromises safety, this includes the ergonomics. Good ergonomics of an install means that everything is placed within reach or clear view and won’t distract or hamper the safe operation of the car.

Secondly, it’s an audio system with the proper choice and placement of components to accomplish the design goal, what ever that is; SPL, pure sound quality, all show, or a combination. A great custom install should choose a direction and follow it throughout the install, bumper to bumper.

And thirdly, it’s a work of art. Weather it’s the art of concealment behind an original factory cover, an all out exotic custom appearance or theme install.

Dan

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The Design Process...

I'd like give you an idea of how the creative process works when designing a theme custom vehicle. The custom install that we call "the Gator car" started with the customer showing me a Florida Gator’s logo to show the color combination he wanted to use in the building of his dream street custom car. He really had no idea of what he wanted it to look like, something that actually helps me more than you may think. This Gives me the opportunity to suggest the direction of the install based on a few simple questions. He wanted something wild, not necessarily "old school retro" or the typical street rod "modern" look.



I came up with the idea of not only using the Gators colors, but doing a Gators theme install. These are some of the sketches I did to illustrate some of my ideas starting with the dash.

This is one of the plaster carvings that I did that I later cast in resin and chrome painted.




The trunk was to include a three dimensional Gator’s logo. I carved each piece, individually wrapped it in vinyl, and then assembled them together.


The doors were to be 90 degree and motorized. In this sketch you can see the monitors that were originally to be in the doors. That changed to a single screen on the outside of the car "C" pillar. Speaker placement and a few other design ideas changed along the way. By having the customer understanding that nothing is set in stone, I have the ability to create and change elements of the design ensuring the most creative and eye grabbing installs.

Then it begins using the sketches as a rough guide.

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