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Saturday, 30 January 2010

Project Big Black Full System Specs

As promised here is the final system specification for Project Big Black.  There are few things to work out (like a crossover for the front end and a line driver for the subs) put this is pretty much the final spec.

As you can see It has lots of cone area and a lot of power the GZNA1.2500 amps are the same board as the Solid Audio 2500s so should be nice and reliable.  The front end is PA spec with 10" high efficiency mids (like the Eminence mids from the Gula/Lozzy/Me Clio) and 4" Horn Tweeters running from the Uranium SQ level Amps.



Only thing not on the spec is some GZHT 28SE Silk Dome tweeters that will be going in the A Pillars for daily driving rather than having my ears ripped out by the horns!

Mid and Tweeter Setup
 

Subwoofer Setup

Thursday, 28 January 2010

Project Big Black - Sponsored by Connects 2

Its been a long time in the planning but I can finally announce that Project Big Black is now being sponsored by Connect 2 - Distributors of Ground Zero Audio, Tsunami Cabling and Ballistic Sound Dampening.  Products from all of these companies will be being used in the project

Adam Rayner broke the news on www.talkaudio.co.uk earlier today  and you can find that announcement HERE

Full details of the system will be announced soon but as a little teaser you can expect to see 8  15inch Subs powered by 8 2000wrms Amplifiers and a loud PA inspired front end running from SQ level amplifiers

Im sure if you nip over to Ground Zero Audio you could work out exactly what Im going to be running

A big thanks to Adam and the Guys @  Connect 2 (Mike and Andy) for having the faith in me - Its going to be a loud year!

Project Big Black also has a new Facebook group HERE

Wednesday, 27 January 2010

There's been a murder!!

As you will no doubt have seen from the previous posts Big Black is not currently black - more dark green - well we will soon see about that! - If you didnt know the term murdered refers to black cars satin, matte or gloss, murdered out means its black on black (black body and black wheels) check out more cars like this at www.murderedoutrides.com

Take one Dark Green Shogun and add the helping hands of Craig "cdescort" Dillow and Brian "B-Rian" Hull plus a weekend in an industrial estate in Milton Keynes and alot of satin black spray cans and you can do this to!
Day 1 and the first Job was to strip the Shogun of all parts we could - door trims, rear light clusters, rear mounted wheel and mount assembly, rear number plate - you can see Craig and Brian hard at work - bear in mind I took most of the photos so you dont see me working but i assure you i did - HONEST!




You can see the rear light clusters and spare wheel mount removed as well as the bumper mounted lights and rear window wiper



We debaged the front wings as well as the boot we also removed the ECI-Multi V6 3000 stickers from the rear quarters - these where a beast to remove



All door trim and seals where removed to ensure a total coverage - the final box build will cover everything not painted black.  We did discover a very neat little tool box in the rear gate that will be made into a feature in the final install - maybe a small voltage read out or something






Box of bits removed - note the small yellow box on the step - this contains all of the screws to hold all the bits back on - guess who ended up kicking that across the yard!





Once all the trim was removed we where able to start flatting back the paint with hand sanders and 120grit paper - about now we realised we couldn't change my mind - oh well black it is then!



 

See i did work!  and it wouldnt be a proper build if i wasnt showing some ass flesh so there you go!







It started getting dark as we began masking the car



Mr Dillow on the roof  sanding - we thought it was better he did that than me - they are tough trucks but not tough enough to take me on the roof!


 Notice more man flesh - your going to get some ass crack before this build is out


Door partially masked - some nice big builds going in here


and the primer goes on - the flash shows up the wet patches too much but we managed a nice even coat from approx 8 cans






and this is how it was left at the end of day 1 - stripped and primed on the outside ready for day 2






Day 2 Begins with us running some finer grit pads over the primer to get a nice smooth surface


When we arrived on sunday morning Craig had already began masking the doors so we could paint the jams
Those of you that know me will understand how this part killed me - i was itchign to start shooting black but Craig and Brian kept me strong with the words PPPPPP





 





At this point I must give a shout out to Betty Warner who provided all the paper for this masking - Cheers Betty!

Once totally masked we sprayed the jambs, panel gaps and any other areas that would require extra attention/detail





before we flatted back the over spray, tacked the whole car and finally began laying down the black if your feeling bored you can download these pictures and skip between them to see the paint building up - thrilling huh!











My paint spraying technique leaves a lot to be desired but Brian showed me  the way and i managed to eventually do a small section well.  Brian managed to lay down a whole side of paint and it looks fantastic


 




A little tip I learnt from Craig - when spraying in the cold pop the cans into some warm water to thin the paint and get a better finish - it really looked like it worked as this is the final result







Time to start reassembling things - the spare wheel mount was a real state but Brian managed to sand it back and re paint it a treat






I was unsure if I should l;eave the window surrounds glossy, as well as leaving the chrome light protectors but the boys suggested i left the windows alone and the wife said leave the chrome on the protectors - she was right! it looks pretty good to me




Here you can see the rear door that Brian did a great job on and the drivers door that i did (P.S. if anyone has a centre cap for the Shogun wheels let me know my rear offside one has gone AWOL!)




And the finished job - The guys did me proud - we prepared the car well and it shows in the final finish - I know its not everyone's idea of a good paint job but i think it looks mean as hell


 




As far as exterior finish goes I have a few bits to address - the handles and door trim needs brightening up and the rear bumper mounted light clusters need replacing, the wheels will also be refurbished and painted a gun metal grey as will the sill steps (i'm unsure if i should gun metal the bull bars and light protectors)

A Big thanks to Brian and Craig - they will no doubt be popping up in later posts as they help me put Project Big Black together - Next step is to sound deaden the car - updates on that soon as well as a future post regarding the turmoil I had designing a box that would fit!

Until Next Time guys - cheers for reading!