2-21-2017, Mobile Electronics February Issue -- In the last article I talked briefly about my history with Porsches. We then began to look at a recent build I worked on at Simplicity In Sound. The build was for a Porsche 911 that was going to be in the Arc Audio booth at the 2016 SEMA show. When the car arrived at Simplicity In Sound, it was in fairly stock-looking form. It was evident that quite a bit of time and detail had already gone into the planning and execution of the build so far. The engine was an incredibly beautiful work of art. An appealing mix of carbon fiber and copper plated or painted pieces were used on the rebuilt engine. Taking a peek underneath the car, it looked like the entire underside had been treated with the same level of detail. Everything was completely clean and either painted or in a stock, refurbished form. It was hard to believe the car was 26 years old. 

The colors and materials used on the engine carried through to the interior of the Porsche as well. A simple blend of carbon fiber, tan leather and black accents created a timelessly classic look for the interior. The result was a car that had a classic, yet modern and somewhat race-inspired feel. It was hard for me to imagine how the car would change with the RWB conversion, but I was beginning to think that it was going to be pretty special.

Last month, we finished up with the basic enclosure. We are going to start this month by looking at the fabrication of the front trim plate, as well as the remaining pieces to finish the enclosure. Once that is wrapped up, we will move on to building the amplifier mounting frame system and the surfboard holder.   

Trim Plate Prep

I was pretty excited to build the front trim plate of the enclosure. I had a new tool (tool, toys, either one, right?) from Mobile Solutions that I was going to be using. I had seen pictures of people using the new Smart Frame System, the Axis Shape Creator, on Instagram. Now it was my turn to give it a shot and see how it worked. The set consists of a number of straight, arc, corner and connecting pieces. Each of the pieces have either evenly spaced holes, or notched slots. The pieces with the holes are the base pieces. The underside of the holes on the base pieces are chamfered. The chamfer allows a countersunk head bolt to be placed in it, flush. The bolt extends upward and one of the top pieces can be placed on it. The assembly is then secured with a washer and a generously sized threaded knob. The idea of the system is that the pieces can be assembled to create an endless variety of templates. By loosening the knobs, the whole template can be shifted to alter the shape with minimal work required. The knobs also give you something to firmly hold onto when cutting the template out using a router. A nice touch is the included storage tray for the hardware. Each washer, nut and bolt have a specific spot in the acrylic holder.

Read the rest of the story HERE.