Page 1 (The Car)

Page 2 (Audio Components)

Page 3 (Install)

Page 4 (Future Mods)

Here are some pics of my install "in progress"! (I am doing everything myself.)

My Blood & Sweat are literally going into this install. Here's some of the blood part!

Here is one of the doors (with door panel removed) before "deadening". Notice the big piece of white styrofoam. Nothing like quality GM parts! ; )

Here is the door after deadening. I used varying layers of Polymeric-Mastic from http://www.mcmaster.com/. I used 3 layers around the area where the speaker will mount. I then used spray on Dynashield to get inside the door and areas where I couldn't cover with the mastic. I finished up by sealing the remaining holes, as best as I could, with Peel & Seal. I will be keeping an eye on this during the summer to make sure it sticks through the unforgiving Houston heat and humidity! I also placed Cascade Deflex pads behind the speaker holes, to absorb the rear soundwaves and eliminate any cancellation from standing waves.

I also deadened the entire trunk, trunk lid, rear deck, interior panels and rear seating area. I used a combination of Polymeric-Mastic and Peel & Seal, along with Daptex expanding foam, spray-on Dynashield, and even stuffed open-cell foam, old shirts, towels, and socks into gaps and behind hollow plastic interior panels. Up front, I used sheets of felt and plastic shims between plastic dash and trim pieces. I also used silicone grease on many of the clips and fasteners. It's all made quite a difference in the noise level inside my car. Squeaks are almost non-existent, and road noise has even been reduced! Some day I will pull the front seats and center console out and deaden the floorboard, too.

Here's a picture of some of the open-cell foam I used behind interior trim and panels.

This is a picture of some open cell foam I used to stop my overhead console from rattling.

Here's one of the Pioneer speakers I'll be using for rearfill (when I have rear passengers only). Next to it is a stock Bose speaker. I needed to modify the factory speaker mounts quite a bit to fit the Pioneers.

This is the rear deck with the dinky 4" Pioneers installed. You can see I'm leaving the stock 6x9 openings empty. This will relieve airpressure from the sub in the trunk, and allow bass to more freely enter the cabin.

This is one of the Vifa mids in the door. You can see the MDF speaker mount I had to make to fit the 7" speakers in the stock 5 1/4" speaker hole. MDF will resonate less than the cheap plastic mounts anyway.

After creating the MDF mounting ring to make the speakers fit in the door, I had to use my Dremel to grind away part of the door panel to make it fit back over the speakers!

What a mess! As if there aren't enough wires to deal with, I had to add a PAC interface so I could still use my steering wheel radio controls.

Here's a picture of the Clarion DXZ835MP installed. I LOVE this head unit! To the left of it is the remote bass boost knob from the Hifonics Brutus amp. I used a sheet of black ABS plastic and an empty dash "cubby hole" to make a flush mount for the bass boost knob. I think it turned out rather nicely! You can also see part of the Carbon Fiber dash kit that I installed.

Here are a couple of poor quality "night" pictures to show how the DXZ835MP matches the Pontiac interior, when it's set to the "Passion Red" color mode. Later, I'll add some pictures of the head unit set to different color modes.

The center "pass through", in the rear seat, folds down to reveal the EPX2 processor. I built facia around it to hide the wires. There are 2 red led light tubes hidden on either side. They illuminate the EPX2 in a cool red glow, but it doesn't show up very well in the picture.

This is the custom center console mount I made for the EXP2's Remote Data Access Terminal (RDAT). One of the 2 lighted rocker switches, next to the RDAT, controls the red LEDs in the rear seat "pass thru". The other one doesn't control anything... yet!

Here is the amp rack. I need to clean up the wiring, but it will all be hidden once I get the subwoofer box and carpeted paneling installed. Above the 2 Hifonics amps is the Stinger digital fused distribution block. It displays the voltage, and will emit a beeping sound if a fuse blows or if the voltage gets too low. In the third picture the amps are being illuminated by some blue LEDs that I mounted in the trunk. They come on when the trunk is open, but I also mounted a switch. So, I can turn them off like in the second picture.

Here are a couple of pictures of the LEDs I mounted for trunk lighting. 2 under the rear deck, and one in each rear corner.

This is one of the Image Dynamics cd1e minihorns mounted under the driver's side dash. These were a total pain in the ass to mount in the Grand Prix, and I couldn't get them mounted very close to the outside edge because of the stupid e-brake pedal! Even so, they still sound incredible! I'll be making some black grill covers for these soon.

Here's where the 1/0 Gauge power wire goes from the cabin into the engine compartment.

Here's what happens when you don't properly secure your power wire in the engine compartment! It can fall against pulleys and wear away the insulation! AAARRRGGHHH! At least it happened before it was hooked up to the battery and amps!

More pics coming soon!