Chitty Yellow 2011 Corvette GS

[chithead]

Welp. After the accident with the 2003 Z06, people were asking what's next. Told my wife unless a Velocity Yellow C6 Grand Sport automatic with the heated seats and heads up display and all them goodies for a reasonable price, then... but of course a few days later, one showed up at a popular dealer in town that kind of specializes in Corvette and, "other" muscle cars. Couple signatures later, boom. Here she is, 2011 Corvette Grand Sport 3LT:

Is she perfect? I guess not to some. For me though? YESSSSS...

Vette Bottom girls, you make the rockin' world go round

 

[chithead]

Got a pretty nice surprise when they fired her up, knew right away that wasn't stock. Just not sure if it's the SLP Loudmouth 1 or 2:

First mod I did was swap out the air filter and intake to the matching SLP Blackwing:

Decent amount of cargo space for some audio gear, just had to decide what to use, and where:

First thing was to determine the amount of room available when the targa top is slid into the hatch

Saw some, "stealth" enclosures that put a 10" sub into the cubbies at each rear corner, but the subs I want to use are kinda... deep.

I'm thinking is the better spot, right behind the seats:

Still a decent amount of space to put the subwoofers and amplifiers/DSP:

She doesn't look too bad without the targa on there, definitely fun cruising:

 

[naiku]

C6 is where it's at, that will be a blast to ride around in with the targa off.

 

[chithead]

And here are the subwoofers of choice - pair of Focal E 25 KX 10" - found them locally for an amazing price, and thought what the heck. Might as well try them out. Worst case could always pass the deal back to someone else:

After some cleaning up though and trying them in the Z06, definitely knew these were keepers:

As you can tell, the previous owner had them in a down firing enclosure, and man do they boogie like that. Tried forward firing, down firing, rear firing, and down firing by far was the most impressive. Thinking they will be perfect in this car too, especially if I can get them sealed to the ridge behind the seats so most of the output goes rearward. One behind each seat, then stack both amps and the DSP in the middle.

Decided to pull the trigger on a set of Focal speakers to match the subs, and started with the ES 100 K - ended up getting the ES 100 KE though due to the K being out of stock from the vendor:

This is going to sound odd, but after comparing ALL the K2 woofer specs, knew there were only a handful that fit my preferences. And ironically, the Harley Davidson woofers fit the bill. Only discovered that after finding an open box set of HDK 165 98/2013 speakers that should work perfectly.

Chose Stinger Silencer for the dampener, again couldn't pass up the price for it (and I have almost all Stinger products already for this install):

And after much deliberation, decided on the Kenwood DMX958XR for the head unit. Really liked all the features and couldn't find anything better for the price.

 

[chithead]

Started some removal process, Wasn't too difficult, a few odd things. But easy to access for the most part:

Had to test fit the Kenwood to make sure I had the adapter oriented correctly (and wanted to see what it'll look like):

Chose the Metra Axxess AXTC-CL2 for integration. After a few wire connections, we have power!

Still need to button up a few more things, and run the RCA wires. Bust at least that's done.

Next, door panel. Man it felt like this was going to break when removing, but it didn't:

[

Who's ready for ten inches of goodness?

Just kidding, look at these 6.5" compared to that factory woofer:

Maybe jumped the gun here, but already swapped out one of the door badges:

 

[littlemissGTO]

You do realize that your speakers match your car right?

 

[chithead]

You do realize that your speakers match your car right?

That was totally unintentional!!! Honest! But it could be a neat perk to have later on

 

[BigAl205]

Commence operation Tweety Bird!

 

[chithead]

Slow (AKA No) progress lately due to rain. Hoping to get back at it tonight and/or this weekend.

Did get to replace the broken cupholder cover.

Good bit of room under there to run the wiring, keeping them every far apart from the power/ground runs. Still looking at a way to pass through the firewall without drilling, but may just have to do it.

 

[chithead]

So, the Metra harness isn't working correctly at all apparently. Not in this application at least. Steering wheel controls don't want to program, and it's constant power, never shuts off. After flashing with the newest firmware update, at least it tries to pair with the car and radio, but then just goes back to flashing red and still doesn't power down with the ignition off and door closed. Not sure what the deal is there unless it's due to the keyless start/stop setup. Oh well. Will be ordering a PAC piece to remedy these issues.

Also started on securing the midrange to the door panel. The 4" midrange is just, maybe an 1/8" off from securing right to the factory posts. Will need to design and fabricate an adapter to mount them:

Then discovered the space there isn't quite vast as it seems. Will have to mount super close to where the stock, "twiddler" does. May have to shave this whole area a bit, especially after fabbing up an adapter.

 

[James Bang]

I'm Chinese and like that you have yellow fever. GJ on the progress.

 

[chithead]

Got to do a little more work this weekend:

Applied to the outer side, inner side, and inside of the inner side (watched an install video from a shop that recommended it with the Corvette doors):

Finally figured out how to get wires through the kick panel into the doors. Using leftover Stinger Pro wire from other installs that were never completed. Might be overkill, but 16ga for the midranges, and 12ga for the woofers (they are 2-ohm coils):

One of the Metra adapters installed. Thin weatherstripping between the adapter and door, strips of dampener to seal around the edges. Also applied dampener to the backside (inside) of the adapter just to reduce any possible resonance (plus hoping to avoid seeing any of it when the door panel is back on):

 

[chithead]

More door work tonight, terminals attached to the wires, woofer mounted utilizing a baffle from NVX to cover the motor and basket and seal to the door panel. I cut the bottom half of the back portion off to keep water from pooling there like it has in the past with other installs using these:

After debating on so many ideas for a midrange adapter, decided to try something crazy. Grabbed the heatgun and took my time, massaging the ring around the factory twiddler until it laid flat:

The, "shaping" tool - a lid from one of my Paddy's Irish Whiskey containers:

Also used the heatgun and a long screw with matching threads to re-aim the mounting pillars so they better match that of the Focal midrange. Looked terrible after too much heat, but nothing touches the Focal surround, and I'll clean this up tomorrow before applying some weatherstripping to seal up everything:

Focal midrange secures right to the factory pedestals now:

And isn't as obstructed as I thought it'd be through the factory grille:

 

[Glenn]

Looking good! Surprised you aren't painting the grilles to match the body!

 

[James Bang]

I foresee yellow focal sub box braces

 

[chithead]

After a conversation with the infamous James Bang here ^^^ - remembered having some of those waffle foam deflectors leftover from other NVX baffles used in previous installs. Grabbed a pair of the 5 1/4" circles, and they fit perfect. After a bit of, "surgery" - Voila!

The midranges are sealed up to the door panel, perfectly. No surround rubbing, no gaps beneath the basket, and foam like other methods I tried:

The PAC RP5-GM11 head unit adapter arrived, and worked perfectly. Spent a little time connecting and trying to clean up everything:

And, the passenger side door panel is back on:

Also found some RCAs I'd purchased for an install like, three vehicles ago.

They should work perfectly. The three 12 foot RCAs from head unit to DSP, then the four 3 foot RCAs from DSP to both amplifiers.

Planning to use an Arc Audio PS8, XDi 1200.6, and XDi1100.1. Some may remember the 1200.6 and 1100.1 from the white Grand Cherokee wayyy back. The PS8 was purchased after that build, and haven't used it yet. May try to add the remote mount controller later if desired.

Now to figure out where to run those RCAs, the remote turn-on wire, four sets of 16ga speaker wire, two sets of 12ga speaker wire, and two 1/0 wires for power and ground. Thinking the passenger seat will have to be removed soon.

 

[James Bang]

Oh yes, RCAs, I'll touch you.