Made a big push on Friday afternoon and worked till 3:30am on Saturday to have a completed Phase 1, ready to drive again!
Treated the rear panels with CLD, closed up the speaker hole, and then covered them in Fibermat 45
I reinstalled all of the interior. No reason to show pics since it looks stock. No evidence of what I've done. I finally got to drive it for the first time since August 28th. Around town with some music on at a reasonable volume there is no exterior noise to distract you, it's really nice. I did a 55mph highway noise measurement that was a repeat of the "before" measurement, and I'll share those results when I have time to process the data. I have been taking videos in 4K throughout the process so I'll have a series of videos on the efforts and results. Subjectively (bias, I know), driving around town between 30-40mph is serene, and with a bit of music the outside world is drowned out. The engine is always able to be noticed, but the baffling in the stock exhaust makes it pretty quiet while cruising. The exhaust has cutouts that bypass the "suitcase" muffler, so you get loud cold starts and an awesome tone when you mash the gas, but you don't have any drone while cruising.
I also needed to install some tweeters in the dash so I had some interim tunes while I build the amp rack. So I mounted the Hertz ML28 tweeters using the speaker mount adapters that came in the kit. I terminated the wiring with some plugs so install/removal is “easier”. I put that in quotes because it took a lot of time to get the plugs made since I terminated all four pairs in the dash so the mids would be ready to go when the time comes. These connectors have a multi-step process requiring a specific crimper.
I mounted the tweeters using the Hertz adapters (because I still have the original boxes and all original hardware), and I added come CCF around the gap to close it off, not an aesthetic application but you only have the width of your finger to work in that corner.
Of course, the component set needs passive crossovers for now, since it’s powered by the stock radio. I located these in the truck well as an interim step since I want to keep the amp area clear until I make the switch-over.
While the stock head unit and stock amplifier are being used, the difference is staggering. Granted, it should for the quality of speakers and the amount of work I've done, but I'm still surprised. Bass out of the doors is effortless, clean, and you'd think I had a sub hidden up front. The Hertz Mille passive crossovers aren't cheesy and really complement the speakers well. The tweeter attenuation and HF contour for the woofer really helped build the sound stage using the stock radio. It stages well and images decent. Everything is above the dash, but not a "clinical" feel, just musical. IYKYK.