2008 Silverado X-Cab Build

[AlterEgo99 5,000+ posts]

Well, it's taken me a couple of years to post this so you can consider this "post build" as it has been this way pretty much since Spring 2009.

My approach was to keep my baby as stock as possible but with good SQ. I'm not a youngin' so I am well beyond the phase of high SPL. Some of you know how old I am but for those who don't, let me just say that I got into car audio around 1985. I even maintained my car audio enthusiasm into 1989 after I got married. I kept it going until 1991 when the wife and I wanted to buy our own place. Well, money being what it was back then, the toys had to go and my car audio days were left behind until 2007.

My first foray back into car audio was with a 1999 Silverado X-Cab but alas I never took any pics and the tranny exploded in the Spring of 2009. In need of a vehicle right away, I found my current 2008 which was selling for about $15K less than it sold for 6 months previous. I wasn't keen on the color, but it was a steal and I bought it. She was loaded and I knew that I could transfer a lot of my car audio equipment into the new ride.

So, without further ado....first, here is a pic of the truck.

Click to read more...

 

[AlterEgo99 5,000+ posts]

Under the hood (yes two Kinetiks and the Big 3):

Closeup of battery on passengers side:

Closeup of battery on drivers side:

Closeups of my homemade fuse blocks for the drivers side battery:

 

[AlterEgo99 5,000+ posts]

Here are a couple shots of the brains...namely my very favorite Alpine CDA-9887. I have had this H/U since 2007 and I love it...and yes, I use Imprint to get the soundstage and parametric EQ settings just right for my vehicle. I've learned a lot about how to set the amps when I am running the Imprint software to get the best sound curve.

 

[silveradokid 10+ year member]

Nice, I like the wiring and battery setup, but if I'm not mistaken you told me you had two 10's, that's a lot of juice for two 10's.

 

[AlterEgo99 5,000+ posts]

Nice, I like the wiring and battery setup, but if I'm not mistaken you told me you had two 10's, that's a lot of juice for two 10's.

LOL, I tend to overdue a lot. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif Plus, as car audio goes, you always want to have more just in case you "upgrade". //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/naughty.gif.94359f346c0f1259df8038d60b41863e.gif

 

[AlterEgo99 5,000+ posts]

Crap, I had typed a lot about the amps and then got sidetracked with something else and when I came back the damn browser died. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/verymad.gif.3f39c5c2fd57527b671fad3efdfac756.gif

 

[AlterEgo99 5,000+ posts]

Ok, so, as I was saying, in my 1999, there was enough room under the rear seat that I could place 2 amps there. Not so in the 2008. It seems the GM engineers decided to reclaim that space for God knows what. Here is what the rear of the truck looks like without the sub box there.

Trust me, there is no room under there when the sub box is in place nor is there any room behind the rear seat.

 

[AlterEgo99 5,000+ posts]

I am partial to the JL Audio Slash series of amps but they are BIG. I had two at one time in my 1999 but in the 2008 they would not fit. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif So I looked around and decided the best spot for amps would be in the center console. It was big and deep and I didn't really use it for anything else. But I needed to find amps that would fit, and at the time the Alpine PDX series fit the bill. So, I purchased a PDX 1.600 for the subs and a PDX 4.100 for the mids and tweets. They are small and stackable and would fit in the center console. However, I really need to be able to find some way to move air over the amps so they didn't overheat. So, here is what I did.

First, to create a "grill", I drilled a large hole on the inside of the console and mounted the highest RPM/quietest fan I could find. This fan would pull air into the console. So, on the drivers side of the console here is what I did.

Next, I drilled a hole in the top of the console cover so I could mount another fan that would pull warm air out of the console. I used the non-skid pad that came with the console cover and used a leather puch to create another "grill". This photo is of the console cover looking down from above.

Here is another photo of the console cover when it is open and you can see how the fan is mounted and wired.

 

[AlterEgo99 5,000+ posts]

Here are photos of the amps inside the console.

In this first photo you can see the fan that pulls the air into the console on the drivers side at the bottom of the photo.

And here are some more photos of the inside of the console and the amps. As I said earlier, the PDX 1.600 is the top amp. This one powers the subs and I figured it would run hotter than the PDX 4.100. It's been this way for over 2 years and I have never had either amp go into protect, even due to heat.

Picture of console open and amps.

 

[AlterEgo99 5,000+ posts]

As promised, these are photos of the sub box. I had it custom made as I just did not have time to build it myself. Two 10" JL Audios are mounted in the box. It is not ported. I have the subs wired in parallel so I can get 300W RMS to each from the PDX 1.600.

I modified the terminals to accept banana clips as this would ensure they stayed in place. The subs cause a lot of vibration and I didn't want the wires working loose. Unfortunately the builder of the box put these really crappy springloaded terminals in so I had to remove them and drill to modify and remount better terminals.

Here's the box in the back with the rear seats up.

And here's the box with the rear seats down.

As you can see, not a lot of room for anything else back there.

 

[AlterEgo99 5,000+ posts]

And here are pics of the mids and tweets.

Front doors:

Rear doors:

Speakers are all Polks with passive crossovers.

The truck did have the Bose 7 speaker system in it but I disconnected all of that crap and left the Bose tweeters in the A pillars. They are disconnected and are just there for "show".

 

[AlterEgo99 5,000+ posts]

So, that's about it. It's been like this for over 2 years. As I said, I tried to keep it all stock looking as much as possible. No "glassing" of the doors with larger mids or more speakers. I'm too old, and I have kids, so there was no way I was going to rip out the rear seats and build a huge sub wall. I'll leave that up to you youngin's. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/naughty.gif.94359f346c0f1259df8038d60b41863e.gif

It's only 1000W RMS total, but it is plenty loud for me, bumps pretty good and with the Imprint has what I consider really nice SQ.

That's all folks!

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[2ndroundko 10+ year member]

Looks good clean and simple, not something often seen in custom car audio. Did you put any leader in at all?

 

[Superchevyman 10+ year member]

Nice work looks real clean Kudos on the amp set up never seen that before but came out good!

 

[silveradokid 10+ year member]

Nice, I like it. You're right, there is no room in there. When I get out of college I want to get an 08-10 silverado, but a 4 door. So I would be doing another build like you did, but by the time I have the money for a new truck like that I think I'll be taking the route you did and go with smaller equipment. Love the truck man, and great setup!