By Fangzzz (12.230.0.92) on Sunday, December 30, 2001 - 02:16 am:

Alright right now I have 2 400 watts/speaker 12" woofers powered with an 800 watt Jensen amp and need some tips on how to keep the back windows of my 78 Civic 1200 from rattling and also how to keep my license plate from buzzing and also my roof buzzes and i have no idea what is loose in there! Any tips on how to pump the bass any more or stop rattles or just any tips at all would be great! Or if you want more info on the stereo/car feel free to e-mail me!

KC

By dennis singley (65.101.3.179) on Sunday, December 30, 2001 - 06:59 am:

Ok, before I got in the Honda business, I was a car stereo installer, I'm still a stereo junkie! To reduce panel vibrations takes a lot of work but not a lot of $. First, remove the seats, carpet & door/side panels & headliner. (I told you a lot of work!) J.C.Whitney has sound deadening material, also Parts Express, I have another source for the stuff Dyna-Mat uses at much lower cost. (e-mail me for address). Clean all flat surfaces & attach sheets of material. You can also spray automotive undercoating (rubberized) on curved surfaces & in door panels, just make sure the drain holes aren't blocked. Also spray the wheelwells & underside of the car. In places like rear roof pillars where water drainage & access aren't a problem you can use spray expanding foam from a Home Depot (use the minimal expanding kind so it doesn't get out of control). The license plate frame you'll have to pad with the stick on things for kitchen cabinet doors or something similar. Also craft stores have a stick on felt pads that you can use to line the coin box, glove box etc. I did this to our '99 CR-V 2 days after buying it. It has a 10" subwoofer between the front seats & still has the center tray! Hope this helps.

By jon (24.64.223.204) on Monday, December 31, 2001 - 12:23 am:

Hey Fangzzz, I was reading another post and seen you had some altenator questions. I cant remeber who but someone on this board had installed a GM
one wire altenator on thier 1200 and had said it was fairly simple, just a little grinding and what not. you can get some pretty good altenators for you stereo this way as the GM altenators a pretty popular in the aftermarket. maybe someone remembers who did this and can fill him in?

By dennis singley (65.101.2.47) on Monday, December 31, 2001 - 07:26 am:

Sources for sound deadener;
http://www.mcmaster.com
http://www.partsexpress.com
http://www.mcmelectronics.com
Do a search for sound deadener at any of these sites. McMasters also have tons of other interesting stuff. dennis

By Fangzzz (12.230.0.92) on Wednesday, January 02, 2002 - 07:45 pm:

Thanx for the help guys, I found some old double sided tape used for weather-stripping things like sliding glass doors and used that on the rear side windows and around the hatch seal. I still need to look into some sound deadening foam or other such things I would like to be able to get enough of it to do everything for fairly enexpensively. And as for my alternator I have heard you can get them rewound to get more power out of them? Any thoughts on that? And I was wondering does the length of your power cable cause any kind of power loss??

KC

By dennis singley (65.101.3.187) on Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 04:51 am:

Not the length as much as the gauge. A trick way to hook up your amps is to use a main fuse block from a 1st gen CRX, it has an addt'l fuse, then back it up with the properly sized in-line fuse. I did have some trouble with dimming lights when my stereo was cranking, a full sized Optima battery helped. Cleaning & tightening all alt./reg. electrical connections helped some. I had a Bosch reman. alt., I suspected the wire from the alt. just wasn't big enough to keep the Optima "full".

By Fangzzz (12.230.0.92) on Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 06:59 pm:

Yeah I am using the stock alternator and it cannot keep up with demands at all so before i fried it i got a bigger battery and attached that seperatly to my amp but i noticed that with the amp directly attached to a battery the light on the amp still dims when the bass hits. Any thoughts on this??

By 2low2go (24.69.255.202) on Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 07:56 pm:

Adding a second battery(or larger capacity) will only give you a longer run time with the key off. The key is to change the Alternator, find a gm or ford one and make brackets for it. In my system i'm using a 215amp ford alternator, I compete with 4 12" subs and two 1000watt amps, for daily driving i run 2-12" subs and a monoblock 600 watt amp. I don't have any problems with the lights dimming, i also put the battery in the back and i'm using 1/0 wire from the alternator to the battery. I then ran 2awg back to the front for a distribution block for the rest of the car.
Justin

By mike adams (206.58.33.68) on Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 11:04 pm:

Question, does this only occur in the 1200? I mean is the alternator bigger in a 1500? I would assume so, but i'm not sure. I'm going to be installing my stereo into my cvcc and i'd like to know what sort of problems to fix before they start. Any help?

By ddechon --Maryland-- (12.91.131.88) on Friday, January 04, 2002 - 08:47 am:

Mike,
If you system requires more amperage than your alternator can supply, then you should change your alternator. If your system doesn't have an amp, then you shouldn't worry about it.

A large capacitor will help to regulate the current from your alternator instead of loading down your alternator/battery during every bass hit. It will also increase the hard bass hits if your system needs that much current.

If your car stalls (or almost stalls) when your bass kicks...that's bad.

Darrell

By Fangzzz (12.230.0.92) on Sunday, January 06, 2002 - 01:58 pm:

Ok here we go, I was thinking of putting in a second alternator. Keeping the stock one for the car and smaller battery while the second high output alternator for a very large battery in the back that runs only my amp. How many amps would i need to recharge a battery that is getting about 1500 watts pulled from it? Also need something that will fit and run correctly in my car.

By ddechon --Maryland-- (12.91.134.71) on Sunday, January 06, 2002 - 06:33 pm:

Volts x Amps = Watts

Since the output of the alternator is about 13.5 volts, I'll use that in the formula.

1500W/13.5 = 111 Amps

This is just an estimate since all systems are different... Assuming your main system fuse is 30 amps, you probably need a 150 amp alternator or higher to supply you car and stereo. Other people might have other opinions.

However you need to think about continuous (average) or peak. Is your amp rated for 1500 peak or continuous?

I don't install stereos, but I know I've seen stereo sytems with more than one battery. It will give you longer lasting power if you like to hear your stereo while your car engine is off, but it won't necessarily give you what you need. The most important item is your alternator. One high output alternator should be sufficient. Don't forget about the large capicitor to deliver high amperage and regulate your alternator current. It's not totally needed but it can make a system more reliable and powerful. You might get away with a less capable alternator if you use a capacitor...one the size of a beer can. (coke can for those under 21 )

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