The birth of Orange Krate...

[pierre777]

I know exactly what you mean , car looks sick bro , love the chrome rims looks awesome.

[Mindz]

Man the amount of detail in your install process posts are great. You should have your own DIY corner.

Congrats on the crazy 1 milestone! The heritage grill is stunning Jim. Did you design the shift knob yourself or is that a template made by someone else? Do they make custom one-off pieces? =)

[JoeP@TeamBeckyD]

Congrats Jim!


Now on to 111111...




Becky

[BURNT ORANGE SS]

Sweet Jim. Orange Krate has never looked better! Are you going to Super Car Sunday?

[Orange Krate]

Just catching up on replying as I have been away on vacation with the family in our 5th wheel camping in San Diego. Funny thing happened yesterday. We were headed on a day trip out of San Diego up to Barona Valley. We stopped at a turn-off from Hwy 8 and up beside me pulls along a brand spanking new, paper plated Victory Red ZL1!!! My tongue fell out of my head and my wife said... I guess you should have waited a few months to buy your Camaro huh? What could I say? Orange Krate II in the future? Hmmm.

Headed to Solvang and Buellton, Pismo and up towards SLO this coming weekend. Orange Krate is napping!

Originally Posted by pierre777

I know exactly what you mean, car looks sick bro, love the chrome rims looks awesome.

Thanks Pierre! I like the chrome as well. Seems easier to keep clean. Of course the Adam's products do wonders for the car. I am still scoping out ghost stripes and I have a new idea for headrest covers!

Originally Posted by Mindz

Man the amount of detail in your install process posts are great. You should have your own DIY corner. Congrats on the crazy 1 milestone! The heritage grill is stunning Jim. Did you design the shift knob yourself or is that a template made by someone else? Do they make custom one-off pieces? =)

Hi Mindz thanks for the kudos. I like to write and shoot photos. If I can help someone else from making a blunder I figure it is worth the time and DIY. I too love the Heritage Grill and thank Becky and Maureen at Rodgers Chevrolet for helping me make it happen.

Shift knob... I cannot take credit it for the design. As far as I know, I am the second one to have one custom made like that. I saw the first on Facebook and fell in love with it. Jason and his gang at Sickspeed were all over this product for me. Mindz they will produce you a custom shift knob. Contact them through their FACEBOOK website or sickspeed.com.

Originally Posted by BeckyD@RodgersChevrolet

Congrats Jim!
Now on to 111111...
Becky

Dearest Becky... I have a LONG way to go to catch up to you and the class you bring to the game! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! XOXOX

Originally Posted by BURNT ORANGE SS

Sweet Jim. Orange Krate has never looked better! Are you going to Super Car Sunday?

Thanks Wayne! I can't make it as I am camping with the whole fam damily! But I will catch up to you and the gang very very soon. A LOT has been going on in my business life.

Now off to the garage to stare at my boy napping. I missed him and I was only gone a few days.


.

[Orange Krate]

Today I got Orange Krate back from the dealer. He had a leaking/defective hose fitting on the coolant hose that runs down to the oil pan from the driver's side of the engine block.

As I stated in another thread, up until this point, I didn't even realize their was a form of heat exchanger at the oil pan, even though I had looked under the car a dozen times I guess it just never registered. I happened to discover it while checking trans and differential fluid levels and performing a Royal Purple add. I also discovered some significant scraping of paint off of the ground effects passenger side underneath. So this will get repainted when I have the stripes shot. I don't recall ever bottoming out or scraping hard but that is the nature of a low sitting car. Vigilance!

The service writer said the owner (Jeff Morris) of the Chevrolet dealership wanted to know if Orange Krate might be interested in having his own photo shoot so they can put photos up in the dealership! Why not? Lets go!

Below is a list of parts replaced under warranty. Gotta love having a warranty on a muscle car.

[Orange Krate]

Yesterday I received my IOM BigWorm Graphix die cut vinyl bow ties for Orange Krate. The package came with good instructions and their website has some good pointers on it. There are several threads that discuss adding this mod so I will not repeat those efforts on this mod. It took me about 1 hour to install both bow ties and the 4 wheel cap bow ties. Big Worm's IOM is a spot on color match. Changes the whole flavor of the car. For under $50 bucks for everything, including an install tool thrown in for good measure, you can't beat the upgrade. I used a hair dryer to help lay down the edges and it worked well. Very little trimming required. THANKS BIGWORM MOTORSPORTS and BIGWORM GRAPHIXS!

[Orange Krate]

Last Saturday I purchased some valve stem caps. Clearly the cheapest mod for Orange Krate yet. I saw these simple valve caps sold at O'Reilly Auto Parts and Walmart too. They appear to be fairly durable and were under 5 bucks. I think they look better then the black plastic caps but certainly are not real billet. But hey... I thought they looked OK for the money. I may paint an ORANGE ring in that groove just for kicks.

[Moreno1]

Very nice! I like your attention to details. Beautiful car!

[Orange Krate]

My buddy Tom D from Central Coast Camaro Club was kind enough to remind me about the chrome sleeves available for rubber valve stems. I picked up a set today at O"Reilly Autoparts for under $4.00. It was the last little touch I needed to make the wheels look right.

Today I also drove to another tire shop and ran into an old friend who is running for our local City Council. He is a retired firefighter and a former professional motocross racer. He has been around cars, bikes and speed for a long time. He saw Orange Krate and loved the car. I really enjoyed talking to Keith as I hadn't seen him in a few years in person. I wish him the best on the election and I hope he wins because he is a good man and a very talented guy with some common sense. Orange Krate has no problem making new friends!

[Moreno1]

Originally Posted by Orange Krate

Thank you Nathan. My cousin lives down in Temecula and one day I was driving downtown in old Temecula and I saw a nice white SS. Perhaps it was you? I come down there on occasion. Perhaps we can park the two SS' together and have a "Creamsicle"

Jim you are making me hungry, LOL. Give me aa heads up next time you're in town

[Orange Krate]

I got home this evening to find this box at my front door. It is the first of three packages that will have to arrive to complete this mod. It will be by far my most challenging as it involves some electrical swaps... you will have to wait to find out on my journal as I get the other pieces and do what I hope is a very very clear and succinct DIY as I have not found the best article on this mod install yet. I may need some technical help but I know it is out there because the Camaro5 family is just that... a willing, helpful FAMILY! This mod should be done just in time to celebrate Orange Krate's second birthday on November 15th! Hard to believe how time flies. Here is a photo of the package... it ain't ticking.

[Orange Krate]

This part of the puzzle arrived today. Actually I went to Sonic Electronix and picked up my new amp at Will Call. Got a good deal I think. Now all I need is some good wire and fuse/fuse connector and we are just about ready for an install! I can't wait. I am getting happy feet already hearing the music (voices) in my head. Orange Krate will be very symphonic!

******** sold me the super awesome wiring connector set for the Gen5 so as to make for a very simple install without cutting the heck out of the wiring loom and messing up the radio, Onstar, chimes etc. THANKS STEVE!

I will be doing a DIY as soon as I get a block of time to perform the sawp out and of course, have the rest of the pieces for install.

[Orange Krate]

I love music of all kinds and had a limited budget for this mod. I felt a need to improve the Boston Acoustics system output because after installation of my Flowmaster exhaust system there was a significant increase of DB level in car. Yes... at some point I will put in more soundproofing! No big deal there.

The JL Audio 400/4 amp is a DEAD ON FIT for the BA amp. size requirements.

http://www.********.com sells the perfect adaptor harness kit and mounting bracket for the new amp.

THESE ARE WORTH THEIR WEIGHT IN GOLD! You can go back to stock easily. No issues there.

Because of my work schedule, some foul weather and other distractions I didn't have the opportunity or luxury of time to use my Nikon camera and do as detailed of an install as I had hoped to do. For those of you who would like some additional reading on an install of this particular amp please look at the DIY posted by Steve from ********.com here is his link http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117769
He is a website sponsor so I encourage you to tap into his products and knowledge since he is a Camaro owner too! His products deliver as promised.

DISCLAIMER/SAFETY: I am not an audiophile. I read numerous articles on Camaro5 and other sources such as ********.COM and JL Audio. I used life experience and looked at photos, FAQs and troubleshooting comments. Also read several DIY installs of the same product. Methodically worked through it. Make sure you leave the battery cables disconnected while you are wiring up stuff. Put blankets over the back end of your car so you don't scratch it while you are leaning over the trunk to install. I also had a flashlight and a light stand to shoot light into the trunk for my old eyes. MOST IMPORTANTLY GO SLOW!

What I bought for this mod project:

1 - JL Audio 400/4 amplifier from Sonicelectronics which is near my house. You can also pick them up at other places. Sonic had a sale on them plus I saved on shipping.

1 - 500watt Monster Cable set with 80amp fuse, power cable, ground cable, remote on cable and various gold plated terminal ends, shrink tube and wire ties. Bought this at Fry's Electronics on sale.

1 - 40 amp fuse in place of the 80 amp which was too big for this system. JL Audio recommended a 40 amp so that is what I used. Bought this at Pep Boys.

4 - Double male RCA plugs to connect the input cable feeds into the amp and 1 pkg of assorted shrink wrap and wire ties. Bought these at Radio Shack.

Tools: Soldering gun, electrical solder, 10mm socket, 13mm socket, wire strippers, side cutter, utility knife, small electronics flat head screwdriver for adjusting amp controls.

If you have not ever done electrical work on a car, installed a stereo or home entertainment equipment etc. THIS MAY NOT BE THE PROJECT FOR YOU! If you have never opened the spare tire compartment of your Camaro this may not be for you! Overall this was a fairly straight forward install.

On with the pictures and fun.

Layout all your pieces for the project in well lit area. I did this initial wiring in my office on a desk so I had good light and internet access for quick review if needed.

Open the trunk and remove the back plastic inner trunk valance by removing the 6 plastic large screws (used for storage net). The trunk's rubber seal goes over the valance on the top edge and holds it in place.

Remove the trunk's floor carpet piece, then remove spare tire compartment cover (battery house).

Remove the driver's side wheel well/fender insulated liner. BE CAREFUL NOT TO CREASE OR DAMAGE THIS. I WAS ABLE TO MOVE MINE TO THE SIDE WITHOUT REMOVING COMPLETELY.

Make sure the mounting kit (board) fits the car correctly. Then mount the amp on the ******** factory fit amp mount (5G-FFA) and recheck for clearance, fit and accessibility of cables.

Time to wire the amplifier. The system is a 4 channel. Match the INPUTS and OUTPUTS. Remember the amp is receiving signal from the radio control head in the dash and then amplifying the sound and relaying to the speakers.

Install the 4 RCA Male-Male plugs into the amp. Using ******** harness kit (FG-FARK) match inputs: Left Front, Right Front, Left Rear and Right Rear accordingly.

Then wire the output side of amp: Left Front, Right Front, Left Rear, Right Rear. Make sure you use the black striped wires as grounds(-) and the solid color wires as positive (+).

When you buy the products from ******** there is additional help on wiring that may be crucial to optimal sound and OEM radio functions! As I said... ******** is the way to go. No sense hacking your car's wiring loom!

Some tips that may help...
I prefer to solder whenever I can as opposed to butt splices, wire nuts etc. I used the materials provided by Monster cable and also used some of my own material to complete the wiring. IMHO it decreases chances of wires coming loose from vibration, getting moisture in connectors and more assuring good continuity. SHRINK TUBE IS A GOOD THING.

With amp wired I mounted it in the car and checked again for clearance. Then removed it and laid the amp on the trunk floor.

I proceeded to assemble the 4 gauge Monster blue (positive) cable. I cut off an eight inch piece to use as the battery stub to fuse holder. I stripped the cable and tinned it with solder, placed it in the large terminal end and took the assembly to the garage and used my vice to tightly squeeze the connector onto the cable. I ran the supplied shrink tube over the terminal and used a handheld butane fireplace lighter to heat it and shrink it. WORKED GREAT! I put the fuse holder pieces together on the stubby and then repeated the process on the other long piece of cable. I checked to make sure the 40 amp fuse fit properly and then removed it prior to hook up.

Next I put a terminal end on the ground cable.

Now for the smoke test... I hooked the battery and ground up and NO SMOKE! I went to the car and turned the radio on and it worked but no sound. What the @!#$. I looked at the amp and the switches were put on the LP filter modes and as soon as I flipped them to None or HP... I had tunes!

FINAL STEPS...
There was excess blue power cable so next step is to fully mount the amplifier and route the blue cable from the amp following the wheel well area over and down the battery cable and along the battery cable channel of the trunk floor. I chopped off the excess blue cable with side cutters, removed the cable from the trunk, slid the shrink tube back behind the terminal end. I then attached the battery terminal end and used the vice to squeeze it and then finished the shrink tube application. I did a final placement of the positive cable in the car and wire tied about every 6-8". I made sure the fuse was tight in the fuse holder and attached the power cable to the battery terminal.

Next I ran the ground cable down to the battery/spare tire well and across to the ground strap/bolt for the battery. It was a perfect fit. I used wire ties and bolted the ground cable in place.

Recheck of radio/stereo...it works still! Good.

Reverse installation of wheel well liner, battery well cover, trunk mat, valance, and installation of cargo net. Project done and Orange Krate has never sounded better! Symphonic I tell you!

Total install time was approximate 6 hours which is probably an over estimate since my time was fragmented. But it was successful and I saved a few bucks. Any information needed please PM me. Glad to help.