Kev's 2011 2SS Convertible Build [COTW 3/28/11]

[TAG UR IT]

not going for a test 4?

[Drago77]

Originally Posted by TAG UR IT

not going for a test 4?

Nope... working now! Lmao! And provided hours of entertainmentast night!!!!

[Drago77]

Been awhile since I posted anything... a few minor mods here n there, repainted cupholder trim (gloss black- fits the scheme better), wheel centercap bow tie black outs, etc... a few mods to post here, not in order, but we'll take em' as I find the pix...

First up is underhood lighting... A friend (sycraft) from the club did this on his LT and I liked it so much I had to add...

a simple 36" LED strip under the hood at the ridge closest to the wipers... didn't really effect my underhood glow much, but looks killer with the hood down, glows up onto the windshield and reflects of my windshield tint... also helps remind me to turn OFF my blue's when driving...

PS- 2 notes...

1)- the picture quality sucks... cell phone

2)- the lights look like they're "sagging" in the 2nd pick.. they're not; it's an illusion from the wiper arm!

[Drago77]

LOVE this mod...

Can't say enough great things about the ceramic pads!!!!! I have black rims and brake dust was a nightmare, NO MORE!!!!! At least a 90% reduction in dust!!!!!

EASY install as well! Hawks eliminated the old "roller skates" without any squeak, stopping is (not much noticeably) but still better... and NO DUST! Took longer to jack the car up and remove the wheels than the swap!

G2 paint worked well. I read a lot of complaints about "not enough" paint to cover..." based on this, I did only the "front" half of the split calipers, just to be sure, especially going white over black. I had WELL over 50% of the paint left. and a COMPLETE 100% coverage. Paint them al the way- light, even coats; you'll be fine! I think I did 4 coats each! Love it!

I had a local graphics shop (www.zillagraphics.com- they ship!) do the "Brembo" in a high temp black vinyle. Same day turn around, under $10!

[Drago77]

Again... I apologize for the crapy quality pix.... cell phones are so much more convenient despite bad pics... and the water spots on the rims... while I had the wheels off I washed them front/back... rained while I was doing it and they got caought outside. Dried before I wiped... my bad...

[Drago77]

This was a SERIOUS project, expensive and time consuming. I had a "semi-pro_ installer lined up to help, but life happened; and I was on my own... I haven't done radios in years, but what the hell, right?!?!?!

First off- what I bought:

• Kenwood DNX9990HD head unit- discontinued and a biotch to find... roughtl, $1200 w/ 3 yr warranty
• Scosche HVAC unit, w/ custom pain- $360
• Kenwood 210 CMOS back-up cam- $200
• PAC-SWI RC controls- $40
• USB extention cord- $10
• Resistors- $1
• Parking Brake/Video Bypass- $15

Roughly $1850

Old system removal...

VERY simple to pop the old radio...

Pull the center console (shifter plate and 4 pack gauges), 2 screws, and "gently" pry the unit free... snaps right out. 4 more screws around the metal box-radio and it slides right out. One connector for the unit. Piece of cake... now... if only ths install was as easy....

[Drago77]

Where to start????

After pulling the stock radio, I decided I was going to mount the GPS antenna in place of the horrid center speaker. Be careful not to break the clips... like I did. The passenger side just "snaps" in place, drivers side has cheap, alluminum clips... they break easy... word of caution.

In order to run the GPS antenna to the radio, and also install the Blu-Tooth mic, I pulled the speedo... again.. Pop the bezel clips, unscrew 4 torx and it comes out with one wire cluster... may have to push the dash up a little for clearance... mine knows me by now and moves on its own, lol!

Ran the GPS wire from the now void center speaker cavity behind the speedo, conjoined with the BT mic wire and tied to my ABL wiring... ran into the radio cavity... GPS unit magnatized well to the stock clips in the dash, speker cover has a slight bow to it now, but not noticeable.

You may notice from the pics in my last post, the harness looks similar to a spinal cord ripped out in Mortal Combat by Scorpion... I'm not a gamer-geek (no offense) but I couldn't help but see the resemblance! It's realy easy to "build," the directions these days are phenominal, it just looks seriously scary... and it's huge... I mean- HUGE!

It's all kinda a mad jumble from here... trial and error. I connected everything, and it all worked perfectly, but there was a lot of trial and errors during the install.... best advise is to try having a plan on where everything goes, what goes behind/in-front of what and what order to pack crap in. There's a LOT of wires to tuck... and a very limited space... that was the single longest part, fitting the wiring!

I gotta say, I believe the PAC SWI-RC (steering wheel interface) was a waste... I had it wired in, but no power, and a 2-page programming instruction manual for it to follow, yet my steering wheel control worked before I ever hooked the power up to it, nor programmed... It's not a huge deal to install, I'd recommend buying it, installing without, and if need be- then install... but I think I didn't need it. Oh well.

I bought a 5' micro USB- standard USB extention, disconnected the stock USB in the rear of the center console (remove the side console trim panels, then 2 screws on each side of the end cap and pops off) and therefor retained the stock USB input... MONOTRONICS... dirt cheap!!!!

Being a "vert" guy, the back up cam was a bit of an issue. I ran the wire for the cam across the underconsole of the steering wheel- theres some good zip-tie points there, behind the trim panel, down the side racetrack under the trim and under the rear seat, through the Sub hole which I voided during my JL Stealth Box upgrade. Tried going down the side, but that's a serious PITA to route... Sub hole was the most realistic path. Ran into the spare tire well and along the wiring JL installed. Came up the back of the well, to the side wall and through the driver side tail light gromet. Fished the wire between the frame and bumper and popped out by the license plate. Notched the plastic trim piece between the lights, mounted the camera there... a little obvious for my taste, especially on a white car, but well worth it. Made the mistake of NOT taking into account the depth of the license plate frame, and will have to get a black frame, notch it around the camera... that will allow the fit and the black will subue the camera... I hope

Anyway... back to the insall... did I mention packing the wires is a BI-OTCH!?!?!?!?!?!?! words of advise:

• run the scoshe USB over to the passenger glove box for updates... you DONT want to do this over again!!!! (I used a 1' extention)
• run the Scoshe harness through the lower stock mount "mouth"... you'll know what I mean
• pack the wires up and aroung the radio... there's room there- use it
• eliminate wires you don't need... I had a huge excess of certain wires. Take the time to cut and resolder long wires... if you don't need the length, you'll need the space, trust me...and cut the wires you don't need... rear video output on a vert... no thank you!
• if your using a Sosche/Alpine kit, beware the lower center weld on the frame itself... it's a tight fit getting back in, and a seriously cheap weld. Everyone I know broke their weld there... including me.

Take your time, don't rush it... not difficult, just tests your patience!


Update: My GPS antenna did not hold being magnatized to the clips, so I built a small plastic "bridge" and mounted across the underside of the whole where the center speaker was, secured through the former speaker screw holes, and attached the antenna to the center of that. Secured perfectly now, no more "bulge" in the speaker cover and excellent reception.

[Drago77]

Took about 6 hours give/take to pack it all in, run the camera and other extantions and get everything put back. All together, I (rightfully) removed the center side console trim, shifter plate, speedo bezel, speedo, center speaker and covering, rear seats (upper/lower), rear-most trunk pannel and license plate... honestly, about 30 minutes to re-install all...

Initial feedback:

Scoshe kit WOULD NOT accept the firmware update via multiple USB attempts... although- everything works fine as is. All controls work... maybe I have the current software??? dunno- it works tho. Must say... I've always known Scosche to be a "Walmart" brand electronics... guess what, they're still a "Walmart" brand electronics. The screen is "touchy" and unprecise. Image background is grainy... I guess it's "supposed to be", but the background color is more of a charcoal than black- unlike the rest of the interior, and there's straight black in the display, so it's intentional... just dont know why... and my buttons are sticking. A lot. Not enought to pull the monstrocity enough yet and warranty it, but if they don't loosen up in the next week, I will. That sucks. the buttons are pis$$ing me off.

The Kenwood... is... PHENOMINAL!!!!!! I love this unit! First off, I went through drama getting it, waiting on a sale from a great dealer, only to have it discontinued in the meantime. Almost went Pioneer- SOOOO glad I didn't. Instead, bought off Ebay, no factory warranty, but did an aftermarket warranty comapany, still came out less than MSRP- so good deal.

Sound quality is great, plenty of user interface controls to adjust your tone, eq, space, and a bunch of crap I don't understand!

Supports Blue Tooth, USB, Ipod (w optional USB cable to interface in rear) CD, Pandra, Aha, XM (w kit) and probably more I don't even realize... It says "HD radio" tuner, although, my favorite local radio station went HD and I can't get it... cant seem to tune between the standard channels, even with manual programming, don't understand that...

For us vert owners, the "negative tilt" angle is a MUST! The glare is horrendous, but set the negative tilt, and although not cyrstal clear, a HUGE improvement! That alone made it worth the extra money and risk over the Pioneer!

Garmin Nav is incredible. Anyone who's used it before- it's the same- and still great; including a split screen Nav/radio function.

Back up cam is also amazing. No crazy wireing hookup, simple pos/neg wires and 1 RCA cable... auto switch- enter reverse and the cam appears, shift out and it disappears! Fish eye view will take some getting used to, but thats the price for a super wide angle.

I bought the parking brake bypass module... I uess theres a way to do this in the wiring itself, but for $15 off eBay, I got a 3 wire syastem with a small module... easy to follow/understand instructions- and it works. Not that I ever would, but if I wanted to- I can now watch DVD's while driving... or at least my passengers can!

I'm very, very happy with this set up. Still have a lot of learning to do, and tweaking, but I'm completely satisfied as of 2 days...

Ratings (1-10):

Kenwood:

Overall- 9

Good- sound, functions, neg tilt, Garmin nav, dvd vids look great

Bad- No SD media slot (SD only for Garmin updates), needs ability to change generic screen (while music playing... some type of "moving" image instead of static display)

Scosche

Overall- 5

Good- works, all functions/buttons do as they show, looks better than metra

Bad- MY DAMN BUTTONS ARE STICKING!!!!!! Cheap(er) looking display comparatively... more suited for a Senata than a Camaro

I'm glad I didn;t wait for the upcoming Kenwood system... looks great (and eliminated the cheap a$$ Scoshe) but as we all know, first run models are guinea pigs.. and thats a SERIOUS PITA to remove/re-install for warranty work... even though my individual ratings total up to about a 7, I'd give the entire unit a solid 8.5...the good far outweigh the bad! None of the proclaimed "Scoshe- errors" yet as far as remote distance, tire pressure warnings, etc... so far so good!

Some (crappy) pix below!

[rockrobb]

Where did you get the custom colored kit from? I have been looking to do this but haven't seen any vendors that paint them.

[Drago77]

Originally Posted by rockrobb

Where did you get the custom colored kit from? I have been looking to do this but haven't seen any vendors that paint them.

We have a custom paint/hydro coating shop that does most of our clubs work; told him what I wanted; came out GREAT!

He's done all my custom paint on my car and several other members. He just began hydro dipping- the designs he can do are phenomenal! And inexpensive; too!

I'm sure you could ship it back/forth if your interested:
Mike Meyers
Chrome Fish Customs
Port Saint Lucie, Fl.

They have a website and Facebook under the shop name. I love mine; Mike does great work!

[tmac1granger33]

great write up on the scosche man! ill be tackling the install soon , but i have an LS and wont be worrying about steering wheel controls, gps, and all that .. so im hoping that simplifies it a little bit

[Drago77]

Been awhile since I posted anything on here... a few minor mods lately... kinda lost track... gonna post the more noteable ones in their own post...

for now; I decided to black out the "SS" logo's... got rid of the last bit of red on the car... Not the best pic, but you get the idea.

[Drago77]

Got lucky on this one, a great friend of mine had to get rid of his Camaro, so we, like vultures, swooped in and scavenged everything from it.. I ended up with a horrific sunburn, plasma DRL's and JDP halo's...

We decided it'd be easier to just swap the entire headlight assembly rather than the individual LEDs, labor intensive, but easier.

I gotta say I'm 75% disappointed with JDP and this product based on 4 points:

1- Purchase- wife ordered these in January to be in for the Camaro Rally in Orlando/ my B-Day the beginning of March, she tried both Phastek Performance and JDP. Both listed "avaliable" online, but were later discovered out of stock. Phastek gave a quicker ship time and cheaper than calling JDP direct... (amazing, how can you sell cheaper than the manufacturer????) Regardless, the stated delivery date of late Feb came and went, along with the rally... I decided to spend our money elsewhere so mid March we finally cancelled the order. Wise savings of $265.

2- Next issue, after installation, I noticed the 2 lights don't match. One shows a significantly different hue. Particularily in the reds/yellow its noticeable. Darker colors aren't as bad, but blatently obvious... fail!

3- And most irritating to me... the white... is NOT white... not even CLOSE! It's more of a ... a... purple??? with a tint of yellow at the base??? wierd but definitely, NOT white and not NOT matching the headlights nor DRLs (LED nor Plasma versions- although plasma is closer)

4- Gotta end on a good note... the blue is A-MAZING!!!!! When my car's lit up for shows, it looks phenominal, and really, I guess that's what I got them for... I can't see em driving, so long as that's all good, guess I'm happy.

Glad I got them the way I did, I'd be very upset if I paid full price, but for a nominal "tip" and 5 hours of work ,pretty good deal.

[Drago77]

Please excuse the bugs on my bumper... I'm going out to clean that now... damn love bugs!!!