What do you do when you want it all? And by all, we're talking about that special combination of speed, appearance and sound. If you're Gene Hickman of Frederick, MD, and you happen to be the owner of a Nissan dealership, you pull a few strings to have a '98 Skyline R33 delivered to your doorstep. And, as you've had the foresight to open an audio installation shop, Fourth Street Customs, you hand that Skyline over to Tom Bostic, lead installer, and let him turn your right-hand-drive track car into a slamming, booming daily driver.
Shop box
Fourth Street CustomsFrederick, MD
Installer
Tom Bostic
Driver Profile
Owner Gene Hickman was always into car audio, but never found a shop he truly liked. So he opened his own. Fourth Street Customs was made a part of his Frederick, MD, Nissan dealership, and he soon set installer Tom Bostic to work on his right-hand-drive Nissan Skyline. The Skyline is a daily driver (complete with a custom cup holder for Hickman's daily Starbucks), but it also gets a workout at the track. Sometimes you really can have it all.
Light It Up
When approaching the installation of the front speakers, Bostic realized that the factory locations would not cut it. So he set to work creating, in his words, a unique door panel to keep up with a unique car. Door panels were constructed out of LDF, fiberglass, brushed aluminum tubing, and perforated aluminum sheeting. The panels were painted orange to match the exterior of the car. Into these panels were dropped two sets of MTX Audio TX6001 6 1/2" separates. Bringing the door panels to life is a beautiful outlay of Varad LED lights, adding a luminescent touch to an already stunning interior.
Multitasker
As the Skyline was expected to perform on the track as well as the streets, weight considerations were given a high priority. Where possible, corners were cut - but never at the expense of good sound or performance, of course. With that in mind, an Eclipse AVN7000 was chosen for the head unit. With navigation, CD, DVD, and Sirius Satellite Radio capabilities, plus a strong built-in processor, the decision was a no-brainer. The Eclipse AVN7000 sits proudly in the factory location: in the center panel within easy reach of the driver, its monitor folding away when not in use.
Bumpin' In The Trunk
Pop the trunk and you'll be treated to an eyeful of sub-bass goodness. Two MTX Thunder 7500 single 4-ohm subs fire into a sealed subwoofer enclosure. In keeping with the overall lightweight theme, the enclosure was built of LDF, light-density fiberboard. Lastly, it was painted orange to match the rest of the car. To really bring the trunk to life, it was bordered in rollcage tubing and painted to match the interior rollcage. This tubing is not just eye candy - it also serves as an amprack for the two amps that sit just behind each sub. An MTX Thunder TA3401 sub amp pushes out close to 500 watts into the sub, while an MTX Thunder TA3404 4-channel amp powers the separates in the front and the coaxials in the back at 75 watts-per-channel. The amprack also houses two CO2 bottles to cool the intercooler. Between the amps is an Eclipse VM711 monitor to entertain any spectators who may have been attracted to the back by the bass. And, like the door panels, the entire trunk is lit with Varad LEDs, adding that extra special touch to an already stunning trunk.