This pearl white vehicle is a limited edition of the "Z," purchased brand new in August of 1988 by one Larry Tobey. It was one of only 500 manufactured. That in itself makes it noteworthy. But of course there's more to this story than that. Almost immediately after driving the vehicle off the dealer's lot, Tobey decided to install an audio system. Tobey and a team installed a system in the vehicle that took approximately three months to finish. After several sales representatives saw the vehicle, both they and the shop where the install was performed told Tobey that he should compete. Since Tobey was new to the competition arena, he was a little hesitant, but he eventually entered the judging lanes. For the next four years, Tobey entered many shows and won all of them, 52 to be exact. That's quite an accomplishment. After the 1992 season, Tobey decided to go out on top and retired from competing.
Four years later, Tobey realized that he couldn't stay away from the judging lanes. In 1996, he decided to build another system in the "Z" and the final outcome is what you see here. This time around, he built the vehicle strictly to compete. The main guideline behind the installation was to preserve the original interior aesthetics of the vehicle; the installation had to be an extension of the foundation already created by Nissan. This meant that build quality and craftsmanship were not just a high priority - they were absolutely essential.
Phat Face
For the head unit, Tobey chose a Denon DCT 1000R, largely because of its superior sound quality. This unit is regarded as one of the best ever manufactured. Fortunately for Tobey, he was able to get his hands on one because they are no longer sold in the United States. The unit was completely disassembled in order to flush mount it onto a one-inch piece of acrylic. CNC machining was required to duplicate the face and the rest of the panel. The chassis was machined onto the back of the acrylic face installation integrity. The face was finished with some paint and silk-screening to give it a factory appearance.
Under the factory armrest is a Precision Power PEQ114 trimmed in billet aluminum and custom fuse holder. The fuses monitor all the low voltage components in the vehicle. Each fuse has a corresponding LED that is green when the fuse is active and red when it is blown. A custom acrylic cover completes the fuse area. With the armrest down, everything is hidden.
A Precision Power DEQ230 is used to fine-tune the system. Everything pertaining to the installation of this component is unique. The equalizer is mounted on one-inch billet aluminum for weight reduction and structural integrity. It resides just behind the front seats. Several custom pieces were made, such as milled aluminum brackets, limit switches, sequencer, slide rails, and motorization. It is raised and lowered remotely via an Alpine 8081 security system. Wiring was extremely important; careful attention was made to ensure that the wires from the EQ would not bind or chafe. The crossovers from the Precision Power Ax606.2 amplifiers send the proper frequencies to the vehicle.
Lots Of Molds
For a system such as this, kickpanel enclosures would be fabricated for the front speakers as a matter of course. When building the enclosures, Tobey's guidelines were to have them be as stealth as possible; they should appear to be factory and sound incredibly accurate. Using part of the original kickpanel for construction, reverse molds were built from clay and wood. Other materials, such as MDF and Kevlar fabric, were used in the molding process for strength. The vehicle's factory hardware was used to hold the kickpanels in place. The baffles were finished in a two-stage base coat: clear coat custom metallic platinum gray PPG paint. The kicks are home to an MB Quart 4" midrange and tweeter. Security screws were used to tighten the speakers in place.