When Steve Brown set out to compete in his 1976 Toyota Celica back in 1994, he never realized that the install in the Celica was just a harbinger of things to come. It was on his Celica where he learned much of what he knows today. The Celica went through many grueling trial-and-error periods; and although the old and rusty vehicle from Colville, Washington took second place at the 1994 IASCA Finals in the Novice division, he felt that it could've been better.
During that same year, Brown was "discovered" by the local Alpine sales rep and he was hired in January of 1995 as a Product Application Specialist. Brown is more popular for the vehicle after the Celica, a 1988 Acura Legend. In this vehicle, the installation encompassed everything he learned from the Celica, including custom fiberglass, paint, and motorization. He even went as far as reconstructing the entire dashboard to equalize the path lengths of the speakers in the vehicle. The Acura turned heads at all the shows it attended. He competed with the Acura for five years and won the Expert Class at the IASCA Finals in 1995 and 1998. In that five-year span, he collected enough trophies to start his own trophy shop. With 250,000 miles on the Acura, Brown decided it was time to part ways with the vehicle. He sold it and immediately turned around and purchased a 1995 BMW m3.
Brown was so excited about the vehicle and could not wait to get started with it. In April of 2000, the planning for the vehicle began at the Alpine headquarters in Torrance, California. Together with good friend, co-worker, boss, and partner in crime Chris Yato, the two came up with a plan on the products to be used and how the installation procedure would go. It was decided that the Bimmer would use the best product Alpine has ever manufactured: Alpine F#1 Status. The goals for the system were simple: to produce an aesthetically mind-boggling installation with unprecedented sonic quality. In other words Brown and Yato had to create something totally out of the ordinary. The two were definitely up for the challenge.
New Dash
To understand the complexity of the installation, you must realize that the entire interior is far from stock. In fact, the only factory piece left is the headliner. The entire vehicle was completely gutted. This included taking off the front fenders, hood, and windshield. The duo spent a full month researching speaker position and what worked the best in the vehicle. It was decided that the mids would be installed as far back as possible behind the kick panels. This location provided path lengths that were more equal than just attaching another panel over the factory kick panel. Plus, the kick panel sits in its original place with no trace of any speaker behind it. Like most other kick panels, the ones here do not protrude into the footwell. Brown started by making cavities for the new mids. A 1/3 cubic foot enclosure made of 1/8" steel was welded into the open area behind the fender and kick panel to house a 6-inch mid from an Alpine SPX-F17T component set. They are protected using 16-gauge perforated metal covered in acoustically transparent carpet. With the fender in place, you would never know an enclosure existed behind it. For the high end, the tweeters were placed in the A-pillar behind a custom wrapped panel. This too required many days of testing before choosing the final placement.
The next step was to construct a whole new dash that was symmetrical on both sides to enhance the flow of the mids. This portion of the installation was the most time consuming because many of the factory components had to be relocated. A steering column brace from a European m3 was obtained and installed in the passenger side of the vehicle (remember the European m3 is right-hand drive). With this in place, the bracing for the front dash was symmetrical and gave the two a good reference point to start from when building the dash.
Different types of materials including MDF, Fiberglass, Mar-Glass, Poly Primer, and paint were used to form and finish the dash (these materials were used throughout the vehicle). The gauge cluster, which normally resides in front of the steering wheel, was moved to the center of the vehicle. Behind the gauge cluster is home to two Alpine SPX 4-inch drivers for center channel. With the cluster and speakers in place, the entire venting system had to be re-fabricated. This included the defrosters heater, and A/C. Vents from a Hyundai were used because of their shape and size. This portion of the dash was covered in black leather.
Underneath the cluster is where the radio now resides. An Alpine CDA-7990 was mounted in this location for better visibility and easy access. To ergonomically match the dash, the lights in the radio were changed to amber. Below the radio are two Alpine TME-M750A 6.5-inch monitors (one for navigation and the other for video). Beneath the monitors are the factory heater controls, which have been integrated into the dash. This piece was painted silver to match the vehicle's exterior. The dash then flows into the center console (also re-fabricated), holding the factory switches for the windows, hazard lights, and cigarette lighter behind the shifter.
Once the shape of the dash was formed, the front subwoofer was ready to go in. The low frequencies come from an Alpine SWR-1040D 10-inch Type-R subwoofer. This is the only woofer used when Brown pulls through the judging lanes. The unique aspect of the woofer is its placement; that is, in front of the vehicle just above the passenger side foot well, where the factory glove box used to be. The enclosure, measuring .5 cubic feet is supported to the vehicle from the European m3 brace. Acoustically transparent cloth with 16-gauge perforated steel mesh grill cover protects the woofer. In front of the woofer are four silver faced Auto Meter gauges that display voltage, fuel ratio, boost, and the time.
Although the doors did not receive any audio components, Brown and Yato reconstructed the entire door panel. From the dash, the flow and colors continue into the doors. The bottom portion of the door features etched Plexiglas showing off an Alpine logo.
Futuristic Console and Rear Seat Area
The center console is constructed out of square tube steel. Several pieces were welded together and bolted into the vehicle using the factory mounting bolts for the rear seat belts. The front portion of the console holds an Alpine remote control that is molded in to look as if it were part of the console. Behind the remote is a cover plate wrapped in leather that conceals several buttons. They operate various audio and video functions such as power to the monitors, neon, and amplifier fans. Following the console to the rear, you will see a lexan m3 RC car body. This was also molded into the console. Brown emulated the inside of the vehicle underneath the cover. Fuses are placed according to where the different audio components reside in the vehicle. Status LEDs monitor power going into and out of the fuse so there is no guessing games when looking for a blown fuse. Six screws hold the lexan cover in place.
Above and to the sides of the fuse panel are the amplifiers. From the doors, the matte silver trim (which starts at the dash) continues into the rear portion of the vehicle and expands to flow with the matte silver of the four Alpine V12 amplifiers. Here, Brown used two MRV-T707s and two MRV-F407s. The base of this section is also made from square tube steel. The impressive part of the whole structure is that it weighs less than five pounds. "I can hold the whole base up with my finger," brags Brown. To securely mount the rack, additional mounting points fabricated out of aluminum stock was attached to the vehicle with panel bonding adhesive. Each piece was taped and threaded for the amplifiers to screw into. Two fans behind each amplifier ensure that they never run at extremely high temperatures. Between the four amplifiers is an Alpine DVA-5205 Mobile DVD Player and a TME-M750A 6.5-inch monitor. Why in the world is there a monitor here? We'll get to that later...
The rear deck was built from scratch. It is molded to flow with the amplifier rack. On top are Alpine SPX 4-inch mids and tweeters on the left and right of the deck for rear fill. They are protected in the same manner as the 6-inch drivers and subwoofer up front.
No Room For a Spare
Believe it or not, the center console which starts inside flows all the way into the trunk and features an Alpine PXA-H900 processor (Alpine F#1 Status). According to Brown, this is the "brain" of the system. With a PC hooked up into the processor, Brown has access to several functions at his fingertips such as 11-channels of crossover capability, time correction, 175-band 1/3 octave equalization, phase selection, and much more. The processor decodes Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Digital, DTS, HDCD, and MPEG. The display for the processor was installed in the headliner just in front of the sunroof.
Yato replaced the original battery with a heavy-duty battery and secured it using an aluminum block. He also reinforced the bolt down points. Directly underneath the battery are two Phoenix Gold circuit breakers. One is for the system and the other is for the vehicle. They are plainly visible and easily accessible. On either side of the trunk are the subwoofers. Alpine SWR-1240 12-inch Type-R subs are mounted to the trunk in a ported enclosure. These woofers are only used for SPL, and when Brown decides to crank it up while driving. A grill made of 1/8" plate steel and fiberglass protects the woofers. Another monitor sits in the middle of the floating grill for onlookers to check out what's playing inside.
More Tricks
A Momo steering wheel and shift knob replaced the factory M products. The steering wheel received radio controls fabricated to the wheel. Several audio functions such as volume, track, power, source selection, and mute make it easy for Brown to operate the system while keeping his hands on the wheel. Just above the steering column is a system status display to monitor such things as the neon, fans, sound quality or SPL mode, and more.
When on display at shows, Brown has a rather unique setup. He has his IASCA presentation on DVD. So he simply pops in the disc and presses play and the presentation walks you through each portion of the vehicle. It starts off under the hood where a custom shroud was fabricated to hold another Alpine TME-M750A monitor, SPX series 4", SPX tweeter, and neon. The shroud bolts onto the bottom portion of the hood for people to see and hear the video up front. Inside the vehicle, the monitors in the dash show onlookers and the judges what is going on. The monitor on the amp rack makes viewing the video easier for judges when the presentation talks about that particular portion of the vehicle. Finally, another monitor in the trunk shows off the work in the rear. Another set of SPX 4" and tweeter was added underneath the vehicle behind the passenger rear tire. This helps people hear the presentation. Of course, Brown went as far as to weatherproof the enclosures.
Not Done Yet
To match the aesthetics of the interior, the exterior received some facelifts as well. H&R coil-overs were added to enhance the handling and overall appearance of the vehicle. MVR Magnum 19" wheels wrapped in Toyo T1-S (235/35-19) round out the look. European clear corners, taillights, and side markers replace the factory lights. The front headlight housing was also replaced with a European spec housing, giving the vehicle an extra hint of European style. For better viewing, a Phillips HID kit for the headlights and fog lights was installed. Brown also painted all the black bumpers to match the vehicle, and made his own wing so that it is one of a kind. For show purposes, an eight head (four in the front and four in the rear) strobe light kit was added. On the performance side, an RMS supercharger kit and DTM exhaust give the car 350 ponies under the hood. In the near future an RMS intercooler will be added to give the car another 50 horses. With all that power, Brown stops on a dime using massive Brembo brakes. Measuring 14.1" (larger than some factory wheels), the four-piston caliper (painted silver) and the steel braided lines not only brings the Bimmer to an abrupt stop, but also notifies other drivers that this car means business!
Believe it or not, this vehicle is almost always driven to events. The system was designed for driving and includes a functioning HVAC system. The only time it sits on a trailer is when the vehicle has to go to the opposite coast. "This ensures that my rims stay round and not wind up square looking," chuckles Brown.
In a short period of time, the vehicle already has some accomplishments, including a tie for "Best of Show" at the 2001 CES show and a 1st place in the IASCA open expert class at Spring Break Nationals. Brown would like to thank several people for making this system possible. First and foremost is his wife, Amy, for putting up with all the long hours spent working on the vehicle. Secondly, Chris Yato deserves thanks for all of his hard work and dedication. The entire Alpine Marketing team made sure everything ran smoothly; and finally, a big thanks to all of his sponsors: Race Technologies / Brembo, RMS, Toyo Tires, H&R Special Springs, McKenna BMW, Deadline Designs, and Motostyle.
So now what? Well, Brown says he will drive the vehicle around, enjoy it a little bit, and do some more tricks before the 2001 IASCA Finals. We wonder what else he can possibly come up with.