In April 2000, Cajayon knew the lease on his1997 Nissan Maxima would be up in July of that year so he started to shop for a new car. He toyed with the idea of buying a newer Maxima, but the 3-series BMW really caught his eye. He placed an order for a 328I in early April of 2000 only to change it a week later when he found out that the 328i was being replaced with a 330i. He expected to take delivery of his vehicle in September, but to his surprise, the vehicle showed up in early July, just in time because the lease on the Maxima was up.
SBD
Luckily for Cajayon, he is good friends with co-worker, Steve Brown. (All of us should be so lucky.) Brown is an Application R&D Engineer for Alpine and has created several dazzling demo vehicles in the past few years. He also has made several trips to the stage at the IASCA Finals. With both working for Alpine's marketing department, Brown and Cajayon have acquired a deep passion for cars.
When it came time to proceed with the installation in the Bimmer, Brown immediately started to think about what he could concoct in Cajayon's new car. The problem was time; Cajayon waited patiently for a few months. It wasn't until after the 2001 CES show that Brown got started.
Cajayon had some guidelines that he requested Brown follow. He wanted a system that would be unique in its styling; eye-catching while at shows; and to have some room in the trunk. Alpine management gave Brown ten days to finish the job. That wasn't much time, but SBD (a.k.a. Steve Brown Design, not the more popular, silent but deadly) was up to the challenge.
Brown's first step was to completely gut the interior of the vehicle. Usually, sound dampening would be applied at this point, but the vehicle had sufficient material out of the factory. Only the doors received some extra dampening. This was also the perfect time to run all the wires. All the wire, connectors, and circuit breaker are from Phoenix Gold. The head unit Cajayon chose is Alpine's IVA-C800 Mobile Multi-Media Station. Space was quite limited and tight up front so Brown knew that the brain for the radio would go in the trunk. A KWE-600B extension cable for the IVA were needed. All the wires from the head unit to the brain were carefully routed from the dash all the way to the trunk, and tied down in regular intervals. The unit itself was mounted via a dash kit from Scosche. Brown even painted half of the kit aluminum in color to match the dash. The factory steering wheel controls were utilized using a sample converter Cajayon obtained from his Alpine counterparts in Europe (this piece will not be available in the states).
Brown knew that this was Cajayon's everyday vehicle so he utilized the factory speaker locations. Up in the front doors, BMW provides customers a speaker setup with a six, four, and a tweeter. The four is located towards the rear of the door while the six and tweeter are located in the front. This application didn't make much sense, so Brown opted to use the 4" drivers for something else. In place of the other speakers, Cajayon chose Alpine's newest speaker line. A set of SPX-177A 6 1/2"components replaces the factory. Brown made it a point to run the upgraded speaker wires through the door boot to keep them out of sight. The factory tweeter mounts were utilized, but new templates were made to hold the 6 1/2" in the bottom of the door. A small sealed enclosure of about .33 cubic feet was fitted into the door.
Brown utilized the OEM 4" drivers as the speakers for the navigation system. In the rear, a pair of Alpine SPX-137A 5 1/4" components replaced the factory setup in the rear deck. This was a rather easy swap as Brown made a baffle board out of 1/4" particleboard to mount the speakers.
Unseen Work It is in the trunk where signature Steve Brown is most evident; and it is underneath all of the finishing panels where a good portion of the work occurred. The subwoofer enclosure is nestled into the driver's side of the trunk. Brown constructed the enclosure using approximately 24 pieces of 1/2" MDF to best utilize every nook and cranny of space. Once the rear portion of the box was completed, he made a rectangular port, which exits right below the woofer. All the gaps were filled in with Mar-Glass (reinforced body filler) and fiberglass was applied to ensure the enclosure would not have any leaks other than through the port. Then a speaker ring was constructed, also out of MDF, to hold the woofer in place. Once finished, carpet was laid over the whole box to form a shape; it was stapled down, then fiberglass mat was applied. The total internal volume of the enclosure is 1.5 cubic feet. To keep the box in place, Brown used factory bolts to screw the box into the floor. Tightening the box down is achieved through the speaker cutout. An Alpine SWR-1240 12" subwoofer handles all of the low frequencies. "This enclosure is perfect for the woofer we used. The output from just the single twelve is quite impressive," states Cajayon.
Since the vehicle was not ordered with fold-down seats, Brown had to figure out how the low frequencies would travel into the cabin. Fortunately, when removing the rear seats, a cut-out for the ski hole somewhat already existed. It was closed off with sheet metal that was tack welded in four places. Brown simply punched out the sheet metal and, viola, an instant pass-through was created. When folding down the rear armrest, you can view the high-end crossovers for the SPX speakers.
When the subwoofer enclosure was finished, Brown moved to the opposite side, which Cajayon calls the "Mobile Multi-Media Center." Brown stacked an Alpine DVA-5205 Mobile DVD Player, an Alpine NVE-N851A DVD Navigation system, and an Alpine CHA-1214 CD changer above the battery. Notice the silver face on the DVA-5205. This particular model comes with a black face, but Cajayon wouldn't settle for that because he wanted all of the components to match in color. When asked where he obtained the face, Cajayon simply replies, "Working for the manufacturer has its merits." A rack was made of 1/2" MDF to hold each piece with an extension built towards the front of the vehicle to hold the brain of the IVA-C800. The same procedure of carpet and fiberglass was used to create the shape. Once dry, body filler was used, and Brown went as far as making sure the cover piece molded into the shape of each component.
The amplifier rack was constructed from 1/2" thin wall welded steel. Brown made a jig and welded all the pieces together. The rack was then mounted to the sheet metal behind the rear seat. To power the system Cajayon chose an Alpine MRD-F752 5-channel amplifier which gives each of the four corners 75 watts while sending 250 watts to the sub. Once the amp was mounted, Brown worked on molding the subwoofer enclosure and the "Mobile Multi-Media Center" to the amplifier rack. The cover panel for the amp rack also molds to the shape of the amplifier and features a 1/4" piece of Plexiglas with an Alpine logo etched into it. Four blue 9" neon tubes light up the logo while four more tubes on the rear deck light up the rest of the trunk.
To mold the three panels together, Brown used fiberglass mat, Mar-Glass, and body filler. Once all three panels were massaged into place and Brown was satisfied, several steps were taken to create the final panels. All three panels were sanded smooth, then sprayed with Poly Primer. This helps fill in all of the imperfections. After sanding again, and epoxy primer and finishing primer was applied. All the panels were then painted (base coat/clear coat) in steel gray to match the vehicles' exterior. Once dry, Brown wet sanded the panels to give it what he calls the "TA-Dow" finish.
The factory trunk carpet was replaced with OEM BMW carpet with bound leather edges. Custom carpet mats were also made to protect all of the components. With all of the carpet pieces in place, the system is out of sight. To protect the vehicle an Alpine SEC-8063 with some classified features has been added.
Other Modifications
Most people thought Cajayon was crazy when he started purchasing aftermarket parts for his BMW months before he took delivery. The day after picking the vehicle up, he changed the suspension with H&R coil-overs and Hamann 19" PGII wheels. Toyo Tires T1-S (235/35 front and 265/30 rear) keep him connected to the road. Unfortunately as of the photo shoot, Cajayon was unable to get his hands on another 19" Hamann wheel for the spare.
Lurking behind the front wheels are massive Brembo brakes featuring a 14.1" rotor and 4-piston calipers painted red. All the bumper guards were painted the body color, and a wing from an E46 M3 was added to the trunk lip. European spec OEM clear corners, side markers, and rear tail lights replaced the amber lenses, and M3 style mirrors were installed in place of the factory mirrors. Another Hamann product, the exhaust system replaces the OEM system. For kicks, a Whelan strobe light kit was added to use at shows. They are controlled through three of the five aluminum switches (purchased in Japan) that Brown installed in the ashtray. The switches are mounted on frosted Plexiglas and are backlit in amber at night to match the dash lights. In the interior, a Hamann pedal set, footrest, and e-brake handle were added along with an aluminum shift knob from BMW. Brown took the time to paint the steering wheel in the same color as the aluminum trim in the dash. Future modifications include an RMS supercharger. As for the stereo system, Cajayon may add monitors into the headrests.
Cajayon is extremely happy with his car and would like to extend thanks some people. First and foremost is his mom, Leony Cajayon, a single mother who worked hard to provide for her son (he says it's time to pay mom back). Then he would like to thank his cousin, Howie Liwanag for getting him started in the industry and supporting him throughout his career. Steve Brown deserves a big pat on the back for another creative installation, along with other Alpine co-workers: Pete Miceli, Mike Anderson, Derek Jensen, Chris Yato, Steve Witt, Jim O'Neill, Glenn Ihrke, and Todd Van Zandt. Also thanks to: Steve French & Gregg Vandermark of Toyo Tires, Barry Borin of Race Technologies, Roland Graef of H&R Springs, and the guys at Wheel Power deserve a shout-out for supporting the project. Finally, thanks to his friends and family back in Long Island and Rockland County, New York.
So what's next for Cajayon? He's back on the East Coast, close to family and friends. After showing the vehicle on the West Coast, Cajayon will now tackle the other side, attending various events. He has also just recently left Alpine for Sirius Satellite Radio. When asked about his new position, he replied, "I'm excited! I know this will be a good and challenging transition for me. What makes this even sweeter is I'm back to where I started... .home." Welcome back.