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When it comes to show vehicles, details are what count -- and Gonzales knows about details. Virtually no part of the interior of his fabulous 2001 Silverado was left untouched, with most of the changes focused around the audio/video installation. |
The graphics on this Silverado don't stop outside. This complex paint work was continued over to the enclosure, underside of the rear seat, and even on the heatsink shrouds of the Xtant amps located in the rear doors. |
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Making the four JL Audio 10W3's fit under the rear was no walk in the park, as Gonzales insisted the rear bench seat remain functional and comfortable. To overcome this issue, the rear seat was raised 2 inches using tubular steel, making way for the uniquely shaped double-V enclosure configuration. Adding to the truck's overall theme, the enclosure was painted to match, graphics and all. |
Video playback was a high priority, so the crew installed a Pioneer AVX-P7300DVD source unit in the dash, a raw 7-inch monitor in the passenger visor, and a large 12-inch flip-down monitor. |
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Under the hood, the factory battery was replaced with an Optima Yellow Top while horsepower was gained via a Whipple corkscrew-style supercharger that sits atop the 5.3-liter powerplant. |
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Joel Gonzales is no stranger to the Car Audio and Electronics family. The name may sound familiar because this is the third vehicle of his that has been published in this very magazine. Each month, the editors of the magazine are bombarded with pictures and profiles of vehicles from around the globe. It makes the editors dizzy just looking at their desks and seeing a pile of paperwork with those waiting to get their shot. One thing holds true, Gonzalez's vehicles always attract our attention.
The vehicle this time is a 2001 Chevy Silverado. Before the pickup received the system upgrade, Gonzales worked on the exterior and performance. The 5.3 liter motor just wasn't enough, so a Whipple Supercharger adds some extra torque and horsepower. A custom quad Flowmaster exhaust and K&N air intake allows the pickup to breathe better. The A Hypertech Power Programmer increases the firmness of the shift points and removes the governor in case Gonzales wants to get daring. Bringing the Silverado to a screeching halt are Baer six-piston brakes in the front with 14" rotors. The original rear rotors were swapped with Baer crossed and slotted rotors. Occupying the wheel wells are 20-inch aluminum Budnik Wedge wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilots. Air Ride Suspension is used to raise and lower the vehicle. Four switches near the cup holder adjust each corner. A digital meter molded into the dash, just to the left of the CD changer, helps Gonzales in monitoring how many pounds of air each corner has. A Cowel Induction Hood and a Stillen billet grill add an aggressive look to the front of the vehicle. The rear tailgate was fabricated to hold original Corvette taillights. The most unique part of the vehicle is the graphics. If you look closely, you can see that the silver is actually bare metal. The paint was grinded down and then shot with twelve helpings of clear coat. "The finish is amazing," states Gonzales.
Loud, Clean, and Crisp
With the exterior complete, Gonzales headed to Sound Innovations in Hayward, CA for the system. He has had several vehicles in here and has always been happy with the work Ernie Onate and Daniel Campos have done. Loud and crisp harmonics were important when planning out the Silverado. To make this happen, several installation techniques and particular components were used. The front doors were stripped of their door panels and dampened throughout with Dynamat Xtreme. The plan was to install a full set of MB Quart QM218.61Q 6.5" components in each door. In order to accommodate the components, a piece of sheet metal was fabricated and fastened to the door skin, acting as a baffle. The new baffle also aided in clearing the window and power window motor. MDF and body filler were used to help mold the original MB Quart grilles seamlessly into the new panel. Behind each grille are the tweeters, mounted as if the speaker was a coaxial. Tweeter bridges were acquired from MB Quart to make this all possible. With the full component set in the door and mounted up high, the factory door pockets were retained. Finally, a coat of silver paint was applied to highlight the area (along with the armrests). Just as with the front doors, dampening was applied and the grilles were finished the same way. However, the MB Quart QM215.61Q 5.25" components were installed on the top portion of the door rather than the bottom (we'll get to this later). A special pod shaped like a teardrop holds the components in place.
Tight Quarters
It was decided that four JL Audio 10w3-D2 10" subwoofers would be used in the Silverado. This wasn't an issue until the installation team received word that Gonzales wanted to retain his rear bench seat. No exceptions! The Silverado is not very friendly when it comes to space, as everything in the rear of the vehicle is extremely tight. The installation team put its thinking caps on and came up with a unique design. A pair of subwoofers were aligned in a V-shape behind each front seat. The woofer baffles had extremely tight angles and posed a challenge because a slight pitch of the woofer in any direction would cause the magnet to hit the rear or side of the enclosure. Once the installation team figured out the exact woofer placement, the MDF baffles were secured into place.
Hours of labor went into sculpting the new home of the four subwoofers. The enclosure was made up of mostly fiberglass and MDF. Body filler provided the finishing touches for the overall shape. After sanding the enclosure to a smooth finish, it was prepped and painted painted silver, as that eventually became the theme for the interior. Metal endcaps were constructed for the enclosure and sunk in on either side. Four 5/16" bolts secure the enclosure to the floor of the pickup. When finished, the enclosure had a total volume of 2.5 cubic feet (.625 per subwoofer).
Height clearance was a big issue. The rear seat could not be raised too much because Gonzales did not want to compromise comfort or functionality. Therefore, the seat was raised only two inches. To accomplish this task, the seat mounting brackets were removed and 2-inch tubular was welded to each side. The brackets were then smoothed out, powder coated, and re-installed to the seat. The underside of the seat needed to be reinforced so the weight of rear passengers would not push the seat down and hit the top of the enclosure. To tackle this issue, 12-gauge sheet metal was welded to the underside of the seat. Surrounding the plate is the factory carpet that came from the factory. To give it a more appealing look when it's in the up position, the plate was painted with the same graphics as on the exterior of the vehicle. The metal endplates in the enclosure were also treated with the same graphics.
Unusual Amp Placement
Giving power to all the drivers are two Xtant amplifiers, one Xtant 604x four-channel amplifier (75x4) and an Xtant 1001x mono block (1000 watts). The former handles the front and rear components while the latter addresses the subwoofers. With the bottom portion of the rear seat already occupied with the subwoofer enclosure, the installation team looked to the rear doors. One amplifier was mounted for each rear door. A metal tray was fabricated and fastened to the doors in order to hold the amplifiers in place. To accommodate the extra wires that would run from the door to the cab (power wires, speaker wires, RCAs), additional rubber boots were acquired from General Motors and fastened into place. The amplifier shrouds were removed and given the exterior graphic treatment. Next to each amplifier sits a Precision Power 1-farad capacitor (also mounted into a metal tray fastened to the door). Each capacitor features a volt meter on top. The capacitors were completely stripped and sanded to give it that "grinded" look. Sound Innovations logos were applied to the capacitors.
Audio and Video
Pioneer hardware is used up in the dash. The AVX-P7300DVD head unit is installed in the stock location. An AVM-P8000R enhances the head unit with several video features also found in home audio (Dolby Digital, DTS, etc.). The processor is mounted on the rear wall and out of the way. A Pioneer CDX-PD6 was installed where the original slave cassette player from GM used to reside. The plastic opening for the cassette player was enlarged, reshaped with body filler, and painted. The DIN-sized CD changer was then mounted from behind.
Aside from the Pioneer monitor in the dash, two other monitors were added. A 12-inch monitor from Accele was installed in the headliner for the rear passengers. The bezel for the monitor was molded to the shape of the headliner and upholstered with matching headliner material. Another raw 7-inch monitor was mounted in the passenger visor. The original plastic trim for the mirror was modified using plastic repair filler to fit the monitor and mimic the original look of the mirror. As an added measure, the charging system was upgraded with a 225-amp Wrangler alternator and the original battery was replaced with a Yellow Top Optima battery. A 200-amp ANL fuse was mounted near the battery to protect the system.
Bringing it All Together
Onate and Campos took it upon themselves to redesign the interior to keep the edge that the exterior already possessed. As mentioned before, many nuances of the exterior were brought into the interior, such as the graphics applied to the sides of the enclosure, amplifiers, and under the rear seat. The front armrests and passenger-side grab handlewere fabricated out of fiberglass and painted silver. Even the dash pad and windshield pillars were removed, sanded, and painted. "All this extra work added some life to the interior," gushes Onate. "It looks great!" It sure does.