Our most recent campaign was the Project Altima. Project Altima was (and is) the most prolific "simple installation" car stereo competition cars ever be competed in IASCA and SLAP.
Project Altima was divested at the 2004 IASCA world finals to Rick Nichols in Canton, IL. One year later Rick brought it to the 2005 IASCA Finals and won the Street Expert 1-600 watt class. Folks, that's three years in a row (out of three) that this car won a world championship title in the IASCA Expert Division!
IASCA World Finals 2004
Result:
World Champion (1st Place) Ultra-X (Ultimate Expert) 1-600, highest sound quality score of the entire event.
3rd Place International Sound Quality Championships, World Champions Round (bragging right: car was built in 150 hours. Other competition in this event had up to two or more magnitude more hours invested).
2004 Daytona Spring Break Nationals
Result:
2nd Place, Ultra-X (Ultimate Expert) 601+
3rd Place International Sound Quality Championships
Runner-Up "Survival Challenge"
IASCA World Finals 2003
Result:
World Champion (1st Place) Street-X (Street Expert) 601+, highest street score of the entire event
2nd Place International Sound Quality Championships
SLAP National Championships 2003
Result: National Champion (1st Place) Street Expert; best of show sound quality
This vehicle appeared in the Mobile Entertainment Magazine.
The following is a very detailed write-up from that article:
January 2004
Scott Buwalda, the owner, designer, and builder of the Altima states that the intent of this installation was to create a seamless harmony between the factory surroundings and installed aftermarket equipment.
The OEM battery was retained in the installation, but all terminations were upgraded to IXOS GTI Professional Grade terminals. The OEM battery was retained to show that one does not need a fancy-colored battery to ensure trouble-free operation. On the negative side of the battery, the original 4-gauge ground wire was replaced with a 1/0-gauge length of IXOS GTI cable (the cool flat cable that IXOS makes). Meanwhile, on the positive side of the battery, the integrated OEM battery terminal and system fuses were removed and modified. The vehicle comes with all of its main high-amperage fuses integrated directly into the battery terminal, and required modification to attach to one of the two IXOS battery terminal lugs. The alternator and starter solenoid connections were re-established with IXOS ring terminals onto two other lugs on the battery terminal. Buwalda installed an additional stud into the OEM fuse cluster to provide an output to the feed the audio system.
To protect the system from the car, and vice versa, an Intra Soundgate ICB-500 computer controlled intelligent circuit breaker was installed on a stainless steel pedestal fabricated by Buwalda by welding the metal stock together and providing points to attach the pedestal to the engine’s cosmetic valve cover and the battery tray. The pedestal was painted landau black, and the ICB-500 was installed using stainless steel tamper proof hardware. To bridge the connection between the fabricated positive output on the battery terminal and the ICB, a highly polished aluminum buss bar was custom fabricated. On the ICB’s output, a long length of IXOS 1/0-gauge power wire was channeled down from the ICB’s output and through the bottom of the engine compartment, and channeled along the inside of the car’s frame rail, where it enters the passenger compartment underneath the rear seat cushion.
All connections were protected with labeled heat shrink, which tell of each wire’s function, and all wire lengths protected with expandable nylon tubing supplied by Select Products. Additionally, a ¼” thick piece of acrylic Plexiglas was fabricated by Buwalda to protect the exposed 12-volt terminals. The Plexiglas was attached over the battery by adding metric threaded inserts onto the top of the battery’s tie-down hardware, and threading security screws with finishing washers in to secure the cover.
While at shows, a Select Products 60-amp power supply is used to maintain system voltage for demonstrating the system. A high-amperage plug was installed on the left side of the alternator for easy connection to the power supply. A rubber boot protects the exposed terminals when not in use. This power input is protected by an in-line maxi fuse that has been cleverly hidden at the edge of the cosmetic valve cover, just behind the alternator’s case.
Passenger Compartment:
Simplicity with a focus on installation integrity is the order of the day as far as the passenger compartment is concerned.
In the doors, approximately 30 square feet of B-Quiet Brown Bread sound damping was applied to the inside of each door frame, along each crash bar, and both on the outside door panel and the inside of the door skin. To some, this may be overkill, but to establish the bass presence up front without any nuisance rattles, the amount of damping installed was critical. Once completely damped, the OEM baffle was mimicked in size and shape and a 14-layer birch baffle was constructed to eventually house a dedicated midbass driver in each door. The baffle was constructed out of cabinet grade wood and soaked fiberglass resin to ensure that the baffle was waterproof. Upon completion, each baffle was attached to a secondary piece of ¼” MDF, also soaked in fiberglass resin, which acts as the mounting ring, and was re-attached to each door using tamper proof hardware. A DLS Iridium series 6.5” midbass driver out of the DLS Iridium 6.3 set, was installed in each door at seven points of contact with the door and birch baffle, and the factory door skin was replaced over the speakers to conceal and protect them.
In the kick panels, modifications were made to the OEM trim panel to accept a dedicated midrange driver. This was accomplished by advancing a hole saw through the center of the panel, and then massaging the shape of the panel slightly with body filler so that the speaker would fit flush to the base of the panel. This was accomplished by sanding the kick panels with a very rough grit sandpaper (36 grit) to ensure that the body filler would key into the plastic and not detach the first time it gets hot or the car hits a bump. Prior to speaker installation, a layer of plush fabric was stretched across each kick panel assembly. This was done for two reasons: to provide a gasket seal, of sorts, between the midrange and the panel, and also to decouple the midrange driver from the panel to avoid ringing and help avoid early reflections off of the panel. In each panel, a DLS Iridium series 3” dome midrange was installed with four points of contact to each kick panel using tamper proof hardware. The midrange was angled to propagate the sound waves to the center of the car.
In the center console, 1” thick acoustic foam supplied by B-Quiet was installed on a knock-out trim panel forward of the console on the passenger side, and behind the OEM carpeting on the driver side. The panel on the passenger side was also covered with the same fabric used to cover the kick panels for cosmetics. The foam helps to absorb reflected energy from the kick panels, and ultimately helps to stabilize image focus.
The front stage driver compliment was completed with the installation of tweeters in each a-pillar. Like the kick panel, the a-pillars required a fairly comprehensive re-working to ensure the correct angle could be established for the tweeters. Using body filler mixed with fiberglass matte, the shape of each a-pillar was fabricated so that the tweeters would be firing directly coincidental with the windshield. Once again, fabric was used to de-couple the drivers from their mounting area. Once completed, a DLS Iridium series tweeter was installed in each a-pillar. IXOS 11 gauge Gamma Geometry speaker cables were used to connect all six front-stage speakers
In the dashboard, the OEM deck was removed, and the stamped metal brackets were salvaged for use in the new installation. A Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) Pioneer ODR Carrozzeria RS-D7x source unit was secured into the factory dash location using the OEM stamped steel brackets, at a total of eight points of contact to the car, using tamper proof hardware. JDM glass optic cabling (not the cheap fiber aramide junk) was routed to the trunk where it was connected to the Carrozzeria processor. To finish the installation, a Metra fit kit was modified by cutting off the plastic mounting tabs on the back of the kit (in lieu of the use of the steel brackets), sanding down the front fascia of the kit, and painting it landau black to match the color and texture of surrounding OEM panels. Likewise, the source unit’s trim ring was also painted landau black. A fuse for the source unit, as well as fuses for the liquid cooling fans and water pump, and switches for the water cooling system were installed on the inverse side of the center console, right below the source unit. This location provides easy access but its location behind the map pocket door provides a certain level of security as well.
In the center console, an aluminum bracket was fabricated and painted landau black to hold the Carrozzeria system tuning remote control. The remote control provides easy access to system functionality during Scott’s long commutes to and from work. And the quick release mechanism allows the remote to be removed and hidden for security.
The seats have been modified with custom bent and welded seat rail extensions built by Buwalda. The extensions knock the seats back about 5 ½” from the original location. Most people think that moving their seats back will help staging. Most of the time, it’s true, but sometimes, stage width can suffer with the increase in pathlength difference. Fortunately, not in the Altima. The wide stage width was maintained with the seats being moved further away from the speakers. So, why move the seats? It’s simple. There are midrange drivers mounted in the kick panels. The seats were extended primarily to ensure that seated passengers do not block the kick panel speakers with the feet, pant legs, and etc. Of course, the reduction in pathlength difference certainly helped image position as well. Plus, when seated for long listening sessions, you can’t help but think you’re sitting in your living room with the amount of legroom afforded by the seat rails.
Finally, the last items worth mentioning in the passenger compartment are the b- and c-pillars and the rear deck. First of all, to ensure a cosmetic theme throughout the vehicle, even though not required by the Street-X category that Buwalda competes in, the b- and c-pillars were covered in the same fabric that the kick panels and a-pillars were covered in. Not only that, but it is conjectured that the lighter headliner with black dashboard and pillars helps to psychoacoustically draw the eyes upward, possibly improving stage height for some people. In addition to the pillars, the rear deck was modified. First, the OEM logos were removed from the OEM 6 X 9 grilles, and DLS Ultimate Reference grille logos were put there in their place. Additionally, the center deck-mounted brake light was removed when the rear wing was installed on the car. It worked out well, as the third brake light rattled violently on heavy bass tracks (with the subwoofers throwing that volume of air up through the 6 X 9 holes in the rear deck).
Trunk Compartment:
Several of the showpieces of the system reside in the trunk area, even though much consideration was given to keeping the trunk usable. One such showpiece is the amplifier and processor rack, which resides directly behind the back seats, underneath the rear deck. Buwalda fabricated the rack by welding together 1” diameter cold-rolled square stock tubular steel. What makes the installation even more interesting, and in many cases, much more permanent, is the fact that Buwalda also welded the rack to the car’s rear shock tower supports. Yes, the amplifier and processor rack have been welded to the car and are permanent (until of course an airsaw is used to cut it back out, if needed). The rack was separated into three discrete tiers for three sets of two DLS Twin Mono Ultimate A3 amplifiers. Three Twin Mono’s feed the six front stage speakers, where each speaker is seeing approximately 150 watts at four ohms stereo, and the other three Twin Mono’s feed the three rearward-mounted subwoofers, where each sub is seeing approximately 800 watts at 2 ohms mono. The “overkill” amount of power was necessary for adequate control of the drivers, and to ensure dynamic, distortion free musical reproduction with a non-existent noise floor.
In the forward portion of the rack is a location for the system’s digital signal processor, a Pioneer ODR Carrozzeria RS-P70xII. The Carrozzeria processor was mounted on ½” thick tubular steel, which was also welded to the amplifier frame, and likewise, welded to the car. The ODR components are not U.S. specification pieces. Unlike the “Americanized ODR”, i.e. the RS-P9 combo, the Carrozzeria pieces are Japanese only production models, and boast a much higher level of performance over their American counterpart. The Carrozzeria processor controls all aspects of the system’s functionality, including a digital volume control, digital crossover and time alignment, and a true 1/3 octave dual mono graphic equalizer. Other features include a selectable digital gain structure, seating position memory, and even a digital voltmeter on the front panel of the source unit. Easily defined menus on the head unit control all system functionality. Sadly, because the source unit is a Japanese production model, the frequency range for the tuner section is well below that in America, so Buwalda has no reason but to spin his favorite CD’s to and from work each day (which is not such a bad thing). But the loss of having a tuner is far outweighed by the much improved CD transport, Burr-Brown sign magnitude 24/96 DAC’s, Burr-Brown op amps, and etc.!
All connections are handled exclusively by IXOS products within the amplifier and processor rack. IXOS 11 gauge Gamma Geometry speaker cables were channeled neatly, safely, and securely to the six amplifiers. Labeled heat shrink was once again used to highlight the installation and to allow for easy identification of the speaker wire functionality. Additionally, IXOS GTI Professional Grade power cables and very high-end IXOS EVO interconnects were channeled to their respective connection locations.
With the back seats in their upright and locked position, the amplifiers and processor are protected against physical damage and being tampered with.
In the aft portion of the trunk, the front of the amplifier rack is visible. This is where one can appreciate the effort put forth to mount three sets of amplifiers on a tiered rack system---to not only optimize the system’s architecture, but also to save space available for hauling bags of groceries or a baby stroller. The car is used every day, after all. It only makes sense to not cover every square inch of the trunk with painted fiberglass panels and stereo componentry.
To accommodate the cosmetic theme of the vehicle, the amp rack was painted landau black on the front and sides, and the amplifier’s DLS logos were reversed, so that they would be visible and readable standing at the opening of the trunk and looking it. Once again, tamper proof hardware was used throughout the entire installation, including all six amplifiers.
Located immediately above the amplifier rack is another showpiece of the system. Three DLS Ultimate Reference UR-12 12” subwoofers were suspended from a heavily modified rear deck and vent free-air (infinite baffle) into the trunk’s air space. The infinite baffle configuration accomplished two important requirements for the sub system: conserve space, and play a rock-solid 18 Hz pedal tone during IASCA competition. Not only that, but the cone area was required to ensure that the minimum sound pressure level cap of 135 dB could be easily attained.
The subwoofers were mounted on a 14-layer birch baffle. The baffle was fabricated by taking a mold of the back wall of the trunk area, and then mimicking its shape onto the piece of cabinet-grade hardwood. The original “scissors style” mechanism which comes from the factory to keep the trunk open was removed in favor of a pair of pneumatically-charged cylinders, mounted on either side of the trunk lid arms, and connected to each wheel well. The pneumatic cylinders do an incredible job of keeping the trunk lid up (one must practically stand on the deck lid to get it to close!). Three complete layers of B-Quiet Brown Bread sound damping was installed on the top and bottom of the rear deck metal to ensure no nuisance rattles. A total of about 70 square feet of Q-Quiet was used in the rear deck and C-pillars alone. With respect to the baffle construction, the three mounting holes for the subwoofers were routed into the wood, and then the baffle was test fit into the rear deck. Sides were fabricated using medium density fiberboard (MDF), and the entire baffle was molded to the underside of the deck lid, and up to the trunk lip using stretched fleece soaked in fiberglass resin. The panel was then removed from the car, sanded down, primed, and painted landau black. The baffle was installed permanently, and the trunk lip was painted landau black as well, to make it difficult to determine where the baffle ends and the car’s metal begins. The baffle was secured at twenty locations to the rear deck using custom bent aluminum brackets and tapped hardware, as well as four complete tubes of PL-400, a very strong subfloor adhesive. The subwoofers were mounted from the underside of the baffle using tamper proof hardware and stainless steel T-nuts which key into the wood and provide a threaded insert for future servicing and removal of the subwoofers.
Absolutely none of the rear deck was cut out or removed to accomplish this installation. Rather, the volume of air is being channeled into the two factory 6X9” speaker holes on either side of the rear deck. The subwoofers play with a minimum of 1 ½” clearance from the rear deck (aft portion of the trunk), to almost four inches at the forward portion (so, there’s plenty of space for these long excursion subwoofers). The rear deck was not cut out, as Buwalda mentions having bad experiences in the past with cutting a rear deck, and then having nuisance rattles that can never be cured. Not only that, but by channeling the subwoofer’s output through the two 6X9” openings, right off of the back glass most assuredly amplifies the output (aka corner loading). There is absolutely no flexing in the baffle, even during the highest listening levels. And the loudest frequency in the car is 20 Hz, as it should be.
On the right side of the trunk is a custom amplifier liquid cooling system. A liquid cooling system was assembled using standard parts bought at a home improvement store, a liquid reservoir and radiator purchased from a personal computer parts supplier, and a 12-volt recreational vehicle pump bought on eBay! The system was constructed by using 5/8” aluminum tubing to channel the cold water through the amplifier’s heat sinks. To ensure several points of contact with the amplifier, square heat sinks were welded onto the tubing at an approximate 2” interval. Amplifiers were lined up in sets on my workbench, and the aluminum tubing was inserted into the channel located at the top of the DLS amplifiers (factory feature, not necessarily designed to work with liquid cooling, but Buwalda saw the opportunity to do something way cool with that channel). The amps were then installed in sets onto the amplifier rack. Laboratory-grade polyethylene tubing was then connected at the input and output sides of the three sets of amplifiers, and channeled to either side of the trunk area, underneath the OEM carpeted panels. Behind the panels is where various adapters and stainless steel worm gear clamps were used to convert the three tubes from each set of amplifiers to just one.
The 12-volt pump resides on the right side of the trunk, behind the carpeted panel. The pump is connected to a tube which crosses the back wall of the trunk, to the left side, is converted into three distinct tubes, referenced above, where said tubing enters the left side of the amplifier sets. On the right side of the amplifier sets, the tubing exits, and is once again converted to one single 5/8” diameter tube. The tube then discharges into the Plexiglas holding tank on the right side of the trunk. Immediately below the holding tank is the aluminum cooling radiator, where the water is discharged from the tank into the radiator, and is then cooled by three 3” diameter brushless fans. Once cooled, the liquid is then drawn under pressure back to the pump, where the process starts all over again.
While a leak is highly unlikely, given the use of clamps on every connection and no hostile environment to risk injury to one of the tubes, provisions were made to ensure that liquid would not come anywhere near in contact with the amplifiers. First of all, all critical connections are made on either side of the trunk, in the trunk’s well, which has vent holes on either side. They work in allowing the water a place to go, as Buwalda has tested it! Should a leak develop (and if one were to develop, it would develop in the areas where the most connections were made, on either side of the trunk), it will flow by gravity to the lowest point in the trunk and drip out the underside of the vehicle to the ground. Because the amplifiers are at the highest point in the system, it is virtually impossible to have liquid coming in contact in any way with the amplifiers.
Exterior Modifications:
Since approximately 300 lbs. of weight was added to the trunk, and the back of
the car sagged noticeably in the rear, an H&R Sport Spring set was purchased to
level the front of the car out. Buwalda installed the springs out of his
garage, which was an interesting concept not having a spring compressor
(backyard auto repair at it finest). Once lowered, Buwalda found a set of OEM
Nissan Altima alloy wheels and had them mounted, to replace the steel wheels and
hubcaps that came on the car from the factory. Dark Llumar tinting installed by
Sun Shades in Alpharetta, GA was added to the windows; 5% to the back suite of
windows, including the back windows, rear opera windows, and rear glass, while
20% to the front windows. All of the logos on the car were removed, giving a
clean appearance, especially from the back, where Nissan has several badges
installed on the deck lid. The deck lid was also supplemented in the styling
column with the addition of an OEM-style rear spoiler, which Buwalda installed
onto the car. The final, and clearly most important cosmetic touch to the car
was the fabrication and installation of a fresh new grille to the front of the
car. Buwalda knew that the grille had to go---it was the grille that was
holding the car back---the difference between a grocery getter, and a grocery
getter with style! The factory grille was removed, and Buwalda cut out its
center inset using a Dremel. To the backside of the chrome insert, a chunk of
Select Products heavy gauge subwoofer grille was flush-mounted, and attached to
the chrome insert using Select Products cyanoacryalate glue with the reaction
catalyzed with Select Products glue activator. The chrome insert was then
re-installed over the plastic housing, and standard home door insulation tape
was used to trim out the opening of the grille mesh. The final touch was the
installation of a JDM Nismo logo on the front grille. The Nismo logo doesn’t
necessarily represent the performance features of the Altima, as there are none,
but rather Buwalda’s commitment to Nissan Motorsports. Currently, Buwalda is
building up his famed “Expert 240SX”, a 1995 Nissan 240SX, into a high
horsepower drift and import drag car. All good car stereo competition cars take
one of three paths upon retirement: they’re sold as is, dismantled, or converted
into racecars!