Camaro Z28 Show-Quality Audio System For Orange Client

Extreme Audio draws clients from all over the state of Virginia. Last year, we had a visit from a new client who lived in Orange, VA. He was having a 1971 Camaro Z28 restored, and he and his mechanic had some questions for us about building a Camaro Z28 show-quality audio system that would match the quality of the restoration. We worked on a plan for the build and came up with a budget that worked. We finally heard from the client 18 months later. He was ready for the build, and so were we.

The Camaro arrived at the shop in an enclosed trailer. The restoration was complete – a fresh motor, new paint and bodywork, and an immaculate interior. The owner went as far as to replace the factory windshield wiper motors to ensure every aspect of the vehicle was as clean as possible. Our goal was to install an audio system that was equally impressive.

Full Sound Proofing Using Stinger Roadkill Extreme

The rear deck was sound proofed with the Stinger damping material to reduce any unwanted resonances.

The whole trunk area was treated with Stinger sound damping material to help reduce the road and exhaust noise in the car.

The project started with removing the interior in preparation for installing damping material. We laid down a foundation of Stinger Roadkill Extreme and treated the interior floor, rear parcel shelf, doors and trunk floor to ensure that heat and noise stayed outside. We then ran Stinger wiring through the vehicle for power and signal delivery. With the interior removed, we took the opportunity to tint the windows with Suntek Window Film.

Alpine Radio Fits Modified Factory Radio Location

We modified the factory dual-shaft radio location in the dash to make a home for an Alpine CDE-145BT source unit. The Alpine source unit gives the customer complete control over hands-free calling, Bluetooth audio streaming, and – of course – CD and iPod audio playback. The integrated 4-volt preamp and Alpine TuneIt application would make our job of tuning the audio system easier once the installation was complete.

Custom Door Panels For JL Audio C2 Components

The door panels before our modifications were clean and simple. We wanted to retain that look, while adding locations for speakers.

With the door panel pods formed and sanded, our tech does one last test-fit of the handle inserts to make sure everything fits perfectly when the pieces are upholstered.

A jig was made to press the grill and give it shape. The result is a factory looking grille.

Our door panel pod was wrapped in a vinyl with matching grain and then vinyl dyed for a perfect match to the door.

The result of our hard work on the doors is a panel that looks better than the factory!

The next task was creating new door panels. We removed the factory armrest from each of the front doors and began the process of making a home for a set of JL Audio C2-650 components. We attached speaker pods to the forward edge of the panel that mimic the styling patterns on the doors. We re-wrapped everything in fabric and applied several layers of fiberglass resin to integrate the new speaker pod into the original shape. We made sure to allow room for the door pull insert to fit perfectly. After filling and sanding to a perfect finish, we wrapped the doors in vinyl and had them dyed to match the factory Saddle finish. The last step on the doors was to create a custom mesh grille to cover the speakers. We build and pressed a 3D insert and finished it with a JL Audio logo for a subtle, but still custom, look.

Rear Parcel Shelf Fabricated To Hold JL Audio Speakers

Work then turned to the rear parcel shelf. Wanting to further the design on the doors, we fabricated an entirely new rear parcel shelf. The shape mimics that of the doors, and includes embossing in the vinyl to pick up on the door accents. A set of JL Audio C2-690tx 3-way coaxial 6×9 speakers is mounted beneath the parcel shelf.

Trunk Build Is The Highlight Of This Camaro Z28 Show-Quality Audio System

The mounting baffle for the woofers was painted to match the white accents on the exterior of the Camaro.

The bridge through the middle of the trunk was added to conceal the wiring for the amplifier.

The end result of all of the planning and building is a stunning trunk that enhances the overall appearance of this gorgeous Camaro.

The sides of the trunk were accented with acrylic ovals with Chevy logos in them.

Accent lighting was used to really set this trunk off at night.

The color of the lighting in the trunk is adjustable to whatever color suits the mood of the client.

The most challenging and rewarding part of the project was the trunk. We began with fabricating an enclosure that would be home to a pair of JL Audio 12W6v3 subwoofers. The enclosure is an odd shape and required many custom-fitted panels to maximize airspace for the subwoofers without completely overpowering the available space in the trunk.

On the front of the enclosure, we created a trim panel that once again had a pair of parallelograms around the speakers. We used fiberglass and body filler to flow the shape into the round mount for the speakers.

In keeping with the theme of making everything look as if GM built it, we had a local body shop come down and color-scan the white stripes on the car. We knew they were in a custom color that included green pearl to pick up on the Antique Green paint. Our painter took care of mixing an exact match and painting the subwoofer trim panels to match the exterior perfectly.

Hovering in the middle of the trunk are a pair of Arc Audio Signature Edition amplifiers. An SE 2300 provides more than 1,500 watts for the pair of subwoofers. An SE 4200 handles the front and rear speaker duties with 110 watts per channel on hand to ensure the speakers always sound stunning. If you haven’t experienced the Arc Audio SE amps, you should drop by one of our locations for a listen – they will blow your mind!

Work continued in the trunk with a rear trim panel, and custom side and center panels to conceal all the wiring to and from the amplifiers. The side panels are home to Plexiglas inserts with Chevrolet logos etched into them. We wrapped all the trim panels in the same vinyl as the interior and dyed them the same. We installed nearly 20 feet of Wet Sounds RGB LED lighting strips under the amps and around the Plexiglass Inserts. These can be lit up in almost any color you can think of with the included remote control. There is a pair of Shuriken BT80 batteries behind each of the side panels. These ensure the amplifiers are provided with enough current to always sound excellent.

Alpine TuneIt App Allows For Precision Tuning

We finish up every Extreme Audio project with a complete system-tuning session. The Alpine TuneIt iPhone application allows us to set the crossovers and 9-band parametric equalizer in the source unit for the best possible sound quality.

When the client returned to pick up the vehicle and experience the installation and audio system for the first time, he was blown away by our efforts to match the factory colors and accent styling in the interior. Listening to the system had him grinning from ear-to-ear.

If you have a custom vehicle project that you’d like an audio system installed in, we invite you to drop by our location in Mechanicsville or Midlothian today.

You can also contact us here for more information about any of our products and services.