Herman's Log...

[Maddel]

The introduction of the A day in the life topic reads...

So I don't clog up our car photos topic, I thought it would be interesting to start a topic to share an image taken during the course of our day that might be funny or just interesting in nature...

Instead of keep on abusing that topic with Bug related stuff I'll report my latest efforts here.

What is it about Herman? Well, back in '90 we had three Bugs on our yard...



For the sake of convenience we used to refer to my 1302 as "the red".
But actually his nick is Hermann - essentially inspired by Mr. Munster (Fred Gwynne).



IMHO Super Bugs are sort of Frankenbugs ex Factory, aren't they?

Anyway, here we go, some progress with the woofer amp case...


Framework...








Cladding...








Some trimming...






It fits snugly...




Getting the terminal and amp modules in...






Finally there is the little black box...

[schwim]

Wow, that's just gorgeous work man. What an incredible job you did. Was that an existing amp you had that you made the box for or did you frankenstein(Hermanize) a bunch of parts to make what you want?

[Maddel]

Ha! "Hermanizing" - that's what is it all about. I like your neologism!

This is what I had...


Although this woofer is small and would fit the rear luggage area of the Bug I wanted a more stealth solution.
So I "hermanized" these out of it...

Goes under the passenger seat...


Goes under the rear seat...

[Maddel]

Put the amp in and checked out its basic wiring...






But with 3°C (38°F) in the garage I decided to postpone the amp wiring. Instead I only removed this device...


Actually it's not a cigarette lighter but a disguised rotary potentiometer...






Back in the early 90s it served as volume control for a Discman that was connected directly to an amp in the trunk.
Later with the Becker car stereo that pot was obsolete and I simply cut the cords off and forgot about it.
Now with the new woofer set up I'll use it as an additional gain control for the woofer amp.
So I can easily adjust the bass level while driving.
Downside is I have to add new cords and soldering these coaxial cables is a PITA at times...

[Maddel]

After the coaxial cables were soldered to the rotary potentiometer I looped it into the "office hi-fi" for a test.
Thankfully volume control worked very well...




Then installed the little device back into the dashboard...








Finally hooked all cable connections up to finish the audio signal installation behind the dash.
Man, that was a tight fit and quite tricky to tuck away the RCA jacks between the ashtray and the head unit.

[Super_Randy]

holy crap that's sleek! talk about a stealth install.

[Maddel]

Zip tied an old bed sheet to the bottom side of the rear seat frame.
May be it prevents "contamination" of the woofer amp by the ever floating down crumbs of the coconut fiber pad.

[Maddel]

Home made ground wire eyelet for the woofer amp...




The stock rear seat belt screw hole should provide a sufficient ground connection I guess...

[Super_Randy]

[schwim]

Home made ground wire eyelet for the woofer amp...

That looks simply incredible. Did you then bond them with solder, by crimping or both? I'd feel bad by squishing that work of art.