JeepAndBassXJ

Building the rear of the wall. This was a lot of work! I had to build two backs, one for the enclosure and one for the concrete form. Amp racks are going to mount to the bars in the rear. We have room for up to 8 DC 10ks, starting with four. Also put a box together for 20 banks of caps.

We decided to pull the dash out to get the fire wall sealed and vibraflex installed.

Time for an update! Slowly getting the enclosure closed in. The baffle came out perfect! Fiberglass resin on the wood panels that will be exposed to wet concrete. This will hopefully keep it from swelling up from moisture. Notched out the sides to fit the subs for rear mounting if needed. That all will be tested as I go. View from roof where the concrete is to go.

More progress on the baffle and cage being made. We also got our SMD fuse holders made up by the man himself last week! Traced out the frame onto the first baffle layer to start the pre-drilling process. Then went on to attaching the baffle on using Pl3x and a ton of metal screws. This will be the starting thickness of the baffle. It will likely change as we test.

I don't plan to use all the layers without testing each as its added, also have plans to rear mount the woofers if i start having pressuring issues on the rear cone. Its setup to give me options on 1/4 wave tuning.

Mocking up the baffle.

Baffle time! It will consist of a metal frame and start out thin and be added to as it gets tested. I had all the parts made up regardless if I end up using all of them or not. This layout gave us the most port area possible while still allowing the woofers to fit without issue. It is VERY strong! Now to cut some wood!! I got the hook up from King's Custom Cabinetry in Sacramento, Ca and help from Bobby Gately of Gatley Audio to get these parts cut on a CNC. We are using a very high grade MDF, much more dense than whats available at a Homedepot. It also if full dimension thickness which was important for filling in the metal frame as you will see.

Likely do a solid suspension, we swapped it over to a beefy set of leaf springs and the weight will be ahead of the rear axel so we will see what it does first. I'm not an expert on the vans but I do believe this is the larger style.

The main portion build (up to first testing) will hopefully be done by May. Then from there will be several months of testing and adjustments.

As much as a pride having drivable builds this one is going to a trailer queen. Just no way around it for the application. I’d try other methods like the two part foam or composites but I’m a fan of concrete and know it well.

As I add to the frame I am also setting up for a concrete pour. I have the floor partitioned off to be the first pour and the remaining sections of the enclosure (back, top, sides) will be a continuous pour once the shell is complete. There will be rebar throughout the pour to ensure things are well bonded and held in place. Filling in the floor using a tested custom mix (CSU Chico University) with a yield strength of ~7000psi roughly a 50% water to cement ratio. I will be upping the ratio for the main pour to ensure the pour is less viscous to get it into hard to reach places ( you will see that later). The concern on the floor was the ~2" slab thickness. We opted not to do cross bars in the the rebar layout because of issues concerning the aggregate fitting between bars. I tooled the concrete to have a porous surface so that I can epoxy the wood floor to it later. The sides will have wood pre-installed before the final pour with appropriate mechanical bondings cast in. In the mean time I finished more of the cage and cut the roof open to give us access for the concrete pour. I have to install the wood interior and make a rear forum still. The b-pillar has been welded shut to make a perfect seal.

It has been a while since I started a full build log and I figured this was one I wanted to chronicle here rather than other social media platforms (just yet). This build is for a long time friend and customer Craig. We are essentially teaming up this season to operate the vehicle and reach a goal of 170db sealed on the windshield. Over several years of exposure in the spl/competition world I've been lucky enough to gain sponsors and work with companies who are backing the project in various ways; so I always want to give thanks to them! My main objective with this build log is to hopefully share some knowledge and also learn from you too! I'm always open to ideas and criticism; anything that could get us to our goal is worthwhile to try. So now lets get into it!!! We are using a 1993 Chevy Astro Van. This build will consist of (4) DC 3" Neo 18's on (4) DC 10k's and (20) Banks of Maxwell Caps. Things will be added and changed as we get there. As always, the first step is to completely strip the vehicle out. Only the interior in front of the b-pillar is needed and we will be replacing the carpets with an OEM mat floor and installing a vinyl headliner later on. Anything goes when it comes to the vehicle behind the b-pillar so we will be building a steel cage reinforced by concrete. The roof rails will be modified to maximize the usable room in the van. Again, nothing ahead of the b-pillar will be modified or removed. The cutting begins and the roof braces are removed, the front most brace looks close to being past the b-pillar but we got luck and were able to remove it as it did not pass the pillar line. You can see the cut stopped at the pillar (this is important in upholding the rules). At this point it was time to establish where my steel cage frame would be and start welding it in. I'm brushing up on my welding skills and am fighting between two metal thicknesses to make the vehicle attachments. Using a flux core mig welder. Now there is a good start to a cage. I ended up extending it some as I was working out the floor layout as you can see.

Hopefully 157 next

More progress and some results! Very happy with it! Sealed on windshield 26hz USACI Outlaw Kick MECA Headrest

I just wire into the dirt and let it rip