1994 Ford F350 CC Build- Stalled out for a bit! Sorry!

[scooter99]

So last night I was able to actually get it up and running and playing. I had some issues though, big time issues. Here's a pic of what she looks like at night!

So my issues. A little tip, always pay attention first of all, but when you're tired, and working on 3 different projects at one time, you have to pay extra special attention. What ended up happening was I had the 4 channel amp cutting out at the first bass note of every song. It was driving me nuts. It'd go into protect and I just couldn't figure it out. On top of that, when it was playing the right side was not working at all! I was getting frustrated, it was 11:00 at night and my brain couldn't process what was going on!

So to troubleshoot, I pulled the head unit to make sure my connections were ok, and alas they were not! I managed to get the left channels correct but the right channels I managed to connect the rears to rears and fronts to fronts! Basically connecting the neg and pos together! Probably could've been really a lot worse than it was! SO, I got it corrected and it's very nice now! Whew!

So these are the pics I took this morning! This is of the power and ground cables I ran last night. Like I said, too dark to really get em last night.

Another view of it all in!

And what it's looking like with the seat up. I really think, looking at this, that i'm going to have to make a trim panel for it. The truck is up high, and will be higher, and I bought window tint this weekend too, for all the windows, even the top of the windshield, but that's all not going in for a while. It's still pretty visible. I did a walk by test, and you really can't see it unless you're looking for it, but it's parked in my driveway at home, and if someone is up looking at it, they're looking for something! So I'll need to address that as well as get my alarm in ASAP!

View of the port!

View of the front! Head unit playing, and the sub knob on the bottom there in the cubby.

[IBleedMusick]

Looks great came out nice and yeah if it is visible to anyone staring in you're going to want to get that alarm in there asap. How does the bass sound. How are the DC 8's doing on the 1600?

[scooter99]

And now.....you know what time it is! Let's get it tested out with the DD-1!

First was to see what our signal was like!

Check this out! 40hz

THAT'S RIGHT! You're seeing that correctly! 100% clean signal from max output on the DEH-80PRS baby!

Let's try 1khz

YES SIR! AGAIN!!

Now it's time to tune the amps. 4channel first!

Then the BEAST!!

Finally a little battery shot! Still only one battery running! I really really need that bigger alt, and a tender. So I'll get on that between now and when I come back. As you can see on the head unit I'm only running around 13.3 when it's on, that should be much higher. So that's gonna have to be addressed.

[scooter99]

Finally, what you've been waiting for......................VIDEOS!!

I did these with my Sony Cybershot camera, POS! I should've done them with my phone cause I could've at least got them on youtube. Oh well, here you go!

So that's it.

So what are my impressions so far?

Well I'm mildly satisfied. I think on the video I said I was pretty happy with it, and I think I am considering the type an caliber of install this is. I keep telling myself it's only temporary, and that's what it is. I'm happy with the 8's so far, considering this is the first time they've seen any power. They need to break in a little bit and get a little looser. That will help things out. The coaxials up front sound better than they ever have. Power does wonders!

So for the system I'm overall pretty happy with it. I'm not the best at tuning and frankly don't have the time currently to get it dialed in 100%. But for where it is right now, I'm pretty good with it. Feels like the subs get a little loose on the lower notes and could be causing some distortion. I'll need to dial that in for sure.

The only other thing I really need to address is the amp rattle. It's bad. I drove into work this morning and that was in the foreground over the bass. That's just not acceptable. So I'll address that with some rubber feet and a piece of mat on the back side of it. The other thing I'm NOT AT ALL happy with, is the fan on the 2500. That thing is so freaking loud when you start it up, it's gonna irritate the hell out of me. I'm gonna have to do something about that or I may have to switch up equipment. It's that bad. Maybe I can change the fan in it, I don't know. But if that's just the way they are, I'm gonna have two of these monsters in here soon, and it's gonna sound like a damn jet liner going by when I turn them on!

So those are really the only issues thus far. There's really nothing left for this except to get that second battery connected. I was going to use the buss bars I got with the batteries, but due to the way they're installed, I can't use them. I need them to be about another 1/4 - 3/8" apart for the bars to fit. So, I'll do it the old fashioned way, or I"ll make my own bars. I have the stock, just need to do it.

That's it for this project. I'll update when I have more of the little stuff done, but from here on out, I'll be doing the other main projects for the main build! It gets REALLY REAL from here on out!

I go on vacation Wednesday to Friday, then again, next Wednesday through August 2nd. When I get back from that second trip, the sub enclosure will then begin!

Thanks for checking it out guys! Hope you liked it!

[scooter99]

Almost forgot my assistant for all this!

This is my 11 month old Boxer Grace. I'm training her to be out front and not be on leash, but right now I have her on a 20' leash so she knows when she gets to the end of the yard, she can't go any further. She's so fun! Anyway, she hung out with me all day yesterday out front while I did all this work!

[scooter99]

That looks incredibly clean sitting in there man! I didn't expect anything less

Thanks buddy! I appreciate that! Still some things to do yet, but it's pretty much there. Nice to have bass again!

Looks great came out nice and yeah if it is visible to anyone staring in you're going to want to get that alarm in there asap. How does the bass sound. How are the DC 8's doing on the 1600?

Ya it's only visible if you're staring at it. But it still makes me nervous. So that alarm will be on the top of the priority list now!

The DC 8's are doing work! I think they're a little stiff to make a great assessment, but they sound pretty damn good right now. I have to tune it in still to get it sounding better. Right now I feel like I'm loosing some lows, and I'm wondering if it's the box size. I think, and it's been so long I can't remember, but it's around 1.25cu ft tuned to 34 hz. I think part of the problem is, the truck cab is so GAWD DAMN BIG that they're almost undersized for the cabin. Not sure if that's even realistic, but that's what it feels like. I will say this though, at one point during rack city, it was hitting the chest pretty well! So I have some tuning work to do, and I'm not good at all with that, so we'll see how far it gets!

I'm thinking I may also see about getting a hold of Bill (Kingsuv) and see if he can help me tune her up a bit. Or I'll wait till the whole thing is done and then just tune it all at once!

The 1600 isn't in here. I had planned the 2500 when I was going to use the 1600 for the civic, so I just kept it that way. I'll be using the 1600 on it when I do the center console build for these. I could probably swap it out at some point too if you wanna know the difference. But the 2500 is pushing about 1000 watts right now I think to those 8's. I can't remember I have to go back and look a couple pages, hang on, ok so it looks like they're seeing a 2ohm load which the 2500 will put out 1700 watts at, but I'm guessing they're only seeing about 1000-1200 watts of that right now. Again, I'm sure it's my lack of tuning skills, but it just seemed like they were distorting any higher.

Bout the best I can say right now. I still need to get the outside speakers hooked up and playing. I can't wait to hear those bitches! They're gonna be loud as FAWK!! Gonna have to be tomorrow night though, it's going to the shop tonight for tires and stuff.

[Colin - STAPUFT]

Great build and attention to detail. You did a great job on making that wiring look crazy clean- especially for as much swag as you got behind the seat.

With that much amp power- and more electrical to come, those 8"s will wake up after they break in a bit.

Again, looks Great!

[scooter99]

Thanks man! I appreciate it.

Ya I was adjusting some more on the way to drop her off at the 4wd shop tonight and it gets pretty low for a pair of 8's. I also dialed in the coaxial a bit too. Took the bass out of em and they're punchy now and not distorted anymore. Really cleaned up the sound a lot! So I'll have the truck back tomorrow night, and I'm gonna see about getting a couple more 1/0 lugs so I can get that other battery hooked up before I leave on Wednesday morning to go camping. Really shouldn't take long to do and really should liven it up a little bit.

I'm currently talking with some guys on my ford truck forum also about doing dual alternators. There is an ambulance package for these trucks giving them dual 260 amp alt, but the problem with that is they're made for diesel motors and mine is the gas 7.5L. Why is that a problem, well, the diesel has two feet on the bottom of the alt and they face side to side and then on on top that does the same, side to side. Mine has two feet one on top and one on bottom and they face forward. So I don't know, short of fabbing up a bracket, which I'm not opposed to, then I'm not sure how to get dual alts in there. With a bracket I can get a pair of, at very least, 160 amp OEM alts in there. The most would be a pair of 200 amps.

Another problem is the belt pulley jumps from 6 to 8 ribs when you get over the 160 amp alts. So what would I do about that? Lots to think about and sort out.

Till then I'll get a battery tender and make sure they're topped off all the time.

[Rebel4055]

I love the way you spent so much time getting every detail. It really does show you took your time and you have pride in your work. I wish I had a vehicle that I was able to tear into like yours. Keep up the great work. I can't believe this is a temp setup and you did all this. Very nice bro.

[n1ghtsn1p3r]

Wow, that's looking nice.