1994 Ford F350 CC BLOW THROUGH - DC and Soundstream

[scooter99]

This is basically how it will look. Some details to be added, roundovers etc. But you get the idea.

Will also be screwed in from the inside so no holes will be seen.

Now then it was time to get the holes cut out. I was originally going to use a hole saw and then the router. But my battery died on my big drill so I grabbed the smaller one and drilled a bunch of holes to cut out with a jigsaw. Then router it.

Port spot to be cut out.

Time to make some dust!

First the port. This was kind of a pain in the ass cause I couldn't get it to sit still on the saw horses and do it on it's side. So I had to stand it up and then I had to get on a bucket cause it was too tall! PAIN! SO it's not my best work! But it'll do!

Then I got out the roundover bit and took care of a few corners!

[scooter99]

So in my haste to get things done, I did not pay attention and made a few mistakes. I routered out the edges around the box to the flush panel but didn't pay attention to the screw holes which made notched in my panel. DAMN IT! I'd redo it if it was a permanent panel, but it's not. It transferred to the round over too.

Put the sub in to get my outer cutout. I had a bit for the router but it's way short for the cut out. So back to the jigsaw!

Then the test fit! I like it!

Then a little roundover to finish it off!

So that's pretty much where I left it off. I have a few things left to do still.

Attach Back Panel

Install Bracing Rods

threaded inserts for subs

Sanding

Amp Layout

Paint

Wire the subs

Install the amps.

I have to decide how I want to finish it. I may actually put a little carpet on the front of the flush panel. I have some of that Home Depot heavy outdoor carpet left over from a different box. I may paint the front of the box itself grey and do a two tone theme. Not sure yet.

Hoping this will be done in the next week or so.

Thanks for tuning in!

As always, if you want to hear the behind the scenes chatter and see some other designs etc, then please tune into my build log thread, linked in my signature!

[scooter99]

So I got some power in for this system! Got a deal on a couple of XS Power batteries! Wasn't even really on the radar for these yet, but it was a good deal by a good guy, (Orionstang) so I couldn't pass it up. Also got buss bars with them. SCORE!!! Check em out. They're in the trunk of my civic, and I'm at work so this is the best I could do for now. Maybe I'll take better pics later when I have more time to get em out of the boxes. Look a little dusty, but they are used. Still in good condition though from what I can tell. I'll get em cleaned up and ready to go soon.

XS Power D6500 Batteries x 2:

And buss bars to attach them together.

I also got some RCA's yesterday for the temp set up. A 20' 2 channel set and a 20' 4 channel set. These will do me nicely. I've had these before and had good luck with them.

Stinger 4000 series RCA's

So that's all for equipment for now. I think that with these two batteries and the buss bars, I'm going to for sure try and get them both up front under the hood. If I can figure out how to fab up a tray for both to sit next to each other, I'll utilize the buss bars and get myself some more 1/0 Ga and do single runs to the back. Maybe I'll do two dual runs of 1/0 ga to the sub amps, and then do single runs of 1/0ga or 4 ga to the other amps. I'll decide that later, but I think for sure, I'm gonna try and get these to fit into the front area where the battery tray is at currently. I also need to decide if this will be enough or if i need to get a third battery. Remember this isn't a competition vehicle, at least not at the moment. So I may not need the gobs of power that most other people have. We'll see.

That's all for now. Thanks!

Oh wait, not all. The more I think about it, the less satisfied I am of the front 3/4" flush panel on the temporary box. I'm gong to re do it, to fix the sides, and then also add a little touch of detail in there as well! Might be able to get to that this week, but if not a little this weekend. Stay tuned! More to come!

[scooter99]

Ok guys, I have updates today! I had a few hours this afternoon before i take my family to the drive in's and watch the new Madagascar movie! My daughters are soooo looking forward to it. So I was able to sneak out to the side of the house and get some work done on the box.

When I left off, I did a test fit of the subs, and a test fit of the flush panel. I'm still not happy with the flush panel and I'm not sure if I'm going to do anything about it or not, but for now I'm just going to hold on to what I've done!

Today I started by drilling the holes for the threaded inserts.

Then got to installing them.

Once I got them all installed, I realized that I had a problem, which was confirmed by a test fit of the subs. The edges of the inserts stick out farther than the hole is. So the subs hit them and the holes don't line up. Bummer! You can see that here.

So I decided to get out my trusty friend and take care of the problem!

Did another test fit and we're golden.

[scooter99]

The next order of business was to address the square edges on this port. Not much I can do about it, but sand it. So I used my good friend again, with a sanding wheel this time, and did the best number I could on it. Probably should've done a little better job, but it's not square anymore and that's the point.

Next up was the bracing. Remember this is only half inch ply and mdf. So I need some kind of bracing in this thing at least. The top, bottom, and sides are probably ok, cause they're all birch and only about 6" wide so they're pretty stiff. However, the front and back panels are MDF and there's gonna be some flexin going on there!

So instead of cutting a bunch of wood and nailing or screwing them, I decided threaded rods, washers, nuts, and nuts with nylon inserts will be the best thing to use here.

The hardware!

Now that I've got the rods in, tightened on the bottom, and the second nut and washer on, it's time for the last part in completing the actual box. The back side including the amp rack.

Got the holes drilled to fit the rods through

Then it was time to glue it. NICE thick bead so it oozes out everywhere!

Then get it on there! Obviously here I had to get it on, put a couple screws in it and flip it over. That's why it's back side up now. Did some counter sinking and then screwing! She's tight!!!!

Now as you can see the rods are too tall. So I had to cut them off. Well in order to not mess up the threads and be able to get the nuts on, I put on a couple extra nuts first, then cut them off. This way I can run the nuts off, salvage the threads and put the nuts with the nylon inserts on with no problems!

[scooter99]

So after this was done, I was thinking to myself, I really need to get an air saw. I've been talking about getting one for a while now, and really it's just a good tool to have. So after seeing this, I was shaking my head saying I have to just go get one! So that's next on the list of tools to buy!

So I ran those nuts off and put the final ones on no problems and tightened it down! NO FLEX!!

I also trimmed off the excess! Not pictured.

So here is what she looks like so far!

Now onto the flush panel. I need to hide the nuts from the rods, so I measured it out, drilled the holes and got it mounted.

Half inch bit with tape to mark the depth. 1/2" out of a 3/4" panel. Needed to stay within the extra quarter inch!

Then I just reamed them out a little bit to fit the nut!

Sits beautifully!

[scooter99]

So the flush panel, I had said before, was going to be screwed in from the inside to not show screws. But that just wasn't going to work. These subs were kind of a pain to get out of there, and if I ever have to take them out, I'd rather not have to pry them out and risk puncturing one or something stupid. So I decided to just screw them on from the front. Then if I need to take it off, I can with no problems.

Test fitted the subs. I'm getting excited. It's still a temporary box, and there's some stuff that's driving me nuts, like the flush panel, and it being just one side of the box, and the router dips from the screw holes, and stuff like that. But overall I'm happy with it. It'll work out for a temp box.

Now it's time for the sexy!!!!

Soundstream Rubicon 1.1600D sub amp, and 4.600 mids and highs amp.

Time for the layout!

So this was the first layout, and then I even went ahead and drilled out holes for the inserts. But I had to change it.

Reason I had to change it was cause I left myself no room for a fuse block or ground block. Yes, there's only 2 amps, but I still need to have them. So I moved the amps down a bit, and left myself plenty of room for that. Those will get made a little later. I'll probably just go pick up some aluminum bar from home depot, drill and tap em, and call it good. I do have some aluminum block here though that I was going to make custom blocks with, so maybe I'll use those. We'll see!

So here she is, rough and in the nude! Amps mounted in the correct spaces.

The top looks unbalanced, but that will balance out when I get the blocks in there for power and ground. It's the bottom right that's not sitting well with me. I may do something there to decorate it and dress it up. We'll see!

So that's it for now. We're getting closer, but still a ways to go!

Thanks for tuning in! If you want to hear the behind the scenes chatter or just simply comment on the build, please visit my build long. Link is in my signature!

[scooter99]

No not much happened this weekend! Well non happened really! It's been a long weekend! Father's Day BBQ yesterday, Family time for father's day today, Firday was spent getting my house ready for the BBQ yesterday.

Thursday I did a little something but not much really! Here's some pics.

While I was waiting for my new Father's Day Present to arrive, Webber Summit S-470 BBQ, I decided to work on the Ground Distribution and Power Fuse Blocks.

Some of you may remember this equipment from my Civic Build. I was going to just buy some blocks, but I decided I have these, and I'm going to need blocks for the actual build, so I might as well make some now. I need 3 spots for the actual build so that's what I put together for this as well. Check it out.

Raw Aluminum and tools!

Taped it up so I could draw up some dimensions.

Got the power fuse block laid out

Then the ground block

No time to cut them out, but that's going to be a pain anyway. I'll get it done soon. I actually have a chop saw, which I think for this may be safer than a table saw, but I need to buy a metal blade for it. Then drill the holes, tap for screws, and mount it on whatever I'm going to mount it on.

Then while I was waiting, I also got a ring at the door bell!

Little teaser!! Got something up my sleeve for this! Muahahahahah That's all you get for now!

I'll see if I can get anything done on it this week. Goodnight now!

[scooter99]

So I'll try this again. I was half way through it and my computer decided it was a good time to update and restart! Oh well.

So, I had a set of cabinet speakers I was using for outside speakers for the truck. They were just hooked up to the rear channels of the head unit. I used them when we were at the drive ins last week and they just didn't have a good enough output for me. Wasn't very clear. So I decided to change all that.

Here are the old speakers and cabinets

New drivers compared to the old drivers

Oh those are gonna look nice in there.

In order to get those bullet tweets in there, obviously there was some serious alterations that had to be made. I didn't have a hole saw that was big enough to get them to fit, but with this one it would get me close, and then my trusty dremel could do the rest of the work.

Test fit! Nice!

Next I took the old caps from the old tweets out. Those are cute! LOL

Little difference huh!?!

[scooter99]

SO next I had to solder on the new caps on to the new wires. I got this little beauty a while ago, but then the builds stopped so now I finally get to use it.

Soldered em all up!

and back on the tabs

for good measure I decided a little poly fill wouldn't hurt.

Mid wired up and screwed in!

Tweet. Man that thing is big. It's damn near as heavy as the mid. Unreal!

Ready to go!

Got em wired up to the truck.

Another little close up.

And a video of how they sound! So recall, that these are only on the head unit on the rear channels. No amp, nothing.

So as I said on the video, I had nothing other than a Jay Z cd to play. The head unit in there isn't set up for my phone or anything like that. So that's what I had to play. Drive ins should be much clearer tomorrow night! Woot!

So that's all I was able to do tonight. Wanted to get the battery in tonight too at least, but I just ran out of time. Had things to do at home, and quite frankly watching the Heat prove a point tonight, was worth it. Feel bad for OKC cause I like them too, really wasn't rooting for anyone except I really wanted Lebron to get his ring, but the Heat did work! Anyway, so I wasn't able to get anything else done.

So that's all for tonight. Thanks for checking in! As always, you can check out the chatter and behind the scenes talk on my build thread which is linked in my signature.