Astro build...*NEW VIDEOS! page 7!* lots of sexy plexiglass, 2 18s walled, ~9k rms

[MrGrey13]

that box\wall is sick! good job on it! maybe ill have to use that idea for my durango soon...

[alenv10]

hey how do you put on a plexi glass baffle? like how thick does it have to be for it to not flex a shit ton?

[soundsystemaniac]

hey how do you put on a plexi glass baffle? like how thick does it have to be for it to not flex a shit ton?

well, with this one, i actually tapped all the holes for the bolts in the plexi by hand, and then ran the bolts into the plexiglass. This plexiglass is 1.25 inches thick and it has the other plexiglass rods which are 1.5 inches thick that act as braces for the plexiglass. this plexiglass does not flex at all. Im pretty sure its bulletproof! and with this big of a window, i wouldnt have done anything less than 1 inch for it.

we got the dash primed and painted today and all finished up today. my phone died before i could take any good photos of it tonight. I will post more tomorrow

[alenv10]

well it looks amazing!!

you know any places i could get wrap instead of painting a box?

[Colin - STAPUFT]

So much room in the longer Astros! Enough to have the box behind the back seat even.

I used to love putting the back seat in and take out the middle- it was like an astro van limo. lol

Doors and Lights in the box look really good. You did a great job on sealing off the sides too... and still have the rear A/C to boot! Choice.

[COLTON94]

Damn 148's out the box. Little bit of tuneing and eltrical and a 50 could be in ur future. Honstly didnt expect it to meter very good because its such a huge van and its on 2 18's on 3500? Rms

[soundsystemaniac]

yep im happy with the results so far! i think ive got a 50 in this setup with this amp/sub/box combo.

[soundsystemaniac]

Well, Little bit of an update here. We have been doing work to this thing!

We have pulled the headliner down and added 3/4 inch steel tubing welded to the roof braces to reduce flex. (the roof was flexing BAD and sounded horrible!) Then we bought some 3/4 birch, and cut it to size and screwed it up underneath the roof braces, then drilled holes in it and filled the gap inbetween the roof and the wood with expanding foam. WA-LA lol now the roof went from flexing a solid 1.25 inches to maybe 1/8 inch. Its VERY strong now. I had my brother jump on the roof and it barely moves inside lol. Next step is to carpet the roof and add some backlit plexiglass up there.

We have done SERIOUS electrical upgrades: We got a used Tenny 350 amp alternator for a deal we couldnt refuse because the previous owner thought it had a bad regulator. Turned out the wire to the reg was loose lol so we fixed that and installed it. We also changed out the battery under the hood, and added 2 more Group 31 batteries in the back under the back seat. thats a total of 6 batteries!

We have changed the AQ3500 to a Crescendo 5500 for the subs. (just got that changed a couple days ago. The subs sound a lot better! Now, the voltage stays at 12.4 lowest with the van at an idle with everything FULL TILT! even with the 5500 playing at 1/2 ohm. Im not sure how much the subs really like ~3k each though lol they seem to heat up pretty quickly. I need to DD-1 the amp to make sure its not clipping to be sure. The van finally moves some real air and it seems like plenty to do hairtricks at the front windows! and its louder to the ear, so hopefully, that will put us into the 150 club!

we also have pulled the side panels of the van and reinforced everything with expanding foam and deadener. now, the Slider door on the van Is getting RAPED with vibrations. Its so bad that the latch assembly broke, and we have to reach back in on the inside of the van to the latch to open it.

We did some testing by extending the ports 12 inches each to drop the tuning, and we were able to play down to 17 hz with authority! They looked terrible and basically made sitting in the back seats impossible, so we ditched them.

We are planning to change the mids and highs amp soon to a crescendo 1600.2 and a amp for the tweeters. and finish the back stage with more crescendo equipment!

My roommmate bough a Go pro the other day, so hopefully we will get some good footage of the van soon!

Here is a pic i snapped with the extra batteries and the new 5500 in.

let me know what you all think!

[Colin - STAPUFT]

Very nice. So- your seat still fits on top of the batteries and amp? Very cool. I bet it has passengers looking all

I know what you mean on the roof rattle. It SUCKS. Sounds like you have yours well under control though. I'm tuned in for the back-lit plexi. Maybe I can steal some ideas. hehe. I have an overhead console that I would love to fab up a 1/8" thick bit of plexi to go between the console and headliner- then light it up along with the other LEDs or Interior lights- but it would be serious work.

Get that GO PRO to making some vids and keep up the good work!

[SGT_76]

Beautiful work! Any idea what that plexi would have cost you if not free?