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

[mirosbee23]

dude love your box came out looking good tuned in for more updates

[zapme]

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.

thats great, but might pinched RCAs or wires when installing seats

let me know what you all think!

[Colin - STAPUFT]

I bet it screams in there with the new mids and tweets.

Party van for sure- seating for 8 and still knocking on 150. I love this build!

[zapme]

then i cut out the center of the jig and ended up with this:

up until this time. i was using the router freehand and tracing it around my jig that was setup on some sawhorses. so i decided it was time to build a router table so that way i would have a flat, proper working surface to work with. it also serves as a dead mans table that is the same height as my table saw. I even put it on some casters so it can be easily moved out of the way. all 4 casters also have brakes on them so it will stay put when i am sliding wood across it. I need to get some better pics of the router table. i also built a fence for it that accommadates a vacuum cleaner attachment to cut down on the dust. My table saw also has a dust port that helps soo much when cutting stuff! anyways, back to the pics.

This is a pic of the router table, and i have made a few more copies of my jig.

in the future, i will order more diamond plating and cut it to size. it will go on the back of the door pods like this. i just dont have enough for both of them right now, so i am just going to use black bedliner instead.

all of them together:

this is one of the pods complete. i used roll on bedliner inside and out. I also cut a back panel with the outside of the jig that fits on so that all the sound is contained in the pod itself and not the door.

we also mouted the 4 channel amp here on the doghouse because the storage piece was so shitty and falling apart.

well thats the progress for now. thanks for looking!

on the panels, why don't you glass from the speaker ring to the lower doorpanel and still leave the plexi insert. i think it would look killer and a few LEDs inside the pods.

[soundsystemaniac]

Thanks STAPUFT! Well, Ive got pics on here of it, but I have completely redone the door panels to match the theme of the subwoofer box. and yes, I really do need to light up the door panels though haha

[_paralyzed_]

I had my signature before I read this thread, but holy shit is it relevant to it. Don't get me wrong, this is an awesome build. But, yeah... read my signature.

[soundsystemaniac]

I had my signature before I read this thread, but holy shit is it relevant to it. Don't get me wrong, this is an awesome build. But, yeah... read my signature.

there is only 1 or 2 pictures of me in this thread.... but thanks!

[Colin - STAPUFT]

Is your carpet original? It is the same color as mine. The reason I ask is because yours is making mine look like crap. lol

Any update vids?

[soundsystemaniac]

Is your carpet original? It is the same color as mine. The reason I ask is because yours is making mine look like crap. lol

Any update vids?

the carpet is original actually lol. We steam cleaned it and it came out alright. havent taken any vids in forever my galaxy s2 broke and im using some shitty droid that prob cant even record video lol. My roommate just bought a go pro a bit ago so that will be good to take videos with! We just did some shag on the roof lol. pics uploading now!

We also went ahead and officially sealed off the wall with expanding foam. We cut the factory panels just behind our wood trim panels and went crazy with like 20 cans of great stuff! It is substantially louder now and plays the lower notes much better!

[soundsystemaniac]

This is the roof before the shag. Its been reinforced with 3/4 inch steel tubing across the braces and then we cut 3/4 inch birch to go down the entire roof, attached it below the braces, and drilled holes and filled the gap with great stuff! even with the upgraded power and being sealed off, the roof only flexes around 1/8 inch!

and then:

going up...