01 Explorer (2) AT Strato 18s in a 4th

[slammedincouch]

Figured I'd bring my build log over here now that it's starting to take shape

AUDIO TECHNIX STRATO 18 BUILD AND CURRENT PICS START IN THE NEXT POST- FIRST POST IS PAST STUFF

Before I update to the current ish, here’s the past tiny build of the tail end of last year:

Started working on the truck back in novemeber with ****** weather, so everything was pretty rushed to get a working system installed before the bad weather hit and I lost working in the garage to the folks cars. The explorer is my winter/daily vehicle now.

Here’s le picture of muh car (98 Maliboom) and muh suv (01 Explorer)

Where to start…hmm well after running wire through the truck, the first thing I bought was equipment from la crx:

-DD M80

-DD 9012

-DD C1B

-DD CS 6.5

Had Dustin Camb design and build meh a beater box until I had time to mess around with cosmetics in the spring

Also around this time (now December) I came across a great deal on a z120, so I bought that and installed it as well (explorer dash is a ***** that is about .75” of trim too large around the radio bezel to fit a DD

Anywho, trimmed it out and got that ish in:

I was also deadening the whole car with this GT MAT sound deading stuff- not the greatest, but ballin on a budget in a daily beater and 100+ sq ft for 100 bucks will sway a man.

Bought some other small ish for it too like a Kicker EQ for the mids that I have yet to install as well as the mids themselves and an HC 2400 from John

So on the brink of winter I got the sub amp and DD installed then winter hit and I was out messing around in the snow in it (yay 4wd) and had no real time to work on the truck, so this is how it’s looked for the past 5ish months.

[slammedincouch]

Onward to the current activities:

So over winter, I got lazy because I had no work space and needed some speaker rings really bad. I cheaped out and bought thes POS abs plastic pods that really ****, but they do the job.

The 01 explorer doors are kind of annoying because they have this lame arse pockt right where I wanted the speakers. So I cut the pocket out and caulked the pods to em

Wrapped them in some fleece from Walmart and got to glassing on them (I went up so far on the door to cover up those OEM speaker grills in case you’re wondering- the doors ****** so I decided to glass almost the whole panel)

A butt ton of glassing and body fillign later the doors start to take shape:

And then it was time to re test fit the doors to make sure they didn’t warp with all the glass and filler

Sooo after all of that I plasti dipped the whole doors, got out my super 77 glue and went to town on finishing them

Andddd here’s where I’m currently at with the doors. They just need a ton of clear on them and then they are set and ready for those CS6.5s. The doors are layered in 3 coats of plasti dip between the super 77'd stickers/clear and primer, so if I ever feel the need to change it, it's just an hour or so of peeling and voila back to primer

[slammedincouch]

Box designed by Buck:

8 cubes sealed, 12 ported @ 48 hz. 180.47 in^2, 15.04 in^2 per cube. Rear window for getting at the subs- will eventually put a piece of acrylic in there, but ballin on a budget currently, so that'll have to wait.

Subs got here two wednesdays ago:

Oh also I forgot to mention I retired the M80 to its box a few months ago so now it's all like

I'm a sucker/OCD about matching amps if I can be...

Last Monday I picked up all the mdf. I wanted to go birch, but I'm once again ballin' on a budget, so MDF will do it for now:

and then

and then

and then and then and then and then

I love beam compasses ftw perfect for drawing big ol circles

My dad's router seemed like it was on its last leg, so I went out and bought this today. Seems like over the past few months my dad has started asking to borrow My tools instead of vice versa.

[slammedincouch]

"Bro, does your box even lift?"

Gettin circle jiggy wit it (na na na na na na na nana na na na na nana)

got the first part of the rear piece on with the window so I can get to the subs (hoping I won't ever need to).

and the sides

and then the lower baffle

Hoping the weather holds out tomorrow so I can get the final things cut and put it all together. Need to snag a few things form the store and then I'll be good to go.

[slammedincouch]

Small update for the day:

got the rest of the bracing cut today as well as the front piece as well s the misc stuff from the store I needed to grab. Got the other baffle in and just laid some paint on it. Also got the side bracing up as well.

Check back tomorrow for the final assembly and then it's on to the cometic stuff next week.

[sounddesires]

Looks good

[K_SubieXT]

Tuned in for this

[baaudio]

Very nice. I love explorer builds. Check out the wall in my explorer sport

[slammedincouch]

Looks good

Tuned in for this

Very nice. I love explorer builds. Check out the wall in my explorer sport

Thanks guys can't wait to get the box finished up tomorrow! Update for the day below:

Almost finished with everything- tomorrow for sure. I'll be up at 8am finishing up what little is left. Today I got the top bracing finished off, 3 out of 4 of the 45s in, the front piece as well as the port:

Got a little saw trigger happy with the port on the front piece- need to fill in an eighth inch gap that I took out of it, on the bottom part

Forgot to take pictures of the second piece of wood cut out to cover the rear window for now and the holes for the bolts for wiring (two bolts per voice coil so I can change the ohm load without taking the subs out of the box to switch from .5 and 2). I'll get those for tomorrow

Tomorrow all I have to do is get the last 45 in, calk up the ported chamber, finish putting in a few screws here and there, toss a little paint in the port/ported chamber, toss on the top and wire up the subs

[slammedincouch]

Another small, but "filled" update. Just got started around an hour ago- I've been out of the garage all day. Got some paint on the box today- plasti dip on the front and a $2 can of spray paint on the side (you'll ever see the sides, so they can look like loose bhole for all I care. "

Had to fix the front peice a little where the port is from getting saw happy. Little bit of body filler here and there over some screws and also back tracing to some screws inside the box that i missed. I didn't bother to get the ones on the front piece, due to the fact that when I'm finished, you won't see them.

Also filled the 2x2- wasn't going to be a nice looking brace without it

Picked up some more supplies at the store today:

more silicone sealant for inside the box, some matte clear to test on the box when I'm finished and also found some

white plasti dip (awhh yeah) Gonna respray the port once I sand it a tad and respray the lower baffle (I love plasti dip, meh about regular spray on shiz)

Possible updated to follow tonight depending on how much I get done. Tomorrow I'll have a full day on it, so my ideas that I have rolling around should start coming together and the subs Will be in the box by tomorrow night.