01 Ford Explorer Audio Build Log

Figured I'd bring my build log on my 01 explorer over here from the audio forums. Right now it's sort of in one piece, but I swap things out quite often in it. Currently working on the suspension and should have some updates eventually. Hopefully someone finds some of the stuff I've done to it cool/over the top.

Note: Not setup to look as pretty or professional as the Malibu, as I realized after building that what a PITA it is to swap things in and out once everything is pretty.

There will probably be a lot of sarcasm in this log from me, so feel free to join in.

Figured I'd bring my build log over from Ca/caco/smd/MAF and add all the updates considering I haven't done any updating in a while, so here goez nothing:

In the Beginning There Was Crap

Started working on the truck back in Novemeber of 2012. Had ****ty weather and no garage time to get things super clean, 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.

Here's my ol ***** next to my new *****

Ran crap power wire through it (Soundquest 1/0 and some 4ga Knu CCA), then bought some equipment:

OG Equipment:
-DD M80
-DD 9012
-DD CS 6.5

Had Dustin Camb design and build a temp box until I had time to mess around with stuff in the spring

Also around this time (now December 2012), I came across a great deal on a z120, so I bought that and installed it as well (explorer dash is about .5” of trim too large around the radio bezel to fit a double din, so I shaved it down)

Trimmed it out and got it in (that's what she said):

Deadened the whole car with this GT MAT sound deading stuff- not the greatest, but it was cheap for the daily/winter beater and 100+ sq ft for 100 bucks will sway a man.

Bought some other small stuff for it too like a Kicker EQ that I never ended up using and an HC 2400 from a friend

So from there, I didn't have any time to work on it until later in 2013, so the back looked like ass and nothing was stolen:

 

[slammedincouch]

May Updates:

Post on why I will NEVER do a trade with anyone on the internet ever again:

So traded the m1C for a new toy. Toy got here:

Super pumped for about 10-15 mins after getting her out of the package until...

So that sucked. Guy I traded with said he tested and read coils before he sent it out, but I never received pics of the readings, so dumb move on my part. Got too excited too fast and I paid for it. Luckily we worked out a deal to cover half the cost of the recone (basically what it would cost to send the sub all the way back to him for my amp). So sent it off to someone local to get repaired (SPLAudio is what he goes by on the forums. If you ever need a busted sub rebuilt, hit me up for his info).

Well it got there, he pulled the cone, former and spiders (coil was blown and the leads burnt as well) out to find out the basket was cracked...awesome. Welp no use crying over spilled milk. Unsure when that happened, but was told the likely cause was from the woofer being shipped with the weight pulling down on the motor or whatever (Came from Cali, so many occasions where it could have cracked). Already left feedback by this point, so another lesson learned the hard way.

As a result of this, I will absolutely positively never ever trade with someone over the forums again (unless in person). I can't tell whether or not people are genuine and make mistakes (I know it happens), but I have a more than I wanted to spend into this sub now. Whole point of the trade was to have something in working condition with a few scuffs in the surround that i could have used. Could have traded for 2 15" hdd motors and basket assemblies instead.

That being said/ranted about, at least with all the bad news comes some good news! Had to wait for Corey to get the specific parts I need in, but all I'm going to say is that it is an absolute BEAST of a woofer now.

Also have a pair of the m3 8s with corey that are getting reconed as well.

 

[slammedincouch]

And she is absolutely beautiful.

Specs on this bish:

18" TI basket
HDD motor
3" 8 layer coil
Nightshade v3 spider pack (DEM TRIPLE LEADS)
Beefy as fuh sundown surround/cone assembly
CF cap (color per choice of SPLaudio- told him to surprise me with the color- matches the colorway of a Monster, which this thing definitely is)

 

[slammedincouch]

August Updates:

Found time to work on this project again. Of course when I went to go start, the explorer was dead. Haven't really gone to great lengths to diagnose the issue, but something OEM is staying on and draining the batteries. Killed the Kinetik in the back and I haven't gotten around to buying/deciding on a new one yet. Kind of banking on selling the M3 8s to pay for something nice/haven't felt the need to splurge on audio related shiz lately.

Here's a nice photo of a mess of wires and me removing the rear dead batt:

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/...xplorer Build/20140715_190148_zps7locerml.jpg


So I've had the box design for what? Almost a month and a half at this point? I cut the wood and it's been sitting in the garage...

Because I'm finding less and less time for car audio nowadays, I figure this is probably going to be the last swap of new equipment in the explorer. Plan to trade it in by this time next year and get a newer f-150 (note the one on the right. Ever since that bish was added to the fleet of vehicles, I've fallen in love. Dat 2015 aluminum body is what my eyes are set on).

So back on topic...I figured go big and heavy or go home with this box

and so I glassed the living daylights out of not only the port, but the whole inside of the box. I decided to make this box look super ugly by using titebond II and sawdust on the outside instead of busting out the bondo to cover the screws and ran out of heavy build primer in the port (thought I had more, but I didn't and couldn't find time to get more. thus, port is about 1/8 painted).

Original plan was to put the kicker on the side of the cargo area because it's too big to fit on the amp rack without rebuilding it. Well guess what? It's too friggin long to fit. My luck? Yuh.

So onto the semi-false floor/platform

Sup. Wood look familiar? Well it should. It's from that first DD eh build on the first post. Happy I saved it to chop up into something useable.

Test fit and the point where I said to myself, "Hmm. Probably should have just walled it..."

Got some beauty panels cut tonight and started running wires/finished the platform. Had to throw everything in the back real quick to get dinner and a movie in before it was too late, so box is off center.

Things left to do to get her playing:
- Put sub in enclosure
- Screw some random stuff together
- Pull a battery from the Malibu and put it in the amp rack for a few days to test things out
- Wire amp
- Tune amp

 

[slammedincouch]

Haven't updated my build logs since that point, and it's almost 5am. Hungry, need protein and some sleep. I'll kick out my current updates in the afternoon tomorrow.

Things that still need to be posted:
-review of the setup, pics of new tires, ideas in the works that should be finished up by the end of October. Please feel free to ask me any questions on any of the stuff done in this log. Thanks for checking it out!

 

[slammedincouch]

Finally have some time to update this. Current projects:

Moved the enclosure to the left side. Seem to get a little better response/less hatch rattle from this. Also tossed in a beauty cargo panel. Need to re-deaden the new tailgate (on the list for things to do this week)

Have some more sag going on in the rear now that there's a 69lb sub in there and a box that weighs a solid 75+ lbs thanks to all the resin. Will snag a picture tomorrow, but already have a remedy for the problem. Some new sensa track shocks are on their way as we speak.

Overall, I'm impressed with the setup. I wish I had the 8s in to test out, but the 18 gets plenty loud and when I'm not in the mood to shake things, a quick switch of my eq settings makes this thing a dream to listen to with some country, rap, and so on.

Kind of a huge OCD freak when it comes to voltage. Especially after I lost two batteries to a previous drain from letting the explorer sit for 2 months, so decided to buy some voltage meters for it. This is another half finished project thanks to work and the timing when I began it.

Took the top part of the center console and fleeced it:

Test fit

Lots of sanding and smoothing things out

coming together

Another part that was sprayed down, but needs vinyl. May actually someday get around to doing the vinyl work, but I'm betting it will be another year until I get the time.

Forgot I needed a second switch thrown in until after I dipped it, and of course, being clumsy, I let the dremel go and it knicked a good line in the side. Whoops.

Wires for days

Half finished end result

Like I said, it would look a lot better in vinyl, but it gets the job done for now.

So last week there was a discount tire sale on ebay ($100 off $400 plus $70 manufacturer rebate on select cooper tires), although not the best deal, I couldn't pass it up for some new tires. Old ones were worn in funny thanks to the previous owners driving it misaligned for 2+ years. Basically to drive straight the wheel has to be turned a quarter to the right (or quarter to the left if you rotate the tires lol).

So...

Cooper AT3s it is. 265/70 16s are going on. Only problem? I have only recieved two of the four tires because they're on backorder or something. Hopefully they'll be here next week. Going to do a little TT adjustment in the front after I get the snesa tracks on to hopefully get another inch or so of lift. Figure it's the perfect time because I'll need an alignment anyways.

So that's where this is at. Hopefully will have a nice amount of updates as the week progresses.

 

[slammedincouch]

Tires?

Check

Sensa Track Load Adjusting Shocks?

Check

Onward to my buddy's shop for mounting, torching the spare tire off, installing the new shocks, twist of the torsion bar, and last but not least an alignment. Hopeully will have it back tomorrow! Super excited and thinking about a 2" BL now...

 

[slammedincouch]

Sitting nice and pretty now! I'll try and get a video up this week if I remember/find some time/weather isn't too meh
f

Loving it so far though. Rides smooth and I feel a little higher up. Also test drove the 2015 F150s today (reason why my post is so delayed). Pretty nice vehicle, but the body sits kind of low and they gave up some height in the bed. Other than that, it was a nice vehicle. Might consider buying one in a year or two. Future build log? Possibly!

 

[sean_latte]

Sub Boxes

Wow you like to change your sub and boxes but they look cool!

 

[slammedincouch]

Wow you like to change your sub and boxes but they look cool!

Thanks man! I'm actually about to switch things up again in the next ~2-3ish weeks? Waiting on a new enclosure designer to get back to me with the plans so I can get to building. Won't have anymore rattle from the tailgate after this one!

 

[sean_latte]

Rattle

Ya mine makes alot of noise also!

 

[slammedincouch]

Ya mine makes alot of noise also!

Ever considered walling it? My malibu is walled at the C pillar and the only thing that really flexes is the roof from the B pillar back haha. And that you can't even hear rattle and flex.

So that'll probably be the fate of the explorer as well. Need to get my box design in by next week and install the backup camera I've had sitting around for ages. Might throw it on a dedicated monitor so I can always see what's up behind me when I'm driving.

 

[sean_latte]

Ever considered walling it? My malibu is walled at the C pillar and the only thing that really flexes is the roof from the B pillar back haha. And that you can't even hear rattle and flex.

So that'll probably be the fate of the explorer as well. Need to get my box design in by next week and install the backup camera I've had sitting around for ages. Might throw it on a dedicated monitor so I can always see what's up behind me when I'm driving.

No Im not going to do a wall dont want to blow the Explorer apart lol I have a single sub Digital Designs 9518 supercharged

 

[slammedincouch]

No Im not going to do a wall dont want to blow the Explorer apart lol I have a single sub Digital Designs 9518 supercharged

View attachment 80788

Nice man! bet that thing gets nice and loud/lighter on the suspension than what I'm planning! I loved my 9012 in the 6th order- thing got down for a 13ish year old single 12 haha

 

[sean_latte]

Nice man! bet that thing gets nice and loud/lighter on the suspension than what I'm planning! I loved my 9012 in the 6th order- thing got down for a 13ish year old single 12 haha

last show I was in came in 2nd 147.6 db I want better score ! lol

 

[slammedincouch]

last show I was in came in 2nd 147.6 db I want better score ! lol

Haha gotta love chasing numbers! Definitely gets addicting. I'll try and get metered one of these days, but shows have been dying down around here. Closest one last year was a 2 hour drive away. Might bring both vehicles out this year if there's something closer.

 

[slammedincouch]

Small update with some pictures:

So I've been super bored and wanted to work on the explorer/do something to get it ready for the next build. While I'm waiting for the box design, I decided to install something that I've had since I bought the headunit

Backup Cam.

As usual, things have to be complicated with the explorer. Blame Ford and my luck. Spent a solid 4 hours earlier in the week trying to get the z120 to switch to the backup camera when I put that bish in reverse with no luck (yes I tapped into the reverse taillight harness and so on). Something is up with the head unit, because the only way to get the backup camera screen to show is to switch the polarity settings, which makes the backup camera screen impossible to get off of unless you do a hard reset. Probably blew the pico fuse when I did it, as I hae a slight alt whine back, but whatever. Very slight.

So at that point I said forget it, this won't work and I would like to see what it's like to see out of the back whenever I feel like it, not just for backing up.

Went to amazon and bought this cheapy eChina "5" inch tft monitor. Forgot to take pics of the monitor, because let's face it, I'm terrible at remembering to take pictures sometimes. The 5 is in quotes because the screen is actually 4.3 ish inches with the case being 5 inches. That's fine though because it will fit into where i decided to put it.

Had to make a housing for the monitor to sit in:

Foiled up

Glassed on

Snap chatted the rest of the pics -_- so fail there. Basically rechopped the piece of the center console that I put the meters in, hot glued things back to it, using some cardboard for the new voltmeter housings. From there, I ran out of glue sticks (only had one to start with) and couldn't find fleece to wrap the console. So, I found some funky duct tape lying around and used that. Resined over it for this:

Would I advise using duct tape over fleece? For anything else unless you're using mat on top of it, heck no. Duct tape is easier to put on obviously, but throwing resin over it like I did still made it super flexible. Not really an issue with the center console/I don't plan on switching this up anytime soon, but do it at your own risk I guess.

Welp, running out of weekend time, so I decided to just leave it like it is. I like the funky look of this thing:

Everything installed in the center console. Yes the screen somehow managed to shift a tad to the right. Whatevs not my show car so cosmetics don't need to be top notch. Just needs to match the worn condition of the explorer.

Backup camera: Threw it here because I don't want to drill into the tailgate. Originally was going to install it under the bumper, but there wasn't enough time int he weekend to do so. I have this plastic cover for the trailer hitch, and because I don't ever hook anything up to the explorer, it's the perfect place. Just need to remember to not step on it when I'm working in the cargo area soon...Anyways, I bought a 3" bolt that's attached to the mount on the bottom of the camera. Why a bolt? Because mounting tape was 12 bucks at lowes. I'm good. $1.24 for the bolt and nut 4 pack.

Mind the rust, I will eventually replace this bumper:

Ran the wires through the car for the camera aka my least favorite job because i always kill my fingers.

And back to the front and the cluster of wires that I'm too lazy to clean up. Spaghetti.

And we're live

Camera mount is a little bent, need to adjust.

And with the lights on

So that's that. Trying to think of anything else I can do while I'm waiting for my designs to be finished up. Apparently there's a polar vortex coming through this week, so if that's the case I won't even be able to get wood. Boo. Will update when design comes in

 

[sean_latte]

that looks cool where you put the monitor !

 

[slammedincouch]

that looks cool where you put the monitor !

Right in that top center console part where the cubbies used to be- works great for seeing out the back! Still so used to using the side mirrors for viewing though haha.

And let Project W commence as soon as I get a decent day to get and cut wood

 

[sean_latte]

cant wait to see pictures of the new box your doing !