01 Explorer Tiny DD setup to (2) 18 AT Stratos in a 4th

[slammedincouch 10+ year member]

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

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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!

 

[slammedincouch 10+ year member]

I know a few of you were asking for videos...well I found a few of the previous setups on my phone/computer. Unfortunately a bunch of them just majorly **** lol. Super short and they don't really show much flex or anything (as most of the build was about sound quality and staging), but I'll throw them up as I upload them. Also I held the phone wrong in most of them, so I might need to rotate some of them in FCP.

In the meantime, here's one I forgot I uploaded of the active front stage last winter. Before the fine tuning and the sub (Lvl 5 + M1c was in at this point) turned off:

 

[slammedincouch 10+ year member]

Quick one I snagged real quick on my way back from getting coffee. Not the loudest song and 3/4 volume, still haz some flex. Little shot of the maliboom in the driveway too


Really need to get that hatch deadened like the old one lol

 

[slammedincouch 10+ year member]

Sooo...getting kind of tired of the hatch rattle I hear whenever I begin to turn it up...possible new build starting if I sell the current enclosure this week //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[slammedincouch 10+ year member]

Just a quick no pictures update. should have the new box design in by next week, so hopefully I'll be kicking off from there. Going to have to work super fast to beat the cold weather, but luckily the garage is cleaned out. Probably going to have the explorer smelling like fiberglass and bondo for a few weeks after as well haha. But yeah. Might have a few small updates here and there with other stuff I'm doing in preparation of the next build. Stay tuned!

 

[slammedincouch 10+ year member]

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 //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

 

[slammedincouch 10+ year member]

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

 

[slammedincouch 10+ year member]

Haven't updated this in a while...last post on the explorer.

Ran out of time with her. Over the past 4 months I have had nothing but issues with things starting to go wrong with the vehicle. Had an EVAP code that cost me more than I wanted to spend replacing some crap in the gas tank, rear differential fluid spewed all over the driveway, new front wheel bearings, sway bar, and a ton of other stuff. Got to the point where it was costing me 600-1000 every other month to keep her running. Have been searching for a new vehicle for the past 2 months and finally picked one out/got a good deal on it.

Huge PITA to clean out the explorer and put it back to stock, but I got it done in about 18 hours. Sold a bunch of the audio already between CL and Ebay over the past 5 days which I'm shocked by. Only things left are the DD C1b and the sub for things I'm getting rid of. Any who, traded the explorer in on Tuesday afternoon (somehow managed to get $2,400 from the dealer), and here is my new vehicle:

Expect to see a super **** SQ build log on it Eventually once the Maliboom is sold and the vehicle is 3/4 of the way paid off (which could take me around 2.5-3 years to do), but once it's ready this thing is going to be super clean.