2005 Ford Focus ZX4. Couple short vids of the car playing. 1/13/24

[just call me KeV 10+ year member]

It's been a minute since I posted. The last two weeks have been fucked into a cocked hat. I have a couple small updates but were making a big push for the finish line this week so I should have more to share over the course of the weekend.
Last week I cut my finger pretty bad at work which knocked me back a bit...and man o man the blood was free flowing. 4 stitches and we are good as new. A few plans have changed so I thought I would clue you guys in. The speakers I wanted to place in the rear deck will have to wait for the moment. There will 2 6.5 midbass in the rear seat well area as opposed to the 8" Slam is right around the corner and I have to prioritize.

The wiring for the dash speakers has been run. Their will be 3 on each side. AMT, planar, and a 5 1/4" sealed midrange from ESS labs. That will be a lot of fab but I will have a ton of pictures. I brought out 4 of my Black widow 18's from storage. My first thought was (wall) but I'm not ready to wall another daily. I would like to do 4 of them in a clamshell IB but its really tight and I'm not thrilled about sacrificing the trunk. So I may just run two for the show which may be the best plan at the moment. I bought some suede that doesnt really match the interior but does. The color is "Salt" if anyone is curious. The distro blocks are wired up. Both are direct leads from the battery up front. When we put the large amps in I will add a lithium in the back and some super caps. I don't need it for the 640 watts I'm running at the moment but I want to have an insane amount of reserve capacitance on hand for when I run more power.
I know the car is filthy and it is driving me insane. You can see we have a ton of boxes in the trunk but I will detail the car before I head to the show. I have to redo the hatch as well. I raged out and ripped it out. The tape wasnt holding like I wanted so it needs to be redone. total transparency boys. I'll have more tomorrow.

 

[just call me KeV 10+ year member]

So I must have been out of my mind trying to build this car in under a month. This time with this build, I'm in the unique position where I have the money I need and not the time and my fellow homies; I am not sure which is worse. We talked it over last night; that is the car and I, and decided we will head to the show as spectators only this year.
There is progress being made but having amatuer fabrication skills I am running into the expectation vs. reality wall. I am having real trouble coming up with a mounting solution for the speakers in the "A" pillars. I can see it built in my mind but the skills I need are a bit lacking. I'll continue putting up pictures along the way and asking for help where needed but I need to hedge against failure by doing more research.
In any case, I have found a way to run all four 18's with some significant modification to the rear deck but to start we are going to do a baffle for two subs in the traditional location to which I have already started. Unfortunately I don't have my jasper jig so I cut the holes with a jigsaw which means more sanding. Any of the gaps around the sides will be filled in by some reinforced filler and sanded. I am hilariously short on clamps as well so add that to the shopping list.
The finished baffle will have multiple mounting locations as shown by the sharpie hex heads I drew onto the wood. The hardware I will be using is 1/2" bolts with both flat and lock washers under both the head of the bolt and under the nut. The baffle will 2 1/4" thick and the subs will be recessed. They will be run with the motors facing the cabin but when I fab a baffle for the other two in the rear deck they will be reversed so you can see all 4 motors in the trunk.
The first photo is a teaser of how I want the A pillars to come out. What you're looking at is a stack fabrication prototype. It consists of a series of layers of baltic birch, purple heart wood and magenta colored popsicle sticks. When finished and sanded it should have a nice side profile and add a nice touch to the finished pillars. Remember they will be on axis on a floating mount. This particular one is for the AMT's shown on the first page, hence the thickness. The planars are much thinner and will have a much smaller side profile.

More in a couple of days.

 

[just call me KeV 10+ year member]

little bit more progress... and some crucial parts came in. The weather has continued to uncooperative and has slowed the progress a bit. I need to fill the gaps that I so expertly cut on the sides of the IB. I'll use some furring strips before I trim it out with body filler. I also need to add the third panel that flushes out the woofers.
I received 4 more of the dayton woofers and my caps which will protect the AMT's and planars. I plan to mount them somewhere they are visible but the dirct sun will definitely be an issue so I'll run it around the block a couple times and see what I come up with.
I'm not thrilled about my freehand jigsaw skills so there is a bit more sanding to be done. The rear photo you can see has the blue wiring I'll be using for the subs. When I build the rear deck with the other 2 subs it should really be something.

 

[just call me KeV 10+ year member]

The sealed back midranges came in from Mavin.com. They are made by ESS labs. I am really stoked to try these out and one of the benefits is that they have a protective grille built in. I added a small amount of deadener to help tame some of the cavity resonance. Right now the plan is to mount them in the dash, kicks, and rear deck respectively.

 

[just call me KeV 10+ year member]

So the pillars...Grrrrr. I am completely ledged up on how I want to continue on these. I have a couple mounting solutions as you can see but all have their drawbacks. On axis is fantastic but I would be losing some of my visibilty and I am none to keen on getting harrased by the fuzz; and rightly so.
The other ideas are decidedly off axis. Now, I am going to get the front window tinted; within reason and legal, so they will have a measure of protection from the sun but... There are so many compromises you have when you want to use drivers like these. I could get a few traditional planars like those from GRS. They have a round frame like a large format tweeter. 4"ish Outer diameter. Those would be much easier to work with and I could place one of my sealed back 5 1/4" drivers with it. I really want these up front though. They're meant to be one of the show pieces of this insanity.
I need to install the amp and try all these different positions and try to find the one that has the best performance/compromise ratio. More in the next post...

 

[just call me KeV 10+ year member]

So the kicks. This is rather straight forward. I would like to put a tweeter in a floating mount over these but were getting a bit ahead of ourselves. The ideal way to do this would be to mold them into the existing panel and I think that's what I will do. You can see a few of the other ways I can mount the baffle but it needs to be mirrored on the other side. There is the brake pedal bracket assembly that would need to be modified and I don't really want to cut any material off the bracket. I wouldn't have any trouble with drilling a hole and using it as an anchor point; however.
The first photo will most likely be the best option. I ran out of time today as I had to get an AC unit for the kitchen/living room. The temps next week will be significant so after Sunday, I will not be doing any fab work until probably Thursday. Tomorrow (Sunday), I will be laying the first layer of dynaglass onto the baffles to contour them to the interior and then I will mate them to the actual kick panels with a couple layers of resin and chop matte. I have quite a bit of the suede I purchased for the IB setup so I think we will carry that color theme throughout the car so we have some symmetry.

 

[just call me KeV 10+ year member]

So last post for today. I'm eating some bohemian dumplings and mushrooms which is fire. The doors..
The original plan was to use a single 6 1/2" per door but that just feels uninspired. If it's too easy than it's just not worth doing. So I am going to put 3 of them in the front doors and two in the rear. I would've like to have done four, but this is a more reasonable proposition. I already have to cut the door panel and I want to go crazy but not "crazy" crazy. Its still my daily and I need to restrain my inner 10 year old. In any case the carousel continues to turn and I should have a couple updates for you guys tomorrow. Eventually, this will be like; playing actual music and everything. haha Just need to be patient and stay the course.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

On axis is fantastic but I would be losing some of my visibilty

I've got a big old pair of B&G planars upstairs in my garage just waiting for a vehicle that I can get them in a similar location without giving up too much visibility. I would not bother running them off-axis.

 

[just call me KeV 10+ year member]

I've got a big old pair of B&G planars upstairs in my garage just waiting for a vehicle that I can get them in a similar location without giving up too much visibility. I would not bother running them off-axis.

For sure. It took a hot minute but I did manage to find some brackets that I think will work. They should be here on the 23rd. They are actually for toy chests. I'll post some photos when I get them.

 

[just call me KeV 10+ year member]

I'm back with only a small update. The brackets came in but as I learned they are only a small part of the puzzle I'm putting together. Luckily I have it all figured out in my mind, I just need to build. With work and the obscene temps lately (fair weather fabricator here) progress has been at a slow pace. I'm in the middle of the kicks, doors, and the "A" pillars. Its my fucked up process. I will need to buy some female rod ends and clevis brackets to tie it all together for strength and rigidity. The first two photos are of the clevis bracket and rod end; respectively. (Small Photos) In case any one is unfamiliar... They are typically used in conjunction with hyd cylinders or linear actuators to move/open/close a "control surface" They will keep the lower section of the AMT's and Planars in a stable position.
Anywhoo. The brackets that I found are actually for toy chests/cabinets and they have an interesting design which when painted, should look pretty cool in the car.

So the prototypes. . .Well there is a reason why we call them that. Notice the wave of the cut. #hackgang. Bad blade on the jigsaw too much force. I was rushing thinking about that ******* finish line. I should know better.
They are going to be rebuilt out of some birch and covered in the suede that I showed before. It did give me a sense of what the finished product is meant to look at and I am happy for that at least.

The expectation is to have them mounted to the "A" pillar and the clevis and bolt combo will support them from the bottom. You guys arent in my head so I'll ask you to be patient and see what I come out with in a couple weeks.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

They are going to be rebuilt out of some birch and covered in the suede that I showed before. It did give me a sense of what the finished product is meant to look at and I am happy for that at least.

Why not just use some bondo to reshape them? Looks like a promising solution either way, do they have a decent range of motion that you can tweak aiming once they're mounted?

Also you're crazy to wear a nice watch or other jewelry when doing any sort of work that involves more than a pencil or keyboard.

 

[just call me KeV 10+ year member]

Why not just use some bondo to reshape them? Looks like a promising solution either way, do they have a decent range of motion that you can tweak aiming once they're mounted?

Also you're crazy to wear a nice watch or other jewelry when doing any sort of work that involves more than a pencil or keyboard.

I am waiting for some other materials to come and I will use them to build them. The hinges have about 150 degrees of free movement.
I am tackling the doors at the moment but have no photos to share just yet. It's going to be a stack-fab design. I have been waiting patiently for some body filler to come. That will tie it all together and I have a cool idea for grilles I'm working on.

On the watch thing. It is a clone, not the real deal and it keeps suprisingly good time being what it is. I'm a bit of a watch geek. I have been collecting them for years. I have just south of 80. You can see that the watch is well worn. Its a pepsi rolex. I have a few daytona's, Breitling, etc. Handmade Bracelets with rare earth gemstones. Thats pretty much what my IG account is all about (@kevinmccradic). Put a little sampler of my collection up. I rotate out the watches every trip. When I travel for work this box goes in my backpack. Along with my compass, journal, and the like. I'm an field service engineer by trade. Not sure I metioned that before.


I should have some progress pictures of the doors this weekend barring the thunderstorms were likely to get hit with.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

On the watch thing. It is a clone, not the real deal and it keeps suprisingly good time being what it is.

Supposedly there's a Russian movement they use in some of those that's decent and I think the Japanese have made some OK knockoffs in the past.

My Oyster Perpetual got stolen... out of the safe of a jewelry store I left it at for repair and I never got anything out of it. Get a good well hidden safe for all that stuff, it blows getting robbed.

Anyway, still eager to see how you manage to get those planars mounted, still got mine up in the garage just waiting for the right vehicle and some inspiration,.

 

[just call me KeV 10+ year member]

Supposedly there's a Russian movement they use in some of those that's decent and I think the Japanese have made some OK knockoffs in the past.

My Oyster Perpetual got stolen... out of the safe of a jewelry store I left it at for repair and I never got anything out of it. Get a good well hidden safe for all that stuff, it blows getting robbed.

Anyway, still eager to see how you manage to get those planars mounted, still got mine up in the garage just waiting for the right vehicle and some inspiration,.

Sorry for the theft. It's always a sharp blow when something gets stolen from you and from a store whats' more. That is just twisting the knife. The replicas are getting quite good and for a watch geek like me thats enough. The whole market is super salty with people fighting over grey markets, heritage clones, and the like. I just like pretty watches. They are usually in the 100-1000 zone. I have been using a company in japan and they make geat clones. Hublot, breitling, Rollies. Real-not real.... I'm all about the asthetics.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I'm all about the asthetics.

For me, I can't abide by really large cases and it seems almost everybody is going that direction these days.

Anyway, collecting nice watches is good preparation for the sort of money you can blow on car audio so there's that.