# 2010 Ford Escape - Budget Build



## sinister mob (Jan 11, 2010)

When I purchased my new 2010 Escape XLT, I found the stock stereo.. well.. lacking. Ok it sucked. However being a totally new vehicle I wanted to at least upgrade the speakers and at the time I was not going to do anything else. I installed Infinity Kappa 5x7 up front and Infinity Reference 5x7 in the rear. That was a colossal mistake. My ears would feel like they were bleeding. So I returned them and put in new JL Audio C2 5x7 running off of the stock HU power. It sounded 10x better than the stockers but still not enough. So I decided to do a budget audio and soundproofing install.

I purchased new equipment and ordered in sound materials from Don at sounddeadenershowdown:

Audiocontrol CL6i line out converter (front HU input, summed for rear) 
JL Evolution C2 650 component fronts
JL Audio C2 5 x 7 rears (already installed)
JL Audio 10W1v2 sub
Fosgate Punch P400-4 amp
10" box covered in tan carpet (to match rear)
CLD Tiles
MLV
CCF
Butyl rope

Basically I did it in mini steps. Soundproofed the rear cargo, rear doors first. The 5x7 speakers in the rear are powered off of the HU and just for rear fill. The amp runs the fronts and the sub. For sound proofing I went with Don’s recommendation for CLD/MLV/CCF and butyl rope. He was awesome to talk with and he knows his stuff.

For the install I tried like heck to get the radio panel out and just could not get it out. After an hour of trying I decided to run the stock front signal back through the door, through the molex and to the rear. Then the amplified signal went back through the molex and into the crossovers located in the doors. The molex routing was actually easy once I got the whole unit out. Plenty of room to run wiring through.

The amp and LC6i was mounted to a board and installed under the false floor. I wanted to keep the HU for now and keep all of the Sync and factory stuff. Later on I may upgrade to a new HU but for now I am totally happy with the sound. The sound proofing made a Huge difference in the overall sound. I still need to do the passenger side front and rear cargo panels but everything else is in for sound proofing goodies.

Some install pics:

Rear cargo: CLD Tiles cut to fit and spaced out. Also added a couple pieces of butyl rope to the little metal areas:








MLV-side of the material:








CCF side (my flash makes it look white):









Rear door panels after CLD and butyl rope install:









Amp/LC6i rough mounting. I put a layer in between the audio/wood after this picture was taken:









Wiring under the hood. Ran the power for the amp and a seperate power for the LC6i. Loomed it all and used the rubber gromet in the firewall. That is about the ONLY thing Ford made easy on this vehicle.









Then ran the power on the drivers side to the rear:









Ahhh yes. Molex. Fun.









Had 6.5" spacers made up at a local sound place for the fronts. Installed the crossovers in the shelf above the box int he door and left the moisture barrier around it for protection.









Then wrapped a nice layer of CCF together and made a gasket. It made a perfect seal around the woofer and made a HUGE difference in sound:


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## sinister mob (Jan 11, 2010)

*Continued.....*

Tweeter final location:









And the rear with everything tucked away nicely:









Remote sub level under the dash plugged to the amp:









So in the end I did everything myself except the spacers for the front woofers. It took a very long time but I did it right and soldered everything important, used the right path and the right equipment. It sounds amazing....


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## jorgegarcia (Mar 8, 2008)

That is cool. ::stolen::



sinister mob said:


> Then wrapped a nice layer of CCF together and made a gasket. It made a perfect seal around the woofer and made a HUGE difference in sound:


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## sinister mob (Jan 11, 2010)

Since putting in the original speakers, sub and amp, I added a number of things:

New Pioneer AVH-P3200BT
Rear JL Audio C2 650 speakers
2nd amp to power rears
New wiring for 2nd sub
PAC harness
SWI interface
Removed LOC
Relay for remotes + 12v wiring

The Pioneer HU upgrade required a new PAC adaptor to retain all of the Sync functions, keep the Aux/USB plugs. The PAC for the 2010 Escape was just released and works perfectly – once you determine what you are doing with this:










After figuring out the wiring and getting the HU harness and goodies it was installation time. HU in new bezel:










I connected all of the PAC harness wiring to the Pioneer harness, added the relay for the parking brake, plugged in the PAC SWI, and got everything in order. The harness comes with another relay for a toggle between AV/DVD and auxiliary. So all of that stuff needed to go inside of the center stack. For ground I used the stock PAC harness ground which plugs to pin # 13 for chassis ground. The HU was plugged into that. I also grounded the HU chassis using the screw mount in the back of the HU. That was run directly to the dashboard chassis. I also ran another ground for the relay for the parking brake. That too went to the dashboard chassis. 

Wiring the mess:



















Up next was testing the connections. The SWI programmed easily and all of my steering wheel buttons work. The great thing about the harness is that you do not need to add in a 100ohm resistor. Just plug in, program and go. After confirming that everything powered up and was working, I had to fish up the sub and front RCA, remote and BT microphone from below. I placed the main PAC harness directly under the dash bar as it was really the only place I could. Used leftover double sided sticky Velcro from the soundproofing project. Then the PAC SWI and one relay velcro’d to that. It made for a nice easy spot to mount out of the way. I tied back the mess and cleaned it up a little before installing the HU in. 
The verdict. Everything powers up perfectly. RAP feature is still in tact. 










Now that the HU was in and operational, it was then time for the 2nd amp and the multitude of wiring. Since I had installed new JL C2 650 speakers, I wanted to have some additional power for rear fill. Of course in order to do that, I needed to install a second amp since the 4-channel was powering fronts and the sub. This required/took care of 2 things: (a) power to the rears and separate power for the sub (b) 4 AWG in case I need/want better amps later on. 
I had the RF P400-4 running fronts and the sub. Adding a dedicated amp for the sub was the plan. I also wanted to retain my remote bass knob upfront so getting another RF amp made sense. Grabbed one for nearly nothing from the FS section so all I needed was the wiring/fusing. I searched around and landed at Knuconceptz.com for a nice kit. I only needed 4AWG and another set of RCA as I had everything else lying around or installed already. I had all of the 8 AWG already running so just needed the 4 AWG to run from the battery to the rear. 

First up was setting up the new board. I like setting up the amps on a wood board as it makes life easy. That way I can just lay the board in the cargo detent area under the false floor. I decided to use just a spare piece of pine I had laying around as the base and mount everything to that. Since I was now going to run 2 amps in addition to switching on a 12v relay up front (for the DVD player by-pass) I wanted to add another 12v relay to run everything from. That way the HU remote only operates 1 relay and the 2nd relay and 2 amps would run off of the supplied +12v from the battery.

Since I was going to add an amp and a relay I figured I would add a small fan to the rear to help move some air around. Not sure if the amps needed it, but I figure positive air movement can’t hurt. I put the new relay under the center console in the event that I need to replace it. From that, the supply feeds the DVD by-pass relay and then “remotes” to the rear. On the new board I added a 6-way fuse box to fuse the fan and 2 amp remote leads. That way everything is properly fused. A dedicated, 12 gauge fused line runs from the battery to the 1st relay and then to the rear fuse box. Then each component is fused at the 6-way using blade fuses.
Next up was the amp power supply. On the new mounting board, I really wanted to lay out everything for safety. Ran the 4 AWG power line – fused with a 120 amp fuse at the battery - to the rear and installed the fused d-block – this also from Knuconceptz. Just an average AGU fused block. Then the split for 8 AWG was laid out to power both amps. For the ground I also used a ground d-block from Knuconceptz. I kept the ground lines as short as possible and mounted one 4 AWG to the same ground area as before.










Then added some new 16 gauge rear speaker wires through the doors the same way as the fronts - through the Molex plugs. These were 10x easier than the fronts. Ran all of the new wiring to the rear and got everything laid out. I then removed some extra “fins” on the underside of the false floor tub plastic to allow more air movement. I adjust the gains and got everything powered up nicely.
Now keep in mind the board method is only set-up for safety and to limit the jostling in the back. All RCA and power wires were loomed and properly zip-tied. Nobody will ever see it, but I want peace of mind. Plus with that much wiring, I wanted everything neat and secure. I am not in it for show but I do want it safe and installed correctly. This was a fun ass project. I wish I had unlimited funds to do an awesome system. All in all I spent around $120 as I only purchased the amp and wiring kit. The rest – wood, screws, speaker wire, 8 AWG, holders etc – I already had. Everything was properly loomed, zip-tied, separated and tightened up. No rattling of any sorts.

In the end everything powers up perfectly. The P400-4 powers the front and rears and the new P500-2 powers the sub. All in all a nice clean sound without spending a ton of $$. Now if I want to I can add better amps easily and have proper wiring to support it.

The final look under the floor:


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## MTopper (Nov 4, 2009)

nice simple install... i like it.

is that the 10w0 or 10w1? it looks a lot more like a w0 which is still a great sub but you threw me a curveball and said w1. not starting anything, just saying


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## batkinson1969 (Jan 22, 2012)

Great install! You inspired me to do a similar build, document and post it here. Coming soon.

Where did you route the wires to the rear false floor? That is a lot of wire to hide. 
Where is your ground location and what is your ground attachment method?
Shouldn't the CCF go between the door and the MLV instead of the other way around?
How many watts RMS are you feeding that sub? Looks like a P300-2 or P200-2 instead of a P500-2.
Are you happy with the power to the sub?
Are you happy with you sub or do you wish you had the 12W0 instead of the 10W0?


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## batkinson1969 (Jan 22, 2012)

*Re: 2010 Ford Escape - Budget Build,correction*



batkinson1969 said:


> Shouldn't the CCF go between the door and the MLV instead of the other way around?


You are correct. 


MLV attached to inner metal door with Velcro
CCF glued to the MLV with HH-66 Vinyl Cement to tack a layer of closed cell foam (CCF) on the side of the MLV facing the trim panel
(Thinsulate tacked to inside of door trim panel with hot glue. (optional)
the factory door trim panel attached as factory.


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