# Time Capsule 1997 Ford Escort Wagon



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

My other recent build (here) is still around and remains on hold. I've committed to make room and time to have fun with my projects this year, so that thread should be coming back online in a few months. In the meantime, I've added another time capsule to my oddball fleet as of 1 week ago. Meet my new to me, <92k 1997 Ford Escort. And before you ask why:

1) It's a secret Mazda Protege and handles accordingly,
2) It's a manual transmission,
3) It's a wagon,
4) It reminds me of all the little shoebox cars that were everywhere in my high school years,
5) It has the (apparently rare) willow blue-green interior without a single crack or blemish to be found,
6) I am told it came from the estate sale of an older gentleman who passed away, and appears to have been maintained with OEM parts its whole life. He also left behind a Focus wagon with similarly low miles, which I passed over for this, and,
7) Real men drive teal cars.

Okay so I'm not sure on that last one, but I've been missing my teal green 1992 Ford Ranger, which I sold in the early days of the pandemic, and this seemed a suitable replacement. I've been missing having an old sleeper.

Giving this odd duck a proper name is still a work in progress, but before I proceed further, a few pictures are in order. I'll share thoughts on my objectives in the next post. I am holding off on many interior pics until I've had a chance to properly detail it, but I promise to share a full photo walk with interior shots sometime next week. I'll get better exterior pictures as well after a proper wash and wax.

Car on first sight. I took a 3.5 hour Uber ride to pick up the car. Not disappointed:









Title in hand, ready to roll off the lot:









No, the paint isn't splotchy, that's just rain. Will make room in the garage to keep this longroof dry:









Flexing that Ford bumper; totally not a Mazda:









(Edited for typos)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Objectives:

Apart from mild improvements and perhaps a few modern creature comforts, I'd like to maintain the car in as nearly original condition as possible. This means preserving the look, fit, and finish of as many features as possible. I'm no purist, so I'll make it up as I go, but to the casual observer I'd like this car to always appear as something which could have conceivably rolled off the assembly line 25 years ago, perhaps lightly modified by a loving owner, and then entered a wormhole to appear in the present day. A potential youngtimer, to borrow a phrase from the Germans. I'll share all of it here, and while I will include audio within the build, that is not my only objective.

More specific goals:
1) Fabricate an unobtrusive iPhone mount,
2) Run audio through the OEM radio if possible, or at least utilize OEM faceplate,
3) Replace speakers with higher quality units; may require an external amplifier,
4) No weight to be added to the car whatsoever. Maintain or improve on OEM curb weight,
5) Do all maintenance to refresh car, potentially for the next 25 years,
6) Identify and remediate any surface rust appearing on the undercarriage,
7) Fabricate a conservative, professional quality performance exhaust system,
8) Confuse my friends and neighbors.

Now let's begin. Those who follow my builds know I try to post in real time and share lessons learned as they arrive. I like to get it right, so I reserve the right to a do-over.

I'll start with item 1.

I had this lovely blue-green blankout panel to the left of the steering wheel. Seems like a good spot for a phone mount. Even with the gentlest application of plastic pry tools, it shattered upon removal:













Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## haakono (Apr 5, 2009)

Nice find! 

So this would be based on the Mazda BG platform then. I've owned a couple of cars from the quite opposite end of the BG range, the Mazda 323 GT-R (rally editions). That would mean that this platform har great potensial for upgrades, far beyond a performance exhaust system


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

As you may have guessed, the wires on the back of the blankout panel were for power mirrors. Do I need power mirrors? I guess not. Set it and forget it.

Rather than discard the shattered bits, I'm going to see about reassembling them to form the basis for a plaster mold:









Reinforced further with masking tape:









Now hold that thought. Will return to the molding process shortly. Courtesy of eBay: new old stock OEM floor mats in the correct color. These have been sitting on a shelf forgotten for at least two decades:









Helpfully included with my new floor mats was this card, in case I'd like to order more genuine Ford accessories. This contains some great tidbits, such as: "For additional information on Ford Accessories, please see our Internet website www.ford.com."

I'm tempted to mail in the survey to make someone's day a little more surreal.









We move now to maintenance. This car must be registered as a standard passenger vehicle in Virginia for at least one more year before it can be registered as an antique, therefore I must deal with safety inspections.

I dropped the car off for a new vehicle purchase inspection after a cursory inspection of my own, and was told the only three issues of any concern were:

1) slightly worn serpentine belt. Easy, right? Actually, I've got about an inch of clearance, will be a 2 person job, will address with a buddy.









Original battery was too large, sat outside the tray, had no hold-down. Original batteries are group 58 and top out at 550 CCA. That's enough for a garden tractor, I suppose.

I found a group 59 fits nicely in the same tray, and works with a replacement OEM hold down wedge (I have already become friends with the parts counter lady at the local Ford dealership over the past few days).

Home Depot carries an Exide battery in Group 59 with 650 CCA. Unfortunately, the only one in stock within a 50 mile radius has been sitting on the shelf since February, 2019. Instead, I settled on this 590 CCA Walmart battery dated 10/21. Apparently Group 59 is an oddball size; if I ever need to replace this one I'll maybe do some minor fabrication to make room for a group 65 or at least something similar that can be found with AGM construction, since this may be an occasional use / seasonal car.









Last item was some slightly corroded hard brake lines which are not an inspection concern, but could be weakened already by the rust. I'll schedule the shop to do these for me, I have to prioritize which parts I undertake as DIY due to other life commitments.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Now wait a minute, I'm diving into maintenance already. I don't even have enough parking spaces. Let's take care of some enabling work. New driveway:










Some extra lighting for the driveway:









And last but not least, a few days spent organizing so I can fit the car INSIDE my one-car garage. What a novel concept!










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Next on the docket. The shifter has a bit of slop. Let's work on a solution. Got this Ralco RZ short shifter and 8-ball on Amazon. Part number 914822 for the shifter. Fits a Protege, should fit the Ford. Will also go through linkages and replace all bushings with Delprin or similar:









Now my preference with short shifters, or at least what I've done on the Bimmer and the old Ranger is to utilize an OEM style boot. Which means I must adapt my 8-ball to hold up the flange of the rubber boot. This will make more sense with pictures:

















Unfortunately, when tightening down the 8-ball, the assembly started to pull the fluted insert out of the 8-ball. So I pulled it the rest of the way out and will reassemble with epoxy:









And a compression washer:









And then let the whole assembly cure in my bench vice for 24 hours before attempting to install:









This brings me current to today. Now I'll get back to i5 and work on building some plaster of Paris molds for my iPhone mount.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

haakono said:


> Nice find!
> 
> So this would be based on the Mazda BG platform then. I've owned a couple of cars from the quite opposite end of the BG range, the Mazda 323 GT-R (rally editions). That would mean that this platform har great potensial for upgrades, far beyond a performance exhaust system


Thanks! As you guessed, there may be other sporting pretensions in this car's future, however, my mechanical focus will first be efficiency, reliability, and handling. Surprisingly enough, even at an anemic-on-paper 110 hp (81 kW), it seems to deliver that power with big gobs of torque right at the middle of the rev range, is geared such and is light enough that it seldom feels underpowered. I will keep a slow-car-fast mentality until I have everything sorted, and then go from there. But yes, if I open my wallet enough, the sky is the limit...


----------



## pdxlawyer (Jan 5, 2011)

That's a beautiful wagon and anyone who doesn't agree is wrong.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Okay now, time to make a mold. Oh, what a relief! (Pardon the dad jokes, I come by it honestly)

This was my first attempt at mold making since high school jewelry class, and the results are admittedly crude. It remains to be seen if this mold will be serviceable, or if I'll need a do-over. Thankfully, I can make unlimited attempts so long as I don't destroy the master.

I'll share a few lessons learned after the photos. 

A crudely constructed frame:









Master wrapped in Saran Wrap, stretched tight across the face:









The secret sauce. Using a Pam cooking oil equivalent as my mold release:









You can see this came out way too porous. I'll still try to clean it up and see if it's useful or not.









Lessons learned:
1) the DAP product Plaster of Paris packaging said to mix at a 1:1 ratio. I assume this meant by dry, loose volume. The internet thought 7:3 (plaster:water) by weight was ideal. Not trusting either the the internet or the box, I went for a 11:4 ratio by weight. When mixing by hand, this is much to stiff of a mixture. Not sure if this translates to other brands, but I'll try 1:1 by weight or packed volume next.
2) this relates to #1. I need to mix more thoroughly. I knew the clock was ticking, panicked, and threw everything in the mold. This is what gave me the porosity I noted: both the high plaster:water ratio and the lack of thorough mixing.
3) double the amount of plaster you think you need. I had intended to make 2 or 3 impressions in this frame, but didn't mix enough plaster. If anything, the volume of the plaster consolidated as I mixed.

Well, now the mold is hard already (20 minutes later). I'm going to clean this up with a belt sander, a brush, and then proceed to next steps.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Actually, I decided to run the still slightly damp plaster mold carefully through my table saw. Very minimal mess vis-a-vis the belt sander approach.

Also important at this step, I scraped the sides of the mold with a spare drill bit (any abrasive edged object would work) to eliminate any parts that are undercut and could trap the casting.

Here is the cleaned up mold. I decided what to do about the porosity. I'll coat the inside of the mold with a thin layer of 2-part epoxy, then re-stamp it with the master. This should substantially improve the resolution of the mold and help with releasing the casting later. 










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

And the epoxy process.

Epoxy promptly oozed around the edges and threatened to encapsulate the master.









Pulled edges of Saran Wrap tight and stapled to edges of mold to minimize any undercutting. A bit of epoxy oozed through a pinhole. Cleaned up with a cotton swab. This should not permanently glue my master into the mold, worst case I may have to redo the masking tape if I elect to make another casting.









Sharpening stone and metal reinforced body filler to apply uniform pressure while epoxy cures. The body filler is what I will make the casting out of - supposedly strong enough to drill and tap. I'll put that claim to the test.









Now we wait.

Happy Easter!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

(The mold released)










If you can't tell, the Saran Wrap has been removed, what is left behind is simply an impression if the glossy surface. It looks like it was not perfectly tight; I'll sand those visible ribs out prior to casting the piece. Going to let this one cure for 24-48 hours on my heated floors before I proceed further.

I think that's all for this weekend, family duties are calling.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

I promised to share interior photos pending a proper detailing appointment. For any of you in Northern VA, I can highly recommend Sparkle Auto-Mobile Detailing. Donte runs a one-man operation, is highly professional, respected my car, takes his time, and takes pride in his work. On top of all that, his prices were highly competitive for this expensive labor market. I'll get back to some actual DIY stuff this weekend, but wanted to share these pics now.









Sparkle Auto-Mobile Detailing LLC.


Car Detailing Service in Northern Virginia



detailsbysparkle.com





I am in no way affiliated with the detailer other than being a satisfied and soon to be repeat customer.











































Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

_Rice intensifies_

Shoutout to one of my favorite online retailers, Summit Racing. It appears they are drop shipping Konig Helium wheels at or near wholesale price. I ordered a set, they arrived 8 calendar days later and look phenomenal.

I'm hoping to save 8-10 lbs per corner, will weigh against the OEM alloys and post numbers. Moving the wheels around it felt like I was carrying empty boxes.

Pictures later; Tapatalk seems to be on the fritz.









Konig Wheels HE65D04408 Konig Helium Matte Bronze Wheels | Summit Racing


Free Shipping - Konig Helium Matte Bronze Wheels with qualifying orders of $99. Shop Wheels at Summit Racing.




www.summitracing.com


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

The wheel picture as promised, these should be a great fit for the car. Marketed as matte bronze, the finish is actually smooth to the touch, and in reality closer to a satin or semi gloss sheen. I was worried I'd have to clear coat these to make them shiny enough (and easier to clean). On initial impressions, I think they are perfect straight out of the box. Now I need to pick up tires soon too.










Still not audio, but this car is full of surprises. Pulled a headlamp bulb in preparation for a simple direct fit LED upgrade - check out the date stamp on that bulb.












Will get some more pictures after I've swapped the bulbs out, including turn signals and daytime running lights. I'll confirm the beam pattern isn't too obnoxious as well, otherwise I'll have to consider some type of projector housings or just an upgraded halogen.

Maybe I can cast the replacement blankout panel / cell phone mount base this weekend. I have work Saturday, so I'll be lucky to even pick up the tires this weekend.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

I did start the LED conversion, still waiting on the main bulbs. I may try to add some modern functionality / safety features, such as better side visibility for the turn signals. Still investigating strategies for that to maintain a plausible OEM look and not do anything crazy like drilling in side markers. Basically I would need to wire some relays to make the corner markers flash with the main turn signal.

I'm sticking with plug and play for the moment though.

From left to right: basic amber 194 LED bulbs (tried white, they washed out the corner markers); OEM headlamp bulb with high beams activated; combo daytime running light and turn signal bulb, wired with load resistors for a normal flash speed. You can see the mismatched color temp on headlamp vs. the DRLs in the first picture, will resolve with main bulb replacements.

This first picture is also the only one that is really representative of how dim the main bulbs are.









Turn signal on - amber









Turn signal blinking off:









These are the bulbs I used for the combo DRL + turn signal: AUXLIGHT 3157 3057 4157 3155 3457... Amazon.com: AUXLIGHT 3157 3057 4157 3155 3457 Switchback LED Bulbs 16SMD Chipsets Parking Lights / Daytime Running Lights / DRL and Turn Signal Lights with Projector replacement, White/Amber (Pack of 2) : Automotive

I was super impressed with the feature set - rather than simply emulating a dual filament bulb, they built in a logic chip which turns off the DRL completely while the turn signal blinks, just like a modern car. Before, it was just blinking between dim amber and bright amber.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Happy Mother's Day!

Last picture of headlights. Really happy with how they came out, I can see so much better. Only a slight color temp mismatch between DRLs and main beams (6000 vs. 6500). Very reasonable beam cutoff too. 

I ended up needing to use this type, because the ones with the external ballast would have required modification of the housing. 









Amazon.com: AUXITO 9007 LED Bulbs, 6500K Cool White 13000LM Per Set, 350% Brighter, Wireless HB5 LED, Dual Hi/Lo Automotive Light Bulb Conversion Kits, Plug and Play, Pack of 2 : Automotive


Buy AUXITO 9007 LED Bulbs, 6500K Cool White 13000LM Per Set, 350% Brighter, Wireless HB5 LED, Dual Hi/Lo Automotive Light Bulb Conversion Kits, Plug and Play, Pack of 2: Headlight & Tail Light Conversion Kits - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases



www.amazon.com













This week got interesting on Tuesday when I came down with a highly contagious respiratory virus - you can take your guess. Upon the rest of the family testing negative, I elected to quarantine in the garage for a couple days and test out the sleeping capability of the car. With chairs slid forward, a piece of plywood under my sleeping pad, and a trash can to prop up the plywood, a full 72" sleeping pad fits with room to spare. I'll probably utilize this system next ski season, with a few optimizations of course.




























A 12A battery charger provided adequate juice that I could run the vent fan all night long.










Next few days were rough, but the sleeping part was just fine. I'll have a few more updates later this evening.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

By Thursday, the whole family had come down with the same virus, so the intra-family quarantine could end. Sleeping in my car for a few days reminded me - the week prior, I took the car for a 300 mile shakedown to test reliability. I averaged 33.4 MPG in moderate traffic. I did have one issue though. Driving through Baltimore, my clutch stuck down at an intersection. I was quickly able to pop it back up with my toe, but for several intersections it was sticking down and would lock the transmission in gear. Not great.

Somehow I managed to not stall the car, and drove the car the rest of the way through town while rev matching the engine by ear (the car came with no tachometer) and shifting without using the clutch pedal. Manual transmission achievement unlocked .

Once on the interstate again, I cruised in 5th gear for several miles, and when I needed to shift again, the clutch was back. Still, I had had my warning, and knew I needed to service the clutch's hydraulic system at least.

Looking for fluid specifications, capacities, etc. in the owner's manual, I came across some early paperwork. The window sticker:










Another interesting tidbit: the original owner purchased the vehicle on August 9th, 1996 - which would have made this a fairy early production 3rd Gen (US) Escort. He traded in a 2nd Gen 1994 Escort Wagon with 29k miles at the time. At the time of his death and recent estate sale, this same gentleman had this '97 as well as an early '00s Focus Wagon in his possession, both in immaculate condition and showing no evidence of abuse or neglect (other than having very old, unworn tires on this car).

The narrative I crafted tells me this fellow likely bought a Pinto Wagon as his first car, and it served him so well he's been driving Ford's econo-wagon offerings ever since. Not exactly an enthusiast, perhaps, if my narrative holds true, but a no-nonsense and unflappably practical individual with a bit of a zen approach to vehicles. At least, that's my story for the guy.










Okay, clutch service time...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Decided to do the master & slave cylinders as that will allow me to assess the condition of the pressure plate and throw out bearing by process of elimination. If this resurrects the car, I'll run it as long as I can without splitting the engine & transaxle.

Gosh I love these Japanese econobox parts prices. $55 with tax for both ends of the system:










Yup, looks good:










Oof, wrong part. Jeff Bezos has betrayed me:










Sent back for exchange, now ready to start. It quickly became evident this is not a job for large Anglo-Saxon hands. Both master & slave cylinders were unnecessary fiddly with only a couple inches to spare. I had to recruit a helper with smaller hands after tearing up my knuckles several times. My wife is a good sport.

Not many pics of the process as neither one is located well, but suffice it to say I replaced both, and then pressure bled the fluid line from the master cylinder down to the slave cylinder bleed screw. I ran nearly a quart of fluid through until it came out clear as extra virgin olive oil.










My pedal feel is back. Other things to address while car is still in the garage:

Spark plugs - inspect. Original, worn, not fouled. Will replace soon.










Battery tray - had to come out to more easily access the master cylinder. Let's clean this up and get the rust off the fasteners.










Better?










More to follow.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Found a rusty bracket. I'll take this out and restore it, along with a number of offending rusty fasteners securing the front clip:






































Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Rust removal, continued:










The threads were so badly seized that a solid chunk tore off in process of removal. I'll replace this stud with a drilled hole and a plastic clip.










Some of the rust was resilient to chemical removal, but not to my slag hammer:










Loosened up a bit and ready to go back in the dip:











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Final stages of rust removal and metal restoration:










Lightly scuff sanded everywhere with 220 grit sandpaper:










This is 3 coats of Por-15 direct to metal topcoat (which I feel gives me the best chance of adhesion to what may very well be a galvanized surface), followed by 2 layers of my favorite Krylon satin clear, laid on wet for a finished look.










Now air dry for an hour, then baked at 230 degrees F (110 C) for two more hours.











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

The finished piece, cured well enough to install:










Installed:










A couple other fasteners that were badly rusted and have since been restored & reinstalled. Now that I've got the process down, I'll do the same whenever I have occasion to remove any rusty bits:






































Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

One other thing I did while I had the car out of service was figure out a bracket to help the necessary turn signal resistors dissipate heat. This a combination of a small shelf bracket, a black Ford panel clip pressed into an existing hole, and some zip ties. I'll keep an eye on these the next few days to confirm I have no issues with zip ties melting. If I do, I'll switch them out for some band clamps.

Not the greatest fab job I've done, but mostly out of sight, or at least unobtrusive, and will get the car safely back on the road.



















Last steps for tonight:

Flush old power steering fluid with Royal Purple $ynthetic fluid.

Take car off jacks stands

Go for a test drive

More parts piling up. This sickness set me back a bit on both work and projects, but I'm feeling ready to slay some dragons soon.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## mfenske (Feb 7, 2006)

I'm not sure if it's nostalgia or what but I love this thread!


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

mfenske said:


> I'm not sure if it's nostalgia or what but I love this thread!


Thanks, I do aim to entertain! The grab-bag of smiles, stares, laughs, and double takes when I pull up in this car has absolutely made it all worthwhile, and I'm only 2 months into ownership so far.

This sort of dorky old car is often the most endearing to me - between my little old 3 series (so aspirational in comparison) and this one, I can pick an appropriate throwback car for just about any occasion. I can't think of many comparables being built today that offer the same simple, unadulterated driving experience that I get with either one of these toys.

And while the BMW is an absolute blast to drive, I don't laugh when I'm behind the wheel. It's much too serious for that. This one is full of surprises, and just as much of a hoot to drive (so long as I don't aim to win any races, that is!)


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Did test drive & power steering flush today, car is back on the road. Total cost of repair, about $100 including all fluids. Thinking of refreshing brakes, suspension, wheels & tires next. And finish making that cell phone mount / blankout panel for the dash too. Pull the radio and see if I can figure out a way to add an aux input.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Time to try and make my blankout panel/phone mount, or at least start prototyping. This first piece will take an old-school approach to fabrication, with a metal-reinforced bondo casting in a plaster of Paris mold. For a release layer, I will coat the the mold with a thin layer of hot paraffin wax, and let the assembly cool before proceeding.

Heating the wax on the stovetop in a double boiler so I don't heat the wax into a flammable liquid too quickly. This provides a temperature buffer at 212 degrees F / 100 C.










Simultaneously baking the plaster mold at 190 degrees F (88 C), not hot enough to crack, yet still well above the melting point of paraffin. Using a hot mold should help the wax run off like water, leaving behind just enough of a film to seal and pores.










Now here is the mold, coated with a fine layer of wax. I'll let it cool in the refrigerator for an hour or two, then return fully to room temperature before proceeding with the casting.










I'm simultaneously researching what it would take to get into 3D scanning and printing, as that may prove to be a useful prototyping tool if (or when) I do end up needing to fabricate several other pieces due to parts scarcity and custom applications on an older vehicle. If it allows me to achieve a cleaner (read: less dust) and less laborious process while still delivering comparable or better results to the bondo-and-fiberglass approach, it may prove worth the upfront costs. Any 3D printer setup would need to be a planned expense, and allow time to set up a proper workspace, so it doesn't become unusable clutter - but it will be a long term consideration at the very least.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

A kitchen spatula seemed well suited to sculpting this Pringle-shaped panel:










For the record, metal reinforced Bondo DOES seem to stick to silicone. At least it was pretty grabby here. Had to grab a splash of acetone to clean it off after spreading and before I ran out of open time. Don't tell my wife how I treat the kitchen utensils.










Bondo mixed, spread, and pressed into place with the master used as a backing plate to press out any excess body filler by hand. 










I hope I can get a clean mold release without breaking the mold or the master. I used cotton swabs (Q-tips) to scoop off any excess filler that spilled around the edges, so hopefully the master will not be too tightly entrapped. I'll know in 30 minutes 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Before you ask, yes I did use a bit of a paper clip as a pull tab to hopefully pop the Bondo casting out in one piece, and yes I do have a bit of a background in reinforced concrete, hence the 90 degree ears to lock the tab in place  ...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

The Pringle came out in one piece!










That little lip is from where the mold was not deep enough, but I left enough material thickness, so it should sand down fine.










The surface texture still feels a bit clayey, and I noticed a slight flexibility in the Bondo when I first started to peel the workpiece away from the master. I stopped there, gently pressed it back into shape, and will let it cure indoors overnight before removal & sanding. Which means I'm done for today.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Here is the Pringle, unpainted, along with my first attempt at a color match. I'll prime and paint the Pringle shortly and then view it from inside the car with natural daylight. I need to be able to find or make a repeatable color match in case there are any more interior pieces to fabricate and color.

FYI - this is a chalk-based furniture paint. My intent is a standard automotive primer over the Pringle, followed by a single layer of furniture paint (brush applied), followed by my choice of clear, likely Krylon satin enamel. Not being a heavy contact / high wear item, this should be sufficient.

Also- my car is having an identity crisis. The exterior color per Ford? Aquamarine Frost Metallic (blue), yet my salesman identified it as Mint and I would have called it light teal. The interior color per Ford? Willow Green. Yet (and pictures bear this out), they are nearly the same color. The interior reads a shade darker, but this is partly due to being an enclosed space, and the use of matte materials vs. the exterior gloss. And both colors appear to be a close match to the manufacturer's search for this Cottage Blue paint.

So is my car blue or green? Is the interior blue or green? Looking for both expert and amateur opinions. All photos auto balances by iOS camera.

Exterior, with natural plus garage lighting (5000k 85+ CRI LED) -










Exterior, with natural plus garage lighting with forced flash -










Interior, with natural plus garage plus dome light -










Interior, with natural plus garage plus dome light with forced flash -











Exterior and interior, with natural lighting only - 










Gosh, that makes my hand look red. I don't even know what is real anymore.

Okay, back to work, I need to color match blue or green.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

I skipped priming, as the manufacturer's instructions noted it shouldn't be necessary on clean, dry surfaces. I sprayed the part with brake cleaner to get off any residual dust, or oil from handling.

I then applied literally one drop of chalk paint, spread with an artist's brush for 2-3 minutes until the water started to flash off and the brush strokes disappeared. The can said "dry to touch within an hour, dry to handle within 2 hours, fully cured in 3". I decided this meant dry to handle within 10 minutes (at 100% humidity on a rainy Virginia evening, no less), and flash cure at 230 degrees F (110 C) for an additional 10 minutes. To my understanding this is just a pigment-heavy water paint, no complicated reactions here.

Shown here in process, water still flashing off the paint. This process yielded a perfectly flat sheen.










Krylon Maxx series Crystal Clear Acrylic Satin is my worst kept secret in automotive parts fabrication. I love this stuff. You can vary the sheen to a significant degree by how heavy a coat you apply, the sequence and series of coats, etc.. Once you learn how to manipulate it, you can deliver repeatable results across many parts as needed.

This is one light coat to texture the surface and promote adhesion, followed by two wet coats to seal the surface and provide durability, followed by two light coats to again toughen the surface, kill any reflections, and deliver a lightly textured "hand" to the final product. 










Now curing for 30 minutes and it should be good to handle again. I may not have enough daylight left to judge my color match, but I'm optimistic that I either nailed it on the first try, or am close enough that I can fine tune it by further pigmenting this base.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Time to play with pigments, but generally in the right colorway. This first attempt came out about two shades too light. I need to add black or dark gray, and a little yellow or green, according to my laser eyes. I'll do this either by adding raw pigments, or easier, by mixing paints from the same manufacture in fixed ratios. I'll need to explore available and compatible options.

Garage light plus dome light plus dusky outdoor lighting from the open garage door -










With forced flash added -










For the sake of consistency with the OEM part, I'll give the color match approach at least a couple more tries. Should that fail, or draw attention to itself, I will switch to matching the OEM satin black interior accent color (if you can call it that).

On the whole? Not too shabby for a total shot in the dark.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

This is going to be an expensive color match, but I think I can pull it off. This is going to be key for OEM integration with any new or modified part (tweeter pod, modified speaker grill, etc.) and will also help address the challenge of my somewhat rare interior, should any replacement parts ever need to be sourced from a mismatched parts car.

Some of these parts are back ordered so the Pringle may be going on the back burner for a while.

Mini paint cans, 4 oz. -











Another paint color: "Jitterbug", aka dark teal -










One more for good measure: "Peacoat", aka navy blue -










I'm fairly confident my color match lies along the spectrum between these two - likely the teal with a small portion of navy added. If the saturation is too intense, I can dial it back with the lighter "Cottage Blue" - though I will try that only as a last resort as it is an alternate manufacturer and I'm not sure if the compatibility. I'm reasonably certain the paints have similar composition, in case this does price necessary. I just wasn't able to get enough options in the same color war from the other brand.

"Cottage Blue" (this is the one I already used) -










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Sam b (Oct 10, 2020)

I’m really enjoying reading your build. This is cool stuff. Keep up the awesome work and great pics.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Sam b said:


> I’m really enjoying reading your build. This is cool stuff. Keep up the awesome work and great pics.


Thanks. I sometimes worry I go into too much detail, but I enjoy the planning and the writing part as much as the actual building and tinkering. Glad to hear someone gets something out of it!


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

I decided to try one more off-the-shelf match before I start mixing chalk based paint. 

This one is decidedly green, but I attempted by process of application to dull the sheen, and layer the clear with enough depth to reintroduce some ambiguity into the hue when viewed in direct lighting. I also think this green paint is mixed with some navy blue undertones, which makes sense with the name "Dark as Night".










My coats went something like this:

Base coat - light, heavy, heavy, light, changing the angle of application each time.

Clear satin - light, medium wet, medium wet, light, light, light, again varying angle of application.

Each coat had 1-2 minutes between, with about 4-5 minutes between last base coat and first clear coat.

While I'd have waited for a fully cured base coat before moving on, part of this exercise is establishing the compatibility of two dissimilar brands of paint. While the Glidden (Home Depot brand) doesn't self identify, by smell and application and curing characteristics I believe it to be an acrylic enamel like my preferred clear. If blending the base coat and top coat timing together like I did doesn't lead to bubbling, cracking, or obvious adhesion issues upon handling, I'll declare the two compatible and move on. A useful data point to determine during prototyping. If I do have issues, I'll know to wait for a full cure between base and clear.

One other trick outlined above in my layering is beginning and ending each full layer with a light coat - I find this generally promotes adhesion. The three light coats at the end were explicitly to dull and roughen the finish.

Just a few more minutes before I can handle the clear, and then I'll check it out in daylight. My gut? Still too green and too dark. I'll hope to be proved wrong.

Got a lot on my plate this weekend, I may only have minor updates. It all hinges on having enough time to swap wheels on the Bimmer and get the wife's VW ready for safety inspection - got to replace rear brakes and troubleshoot a headlamp issue - yay gremlins! If I disappear for a few days you'll know they got the better of me.











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Called it! Too dark and too green. This is natural light only with the windows rolled up.

It now stands to reason that my interior is in fact neither a true blue nor a true green, but somewhere in between.

Will have to wait on chalk paint before next attempt.











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

I'd say a blend of these two attempts might actually be a perfect match, but whereas one is an acrylic enamel aerosol, and the other is water based chalk paint, I'm don't see how I can achieve that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Sam b (Oct 10, 2020)

I definitely enjoy reading your build. And all builds. That’s what’s fun about our community


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Here's a bit of foreshadowing of something I will at least attempt. These are the dash-mounted side window defrost vents from an eBay parts car:










You'll note they are a standard gray like the interior in most Escorts, and don't match mine. No, I'm not going two tone.

These will be to practice 3D scanning with a new gadget I have in the mail, without the need to remove and potentially damage my own vents.

Depending on how the scanning goes, I may pursue the following approach:

1) find one or more pairs of small-format tweeters that could mount within the footprint of the air vent without fully blocking the air,
2) test said tweeters in place with some temporary modeling clay or tape to see if a tweeter mounted in that location can sound good without any unusual-looking aiming tricks,
3) if yes, modify scanned files with some sort of 3D modeling software to accommodate tweeter mounting within the grille,
4) also if yes, either acquire a 3D printer, or pay to have these printed by someone who owns one,
5) sand parts smooth, coat with epoxy resin as needed, sand more, and paint with the same color match I am establishing now,
6) fish wires within dash, mount tweeters, enjoy.

But if the scanning doesn't work? No harm, no foul. The gadget will still be useful, and I won't have to buy a printer in that case. You'll see soon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Hmm... 










Hmm...










Well, it wouldn't come out any further without disconnecting climate controls. Not doing that today. 

Lots of flexibility for rear speaker enclosures, will consider. Imagining I may ultimately reconsider retaining to OEM radio. I wonder if I can find a useful small format Android head unit, or even a simple single-Din with Bluetooth to simplify the connections and functionality I'm accustomed to with modern cars. . . 

_mission creep intensifies_


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

So, this happened:










By sheer force of willpower, I will not mount them until I have replaced the struts, tightened up the entire suspension, and gotten an alignment. They will be stacked in the garage as motivation.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Also, my 3D scanner arrived. This is the gadget I mentioned. iPhone 13 Pro (not max) and accessories. Let's see how many green things I can put in one picture:











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Did some random object 3D scanning to test out apps. The one that seems to work for me is called Scaniverse. As far as I could tell, the other one I looked at (3D Scanner App) doesn't allow you to create detailed enough files for the sort of work I'm trying to do.

Hat:









Ski boot:









The infamous Pringle:









Of the three, the hat scanned the best. I think this is because it has no reflective surfaces.

I'm still working out what my controls will be to get accurate and consistent scans, but this seems an adequate proof of concept that I have the hardware side of my scanning needs figured out. Software and methodology still subject to improvement.

My takeaways:

1) I think I may need to set up a scanning environment that has no reflective surfaces. Thinking a large cardboard box might do the trick.
2) I think I will need to paint the parts with a flat gray or flat black paint. The GUI for Scaniverse displays a filtered camera image, and the parts that the LiDAR scanner is not able to pick up tend to glitch out of the display and disappear. I noticed this most when shooting at a side angle across a flat surface, or when shooting at a glossy surface.
3) It seems I should get something like a selfie stick that I can use to suspend the phone and rotate it around the objects in a more controlled manner.
4) I probably ought to do some reading and watch some tutorials rather than relying entirely on trial and error.
5) I need to explore file types and make sure I'm able to save or export the files in a format that will work for whatever desktop app I settle on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Sam b (Oct 10, 2020)

Keep this info coming. Really informative and detailed posts. I’m definitely enjoying your stuff


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Sam b said:


> Keep this info coming. Really informative and detailed posts. I’m definitely enjoying your stuff


Will do, as time permits. Next 30 or so days I'm in a time crunch at work with conflicting projects at home. Expect small updates in the meantime. After that things should hopefully free up again.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

While I continue to work on interior plastics color match, I may as well take on an interior carpet match in case any pieces I make down the line need carpeting. It's important that the drapes match the carpet, I suppose. 🫢

Let's see if Factory Interiors can help with that.








Success! - | Factory Interiors


Auto Carpets amp Auto Parts




www.factoryinteriors.com





I picked my top 10 for a sample order, judging iPhone screen in sunlight with auto brightness settings against reality. Here are my top 5. You'll note the the continued ambiguity between blues and greens in this colorway. As control samples, the other 5 trended more toward actual green or actual blue rather than the teal-turquoise mashup that is likely a match:

Cutpile 4643 Powder Blue









Cutpile 8042 Silver Green / Jade









Essex 1017A Lapis Blue









Loop 15 Teal









Loop 25 Blue Green









Cut pile is a standard automotive carpet, "Essex material" is still a cut pile, but denser and about 50% longer (1cm or 3/8", vs 6.5mm or 1/4")

The loop carpet is likely going to be thicker still, but I'm not sure if those will end up closer to a Berber or a shag type material.

My original carpets, at least in the floorpan, are in perfect condition, so will likely be reused, but if the carpet were worn, replacing it with a mass-backed carpet and then placing a thin layer of closed cell foam underneath would probably be my move. As this is an economy car, I'll stop short of replacing a perfectly good OEM carpet, but may do some spot treatments later as deemed necessary.

Finally, if all my colors are too saturated, my fallback would probably be this one, though it would necessitate another sample order.

Loop 42 Silver Mink









Okay, now back to my brake job on the other car at least until the garage gets too hot. I may experiment with some interior paint color matching in the afternoon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Jheitt142 (Dec 7, 2011)

TJ Mobile Audio said:


> Original battery was too large, sat outside the tray, had no hold-down. Original batteries are group 58 and top out at 550 CCA. That's enough for a garden tractor, I suppose.
> 
> I found a group 59 fits nicely in the same tray, and works with a replacement OEM hold down wedge (I have already become friends with the parts counter lady at the local Ford dealership over the past few days).


Just a tip, the 58 and 59 are the exact same battery. its called a 58 if Johnson controls makes it, and a 59 if east Penn makes it.... dont ask....


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Jheitt142 said:


> Just a tip, the 58 and 59 are the exact same battery. its called a 58 if Johnson controls makes it, and a 59 if east Penn makes it.... dont ask....


Fair enough, won't ask. I'm sure I could have been off base, but for what it's worth, the _very few_ 59s I was actually able to find were roughly half an inch taller, fractionally different in width and length, and had 40-100 more CCAs than the 58s I was finding. There was one 59 (Exide brand at Home Depot) rated at 650, which is pretty decent for the size, but it had been sitting on the shelf for over 2 years so that was a hard pass.

If and when I need another one a few years down the road, I'll think about modifying the tray to accept a group 65 - which is the too-big one I pulled out. Wish I could find something between 58/59 and 65 that had the terminals in the right place and same mounting style as I could make an extra inch length of battery work without modifying much, but the 2" difference of the 65 made it pretty cramped.

EDIT - looks like a group 34 would have gotten me what I need. A slight modification to the hold-down would be all that is needed. Tucked away for future reference.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

This morning had an exciting start. 



















Okay, so perhaps the pictures don't tell the story. I crested a hill ahead of a fairly dangerous intersection. I had backed off to give the Suburban in front of me extra room in case he came up on stopped traffic at the light. Couldn't see past him, but sure enough, just as soon as his vehicle came back into sight, he was full on pa if braking as he had not anticipated the line of cars. Despite being a full size SUV, he also has a modern braking system, and I knew even with a perfect reaction time I was about to rear end him. Unacceptable.

My many years of experience driving dinky little old shoebox cars with anemic engines and brakes but compliant and tossable suspensions served me well. I immediately aimed for a grassy spot between signposts and took a beeline for the shoulder. I got the rear end to slide a bit so I could keep the front end of the car pointing uphill, the shoulder being more of sloped drainage channel here, while still carrying my momentum well enough to not get stuck on the muddy grass. Kept rolling forward until my front tires were on firm gravel next to the road, where I came to a comfortable stop right next to said Suburban. 

I gave the driver a thumbs up and a wave, and got a smirk in return, and once the light turned green I pulled right in behind that big beast of an SUV and kept on driving as if nothing had happened.

Damage report: muddy tires. Grass in wheel well. Mud splatters on paint. Worth it.











Small update to follow.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

My previous story does highlight my need to find a way to upgrade the brakes on this car soon. I'm waiting to do at least a basic refresh when I have it off the ground to do suspension, but may ultimately pursue some type of upgrade beyond the 25-year-old economy car spec.

For these next photos, forgive the interesting choice of backdrop, but it's what I had at hand.

I've been toying with several concepts for my phone mount. I do still believe I will use the space to the left of the steering wheel, but that does present a few challenges of it own - Mostly the fact that the phone will need to be offset a little bit the left of my intended mounting point in order to be visible past the steering wheel without craning my neck.

In my pondering, I narrow down my objectives to the following:
1) Must be unobtrusive,
2) Must not impede vehicle controls or features,
3) Must mount securely to the dash,
4) Must hold the phone firmly,
5) Should integrate inductive charging capability,
6) Must be at least mostly reversible,
7) Ideally, apart from the mounting base, should be assembled with off-the-shelf components, and as few as possible for simplicity's sake.

So I think I've solved 1, 2, half of 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

Really the only engineering problem left is how to sturdily support the base in the existing opening, while still being removable if possible. If I have to resort to making it permanent, I'll want to make it futureproof so it can adapt to a different type of phone or whatever cyborg tech we'll all be using in 10 years. I think I have that portion covered here too if I must resort to a permanent or semi permanent mounting method.

Starting with two components. One with a ball socket but intended to mount to an HVAC diffuser fin. Really, who does that? Anything besides a gentle finger touching the HVAC vents should be anathema to any car guy.

Well, I guessed it is probably a 17mm socket, so I got this threaded base which has an integral 17mm to 17mm arm: 










Yep, fits:










Did I say two components? Well, three if I count the genuine Apple MagSafe charging pad:










I think in the final install, I'll cover the white cord with tech flex, terminated with heat shrink tubing, so it looks like part of the car. I'll find a way to tuck most of the length out of sight.

And here, demonstrating the approximate angle I expect to use the mount at: tilted slightly up and toward the driver, yet offset a bit to the side for maximum visibility.










(My eagle eyed readers will note in this picture another subtle reference to my other build. Hint: the first Easter egg was in post #34).

And that's all for tonight. Easy peasy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Now, bonus points to anyone who can guess what part of my build I'll be using this new drill bit on. Hint, you might have to think about negative space.











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Latest new old stock parts find.










Don't tell anyone, but these are Denim Blue instead of Willow Green. I gambled that both are far enough into the dark turquoise colorway with a hint of charcoal, at least with reference to the carpets, that a mismatched OEM may would still look better than aftermarket, and would not be glaring. At first glance after delivery, these looked too saturated. But throw them in the car and -










Yep, was right. I can live with that. Call it an accent color. Will replace with Willow Green if I ever find a pair of them, but I won't hold my breath.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## JohnnyOhh (Feb 19, 2015)

are you going to like.... install some audio stuff and stuff or something?
i'm just being a smart ass (and goofing around), but every time i see this thread pop-up... i'm like oh yeah here it comes.... but no.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

JohnnyOhh said:


> are you going to like.... install some audio stuff and stuff or something?
> i'm just being a smart ass (and goofing around), but every time i see this thread pop-up... i'm like oh yeah here it comes.... but no.


   

I'll get there. I'll have a lot more time on my hands in a month.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

One of the simple joys of driving a 25 year old car (to put a positive spin on it), is the sense of surprise and wonderment when you find parts still being manufactured specifically for your vehicle. Or in this case, at least categorized for your vehicle. Not audio? Well guess what...










This will be very nice to have in place while a am installing audio so the hatch won't hit me on the head. It's a litany of small finishing touches like this needed to bring an old car into daily use. Daily for now at least.










Stopped at the DMV to get custom plates too - first ever vanity tags on any car I've owned. Will share when they come in. 

Now where were we? I think I do need to decide on an audio strategy soon. I sense a Parts-Express.com order in my near future.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Audio planning day... schematic pending... _credit card go brrrrr_

Strategy is as follows -

OEM head unit needs to go. I debated dissecting the audio section to add an AUX input and preamp outputs, but it seems like a heck of a lot of work for something that will still end up relying on 25-year-old electronics that have been vibrating for the past 93k miles and weren't that great to begin with. So I'll embrace the aftermarket here.

All components are to be either period correct (ish) new old stock, or older items from my personal collection - the exception being a modern single-DIN head unit which is at least period-conceivable. Amplifiers will be A/B class but are intentionally selected from consumer-grade product lines, appropriate to the improved-economy-car theme. All digital signal processing will be handled by the head unit. System is designed with an emphasis on minimizing the number of components - with the end result being 6x signal channels and 8x amplifier channels (rear hatch speakers and subwoofer share a preamp signal, and due to proximity and the frequencies involved, can both utilize the same time delay with no ill effects.

I don't feel right about an integrating an infotainment display in a 90s economy car (though I did without hesitation in my BMW E46 build - link in signature). While the system will no longer fully preserve the OEM look, I still aim to keep it low-key and unobtrusive. And also in the interest of period-correctness, though I am ditching the tape deck, I will retain a physical CD player, though I may rarely use it.

Sidenote, and feel free to pull the TL;DR card here - I do suppose the CD drive still provides a minor critical listening advantage, but I'm not sure my ears are still that good after my youth as a bit of a basshead and occasional concert-goer, and my career in construction - despite proper precautions having been taken in recent years. I already know I can't hear much above about 14 or 15 kHz anymore _(at least not to any meaningful extent other than the way these ultrasonic overtones interact with other frequencies - which interaction conveys substantive information, such as influencing the room dynamics perceived from the recording, as wells as the timbre of musical instruments - all of which is perceived without directly hearing the high frequency signal)_, and I generally cannot hear the difference between 256 kpbs / 320 kbps / AAC lossless _(though 128 kbps is noticeably and often offensively lossy to me)_. I'd be curious to double blind test modern Bluetooth vs. CD audio and see how often I can pick out the difference, if ever. My understanding though is that it runs at 330 kbps, and sometimes as high as 990 kbps, based on the codec, so unless the signal is screwed up in other ways, I wouldn't consider this particularly lossy.​
I say all this just to note that the inclusion of physical CD player is not based on any conceit that I actually need the full 1.411 mbps for a mobile listening experience 

So without further ado, here is the planned signal path. Apart from being a fun arts & crafts project, this should help me for planning purposes. All components shown are en route - which means I need to get down to business clearing some old stuff out of the closet. Look for various for-sale posts shortly in the classifieds section.

And before you ask: for each of these components there is a method to my madness.

(Edited for updated signal path diagram 2022.05.29)


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

What nonsense is this? 










Well, I think I discovered why my rear windshield sprayer doesn't work. It has an independent reservoir, probably less than 1 liter, hidden behind an unlabeled panel in the hatch area.

...

Yep, sure enough, that was it. Which tells me if I do want to build a subwoofer into the corner, it ought to be on the other side, especially considering this is also where the emergency fuel cutoff is located.

So, checking out the driver's side for a rough estimate of available depth. A surface mounted subwoofer here would have about 6-3/4" accounting for some thickness of material here, or close to 7" assuming a fiberglass enclosure only. Allow for some pole venting and a 6.5" depth is not out of the question. That gives me easily enough depth for an 8", 10", or even a somewhat shallow 12" sub, the limiting factor now being interior volume.










Of course, this is all assuming I don't put the subwoofer under the floor - I may need that space for amplifiers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

One non-audio update for tonight. I've been looking for matching OEM key blanks so I can have a few spares on hand - with an eye toward long term ownership. These are apparently somewhat rare, but I after a few weeks I'd searching these popped up:











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

I vote floor subs! Keep the hauling space. Can the amps go under the rear seats?


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

BP1Fanatic said:


> I vote floor subs! Keep the hauling space. Can the amps go under the rear seats?


No space under rear seats. That's where the fuel tank is. Floor sub may still be an option, but then it's a hassle getting to the spare tire. May as well delete the spare at that point, which maybe isn't all that radical after all. Will consider all options.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

A, B, C











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

B




















Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Mix matrix











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Substrate











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Always use protection.










A close call:











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Alright, some narrative.

Stay in school, don't do drugs. I used needle-less milliliter syringes to get my dosing precise enough that I didn't have to waste a ton of paint. 10 mL per can.










Even in these little 4oz cans, 10 cc's of paint is not much. I couldn't stir it properly by shaking, so I assigned one artist's brush to each can for stirring, and then again to make my swatches.










I didn't know I'd have to show off my calligraphy skills (or lack thereof) tonight, but here is the completed sample, less clear coat. The surface is a little rough in spots, but the curvature should make it possible to see the full aura of each color. Or maybe ambience.

Okay yes I just said that.










Any guesses on which will be closest? I can't judge until daylight hours tomorrow. I'll lay down the clear first thing and then check it out after it's dry to the touch. I'll post the interior for reference again so you can compare.










I'm on childcare duty tomorrow. Don't expect a big update. I do hope to at least nail down this color match.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Color judging, round one.














































Impressions: 

All shades seem a hair too light.
All shared seem possibly too saturated.
#3 and #6 are too blue
#1, #2, and #5 are almost the perfect hue, brightness and intensity notwithstanding.

Will judge again in full daylight to confirm this analysis.

Ordered black and light gray paints to play with darkening and fading these colors a bit. Ordered a pint of the "Jitterbug" paint, as that one or a close variation on it will be a good starting hue to play with until I get exactly where I need to be.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

For my own records and note keeping, here was my first mix matrix, where A = cottage blue, B = Jitterbug (teal), and C = Peacoat (navy)

No. | A_ | B_ | C_ |
01_ | 00 | 10 | 00 |
02_| 00 | 09 | 01 |
03_| 00 | 08 | 02 |
------------------
04_| 02 | 08 | 00 |
05_| 02 | 07 | 01 |
06_| 02 | 06 | 02 |

My thinking is that I don't need to be adding blue from both sides (cottage blue and peacoat). Also, the two parts of cottage blue seemed to lighten the mixture a bit too much.

Going forward, I will replace the A component with a light gray paint from the same manufacturer as the other two. I will mix my starting base as one part A, nine parts B, one part C. I plan to mix 110 mL of that base, which should fit in one of my 4 ounce cans. So the color itself will be mostly jitterbug, with a hair more blue and a hair less saturated.

From there, I'll draw down another set of samples, mixing with various levels of black. I'm thinking of trying, noted as base:black

15:0
14:1
13:2
12:3
11:4
10:5

Could fine tune with more gray if these end up too dark and are still to saturated. Or could pull the color warmer / cooler with small amounts of yellow/mustard or blue....

But all in all? Very successful with this round. I think I'll get there soon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Impulse buy. Never heard of this brand, but this looks like a subwoofer. Found one for $100 and had to jump on it.









NVX VCW102

Recommended RMS power 600-750 watts RMS. I've never understood the low end recommendation on some speakers, but I presume it's the assumption that some users will turn up the gain if they feel their too-small amp is not pushing the sub hard enough, and then blow the speaker with a clipped signal.

Anyway, my 1100W Crunch amplifier is rated for 500W RMS, and every time I've installed one of these - I've provably done 5 systems with Crunch amps over the years - I've been fairly well convinced (anecdotally) that they made well more than rated power. And if this one isn't enough, I'll just have to keep my eye out for a 1400W.

Also - I've successfully run these as low as 2.7 ohms bridged in my more reckless years with tons no clipping - the amp would just thermal limit for 2 out of every 30 minutes ... do not attempt.

So what I'm saying is while it's a cheap amp, I've used this exact model and similar models going back to 2003 or so, and they have always been solid for me. No idea if the newer Crunch amps hold up as well.

FYI - my goal will be either get the woofer into the floor OR make an enclosure that can be concealed 100% behind factory trim. Failing that, I do have a number of secret subwoofers that can mount in about 2" of space. So that is my fallback.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

To condense the main point about amplifiers from that previous comment - I have a sentimental attachment to the old Crunch amplifiers (actually thinking of the ones one or two generations earlier than the one I have for this build), not because there's anything special about the crossovers (12db/octave), or the efficiency (ordinary A/B circuitry), or the sonic signature (anyone claiming to hear that at subwoofer frequencies is pulling your chain) - just because that was one of my very first purchases when I got into this DIY installation game about 2 decades ago.

One funny anecdote - because my curiosity got the best of me and I had to do a little research. My old amp (circa 2003) had 2x30A fusing and was rated as a 700 watt amplifier. Realistic. This series from about 5 years later has 2x30A fusing and is rated as an 1100 watt amplifier. Okay, maybe. The current iteration of Crunch amps? As an example, consider the SA-2100.1 class A/B monoblock amplifier. Still 2x30A fusing, but 2100 watts? Get out. But because they wanted to slap a CEA-2006 compliant rating on it, they have to disclose 425 watts RMS at 2 ohms.

But what does any of it matter? I'll set gains appropriately, and I have full DSP capabilities in the head unit.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

More system design and more shopping. Grabbed some rear (tiny) BMW e46 _COUPE_ mid/tweeter grilles. I've used these with success in a variety of applications, but I usually grab the sedan ones which are perfectly flat. In this case, I selected the coupe type for the slight curvature of the face of the speaker grille. This will come into play later. Suffice it to say, I will have a 2-way front stage. These will serve as a mounting surface for some small 2" extended range drivers.

Recoloring the grilles will be an interesting challenge, I'll likely need to thin some of my chalk paint with water and do several light coats from my spray gun, to avoid clogging up the holes.










Front tweeter/mid:
*Tectonic TEBM35C10-4 BMR 2" Full-Range Speaker 4 Ohm*

I would typically use these _Peerless by Tymphany NE65W-04 2" Full Range Woofers_ instead, but in this case, I am actually worried about mounting depth, and the Tectonics save me about half an inch - at the expense of power handling. If I can fit the Peerless drivers, that is what I will use, as I'm much more comfortable asking the speaker to reach down low enough to meet the Focal 6.5s with a 20W RMS rating vs. 10 on the Tectonic.










Front woofers will be the 6.5" drivers from a set of *Focal Performance 165AS3*

Overkill perhaps. Comes in under 2.5" mounting depth and was cheaper than a pair of shallow mount Morels. As with everything else in this build, if it doesn't work out, it will find a home elsewhere in my collection. _(Perhaps my Ford Maverick if it ever gets built...)_










Rear channel will be a pair of these coaxials running in parallel at 4 ohms, with a single passive crossover:










Talk amongst yourselves...


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

I will leave you for the evening with this cryptic image:




  






(And I promise, I haven't lost my mind.)


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

TJ Mobile Audio said:


> While I continue to work on interior plastics color match, I may as well take on an interior carpet match in case any pieces I make down the line need carpeting. It's important that the drapes match the carpet, I suppose. 🫢
> 
> Let's see if Factory Interiors can help with that.
> 
> ...


Getting a close enough carpet and textile match for believable OEM integration is going to be even more challenging than the plastic match.

Top right is very close to the correct color, only slightly too green. The others, while appearing in the same colorway on a good quality iPhone screen in the stock photos, miss the mark entirely.

Will see if there are other colors that might work as a second sample order, based on this feedback.

Will also consider searching for a vinyl textile to wrap any enclosures in, or reusing OEM to the extent possible - but I'd like to not cut up too much of the interior if it can be avoided, given the near-mint condition (and color ) of the rest of the car.











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Today was subwoofer delivery day, but it has me second guessing my plans.

Initial impression of the new NVX subwoofer: HEAVY. Second is STURDY. I'll share a picture before my more detailed thoughts, and then more pictures in the next post. As a TL;DR summary, the booty end of my system is now in question.










It does appear well built, with a stitched surround, cast and milled basket, large motor structure, pole venting, double voice coil leads stitched to the spider, and a rather large voice coil former. But part of me is having a very hard time justifying 18.2 lbs of mass for a 10" subwoofer in this little economy car. My three stamped 12s back in my younger days probably weighed less than this single 10. One of my primary goals is to achieve this without adding much if any weight, which puts me up against Hoffman's law.

As we know, a larger enclosure will be more efficient, but heavier. The efficiency means you can use light drivers and small amplifiers.

Shrink the enclosure for space constraints or to save weight, and the only way to overcome that is with larger amplifiers and high power handling for the drivers.

Larger amplifiers weigh more, and higher power handling drivers are often heavier as well (and are themselves often less efficient, regardless of enclosure type), hence there may often be no net weight savings to shrinking the enclosure. And if there is, it may come at the cost of more expensive* and efficient amplifiers and boutique subwoofers that blend high efficiency, low weight, and high power handling - none of which makes any sense in a 25-year-old economy car.

(* Class D has thrown this equation a bit into imbalance, and amplifier power is cheap by historic standards, but once we are talking several hundred watts, an amplifier is still likely to be heavy and relatively expensive unless you sacrifice reliability and longevity)

My goal of finding the "sweet spot" is no different than anyone else who has played out this compromise of weight vs. efficiency vs. cost, and which especially comes into play when trying to build a concealed and relatively OEM integrated system. But the sheet heft of this woofer for its size has me wondering if I am off to the wrong start. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Now I said it was big, but let me put this into perspective. The last time I handled a woofer with this much heft, it said Xtant on the motor structure. Aw heck, let's dig in the closet for this conparo.  

Yes, this is still new and unused, and no, this one is not likely to make its way into this particular system. Here is a new old stock Xtant X124, a 12" hexagonal beast that actually measures 15" corner to corner:










And here are the comparative motor structure and baskets:










Now, the two rely on different cooling strategies, come from different eras, and to an extent different ends of the price spectrum, but what they share is mass.

NVX VCW102 tips the scale at 18.2 lbs, the legendary (imho) Xtant 12 comes in at a clinically obese 22.2. And while I know from experience that these Xtants justify their heft the same way Arnold does, I'm not sure what the body fat percentage is on this NVX.

Whether or not it lives up to the presentation, it does check all the right boxes from a physical appearance perspective.










So it pains me a bit to be second guessing myself here. But beyond the heft, there are a couple other factors that are making me question.

For one, the VERY COOL LOOKING grille, which NVX advertises as universal, and even pictures with this very subwoofer in their marketing literature? It does not even fit onto the sub. It cannot be stretched to fit around the rubber gasket. And the holes of the metal part just barely reach to the edge of the hole, which means the mounting screws would have to go in at an angle.



















Simple, I said to myself. I'll just remove the rubber gasket and fit the grill directly to the subwoofer mounting face, I can always put some 1/16" self adhesive neoprene on the bottom of the mounting surface or a small bead of silicone caulk to ensure a tight seal.

Well, I removed the rubber mounting gasket, and didn't get any pictures, but with the gasket off, the grill now fits, but leaves roughly a 1/4" gap below the plastic grill trim ring. This means the metal part of the grill would be loose, that I would need to shim between the plastic trim and the metal mesh, and that it would likely not be practical to secure the grill and the woofer with the same set of screws. In that case, I would need to drill an additional 8 screw holes in the woofer's mounting flange - the original 8 being used to secure the woofer and the new 8 to secure the grill.

None of this seems reasonable for a universal grill ostensibly engineered to work with this exact woofer. Exhibit A:










NVX could resolve all of this by expanding the diameter of both the metal mesh and the trim ring by approximately 1/8". 

So, that last bit may unfortunately be the straw that breaks the camel's back in terms of making this work in this application. If I can find a US manufacturing representative for these guys, I'll alert them to my findings, but I had high hopes for this grille & woofer combo.

Now! If weight were not an objective? Boy oh boy does this look like a solid woofer. I would love to put it through its paces, and am going to look for an opportunity to do exactly that. Maybe this will find its way into a home theater near me . . .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## bzonealpine (11 mo ago)

I don't think you're going to notice an extra 5 pounds when you're driving, even in an Escort. However, the depth and volume you'll need to enclose it are going to be hard to hide. Still thinking about the rear left corner? I had a '96 wagon, most anemic stock stereo that I can think of besides the dump truck of that era with the same stereo and more engine noise!


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

bzonealpine said:


> I don't think you're going to notice an extra 5 pounds when you're driving, even in an Escort. However, the depth and volume you'll need to enclose it are going to be hard to hide. Still thinking about the rear left corner? I had a '96 wagon, most anemic stock stereo that I can think of besides the dump truck of that era with the same stereo and more engine noise!


Yeah, I came to terms with needing to get rid of the stock stereo. It's bad.

I'm thinking floor at the moment, but my other thought would be behind the OEM panel by the wheel arch / rear speakers. There's a lot of room there, it just would be a lot of effort to utilize the space.

Here's an idea of how much space I _could_ get away with under the floor if I went all out.

First picture is with a 2x4 laid across the trunk floor area. You can see I probably have 2" above the spare, or 4" if I flip the spare over, or 6" if I remove it.










Second picture is from the original cardboard/Masonite floor layer to the bottom edge of the hatch door. Provided I want to keep a ledge for the cargo area, I could come up as much as 3.5" or 4". This would all be easily concealed - at least when the seats are in the upright position.










Whatever total height I came up with would need to include the height of the speaker baffle and any covers that would be concealed below the original carpet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

Hefty sub = small sealed enclosure.

I'm digging the old Crunch amp. I think it has dual power supplies. Check ampguts.com for the pics.

I put 4 x ported 12's in my brother's Escort. I converted the box to BP4 for 2 x 12's in 1998 that's still in my coffee table now.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Here is a basic point cloud generated with the iPhone 13 Pro's LiDAR sensor + Scaniverse app. I may try another scan to see if I can eliminate some of the missing parts. Obviously I can take these measurements manually, but why take the easy way out? 

Being able to quickly visualize the under-floor space and quickly check any needed dimensions (of course, I will rely on steel tape when fitment is critical, but this should get me close enough for volume calcs) will at the very least a useful design prompt.










This exercise reinforces what I already knew - if the spare stays, and I don't raise the floor significantly, I do have a pretty finite volume of space I'm working with. Either flipping the spare, eliminating it, or using shallow-mount sub(s) will be necessary.

Now, my go-to for complicated massing exercise has always been Sketchup - let's see if I can get it to play nicely with a point cloud.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

First set of calcs indicates a simple rounded rectangle enclosure of 2" internal depth already gets me 0.71 CF (20 L) of space. Can't do much with 2" speaker depth --- or can you?  

I'd like to flush mount the amps, or at least the Crunch bass amp, so if I stay completely below the existing floor I'd probably eat into the available enclosure volume too much. Stand by for brainstorming sketches.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Verified auto-generated dimensions from post #83 are accurate to within 1/4". We live in the future, kids. Lessons learned at the very bottom of the post.

Also figured out how to pull a point cloud into Sketchup on my Mac. I thought it had integral importing for several types of point clouds, but I couldn't get it to work, possibly because of the file size.

Enter Skimp (subscription basis, not freeware / shareware / open source, but 7 day license is free) - which creates a new mesh based on a reduced number of points. I reduced to 6%, and voila!

Here is a short clip of me working with the file. Forgive the lack of keyboard shorcuts, I only recently upgraded from Sketchup 8 to 2017 (the last fully free version), and they changed a buch of keystrokes I was used to using. The new shortcuts are more intuitive, but I need to unlearn the old muscle memory.










Now I said, we're living in the future. Well, this is all being done with a 9-year-old Macbook Pro that only does a "mere" 2.2 Teraflops. A computer being able to perform a Gigaflop - one billion floating operation points per second - was held as the definition of a supercomputer, all the way up to the early-to-mid 2000s. As you would expect, a Terraflop is 1000 Gigaflops.

(Just checked and the wife's new Air does 4.5. Which means my Pro was a bit precocious in 2013 when new) .

The most complicated function so far? Apparently creating a perimeter line along a point cloud mesh where intersected by a plane (e.g. slicing a 3D object) is actually super complicated for a computer, even though it seems intuitive to a human mind.

This is the most detailed use of Sketchup I have ever attempted, so I'm learning new functions as I go. If you had told me when the iPhone 1 was introduced that in 15 years I would be able to scan and process 3D objects, rooms, etc. with a consumer-grade LiDAR sensor built into my phone? And that my 9-year old computer would have the processing power necessary to handle all that data? Well, I'd probably have been so amazed I'd drop my flip phone-phone in my Diet Coke.

Anyway, I the setup was a bit burdensome, but now that I have everything aligned, I'll be in familiar territory. The promised concept sketches coming up soon. Here are a few screenshots out of Sketchup for the time being:




























Lessons learned:


6% might still be too detailed. The model still had over 42,000 faces. Try 4% or 2% next time to make the file more resource-efficient to work with. Will need to see if I can still achieve a reasonable level of accuracy with the compressed file.
The key to getting more of the image to show up in a 3D model is to process it in the Scaniverse app as an "area", as opposed to "detail". Detail seems to omit points that are questionable, resulting in gaps
Place some masking tape on reflective surfaces so you don't confuse the camera and LiDAR sensors. You can see how much better the height and profile of the spare tire came out in this example as opposed to my first attempt.
You can manually draw your own line mesh to fill in small gaps, but it's tedious and the end result will never be detailed enough to blend. Easier to just not bother, but I had to try it out for my own satisfaction and so the model would look like a complete cargo area.
If you are going to move pieces out of the way, PLACE ALIGNMENT MARKS such as a cross across the origin and a little vertical line for setting the height. I had moved the tire cover out of the way, but not exactly vertically, and moving it back into place was a pain.
Do not smoothe lines / round corners until you are all the way done. If you do, it places a number of limitations on what you can do with the objects, presumably because the calcs are too complicated for an average laptop supercomputer to handle. For example, I smoothed lines on the perimeter of the tire cover, and now cannot use the push-pull feature I would usually rely on to add depth. Still looking for a workaround.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Minor update only for this weekend - big financial report needs to go out. Should be the last one for a while.

Since we are on color matching still, let me advise that if you have an aquamarine car, Covercraft has got you covered (no pun intended).



















Just need to get the rest of the car tinted and it will be summer ready.

That's all for the moment. More speaker box design progress later (and some more Sketchup lessons learned) after I get my report out. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Just used your advice and ordered a couple for my Audi, thank you..


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

New tags. Will be the first time in ages that I've voluntarily run a front plate. This front bumper has such an obvious recess for it that it looks funny without one. Also I paid extra for these so may as well rock them .

Intentionally got the blue and green "Mountains-to-Seashore" tags to match the car, since that seems to be a theme on this one. They can be matchey-matchey at least until I get yellow antique tags next year, and these will make a nice wall decoration after that.









Also finally got a quote on tint. Super $$$ but such is life in the greater DC metro. Appointment scheduled for next Friday. On the fence about which 3M film to use and which shades, but will figure out soon.

Lawn mower broke. Bought new one. New one broke. 

Don't buy this one. Fancy electric Toro that was over $600. It worked great for the first 1/8 acre but just couldn't cut it - pun intended:










Returned and bought different brand. I like Makita power tools, so why not a mower? This one handles tall grass better but doesn't have as good of battery life or charge as quickly. But at least it did come with spares. It ain't easy being green. Sure life how quiet these are though - trying to save my hearing whenever I can.










Saw a yard sale on the way back so I swung by after the mower saga and found...

A $5 air conditioner for my garage. A bit undersized, but the price was too good to pass up. One new piece of condensate hose and one metal clip to contact the condensate tank overflow shutoff, and it's working. This should make summer build days much more tolerable. Also found a plastic welder, some random antique tools, and an old-school Coca-Cola crate.










Gosh I love wagons 

The lawn mower saga has really put me behind on my weekend. Hoping to catch up this evening.

Next step will be removing the door cards - I couldn't find a tint guy who would touch a car this old for fear of breaking the interior door trim. I can see what I'm working with for speaker mounting options at the same time.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Now we begin to think about non-reversible mods. The -got-to-get-it-right-the-first-time- moment. Some tennis-ball  listening experiments are going to be in order.

Here is the first obvious location for the mid-tweeters:










My only beef with the idea above is that it looks like the trim flange would probably overlap the 

But! The plot thickens. If the slight downward aim of my planned cell phone mounting area doesn't impact acoustics too negatively, I could consider forward-facing dash speakers. Imagine for a moment that these are properly color matched:










And....










This will only fly if I can make peace with the idea of drilling out a perfectly preserved, crack-free dashboard.

I'll let the acoustics be the deciding factor.

Regardless of the mounting location for the highs, the 6.5s are planned for the OEM location. Whether I have to add a spacer and mount through the door cards, or whether the speakers fit behind them, will be determined primarily based on physical clearance, and secondarily upon aesthetics.

Heading off to Amazon to order tennis balls, brb.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Friday update:

Door cards are off. All four came off in just over an hour total, no damage done to the cards or even the plastic clips in process of removing. This is indicative (in my experience) on a car this old that it has been garaged, or at least kept out of direct sunlight for most of its life.

Also - my armrest was breaking off, so I've removed it for now. At first I thought it was (completely randomly) spring damped so you wouldn't bruise your elbow when driving over bumps or something. But no, it wasn't any such nonsense, that was just the plastic flexing and getting ready to break.










Here's what I'm working with for the inner door steel - more closeups will follow when I worn on this. What actually impressed me most here was actually how solidly built the door cards themselves are - I didn't get a picture, but again, will include closeups later during fabrication. Comparing to my most recent Japanese car, less than a decade earlier manufacture date (1989), you would think the Japanese went through a time warp. That one was nothing more than a piece of Masonite wrapped in cheap vinyl. More thoughts on that later.










Now, Virginia has absurdly stringent tint limits. Granted, this photo is skewed by the white Tesla behind my wife's Alltrack, but I put her car through the process first to get ideas for how mine would turn out. I don't want her having any issues with the authorities, so it's tinted to 50% fronts and 35% the rest of the way around.










Here's the dividing line:










My turn. I has thought to have the dividing line between darker and lighter along the diagonal C pillar - but I miscommunicated my intent.

My tint guy insists that any wagon can be classified as an MPV, therefore I don't actually have a limit on the rear windows. I'm not so sure, but I'll take his word for it. I'm nearly invisible to police in this car anyway. So instead of sticking to my original plan of 50/50/50/20/20 (counting the small triangle as it's own pane), the installer did 50/50/20/20/20. I think I'll just have him take the rear passenger windows (just the panes immediately behind the B pillar) down to 20 to match the cargo area - in other words 50/20/20/20/20.

So I'll need to do a follow-up next week, but otherwise I'm ready for summer with these cars now.










Same picture again with no markups, but you can see with gray lighting they both both present as dark enough. But hey, let's take it just one step further with this one since I'll be the one answering for it.

PS, as of the most recent general assembly, tint violations are NO LONGER A PRIMARY OFFENSE. Use this information at your discretion, but if it comes down to it I'm happy to make the MPV argument if I must.










That's all for today. Scheming about next steps. Great to things to follow.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Tint fixed. Only a $100 goof-up by trying to get creative with my initial plan. I like it better now with the darker rear passenger windows, and it looks nearly blacked out when I put the windshield shade in place. I haven't driven at night yet, but in daylight hours, visibility from the inside is hardly compromised at all. That's a key feature of this car - the greenhouse is so airy and open, and I didn't want to compromise that at all.

You cannot achieve that level of visibility in a modern car due to overly stringent roof-crush standards (cannot make the pillars so thin in anymore).











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Edit - to the extent you may be inclined to rely on this post as a recommendation for Kovi Fabrics, please see disclaimer here.

More textile sampling. This would be for the main surface of the subwoofer enclosure, which will likely be below a layer of carpet.





__





Upholstery Fabric by the Yard and Genuine Leather Hides - KOVI Fabrics


Upholstery Fabric, Faux Leather Vinyl by the yard and Genuine Leather Hides for sale. Order fabric samples today and get free shipping!




www.kovifabrics.com


----------



## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Looks sooooo much better with the darker tint in the rear.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## rhoderage (7 mo ago)

I used to drive a Ford Tempo and my best friend had the Escort wagon (about 20 years ago)... so its great to see one in this kind of shape getting some extra love and mods. I'm totally tuned in just for the pics lol


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Coppertone said:


> Looks sooooo much better with the darker tint in the rear.
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


Thanks! I'm pleased with the outcome as well. Should help keep that interior fresh as well.



rhoderage said:


> I used to drive a Ford Tempo and my best friend had the Escort wagon (about 20 years ago)... so its great to see one in this kind of shape getting some extra love and mods. I'm totally tuned in just for the pics lol


I love the nostalgia I'm getting from other members on this build - hopefully that makes up somewhat for my slow progress. I've believed for many years that the true "classics" of our generation will be the ordinary cars that more people have connections with. They may be forgotten for a few decades, but when one shows up at auction another 20, 30 years down the road? Who know? Who's to say if 3rd and 4th generation Honda Civics or old Ford Escorts will ever have a collector value? It seems unlikely - but it could happen. The original Mustang was an affordable commuter car and fetches a handsome price today. At the very least, you'll get a smile and a thumbs up on the road - something that has already started with this one.

I grew up riding in my dad's manual transmission '87 Tempo - the first car he ever bought new. He kept it in immaculate condition up until about 2000 (?) when he crashed it in a snowstorm. That was going to be my first car, and I was counting down the days for it to be mine. I ended up learning to drive on my Grandpa's '97 Taurus instead, drove that for a few years until I got into old Nissans, Land Rovers, BMWs, you name it - but have always found myself coming back to Fords.

In college, I found myself in need of a shop truck - started with a 7.5L '97 F250, traded down to an 5.0L '89 F150, then landed on a 4.0L '92 Ranger - which I kept around and modified for over a decade, getting it to the point that I could give stock Fox Body GTs a run for their money. Sold that one at the start of the pandemic, and as is predictable, after a couple years was feeling nostalgic again for another old Ford. The color even reminds me of the Ranger's Bright Calypso Metallic Green - though obviously a bit more muted in its aquamarine late '90s hue than the early-90s in-your-face teal.

This one showed up near me (okay, it was a 3.5 hour Uber ride) and I could tell from the photos it was too pristine to ignore. Scooped it up for asking price - we won't discuss specifics, the car market is weird right now, but I payed a semi-reasonable price. I've been super pleased with it so far, though the thing is still a bit of a dog. I think 5 or 10 ponies have escaped from the barn, working on rounding them up again. There might be 5 or 10 more to gain with basic airflow mods, but it won't be a speed demon any time soon. Nonetheless - it manages to scratch both the Ford itch and the Japanese car itch at the same time, and makes me smile even when driven back-to-back with my e46.

I'll just say, the corral is full for the moment. I'm fortunate to have a wife who puts up with me having three cars to her one (the other is a family hauler in the form of a VW Atlas). We've had enough poverty cars over the years, it's fun to finally be able to do a couple "just because" - even though neither this nor the 21-year-old Bimmer will ever be the traditional status symbols some (more logical?) folk might be inclined to seek out. I like to keep the neighbors guessing and have thus far been able to keep the HOA at bay by putting the projects under car covers when not in use. It's all good ...


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Design update. It's getting late here on the East Coast, will try to make a fly-around video to show multiple angles tomorrow.

Note - colors and textures are not really accurate - just showing different materials. The wood-looking grates are actually amplifiers. The patterned carpet is an accent color - TBD. And the green carpet is whatever carpet / vinyl / paint that I settle on for the primary enclosure. And all of it will be covered in a carpet cargo mat - either the original or a fresh custom made one, so that the full cargo area remains usable and noting is visible during normal use of the vehicle. Subwoofers are offset to one side because of the location & shape of the spare tire well, but 

I've exported this with a few filters so you can see the full concept of what I've got in mind. Some of it is only approximated in the model - the idea is to get close enough that I can figure out the rest with a tape measure, laser level, stapler, and glue in hand.

While my model may suggest a bit of fiberglassing, I'll use that option judiciously and only to gain clearance where needed. No need to make this more complicated than it already is of necessity. What I will have is a relatively simple box-on-top-of-a-box design. One shallow lower box above the spare tire, conjoined with a wider box sitting above between the wheel wells. The upper box will have an amplifier recess toward the front for the main bass amplifier, goal is to get the little Sony amps into the corners (will do a test fit later - I _think_ they will fit.) Wire management is around the perimeter. There will be a removable speaker cover which protects the speakers during normal use, but which can be removed for demonstration & testing. I'm still figuring out how to mount the Sony amps, but I'd like it to provide a finished flush-mount look. I have a few ideas in mind - not sure if any will work. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Eye candy below. Now setting aside the subwoofer for a moment, will work on installing door speakers and head unit first. But this gives me a solid starting point and something to look forward to building.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

It's not every time that an old dead-end thread provides something useful, but here we go. I found some "other subs to consider" in the back of my closet, and went into flashback mode.



TJ Mobile Audio said:


> Okay, that's all the pictures. Just a bit more of an update and I'll head to bed (finally).
> 
> [...]
> 
> ...





TJ Mobile Audio said:


> I was thinking about this today, and my ears _must_ be lying to me. It is absolutely untenable for such a small ported box to even work! The other thing that baffles me is that I used only 7.5 square inches of port area. However, I listened to both the sealed and ported last night, and I still think the ported was better.
> 
> It bothers me that it's so small though. As I was thinking about it, I realized I could take a page out of Chad's book and do an external port. [discourse]
> 
> [...]


Those were my thoughts after two listening sessions on back-to-back days with the following subwoofer (singular).










But what if I could do more than one? What if?



















Now, I haven't entirely taken leave of my senses. But I'm going to toy with this idea for a minute before I dismiss it. More background info on my test scenario and subjective findings from a decade ago in the following post.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Now, before we get carried away. Here is the context if you care to pick through it. Synopsis is, the sub plays adequately well in a sealed box at least as small as .461 CF net (~13L), but strangely, hit really nicely in a ported box of only _0.312 CF net (~8.8L). _These are strange, strange beasties.

As I warned, this is a dead-end thread, and a lot of the pictures are missing, but I was able to restore the relevant ones in the following posts, which informed my thinking:

(You can either jump around or start at the first link and scroll through - or skip these altogether - background info only)

5 permalinks below:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

SEE EDITS - REVISED CALCS

Now, I'm really not sure about continuing down this route. I was planning to list these speakers for sale, and I may still do so, but it was worth at least a concept sketch and some thinking to see if I'm missing out on any opportunities. Here is my raw data, my preliminary analysis, and some pros & cons. And be prepared for some impossibly small enclosure sizes. Do you know how you break Hoffman's Iron Law?

Amplifier and DSP. Or at least you can die trying.

3x 13" Subwoofers
Net ported enclosure size, subwoofers: 0.7 CF / 1209 CI / 22.65 L
Net port volume: 0.3CF / 509 CI / 8.35 L
Minimum port cross-section: 14 Sq. In. / 93 Sq. Cm.
Port length, string-pull method: 23"
Port length, center of port: 32"
Port length, effective: 36" (TJMA's best guess™)
Maximum port length: 44" (generous assumptions about which portions of the box will behave as a port)

Based on this, port resonance can confidently be pinned between 33 and 45 Hz, and my fairly reliable effective length guesstimate has it toward the center of that range, 37 Hz.

I will note, in rough terms, eliminating the port entirely gains me 0.29 CF, for effectively 1.0 CF net. Moving the two smaller amplifiers to the sides as originally planned gains me 0.19 CF, either with or without the port. Eliminating one of the two subs similarly delivers 0.19 CF of space I can free up in the baffle area by making walls thinner.

So I can run the following scenarios:
3 speakers, 0.7 CF shared, ported
3 speakers, 0.89 CF shared, ported, 24 Hz tuning 🤣 (amps to sides)
2 speakers, 1.08 CF shared, ported, 16 Hz tuning :O ... (don't dare me lol.)
3 speakers, 0.99 CF shared, sealed
2 speakers, 1.18 CF shared, sealed (amps to sides)

Now let's see how scary the frequency response graph is, and whether it is even worth auditioning these in such an impossibly small enclosure.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

SEE EDITS - UPDATED CALCS - FINAL ANALYSIS IN POST #102

(Keep scrolling if you don't need my tech notes)

Using this online calc: Loudspeaker enclosure calculating with Thiele Small parameter

Note that I've tripled VAS when using 3 speakers, and doubled it for 2. You'll also note I assumed Power Acoustic's specs are wrong and they meant to measure VAS in Liters - not CF - otherwise it doesn't even calc out like any loudspeaker I've seen or heard of.

3 speakers, 0.7 CF shared, ported ... +7dB at 90 Hz, -6 at 50 Hz. A slope of roughly 14dB/Octave - I've seen crossovers that can't do that.... Now bear in mind, cabin gain will kick in somewhere in the 70-100 Hz range. Let's call it 80, where I usually set my LPF, and calculate the slope down from there. Cabin gain adds 12dB/Octave below the resonant frequency of the room as a general rule.

Note - only the red line is relevant here - both the black and blue are impossible "optimal" enclosures in the 450L range.










So at 80 (assumed room resonance), I'm +6 dB, at 40Hz I subtact 14 and add 12, so +4dB, and if I were to not run a subsonic filter (which I generally do to protect a ported speaker from unloading), I would still be +2dB at 20Hz. Set 80Hz as my reference response, (+0dB) and I'm more or less -3 at 30Hz. (!)

With that analysis in mind, I'll briefly kibitz the next few.

3 speakers, 0.89 CF shared, ported, 24 Hz tuning  (amps to sides)
Note - this one moves the peak down from 90Hz to 70, gaining me ~3dB across the usable range. Cabin gain comments still apply. ALSO NOTE - this is effectively the same as the "sweet spot" enclosure I discovered on my F150 build - that was .31 CF, so you can see why that response would have been appealing.











2 speakers, 1.08 CF shared, ported, 16 Hz tuning :O ... (don't dare me lol.)











Now focus on the blue lines only for the next two graphs. Note that the red line follows a ~similar~ though not exact response curve as the earlier vented enclosures. This is because I left those parameters in place, but am now moving around VAS again, which impacts both response curves.

3 speakers, 0.99 CF shared, sealed. Qtc = 1.7









2 speakers, 1.18 CF shared, sealed (amps to sides), Qtc = 1.45









Now, those last two don't really show the low end extension properly compared to the similar ported option. I'll illustrate in the next post.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Here is a markup of 3 subwoofers in the smaller box (amps mounted on box)...










This one is already an accurate example of the slightly larger (net volume) enclosure:










So what I'm seeing is that because of the high QTS and extremely undersized enclosures (by conventional thinking at least) is that the vented enclosures are coming out peaky, and lack a bit of low-end extension. This effect is not insignificant - between 2 & 5 dB in most cases. That said - my ears preferred the vented a decade ago, and if I'm going to end up with a sealed enclosure anyway, I may as well run with the high-excursion Skar woofers I already have.

I'll see if it's possible to arrange these any more efficiently, shorten up the port a bit, and figure out more efficient routing. But really so far, this enclosure - while unique - looks like a lot more work than the other one. It may come down to a question of aesthetics (oh, and the fact that my amp only bridges to 4 ohms, so there would be a bit of amp shuffling to get to something that can handle a nominal 1.3 ohm speaker assembly.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Okay, bear with me on the math for a minute longer - or scroll past, I'll understand. I've had enough math for a while myself as well. I ran just a few corrections and I've posted the inputs here. This post supersedes my data from 100 and 101.

2 sub scenario, amps to side, 1.08 CF vented vs. 1.37 CF sealed. 1-2 dB difference in low end extension. This relies on moving amps to the side and deleting one woofer. (Sealed: Q=1.28)

Blue = sealed, red = vented, black = optimal in the middle of an open field, no room gain.


























3 sub scenario, 0.89 CF vented vs. 1.28 sealed. Q=1.45 (amps to side)

























3-sub scenario, original - amps on box (0.7 vented vs. 0.99 sealed)

























So, what does it all mean to me? In the context of this necessarily undersized enclosure, the sealed may have a 1-2 dB advantage in low range extension. Unless you are competing for SPL (news flash, I am not), I would pick the one that is more satisfying to your ears. I checked out the group delay curve - but I'm honestly not worried about that. No more than about 15 ms within the audible range on any of these vented enclosures, I've certainly dealt with worse, and only occasionally can I even hear it (and that's usually when it's on the recording and used intentionally - you'll perceive it as the bass lagging behind the rest of the music. To large extent, it can be overcome with time alignment anyway, so long as you don't mind being ahead of phase a bit in the 30-80 Hz. range... This is nitpicky stuff though.

On a whim, I plugged 1.06 CF (30 L) with a slightly increased port cross section, but shortened up quite a bit. 27" effective port length with 20 Sq In port cross section, yielding 41 Hz tuning. Now if I can figure out how to build such a box within my space constraints, we may have a winner. That peak means I'll have usable bass above the frequencies where cabin gain is helping. Check it out, I'll have to try this out against the Skar subs and see which route I need to go, and whether they can be pressed into similarly effective (and aesthetic!) service -

Maxed out on files, to be continued ---


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

As I was saying:

On a whim, I plugged 1.06 CF (30 L) with a slightly increased port cross section, but shortened up quite a bit. 27" effective port length with 20 Sq In port cross section, yielding 41 Hz tuning. Now if I can figure out how to build such a box within my space constraints, we may have a winner. That peak means I'll have usable bass above the frequencies where cabin gain is helping. Check it out, I'll have to try this out against the Skar subs and see which route I need to go, and whether they can be pressed into similarly effective (and aesthetic!) service -


















Winner winner chicken dinner. Now I apologize if I've bored you to death today. It was a rainy day, and I learned (or relearned) something about these drivers. As a QC & engineering type dude by training, I'd rather get through all the brainstorming sketches and run several scenarios in the virtual space before I commit to prototypes. And it was a rainy day, can you blame me?

That said, I need to get door cards back on my car soon, which means door speakers, so the next few posts should have some pictures and not just graphs.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

I've established a semi-final design. I reverted back to the 10s so that I don't have to replace the amplifier, and because they lended themselves to a more space-efficient ported arrangement. I'll need to test with a prototype before actually building, because as you probably know, ported enclosures can behave differently than anticipated based on which parts of the enclosure the speaker "sees" as box volume vs. port volume.

This is 100% optimized for space efficiency - form follows function. The amplifiers will be arranged however they fit best for a clean wiring job. I may or may not dress it up with amplifier covers, false floor, etc - this is just a proof of concept for the loudspeaker itself.

The red areas may require minor fiberglass or at least chisel work to fit the drivers.


















A little accidental pareidolia here 😐










Total interior volume, excluding driver displacement adjustment: 1903 CI or 1.1. Assumed to be 1.0 with driver displacement.

Total port length, center of port: 24.25"

Assumed effective port length: 30"


























I like everything about these response and impedance curves. I will do a test listen against a sealed enclosure, but if the charts don't lie, and we pessimistically assume 12dB/octave cabin gain doesn't kick in until 60Hz, we are:

+1Db at 120Hz
+0Db at 60Hz
+6Db at 30Hz
+5Db at 15Hz (!) - though it may start to unload around 16Hz based on the impedance chart. An 12db/octave HPF at 25 Hz puts me at about +2Db at 20Hz....

So, again, if the chart doesn't lie, I'll have an in-room response of +/- 2dB from 20Hz to 120Hz. 

Oh, and a little bonus, group delay never goes above 14 ms.

I think I have to build this one. No point drawing anything more unless this one fails in testing.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

I did promise hands on, but first I needed to diverge briefly from mobile audio - but still audio audio.

eBay seller: speaker tested and works great, cosmetic issues only.

The speaker:










Okay but it's not worth the time for return shipping. Instead:



















About 20 minutes work cleaning up the basket and cone and centering by hand. It's all cured up now, just tested and no rubbing.

Back on mobile audio soon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Edit - to the extent you may be inclined to rely on this post as a recommendation for Kovi Fabrics, please see disclaimer here.

Textile samples arrived.


































All the greens are too light or too bright, need something darker and more subdued.

Of these, K0943 "Aegean" and K0330 "Discontinued"... are the least offensive. I could go for Aegean dyed about 30% toward a medium charcoal gray, but that may be a bit too much to ask.

Unfortunately, my preferred accent color is no longer available, so I'll need one more round of samples. Will probably end up doing most of the box in Aegean if no closer option comes up on my radar. Could use that as the accent color elsewhere to tie it all together. Sometimes, a simple aesthetic is hard to pull off, but that's my objective - just like the car: function first. The form should disappear as nearly as possible, if I can manage it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Edit - to the extent you may be inclined to rely on this post as a recommendation for Kovi Fabrics, please see disclaimer here.

Next round. I'll decide on my order from the previous batch and this one.

K0699 - Aqua plain velvet









K2834 Atlantic









E6320 Deep Teal Green Blue Vinyl









M9313 Blue and Green Plaid









E2860 Huron Blue Vinyl









K0495 Blue Plain Tweed









K0719 Evergreen Dark Blue + Dark Green Tweed









In a parking garage










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Tweeter p0rn:

And a continuation of my eBay gambling adventure. Unsure if I will figure out how to make these work in a mobile application, or if I'll keep them for spares for my home stereo speakers - if I do use them here, it will be in custom kick panels.

I saw these on the dreaded auction site as "tested, working great"... all the photos included the temporary protective covers these speakers shipped with when new:










I reasoned that (1), the seller had not removed them, and that either (A), the original owner had never removed them and - rather stupidly - listened to speakers with the treble frequencies blocked, perhaps leading him to give up on the speakers entirely, or (B), the original owner had been meticulous about storing the speakers with covers whenever not in use. In either case, the notoriously hard-to-keep-clean sticky coating on the silk domes ought to be in decent condition.

Well, I'll let you be the judge:










Now, to immediately wrap these in plastic again and tuck them in the very back of the closet. I will start my build with some cheaper automotive silk domes, with perhaps slightly less ass than this:










Note, if I try to place them any closer to each other than this, they will literally scoot each other across the table with their magnetic fields.

So there is _my_ reference, and if I can't achieve successful results from a conventional modern approach, my fallback as well.

Next, the humbler selections, but first, I have family dinner time to attend to.

(Edited to correct emphasis)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Edit - to the extent you may be inclined to rely on this post as a recommendation for Kovi Fabrics, please see disclaimer here.

Now, if you've made it this far with any degree of color blindness, I commend you. And I also apologize. A large part of my requirements for this build rely on believably OEM-looking material and colors. Here is my next round of textile matching. The following colors were missing from my order, I'm following up to see if they were sent separately:

M9313 Blue and Green Plaid

E2860 Huron vinyl

(Pictures of both shown in my earlier post).

Here are the colors I am judging today:











Of the vinyls, the smoky blue is a closer match. I'm not sure whether it's close enough to utilize here. The green is far too saturated, and I expect I will have the same issue with "Huron", which was missing from my order.










Color code for smoky blue for my records:










To be continued.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Edit - to the extent you may be inclined to rely on this post as a recommendation for Kovi Fabrics, please see disclaimer here.

Here are the accents. K2834 looks intention, is crisp and simple, yet very '90s. I'll roll with that one.










The greens are all too bright and too green. If I had to pick one, I'd K0484, but I think even that one would be out of place.










The blues give me a lot more options. From left to right, I like #1, #3, and #4. #2 (K0699)would be ideal with a solid blue interior.

#1 (KV888) has a bit of a grandma's couch  vibe, and is a bit shiny, but it will look nice when detailed. That might work nicely for a subwoofer or amp cover.

#3 (K0943) pulls off the tweed look without being too obnoxious or out of place, and matches the carpet nicely.

#4 (K0719) looks lovely, but is too German to be used here. It belongs in an old e21 BMW 3 series, or maybe a VW Corrado.










Cars for reference (not mine) -




















Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Edit - to the extent you may be inclined to rely on this post as a recommendation for Kovi Fabrics, please see disclaimer here.

My initial thoughts were as follows:










I thought I had it narrowed down to these, but I haven't yet been convinced that I'll need the vinyl. And then, as noted above, I decided the patterned tweed was too German for this car.



















So here is where I'm landing for this order. I'll be ordering a couple yards each of -

K0943 tweed
K2834 pattern
KV888 velvet

The next trick will be deciding exactly where and how to use each, without being to obnoxiously ostentatious.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Edit - to the extent you may be inclined to rely on this post as a recommendation for Kovi Fabrics, please see disclaimer here.

(Edited to include color swatch of final selections)

I mixed it up on a whim, hope I'm right. Based on the naming convention, "Deep Sea" should match "Aegean" and "Atlantic".

$500 in textiles later...

(I'll have spares for later)

Pattern #: E1871 Deep Sea (Vinyl)
Price: $61.64
Quantity: 2.50 yards
Item Total: $154.10








-
-
Pattern #: K0943 Aegean (Chenille/Tweed)
Price: $74.09
Quantity: 2.50 yards
Item Total: $185.23








-
-
Pattern #: K2834 ATLANTIC (Accent)
Price: $62.37
Quantity: 2.50 yards
Item Total: $155.93








-
-
Subtotal of Items: $495.25


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Slowly but surely, the audio begins.

View of interior of door panel:









View of interior of OEM door speaker grille:









View of interior of door handle / accent panel:









Note, on first glance, I assumed the accent panel was a separate piece: that it would be wrapped with fabric, then hog-ringed into place. Upon closer review, it is formed monolithically with the rest of the rigid cardboard / cellulose backer of the door panel, and the fabric is simply tucked into a groove. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Edit - to the extent you may be inclined to rely on this post as a recommendation for Kovi Fabrics, please see disclaimer here.

Testing two of the three textiles I ordered in the accent panel. TBD whether I replace the OEM velour, it is in good condition. That may be a project for down the road if the upholstery ever wears out.

I used a popsicle stick to tuck each fabric into the groove. The striped one (Atlantic) has a bit less natural structure to it, and try as I might, I always ended up with a wavy edge. The photo below is the best I managed.

So if I want to use the Atlantic pattern as an accent on the doors, I'll need to (A), laminate it to a structured backer cloth, or (B) run the stripes vertically or diagonally so they don't have such a long parallel edge. I think either (B) option would look odd in this contrast, and draw attention to the textile not being original.











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Now, the most painful task I've had to undertake since I bought this car. The door panels went under the scalpel (literally - there was an X-Acto knife involved) to enable future modifications.

Reposting an earlier photo to illustrate how the door picket and speaker grille was fastened to the door card:










(There were little polypropylene tabs which were flattened with a heat welder in the factory to mechanically fasten the two pieces, "permanently". They underestimated my determination.)

An hour and a half later, having taken great caution to leave enough of the plastic tabs intact that I can heat weld the two parts back together, should it prove necessary. My objective, though, is to subtly space the door pocket away from door card by means of a fabricated spacer, potentially even a slender mid-bass speaker enclosure. 

A plastic pry tool and patience were helpful here:









Pictured: the interior of the map pocket:









That's all for now folks. Progress has been slow - we are in the middle of a pretty oppressive heat wave and I haven't yet managed to get enough insulation in the garage to make it livable for more than a few hours at a time in the morning or late evening on these hot summer days.

Here's my progress on that front - I only have a reflective barrier in key places so far, but it is already making a difference. Between that, a small spot cooler, and a gable fan that kicks in above 85 degrees at the ridge of the roof, I can tolerate the heat until 2:30 PM most days instead of shutting down the shop at 11:00 AM.










Once I get all the rafters and gable ends shielded with reflective barrier, I'll put R15 mineral wool below that, leaving a little air space above and below the reflective barrier to vent condensation.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

I mentioned trying some consumer-grade automotive tweeters. I'm a usually a sucker for silk domes.

Here's what I'll be trying, the price was right and they seemed well-reviewed. Chosen for their Neo motors, threaded mounting system, and relatively flat design:










My only ding cosmetically is that CT Sounds doesn't offer them in a generic black finish.

Today, I'll explore if and how I could mount the tweeter adjacent to a BMW midrange grille/housing and still have it look cohesive. If I fail, the options would be:

(1) Mount tweeter separately - not immediately adjacent to the mids,

(2) use an alternate tweeter that fits properly within a BMW midrange housing

(3) throw a Hail Mary and fabricate a custom grille for my a/d/s tweeters.

My starting point. This is a spare grille so I can mess around with it as a prototype:











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Step 1: Scuff sand the outer lip, outer edge, and inner barrel with a rotary motion. I used a "medium" grit sanding sponge on the outside and a sheet of 120 grit by hand for the inside.

Thought is both to promote adhesion, and if it shows through the finish, to mimic the mill marks on the CT tweeter's aluminum trim.











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Step 2 is a light-to-medium coat of Krylon Supermax Gloss Smoke Gray - which if you've followed my e46 build, when topcoated in satin, just happens to be a near perfect match for BMW Standard Gray interiors.

In this case, I'm using it as a plastics primer and will color change it ones it is cured to handle.











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Since I went light on the primer, it cured quickly. Next comes a wet coat of POR-15 silver DTM topcoat - same stuff made an appearance on the rusty brackets I refurbished earlier this build.










Edited to add: those are drops of sweat, not paint. I somehow managed to not sweat on the part being painted.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

The wet coat didn't quite pop the way I wanted, so here is a second wet coat while the first was still tacky. I expect dry-to-handle in 30 minutes, then finish with multiple coats of Rust-Oleum gloss acrylic lacquer.

(Yes, I'm just using what's on hand, but I'm also painting outdoors and this is a prototype, so forgive me).

I normally prefer a satin finish, but since I'm trying to match a bright aluminum part, gloss it is!











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Do as I say, not as I do.

I could see there were some fibers / flecks of dust trapped in the finish, so I very gently sanded with 1500 grit while the finish was still tacky:










Then top-coated again with POR-15 silver: 









Moved the workpiece inside for curing this time. Photos of clear finish and comparison with aluminum by lunchtime.

I may need a brighter color coat to pull off this trickery.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## OCD66 (Apr 2, 2017)

Amazon.com: SEYMOUR 620-1411 Industrial MRO High Solids Spray Paint, Aluminum : Everything Else


Buy SEYMOUR 620-1411 Industrial MRO High Solids Spray Paint, Aluminum: Everything Else - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases



www.amazon.com


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

OCD66 said:


> Amazon.com: SEYMOUR 620-1411 Industrial MRO High Solids Spray Paint, Aluminum : Everything Else
> 
> 
> Buy SEYMOUR 620-1411 Industrial MRO High Solids Spray Paint, Aluminum: Everything Else - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
> ...


Sure looks dark on the lid, doesn't it? Have you used this exact stuff? Bright finish?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## japjoe7 (10 mo ago)

This is great, keep it going!


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Here's the best I can do, with three wet coats of clear spaced 2 minutes apart for maximum depth.

It may be the best I can do with paint, but I doubt I'll manage an exact match to a machined surface using paint.










Once fully cured, I'll compare this option with grille in place to one more trick I have up my sleeve.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Now, a question on aesthetics. Which grills will look best in close proximity to each other?

Option A:









Vs. option B:









That black trim ring added to the CT tweeter is a 2-3/8" desk poke-through (for routing computer and telephone wires through a desk to outlets below), and can readily be adapted as a trim ring if I need to go that route.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

<<<<< *Edit - they resolved my issue after I filed PayPal claims. They likely didn't need their arm twisted like this, but after dropping $500 on high-end textiles I expected better treatment. My frustration stemmed from a bad first response from their team and the fact that their systems were not a smart enough to apply the credit or offer any means of doing so, short of contacting customer support. Please feel free to disregard my petty rant. >>>>>

WARNING - AVOID KOVIFABRICS.COM* - a shame they have chosen this route on a basic customer service request.

In my experience, it is not customary to charge for samples at all, however, with reassurances of their policy I proceeded anyway. Every product page displays the following notice when you click "order sample" -










Upon placing my fabric order through my online account, there was no place to claim credit for previous sample orders. Simple, I thought. There's no way they would go back on their written policy, I can proceed and request a refund.

I responded back to my order confirmation with a simple request for a refund of the sample orders, and received the following - emphasis mine.

"This is ##### from *KOVI Fabrics*. Thank you for reaching out!

_The samples ordered were already sent to you, because of this, unfortunately, we are unable to refund._

Your sample request _Order No: _285992 was received on July 7th, and some samples were shipped two business days later. Your package should arrive in the following 2-3 days.

Your sample request _Order No: _286972 was received on July 17th, and some samples were shipped two business days later. This means that the 10 business days delivery would be on August 2nd. If you haven't received them all by then, please let me know. I'll be glad to follow up"

So, now I have to either argue with their customer service or my payment provider to get my $53 dollars back. I'd have purchased elsewhere had I known their sample policy was bogus and/or misleading.


----------



## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

TJ Mobile Audio said:


> Now, a question on aesthetics. Which grills will look best in close proximity to each other?
> 
> Option A:
> 
> ...


Option B.


----------



## audionow (Oct 29, 2021)

Just paint them green/blue like your potato chip.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

audionow said:


> Just paint them green/blue like your potato chip.


Yep, that may be the move. I've got to decide how how allergic I am to letting the tweeters be the only metallic accent in the interior, would love to not have to figure out how to paint a soft dome tweeter. Probably just remove the grille and cover the diaphragm with a lid from an aerosol can. They are kinda pretty as-is if I can get used to it.

I'll come back to that later; knowing what I can and can't do with color will inform next steps.

-

Alright, so here are some some spare OEM kick panels in polypropylene. Let's play with remolding or heat welding and see if kick pods make sense in this build:










This will only make sense if it saves me time consuming glass work. If it's a hassle, I do have a sail location that could work for the tweeter, and then sister the mid with the woofer mounting location - separate airspace of course. Trying not drill my doors, so that's a factor too.

If I can do a localized stretch ("blow out" the area) without destroying the plastic, this could be a nice solution:









Now before I get carried away, I may very well have a wiring harness exactly where I'd like to put the mid. BRB, wish me luck ...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Reason to suspect a wiring harness









But, this actually might fit.










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

So, this happened:









Don't see it? Oh.









Still no? Okay -









Enter stage right: the Vacuum Extraction Contraption

















It actually made short work of fishing out this clip. Heaven forbid it live in my rocker panel and become a permanent rattle.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

This is proof-of-concept only - for my heat molding concept.

The plastic is a bit damp here - I used a spray bottle to cool it off. Pardon me for how grimy it is as well - I would never let my own trim get this way. 

Note the spot above my thumb where the plastic bulges slightly: I used a heat gun and pressed from the inside with the handle of a utility knife. It takes a surprising amount of heat to make this stuff flexible, but it's definitely 100% thermoplastic.









More heat and more pressure from the inside:









View from outside with a more obvious bulge:









Okay, obviously this will take all evening and then some if I keep trying to freehand this. If you follow my builds, you know you'll be subjected to the occasional dad joke, so prepare for: plastic surgery.









Basically, I need to make at least two jigs to hold the parts I don't want to stretch, and more importantly, to hold them in place relative to each other. I then need to build a die which I can press from the inside outward to create the requisite bulge.

I'm not sure if the piece will retain enough texture for it to naturally retain an OEM appearance, but if not, I have two options: paint match then finish in several coats of clear, or wrap with vinyl. 

There is also an experiment in the future to see if my chalk-based paint is color stable on vinyl, because if so, I could combine the two techniques.

One other approach would be to chill a piece of vinyl and press it against the hot, melty plastic to transfer some texture back to the workpiece.

I don't have much to show for today, but I've convinced myself that the thermo-molded kick panel option is at least worth pursuing.

And, last thought - if I do go that route, I won't put the mid in an enclosure per se - I would probably just stuff the kick panel with poly fill or mineral wool to cancel the back wave and call it a day. Either that or use one of those foam baffles (misnomer - just a foam cup that goes behind the speaker).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

BP1Fanatic said:


> Option B.


Thanks for the vote. If I can fit the extra trim, B is a nice simple way to dress that tweeter and tone down the shiny milled aluminum. If I can't stretch the kick panels enough, I'll either be back to A, or option C (which would be a color match to the OEM trim).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Update on yesterday and this morning's efforts.

Expanded workbench by four feet (aka 1.2 meters) using a new butcher board, added mini fridge, tool drawers (aka "file cabinet"), and a Bluetooth stereo amp and some small speakers.









Received my "Huron" vinyl sample - no good. Would maybe work for a purse.









Now, for the 1-in-a-million chance that one of my readers drives a 3rd Gen, North American spec Ford Escort with the ultra-rare, allegedly willow green interior: I stumbled upon a virtual match while walking through Home Depot. I mean, almost literally stumbled. I walked past the paint aisle and caught the color of this paint can out of the corner of my eye, stopped and doubled back so quickly I could have caused a collision had anyone been nearby. Without a reference sample in mind, and only my minds eye () to go by, I purchased a can.

Now the colors are hard to compare here, but squint. The saturation is correct. Could it actually be this simple?









Well, you be the judge. The now-infamous potato chip has three layers of the new satin base coat, no clear yet:









Seriously, this thing has so many layers of paint on it, I wish I could see the archeologist six centuries from now trying to explain its significance after the rest of my car has rusted to dust:









I'll need to let that cure until this afternoon before I test it against the dashboard. I've got commitments at the office until then. But judging by the rear brake like cover? Well, it's the nearest I've come so far to a proper match. I'll still do my home brew chalk paint if I need to cover a larger area, but assuming this matches the dash and other trim (and not just this one piece), well, I'm getting ready to place a bulk order of this stuff.

And for the digital record, in case the photos disappear, the color I have referenced is Rust-Oleum brand aerosol paint. Product name is Painter's Touch 2X UltraCover Paint + Primer: Deep Forest Satin. And now the one poor soul who needs this info can have it memorialized here, so long as Rust-Oleum continues making this product line.

Will confirm the match this evening.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

The Physics of Light and Color - Human Vision and Color Perception | Olympus LS


The Physics of Light and Color - Human Vision and Color Perception




www.olympus-lifescience.com





A few excerpts:

"Most mammals are dichromats, usually able to only distinguish between bluish and greenish color components. In contrast, some primates (most notably humans) exhibit trichromatic color vision, with significant response to red, green and blue light stimuli.

...

"In recent years, consideration of human color visual sensitivity has led to changes in the long-standing practice of painting emergency vehicles, such as fire trucks and ambulances, entirely red. Although the color is intended for the vehicles to be easily seen and responded to, the wavelength distribution is not highly visible at low light levels and appears nearly black at night. The human eye is much more sensitive to yellow-green or similar hues, particularly at night, and now most new emergency vehicles are at least partially painted a vivid yellowish green or white, often retaining some red highlights in the interest of tradition."

...

More thoughts on that later, but because of the way our eyes are tuned, I may be barking up the wrong tree trying to get an exact color match to a blue-green pigment, since we are innately sensitive to blue-green and yellow light across the entire spectrum of brightness, whereas red light is only acutely discerned in brighter environments. 

So I'll have to adopt a policy of "don't make an exact match if the intent is to conceal the part, go for satin black to match other OEM trim", and another of "feel free to use an exact or close match for larger areas where the color I'm using will be predominant enough to look cohesive, even with slight contrast to its surroundings."

Insert Bill Nye here:











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## audionow (Oct 29, 2021)

Have you tried going to an automotive paint supply store and ask them to mix you up some paint to match your interior paint code?


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

audionow said:


> Have you tried going to an automotive paint supply store and ask them to mix you up some paint to match your interior paint code?


That's a good thought. I may have to have them get out their spectrometer with an actual piece of trim in hand, perhaps the original Pringle I broke on day 1. I'll do one or two last experiments because I'm having fun practicing the technique, but if I can't improve on where the color match stands today, I'll give that a try.

To be clear, I think this match straight out of the can is already close enough for a hard trim piece, it just looks jarring juxtaposed against the dash.

One explanation, of course, is that even the most pristine example of a 25 year old car has still been exposed to a quarter century of environmental contaminants, and thousands of hours of UV radiation. The dashboard specifically seems to be subtly lighter than the rest of the trim, this is very likely due to fading of the less resilient soft-touch vinyl material vs. the polypropylene interior bits.

I snapped these pics in my lunch break to illustrate how a piece that is very nearly a perfect trim match still catches the light wrong when placed against the dash. I'm not sure if this comes down primarily to fading, or the difference in sheen, but it remains noticeable.

(Note, I still haven't haven't added clear or tried dulling the sheen at all, this piece still needs to move toward matte to kill the reflections.)



































Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## audionow (Oct 29, 2021)

Yes, the camera angle looks different in the pics. Maybe some flat clear on top might help?


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Starting today, and effective for at least the next few months, I will have only at most a part-time commitment at work. This is a long awaited and much needed phase - it took me a decade of hard work to get to a place where I felt comfortable negotiating this arrangement, but here we are. I now have several weeks of puttering ahead of me.

I have two home lists - "want to do" and "have to do", and now that I have freed up some of my energy and attention from major project responsibilities at work, I aim to split my spare time 50/50 between those lists.

What this hopefully means is I can get the BMW build substantially wrapped up shortly after it is back from the shop, and get this one in motion soon, all while enjoying more family time and a much needed refocusing of priorities.

So without further ado, a small update for today, and you can likely expect the carpentry and major audio installation phase to start soon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Edited to clarify movie reference.

So, there is some door work I can do without having tweeter and midrange positions sorted out, but as this is my own project and I'm not working toward a billable rate, I aim to experiment with tweeter and midrange placement before I finalize anything.

I alluded to this method earlier in the build -

























Okay, so that first one took quite a lot of stabbing to cut the opening, even with a brand new razor and brand new pocket knife. A word to the wise - work over a workbench - which I did. Also, if I were to do this again I'd figure out some way to claim the ball in place, perhaps by jamming in the end of a PVC pipe or something, in order to keep both hands clear of the area while cutting.

Well, if you've read the Bimmer build, you'll know I have a few tricks I like to use with a MAP gas torch. When in doubt, use fire:









I heated the nail to red-almost-white hot temperatures, and punctured the tennis ball to relieve pressure.

Wilson, I'm sorry!









(The objective was obviously to replace the risk of a puncture wound with the presumably lesser risk of a burn)

I then tried to drag the nail around the circle to cut the opening, but the rubber was liquifying too quickly and cooling the nail. So I settled for singeing the felt all the way along the line I had traced.









This at least proved to really simplify the task of cutting the ball with a knife, but as with my first attempt, the hole ended up a little too small for the speaker.

If still in doubt, use more fire:









This time I superheated the pictured nut, bolt, and washer, and plunged this in and out of the opening a few times (get your mind out of the gutter, guys, sheesh...) to widen the hole. This still didn't quite do the trick, but with just a tiny bit of trimming after the fact I was able to mount the second tweeter just fine, and certainly with less risk of stabbing myself than the first time around.

A couple finishing touches.

I selected a leather punch of sufficient size to let the spade connectors to pass through the back of the enclosure, and penetrated the ball with the judicious use of a dead-blow mallet (otherwise, the punch would be prone to jumping about when struck. I do recommend extreme care be taken when using a dead-blow in this manner - even as an experienced carpenter I cringe a bit each time this is needed. One mis-application could instantly break multiple fingers. Hold the punch near the top, and your non-dominant hand in a tight grasp around the head of the punch like so  - below striking range of the mallet but high enough above your workpiece that you can avoid a pinching blow if you somehow miss the mark. You'll still suffer at least a nasty bruise if you do miss.)

Forgive me for the OSHA "toolbox talk", I work in construction, and as such safety is always top of mind.









And the finished test rig. I put an automotive trim clip in the back of each to seal the enclosure (not strictly necessary at these frequencies), and also to keep the wires from pulling outward and weakening the connection to the soldered tweeter terminals.









Since I don't have a head unit in place yet, I'll run wires from my test bench to a passive crossover, then play with both the midrange and tweeter positioning. 

Midrange enclosures likely tomorrow.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Had a half hour to tinker between other projects.

Here are some very simple temporary midrange enclosures:










I put a single sheet of cellulose (aka - a shop towel) inside each to help cancel the back wave.

Here are the drivers temporarily installed. Protective covers will remain in place until ready for testing.









The back of the enclosures is simply one of those cheap foam baffles (XTC is the brand name) sometimes used for wet conditions protection for speakers installed inside doors. I'd use them if installing in a working Jeep or Land Rover, for instance, but in my experience they otherwise they don't serve much of a useful purpose*. Between the elastic effect of these foam quasi-enclosures and the absorptive effects of the shop towel**, the back wave should be adequately absorbed so that this plays similarly to an IB alignment:









* FYI - these may might help cut out a high frequency road noise that could otherwise be transferred directly to the speaker cone, but with larger drivers, I'd be more hesitant to use these as they may also hamper lower frequency response... or if I wanted to use them over concerns about rain getting inside the door, on an older car for instance - I would cut out the lower portion to let the woofer "see" the full airspace of the door / enclosure). 

** No, I don't recommend cellulose or a shop towel as a practical permanent installation. It's just what I had at hand.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

One last update for the evening. I've been doing some reading here and y'all have convinced me I ought to at least test some type of front subwoofer and see if it solves some of the common issues with door-mounted midbasses and rear-mounted subwoofers. Specifically the common suckout in the 60-80Hz range. 

But - and I can't stress this enough - apart from using a current-production mid-sub, this will be done 90s style due to self-imposed constraints & objectives of the build.

Chosen driver - MB Quart DS1-254 10" DVC subwoofer - approx 3" depth, to be creatively installed under the passenger seat.



















Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Updated signal path diagram to follow another day, maybe - but I'll summarize my starting point here.

Head unit w/DSP --> Amplifiers
(1) Crunch amp --> True Subwoofers
.........Band pass input pair #1 @ 15 or 20-60Hz
(2) Sony 4-channel*, bridged to 2x 70W RMS -->
.........to passive crossover @ 130 Hz
.........--> MB Quart 10" DVC Mid-Sub
.........--> Focal 6.5" Low Midrange
.........Band pass input pair #2 @ 60-800Hz
(3) Sony 2-channel, 2x 30W RMS at 4 ohms -->
.........to passive crossover @3.5kHz
.........--> Peerless 2" High Midrange
.........--> CT Sounds or Dayton 1" Tweeters

So I have 3-way active crossovers, T/A, and EQ at the head unit. I'll expand that to 5-way (4-way plus sub) via strategic deployment of passive XOs.

I'll make sure any two drivers that are passively crossed share as close or proximity as possible, or are at least roughly equidistant, so the time alignment has the desired effects.

So much for KISS , doesn't sound particularly simple to me. But I think I have the tools at my disposal to get it close enough for enjoyable listening.

Edit:
* See what I did there? I didn't _have_ a Sony 4-channel, but if I'm adding a small sub on the mid bass channel I'll need more than 30 WPC RMS. So I'm importing this bad boy directly from the Land of the Rising Sun:












Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## OldOneEye (Jun 16, 2005)

Love the build. 

Can I make a suggestion (and this would help with the paint as well). Punch a hole in the middle of your vinyl sample (and your paint swatch). Makes it a little easier to tell if you are close versus comparing it at the edges around the sample. 



TJ Mobile Audio said:


> Edit - to the extent you may be inclined to rely on this post as a recommendation for Kovi Fabrics, please see disclaimer here.
> 
> Now, if you've made it this far with any degree of color blindness, I commend you. And I also apologize. A large part of my requirements for this build rely on believably OEM-looking material and colors. Here is my next round of textile matching. The following colors were missing from my order, I'm following up to see if they were sent separately:
> 
> ...


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

OldOneEye said:


> Love the build.


Appreciate it. You gotta be patient as hell to watch me work on my own cars ... When I had paying customers and no family life I'd have knocked out a build like this in a week or two. And maybe 4 weeks for the Bimmer. But I have to live with the results, and I do love my older cars, so I indulge my OCD tendencies. They become irreplaceable after a while, so they deserve the best I can do.



OldOneEye said:


> Can I make a suggestion (and this would help with the paint as well). Punch a hole in the middle of your vinyl sample (and your paint swatch). Makes it a little easier to tell if you are close versus comparing it at the edges around the sample.


Suggestions are always welcome. Free advice is usually worth at least the price paid. And that is a great idea, so obvious I'm kicking myself for not already thinking of it. Thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

TJ Mobile Audio said:


> Head unit w/DSP --> Amplifiers
> (1) Crunch amp --> True Subwoofers
> .........Band pass input pair #1 @ 15 or 20-60Hz
> (2) Sony 4-channel*, bridged to 2x 70W RMS -->
> ...


For consistency, I'll adopt the following terminology going forward.

_Low Subs_ or _Rear Subs_
_High Sub_ or _Front Sub_
_Low Mids_
_High Mids_
_Tweeters_ or _Tatas_ ... okay kidding

And I promise, there are no plans for super tweeters, center channels, rear fill, or Dolby Pro Logic in the mix. I've already broken all my rules on complexity, a 5-way hybrid active/passive stereo is where I draw my line.

(Depending on listening impressions when I set up my first test, I'll entertain running my 2" Peerless _High Mids_ as highs / full range for everything above the low mids - meaning in lieu of tweeters. If I do go that avenue, I will refer to the high mids as _mid-tweeters_ or something like that going forward). 

And while I'm on the topic, I've never been a fan of the term mid-basses. I slip up and use that term sometimes, but there's already a word for those: woofers.











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

View of OEM speaker:









View of OEM connector, glass with window rolled down. This will force a depth limit for the low mids.









Old vs. new. Almost exactly a 3/4" height difference:









Wait, did I say new? Yeah, I did. I purchased these about 7 weeks ago and put them in my storage closet. Imagine my surprise at finding this - a fully cracked basket at the mounting surface. The box had arrived undamaged:

























Of course, I'm outside if eBay's guaranteed return window. I've contacted the support team at Woofers Etc., now I get to sit back and see if they are worth their salt.

Well, while I've got them open, might as well very carefully test fit the depth:









Thankfully, my design requires that I space these away from the door panel, otherwise I'd have a 1/2" bust.

Now back to setting up my test rig.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Found something. I wonder how long this has been baking in the sun:









Only the bottom package is of any interest. We shall call it - the tower of power! 

Okay not really. From top to bottom: alternate Dayton tweeters, three of five $8 GRS drivers for the five Minimus 77s that I'm rebuilding for various uses around the house, two passive subwoofer crossovers (for experimentation with front sub / subs), and the other 2 GRS drivers.









This next part deserves a post of its own.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Testing fitting the alternate Dayton tweeters (part name: Dayton Audio TD20F-4 3/4" Soft Dome Neodymium Tweeter 4 Ohm). 

Note, if you plan to use my hack of repurposing BMW E46 midrange mounting rings and grilles for your own build, or if you own an e46: the smaller midrange trims from the second row seating position are really only appropriate for mids. In the case if tweeters, the tweeter is so far recessed that reflections will be a big problem.

The larger front midrange trims, while sub-optimally positioned in the e46 platform (aimed more or less at your hips), are actually nearly ideal in terms of teeter mounting. They allow you to move the tweeter very far forward for a wide dispersion range.

I had checked & double checked these Dayton tweeters, and was convinced they would be a direct fit. More or less, they are.










See the three little ridges that prevent the tweeter from dropping into position?









I shaved one down with a sharp pocket knife. Alternately, one could file or Dremel a small groove in the tweeter's mounting plate:









Once removed, the tweeter can now slide gently into position at the front of the trim. The leading edge of the silk dome is about 3/16" (5mm) behind the speaker grille, so a small accidental impact with the grille would not damage the tweeter itself.









For now, the tweeter can be easily removed by inserting a hook into one of screw holes from behind. In a permanent installation, I would need to trim down the four tabs (easily seen in the first and third photo of this post) so they are the correct depth to pop back into position and lock the tweeter into place. But I don't want to deal with this now, just wanted to validate that these are in fact as perfect a fit as possible - and they are.

Gosh it's hot outside right now. Let me see about setting up some crossovers and test wires indoors.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

TJ Mobile Audio said:


> Wait, did I say new? Yeah, I did. I purchased these about 7 weeks ago and put them in my storage closet. Imagine my surprise at finding this - a fully cracked basket at the mounting surface. The box had arrived undamaged:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Woofers Etc. offered to sell me a single replacement driver at 50% off. Only slightly annoyed to be throwing good money after bad, even though I came forward with the damage after the return / exchange period.

They kind of hinted that I could have damaged the thing, which drew a very indignant response from me, but they responded very politely after that and offered me a further discount on my next purchase. These guys are pros and I intend to take them up on their offer.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

This afternoon / evening I finished assembling my test rig. It's a downpour outside, so I spent some time playing with different tweeter and midrange aiming indoors to get a feel for how the drivers blend and what they can do.

My thoughts on various aiming strategies. This won't translate directly to the car, but it will give me a starting point.

A few of these pics are a bit distorted - using a bit of a fisheye lens.

Very clean, direct, bright, mostly uncolored. The mids and highs blend smoothly. A little thin below about 300 Hz, but I think that's the foam baffle absorbing too much energy. I held the baffle a bit to damp the vibrations and those frequencies improved. Imaging okay, not great. I didn't have the sweet spot yet.









Tweeters aimed straight up. Strangely, imaging improved. Brightness toned down a bit. 









Mids angled in at about 30-35 degrees and up slightly, meaning they were both about 10-15 degrees off axis from the listening position. Higher mids blended better with lower mids, I think I was getting some on-axis harshness in the 2000-3000 Hz range, which always sounds loud anyway. This toned it down, making the bottom end (to the extent that it's even there on a 2" driver) seem more pronounced. Tried tweeters aimed straight at each other and I lost too much of the sparkle. Aimed them 5 degrees toward me and 2 or three degrees up. Sparkle came back and I'm getting all of the upper frequencies with a reasonable voice match to the mids. Speakers are at sternum height when I sit on the edge of my bed. Center image was present at eye level, sound stage wide. The sweet spot was wide enough I could sit a foot or so off center and still have a cohesive image.









I think I found optimal for my this small room (10 ft x 10 ft - we are remodeling the master suite).

I'll play with kick panel locations, door mounted, sail panels, and any combinations of the three that make sense. With three or four possible aiming per speaker and per location, I've easily got at least an hour or two of listening to narrow down my approach. But this should spare me from at least the bigger installation errors that I might regret.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

I'll have to post my smaller room after we finish moving into another house. I'll be setting up TWO 5.1 systems in the basement. One system for when I work from home and the other system for working out or chilling. The ceiling is 7ft and the width of system 1 space is only 7ft too!


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

BP1Fanatic said:


> I'll have to post my smaller room after we finish moving into another house. I'll be setting up TWO 5.1 systems in the basement. One system for when I work from home and the other system for working out or chilling. The ceiling is 7ft and the width of system 1 space is only 7ft too!


There's a home theater in the plans within the next year or so, roughly 12x15 with a false ceiling sloping from 7 to 12 ft (real ceiling about a foot higher). Planning to do party walls all the way around the perimeter, some strategically placed bass traps above the false ceiling, and a giant console subwoofer running on a 4KW PA amp. Picked up a used Rotel RSX-1067 receiver to keep up ... room doesn't exist yet but will be built to purpose in what is currently my breezeway. It's a dream project that has been 20 years in the making.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

These first few are all with high mids in the doors, no low mids.

I recommend doing this with music you've been familiar with since childhood and have heard on a variety of systems. For me, that means 70s/80s white guy pop/rock. Thanks Dad . We'll be sampling Billy Joel, Seals & Crofts, Cat Stevens. I know how these should sound in a balanced system.

Taking notes as I go so I know what to go back to.

Tweets at 90 degrees, parallel to doors, aimed 10-15 degrees up: sibilant. Cymbal crashes get lost somewhere on the dash. Left is fighting right. 









Asymmetrical, aimed straight at my ears. Pretty fatiguing. Image sucks to left.

















Tweeters aimed 10 degrees forward and 10 degrees up (meaning left tweeter ~90 degrees off axis from driver's seat, right tweeter ~65 or 70 degrees off axis). Basically aimed at a point 6" above the center of my cowl.... WOW! Unexpected result. Tweeters no longing fighting each other. Height at or above the top of my forehead. Soundstage hovers at or above rear view mirror height (blue box). Billy is standing on my second HVAC vent (red). I'm getting peaky response in a few very high frequencies but nothing that shouldn't be possible to resolve with EQ. I'm not done, but listened to "Goodnight Saigon" all the way through twice, and "She's Got a Way (Live)" and agree with my initial assessment. On the live recording, I was very clearly sitting on the piano bench playing a duet with homeboy. I attribute that to mic placement. On "Running on Ice" - a song that famously brings out any shred of harshness that may lurk in your tweeters - I literally had goosebumps within seconds. The synth, the snares, the cymbals all well managed. 

























If I have one critique of that aiming, it is only that my soundstage doesn't go much further than my A pillars, but I'm straining at a gnat here. There is enough natural reverb in the cabin that I don't perceive it as narrow unless I move my head around and listen for dead spots.

I have a few more spots to try, but this blows away my other options so far.

Moving to mids for now. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

The things we do for the love of audio!


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

BP1Fanatic said:


> The things we do for the love of audio!


Yes, anyone this without explanation might consider me clinically insane.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Next listening set was Cat Stevens - Wild World, Moon Shadow, Morning has Broken; Seals & Crofts - Diamond Girl, Hummingbird, Summer Breeze; and finally the Carpenters - Leave Yesterday Behind, and A Kind of Hush (All Over the World). As a finale, a couple tracks from the Beatles _Revolver_ and _Abbey Road - "Here, There, and Everywhere", For No One, plus Something and Maxwell's Silver Hammer. Eleanor Rigby too, obviously.

Keeping the same tweeter aiming and moving the mids up didn't work very well, in fact sounded a bit muddled.

















Oddly, this helped, but not practical.









Tweeters back in the sails, mids in the kicks. Okay, but a bit disjointed.









Similar when rotated 90 degrees:









These drivers are showing a real proclivity for being mounted close to each other and with similar aiming. Let's explore options to achieve that.

Putting them together on a vertical axis? Yeah that sounds good. Vocals came back to life - especially Karen Carpenter's flawless voice. RIP. 









"But,", he says, "I can still do better". These options all warmed up the vocals even further.

























So that brings be to an interesting point - right back where I started. What I had perceived as sibilance or harshness was really just the tweeter being lonely. The tweeters are now aimed toward a point 10" back (toward rear of car) from the rearview mirror. So long as the mids are working about 10" of the tweeters, they seem to blend nicely. On/off axis doesn't seem to matter with these high mids drivers provided they are close enough to transition smoothly with the tweeters.

Finally - I through on some Dave Matthews Band - Gray Street - to sample some modern mixing. Still coherent. So I've sorted it out to two tweeter positions and two or three midrange locations that all get the job done. I'll select based on convenience within those parameters.

Last note - I've identified one flaw with my planned installation. I may need to figure out a way to extend the window crank handle to make room for enclosure(s) and spacers. Converting to power windows is out of the question, I like the constant reminder of the 90s.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Edited for typos

Trigger warning: physics 101. Feel free to skip if you don't need it.

Here's what I was thinking about (not to brag) from the beach today. Which is why I have no physical update on the car.

BS article title, but a good summary of why speaker ka values matter. Some of their conclusions are bunk or at least incomplete due to their test methods, but they've got enough solid info to be worth discussing here.









Your Installer Should Aim Your Car Audio Tweeters


We look at real-world examples of why it’s essential to have your installer aim the tweeters in your car audio system properly.




www.bestcaraudio.com





Above ka=1, your response curve tapers off, and eventually narrows to a dispersion pattern we audio nerds call "beaming"* -










Or a more extreme example -








* Beaming, as you can see, is when all output from the speaker is concentrated into a narrow range. That sound practically disappears if your listening position is more than a few degrees off-axis, and is often so focused into a narrow beam that if you are in the line of fire, the sound can be harsh and "screamy", seemingly amplified relative to other frequencies. Not a technical term per se, but that's how I perceive that response. 

More ideal ideal dispersion patterns would look like this: 








Or,









Note that sound dispersion below the ka=1 frequency is almost entirely omnidirectional, meaning (if you could reproduce sound accurately without an enclosure being in the way), sound would radiate in all directions evenly.

Some loudspeaker manufacturers and DIY enthusiasts exploit this effect by setting crossover frequencies as close as possible to, or if possible, below the ka=1 point to ensure sound radiates in an omnidirectional manner from each driver. So in principle, a recorded percussive strike such as a cymbal crash, or cannon fire , or whatever the case may be, is recreated in the same fashion that the original sound emanated - radiating out from a single point - that is to say, accurately to the extent that it is possible to simulate a 3D sonic environment (the original source material) from two - or a finite number at least - point-source speakers.

Where it is impossible to set the crossover points at those optimal frequencies, a variety of diffusers / reflectors can be used to break up or channel the sound into something less directional. 

So you end up with some sort of interesting contraption like the Duevel Bella Luna Diamante Speakers or something similarly quirky - in this case with two different tweeters, each handling different frequency ranges and sized and aimed for Omni sound creation, and with a moderately small woofer picking up only the lows that the tweeters cannot handle. 









There are many obvious reasons such a contraption is not practical in a car, the first of which in my case is probably my loving and ever-patient wife.

But I wanted to see where my planned crossover points fall relative to my ka values.

For the tweeters, the grilles appear to not really be removable, so we will assume the nominal 1" diameter is accurate. Thus circumference = 3.14" and ka 4300 Hz.
Ka = 2 at 8600 Hz
Ka = 3 at 17200 Hz
And let's be honest, none of us are hearing much at 17 kHz beyond our teenage years, and almost certainly nothing at all at 21.5 kHz. So for purposes of this discussion, the worst the tweeters will see is Ka = 3. A general approximation from the article:










At ka = 3, you're still getting an Omni response within about 30 degree if the axis. But by ka = 5, your dispersion gets a bit chaotic:









Obviously these charts are illustrative only and not specific to my drivers, but as an order-of-magnitude astrophysicist sort of calculation, we should be fine at ka = 3 and getting out of hand at or above ka = 5.

So where I'm going this. The tweeters will play at a max of ka = 3 within the audible range. Keep my aiming to within 30 degrees of on-axis, and I should be fine.

High mids -









I could probably use the cone diameter for the most realistic result, but in the interest of a conservative fudge factor, we'll include the surround. So diameter 1-7/8", C = 5.9"
Ka = 1 at 2300 Hz
Ka = 2 at 4600 Hz
They only need to play up to 3.5 kHz, so should present as almost perfectly Omni regardless of where I place them. Only need to worry about distance to the ear and avoid reflections to the degree possible.

For the 6" woofers, and I'm getting really approximate here - 
C = 18.9
Ka = 1 at 700 Hz
I only planned to play them up to 800 Hz, again, should present as almost perfectly Omni.

(And you may have guessed, this is why so many of us resort to 3-way front stages - the woofers and mids will almost never beam as long as reasonable XO points are selected).

So what?

Well, I'm only going to worry about 
(1) aim the tweets
(2) equalize path length difference between tweets and mids since they are on a passive XO
(3) make high mids and low mids look decent in terms of OEM-ish locations & positions.

I think the only reason my ear was picking up a preference to have the tweeters and high mids colocated is this is the only time PLDs were really optimized. I think I can still make it work without resorting to a weird & destructive high-door mount for the mids.

That's all for today.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Let's talk Lithium.

Earlier in the thread I expressed frustration at the odd-shaped battery compartment and limited choice of direct-fit battery upgrades. I threw a cheap Walmart battery in the car to get it going.

Well, after having a supposedly new lead-acid fail a couple of weeks after I bought the car, and just recently having an AGM fail at 2.5 years on the Bimmer, I decided it's time to again embrace new battery tech. Prices have come down substantially on LiFePo4 (lithium iron phosphate) batteries, mostly due to the proliferation of electric cars.

So now that they are only 2-3x the price of a quality lead acid or AGM, and claim 2-3 times the lifespan, I can at least pretend to make an economic argument for the upgrade. My Bimmer's battery was toast, the Escort's cheap and a lower capacity than I like for a stereo build, and the Atlas is 3.5 years into an OEM battery that is notorious for early failures. The Escort battery I can use for a 12V workbench power supply with one of my extra trickle chargers wired to the terminals.

So, 34 was recommended for my upgrade earlier, but I couldn't find a reputable manufacturer building Group 34 LiFePo4 batts.

Group 58? Nope

Group 59? Nope

Group 47 (H6)? Plenty of options. This one fits nicely, but terminals are reversed.

Group 35 (spec from the first and second gen Escorts iirc)? Again, nope.

I found both PowerTex and Dakota Lithium selling group 24 starting batteries, which are quite tall, but roughly the right size and length. I took some measurements and convinced myself I could make it work, then threw a PowerTex in my cart. Noticed a 10% promo for first purchase, so I grouped that with an H7 for the Atlas and got two batteries for about a grand. (Let's just not talk price about the one I put in the Bimmer, okay?)

Next, I set to work modifying the battery tray to accommodate. Unfortunately this ended up taking up pretty much my entire afternoon, but I'm satisfied that I've got a mounting system that holds as securely as the original.

Step one: make a modified blade for my nibbler (that's what I call a reciprocating multi-tool)









Next, the offending section removed:










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

I used a sacrificial drill it and some hammer forming to approximate the shape of the battery hold-downs:









Two halves of a chop stick, and a half inch extension as a spacer (full disclosure, this proved to be just slightly too tight, and I remounted these later).










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

The screw heads were a bit protuberant, so I got this clever idea that I'd level things out with some closed cell foam (this also proved to be a bad idea and was removed later). Added some explanatory warning labels to help out any future confused mechanic, or for whatever poor sap inherits the car from me after I've discreetly modified everything. 









With the battery fully seated, it looked high. Like _really_ high. It's above my filler cap on the brake reservoir, above most of the intake, and about level with the throttle body and the highest part of the strut towers. I knew this, hypothetically at least, based on the measurements before hand, but to set my mind at ease, I stole some play dough from the children and rolled it into a 1-3/8" (35mm) ball. The little pinched part raised the clearance to about 1-1/2" total, and would easily show any contact with the hood.









I carefully lowered the hood, latched it fully, and reopened it. Repeated the exercise for the negative terminal. No contact anywhere, so I have at least 1-1/2" clearance above the terminals. This should be enough to prevent any accidental short-circuit in case of slamming the hood too hard, or if it were to deform in an accident.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

The combination of the tight bend and the closed cell foam meant I couldn't seat the battery fully. Removed foam, re-formed the clips (using the handle of a steel drift as my die this time), and counter-sunk the holes so I could use tapered seat screws:









Now the next part I have no picture because I just wanted to finish up, but I drilled larger holes in the existing tray, applied 2 strips of 1/16" thick heavy duty double sided foam tape to bottoms of clips, and secured everything down with self-threading screws (aka self-tapping screws, but people often use that term to mean self-drilling, which makes the usage messy, but I digress), 

Also not pictured, the clip nearest the firewall didn't have a level surface to support it on the original tray, so I cut down a nylon sleeve washer to use as a shim, buttered it up with silicone caulk, and let the onboard end rest on that while I screwed it down (shim will remain in place permanently). 

I only share this level of detail in case someone decides to attempt the same modification.

Now, at a glance, this should present as the originally specified battery:









My only tight spot is I have only 1/4" clear at the back of the battery before it conflicts with the clutch hydraulic port on the side of the master brake cylinder reservoir. In my assessment, this would only ever become an issue in a catastrophic accident, in which case I have bigger concerns.

I'll keep an eye on it for any shifting due to vibration, but it really is VERY secure as is. Possibly tighter than the original was. If it does shift, I have at least two options:

(1) Add a clip at the back of the battery tray,
(2) Slot the battery tray mounting screws and move the whole thing forward toward the air cleaner.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Finally, a few more reasons I forgot to mention for upgrading:

1) 1020 CA (cranking amps at 32 degrees F, as opposed to CCA which is measured at 0 F) as compared 725 CA for the flooded lead acid it replaced. Note - PowerTex does not list CCA for the battery, so I suspect it may have less of an advantage in extreme cold temps.

2) 15.6 lbs (7 Kg) total. Yes really. As compared to 36.0 lbs for the lead acid. I stated no net weight increase as one of my original objectives, so this helps.

3) 54Ah (based on 691Wh and a nominal 12.8V rating) should be plenty for a vehicle of this size, especially considering you can safely discharge the full clarity of a LiFePo4 (probably not ideal to do daily, but it's far safer from the instant failures you can see with lead acid and AGM batteries). The Walmart lead acid doesn't list a Wh or Ah capacity, nor even a reserve capacity, which leads me to believe those numbers are lower than they care to admit.

Here's a side view of the installed battery, with the sticker for your reference:









Well, perhaps the manufacturer's photo is more helpful here:









Last note - my three new batteries came with the following state of charge:
PowerTex 1: 13.33 V
PowerTex 2: 13.33 V
AntiGravity: 13.32 V

This seems to suggest (to my limited understanding) _very_ tight tolerances of the Lithium ion cells used to assemble these batteries, as well as an incredibly low self-discharge rate for all three.

There are of course some tradeoffs using different tech - in this case, cost (though not to the degree I had imagined), the need for a special charger, and the fact that you shouldn't jump start to or from a LiFePo4, to avoid to rapidly charging or discharging it. I can find workarounds for all of those. I hope these prove as much of an upgrade as manufactures suggest (and user reviews seem to support their claims at this point).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

I went and started the car after putting all my tools away. It took a second for the fueling to catch up (cold start after 2-3 weeks), so this may be confirmation bias, but I don't think I've ever heard this starter crank the engine so fast. It must be getting more juice - or at least a more stable supply of power - from this battery than the old one.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Small update. Those who live in the greater DC area will understand why I've been procrastinating pulling off the butyl & OEM vapor barrier off the car. Sticky afternoons and hot butyl is a recipe for a mess.

Well, now that we've been having mornings in the 60s through low 70s, it's time to rip the bandaid off. Or the butyl, rather.

I only had time for one door this morning, and now it's too hot. I'll try to do the other 3 quickly tomorrow morning.

For now, just stripping the air barrier and butyl as best I can.

Before picture:








(Okay, so if you're eagle-eyed, you'll realize that's actually a flipped image of the passenger side)

The trick to removing this stuff is two-fold. Besides the prerequisite temperature range (the ambient temperature and substrate temperature must reasonably low - aim for 70 degrees F or lower / 21 C - so basically a cool room temperature.). First, note that you want to remove this stuff decisively and with a reasonably quick pull. Aim to pull at least 6-12" (15-30 cm) of butyl off at a time, and it will most likely stick together. Second, and I guess I should have put this one first - some manufacturers (including Ford/Mazda at the time of production) put some type of heavy-duty thread within the butyl rope, almost like you would use for thread when working with raw or tanned full-grain leather. So if you can get a corner loose and get your hand* behind the whole butyl rope, you should have a good handhold to yank vigorously.

*Some may say use a gloved hand, but if the stuff is sticking to you aggressively the you're above a reasonable working temp. You can just fold the edge of the vapor barrier back on itself to give yourself a clean "handle" to pull.

Next, grab and rip. You'll see that I got nearly 100% clean removal about 85% of the way around. That upper 15% was from places the vapor barrier had already started to pull away from the substrate and smear itself on the surface - these things happen over the course of 25 years.









For those areas? Well, have no fear, duct tape is here. In this case, real unreinforced aluminum duct tape. A bit further explanation in the next post though.










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## JohnnyOhh (Feb 19, 2015)

are you going to be running 2x batteries in the escort?
you know how much current your battery/ies are pulling from alternator to charge up?
just curious of you noticed anything odd or troublesome.

I am planning to add some LiFePO4 style batteries in my vehicle as well.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

I peeled as much as I could with a plastic scraper, and spread the remainder as thinly as possible. 









In the past I've gone to great lengths to remove the stuff (it may be acetone that dissolves it - but I don't remember. If so, be careful - acetone is also known for stripping paint). But I don't really see the point in removing it - I'll be putting more butyl down in the form of a constrained layer damper (CLD), so all I need to do here is get it smooth and then encapsulate it so it can't grab my arm hair while I work.

Here's roughly how far I got with removal:









The remainder was thin enough to be smoothed by hand. I also used the rounded butt end of a pair of household scissors to flatten any stubborn spots and concave spots that wanted to trap bubbles.









I'll do that first on all four doors first (rears get no speakers), then move any wires to the cavity side of the inner door skin to facilitate more easily sealing up the holes. Thankfully there are few-to-no electrical components in each of these doors. Basically only a lock solenoid in the driver's door and rear hatch, and a wiper motor and defroster for the back window, and that's it.

Next I'll treat the outer door skins, seal up the cavities, and figure out adapter rings and mid bass mounting methods - whether infinite baffle into the door cavity, or enclosed by some type of door "pod" enclosure. I was leaning toward the latter, and may still elect to figure that out, but I'll have to take careful consideration to not blocking the window crank. (Options do include extending the crank handle if necessary).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

The only door hole I'm not really sure what to do about is this one:









I'm of half a mine to tape off the are with masking tape, coat with a mold release agent, and stretch some thin resin-impregnated cloth to form a blank off panel that fits perfectly behind the factory panel. Alternately, heat mold that same shape out of ABS and use it to fill the gaps. Or build a wooden anvil of sorts the same shape as this stamped piece, and hammer form a sheet of lead around it to the same depth.

I'm not entirely sure why this panel is here while the others were left open from the factory, but it could conceivably be helping to stabilize the door or door panel when the door is slammed by the handle (see the black mounting point directly above the panel). Which is why I think it would be ideal to keep the panel in place and figure out how to work around it.

Edit - I also don't want to flatten this out, because the door card has a piece of rigid foam in this location that corresponds with the depth of the recess. I could potentially claim this as part of the requisite airspace if I do elect to use an enclosure for my woofers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

JohnnyOhh said:


> are you going to be running 2x batteries in the escort?
> you know how much current your battery/ies are pulling from alternator to charge up?
> just curious of you noticed anything odd or troublesome.
> 
> I am planning to add some LiFePO4 style batteries in my vehicle as well.


No, engine bay only. PowerTex specifically noted this one is not to be used in parallel or series with another battery*, and my Antigravity battery in the Bimmer came with the same warning. Both said they were suitable to use with automotive charging systems (without limitations), whereas Dakota Lithium which I also looked at gave problematically low alternator output limitations for each battery (in the range of about 80-130A)... this ultimately took them out of the running.

I haven't noticed anything odd, other than the starter motor spins faster, and I can't tell, but I imagine the headlights might be a bit brighter. The battery is a nominal 12.8V, and fully charged presents a voltage of 13.4V vs the 12.6 to 12.7 that is standard with SLA and AGM batteries. My system will "only" be pulling about 100-120A, maybe 150 considering amplifiers sometimes can momentarily go beyond their fuse ratings at peak load, my goal is simply that I be able to do that without dropping below 13V (the closer to 14.4+ the better obviously.

* (Edited for clarity & emphasis). Antigravity Batteries was pretty explicit about never connecting their _starter_ batteries in series or in parallel. (They did offer instructions for their deep cycles though). PowerTex also noted that it is okay to do with their _deep cycle_ batteries within certain parameters, but that it will very likely adversely affect battery life. They were, however, quite clear that you should not use their deep cycles as starter batteries, and the instructions I received with the _starter_ battery were silent on the use of multiple batteries - simply stating to avoid rapid discharge or short circuit.

*Personally, I'd be worried about cell imbalance issues and just go with a larger single battery.* If you had to connect two in parallel, I'd make sure they were identical batteries from the same batch and +/- 0.01V state of charge so you don't melt your battery leads or burn up the cells when you connect them. The only other approach I can see making sense would be to run a LiFePo4 Deep Cycle battery in parallel with a LiFePo4 starting battery. But you'd want to run a split charger that doesn't allow the batteries to connect in parallel until you read an alternator voltage above 13.5 V (edited to add: use a higher number still if you can, or validate that the regulator is very accurate - remember these are fully charged at 13.4) - otherwise your deep cycle will wear itself out sharing the starting load.

(Most LiFePo4 deep cycles are still rated at 200-300 cranking amps, you'd just want to be sure that number is well above what you plan to pull with your the stereo)












Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

JohnnyOhh said:


> are you going to be running 2x batteries in the escort?
> you know how much current your battery/ies are pulling from alternator to charge up?
> just curious of you noticed anything odd or troublesome.
> 
> I am planning to add some LiFePO4 style batteries in my vehicle as well.


One more thought about the way you worded this - an alternator can only supply what it supplies. You try to draw more on a regular basis, voltage will drop, and the alternator and possibly connected equipment will eventually fail. The battery is not really what draws current from the alternator, it is the connected loads that do that, or the energy deficit created by those connected loads. Current will flow when there is a voltage delta between the battery and the alternator. Under normal operating conditions, the resting voltage of a LiFePo4 battery is considerably higher than an SLA or AGM battery - this higher voltage limits the potential for current flow, but in turn the LiFePo4 has lower internal resistance than a conventional battery - which means it can draw current more quickly for a given voltage delta. At a reasonable voltage (which is a good indicator of state of charge in LiFePo4s), you aren't putting much more strain if any on the alternator than you would with a lead acid and similar connected loads.

All that said, connect your LiFePo4 to an appropriate charger if your resting voltage is below 12.8-13.0 V. This is not to say you couldn't start the car and run it until the battery catches up, but you'll reduce the strain on your alternator if you charge preemptively. The only ways I can see that voltage would ever get that low is if you (1) Stored the car for several weeks and it has a significant parasitic loss in KOEO (key off, engine off), or (2) Connected the LiFePo4 in parallel with a conventional battery that can't really hold the 13.4 V the fully charged LiFePo4 offers. Therefore it would be constantly trying to charge the conventional battery until voltage equalizes, but upon starting the car it would have a deficit and would absorb energy much faster than the (now overcharged) conventional one ever could. So you might again be slightly overloading the alternator at that point as well.

Hope that's all clear as mud. Don't go quoting me but I promise it's at least 80-90% accurate...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## JohnnyOhh (Feb 19, 2015)

good stuff. I was just wondering what current your battery pull from the alternator when they are charging 
i think those parallel connection restrictions you mentioned are because of the BMS system that are built into the batteries.

i'm planning to use these cells, going to try a DIY setup. i do plan to have disconnects on the battery when vehicle is off, to remove from system.
6000w 12v 48ah 614wh HANDLE BEAST MODULE – Battery Hookup

i'm surprised they have under hood lithium batteries... i still though they were not really built for that environment, they were more intended to be interior vehicle environment.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

JohnnyOhh said:


> good stuff. I was just wondering what current your battery pull from the alternator when they are charging
> i think those parallel connection restrictions you mentioned are because of the BMS system that are built into the batteries.
> 
> i'm planning to use these cells, going to try a DIY setup. i do plan to have disconnects on the battery when vehicle is off, to remove from system.
> ...


I can check with my ammeter at some point. I think it will usually be well below alternator rated output though due to the built-in BMS.

And I'll probably be wrapping some insulation around the lithium battery for good measure. But yes - recommended to drop in to OEM locations, no prohibition on under hood use.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Here is my OEM sound deadening. Typical is 2 of these strips per door. Most likely asphalt impregnated felt. I usually just leave the stuff in place and work over / around it.









Like so. I'm using 4/3 of a sheet of Resonix CLD in the front doors and 2/3 sheet in the back doors. This is right around 20-25% coverage. Inner door skins will get 100-200% coverage with a cheaper CLD product.









Resonix Black Hole foam + MLV tiles for absorption and blocking. I went for 100% coverage on the bottom of the door (below the crash bar, closer to the road, where noise levels are the most intense, and about 25% coverage above the crash bar. All gaps were filled with 2" closed cell egg crate foam at a minimum and stuffed so there are no gaps. 









Other side. Turns out this was actually some wimpy foam product that I was mostly able to remove. 









Added a little heavy duty, low expansion polyiso at intervals between the door skin and crash bar, in hopes that I won't have any rattles between the door skin and the crash bar. There were some foam shims, this should augment the same function. I'll get the product picture later, but it's Great Stuff foam for landscaping pools, fountains, water features, and stone work. I'm not worried about the fact that it cures rigid, the whole door assembly should be sufficiently damped with the other products I've applied. 

















Finally, a finished door (outer skin only. I added a little extra 3/4" CCF over spits where the black hole tiles got slightly misaligned. I figure this should help them function as one decoupled mass, or at least provide a bit of backup absorption for any sound that gets by the mass layer. (Not worried about the lack of 100% coverage, I'll do my primary mass layer directly behind the door card)









A couple interior shots showing all the products used.









After reviewing the photos, I went and sealed these edges back down with heavy duty 1/16" CCF glazing tape, and then caulked the edges to the Resonix foam with clear acrylic latex w/Silicone (Alex Plus caulk).









Evidence of results to follow. The rear doors don't get speakers in them, so their soundproofing scheme can be a bit more rudimentary.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Legitimate ask - please like, subscribe, and comment - I'm quite a ways from the bigtime, but I'd like to share the story of this car with a wider audience.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Minor updates. Did an induction clean and new spark plugs, which is the thing to do when you have a new old car:






Yesterday evening put on new wheels with all weather (severe service winter rated) tires. There's a good chance I end up using this car for some of my ski trips this winter. Now, with 100% more rice:










Wheel-tire combo saved 2.5 lbs per corner while going up from a 14" to 15" wheel. Can't wait to try out on some twisty roads soon.

I'll work on sealing up the rear doors next, then assembling new struts to swap in soon. I've had some minor health issues holding me back, but winter being on my doorstep gives this build a bit more urgency.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Thoughts so far:


1/32" lead sheet forms nicely by hand
1/8" neoprene closed cell foam behind the lead panels, and PTFE shoulder washers through each drilled hole should prevent contact between the lead and galvanized door panels. Galvanic reaction a minor concern here but I like to prevent contact between dissimilar metals when I can.
Breaking that rule slightly by using zinc coated self drilling screws for now - if I ever need to pull the panels I can replace with nutserts.
The top left corner where the door latch sits will be tough to seal with a lead panel. I'll either need to drape it loosely or just cover it with vapor barrier and call it good.
I'll apply a layer or two of CLD everywhere that doesn't have a lead panel. This will be a more serious consideration for front doors since they'll be supporting the woofers.
My plan is to use heat reflective bubble wrap (R1 insulation value) as a final vapor barrier over everything for some minor thermal benefits when the car is used in winter camping mode (yes, it will probably happen).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Somehow doing one door turned out to be the better part of a full day activity. The other one should be marginally quicker. The fronts may still require a fair bit of fabrication to make the door speakers fit.

Eagle-eyed readers will note that I swapped out the screws on that small square panel for rivets. The screws were blocking the window mechanism. I'd like to have functional rear windows, thanks.









Next, most of a Resonix CLD tile covering the central part of the inner door skin:









Reflective bubble wrap insulation/vapor barrier:









Door assembled.









Closes like a bank vault:





That's all for today.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Bushwacker (Dec 23, 2017)

Why are you sealing up the rear doors are you going to add a midbass? 

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Bushwacker said:


> Why are you sealing up the rear doors are you going to add a midbass?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk


No, fronts only. Factory rear speakers are behind the seats (above the wheel wells) - but I think I'll disconnect and remove those. More weight savings 😂


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

Bushwacker said:


> Why are you sealing up the rear doors are you going to add a midbass?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk


Oh - to clarify why I am sealing them at all - if I do actually go through with dual 10" subwoofers, I'm going to need deadening throughout the car. The secondary purpose is thermal performance - I'm sealing off direct air infiltration. I mentioned this may occasionally double as a solo-sized camper for impromptu ski adventures. I try to chase at least a couple of snowstorms every season.


----------



## MobilePioneer (2 mo ago)

Hey have you found FEOA.net yet?


----------



## MobilePioneer (2 mo ago)

Here’s my Mazda BG chassis with a VCT/G5M and SR ECM. SR tokico struts with H&R springs. Every part of the suspension replaced. Solid motor mount inserts. 4 wheels disc and ABS. 21mm rear stabilizer bar. 15” aluminum wheels on 205’s. Some other goodies. I almost have a hard time calling it an escort anymore. The chassis and motor are Mazda. It’ll chirp third and lift a rear tire in hard turns though. Still gets 30+mpg if I’m nice. Gets works done. Hauls the fam sometimes.

Take care of that SPI 2.0 in your wagon. Don’t rev it out. They love to drop valve seats into the combustion chambers.


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

MobilePioneer said:


> Here’s my Mazda BG chassis with a VCT/G5M and SR ECM. SR tokico struts with H&R springs. Every part of the suspension replaced. Solid motor mount inserts. 4 wheels disc and ABS. 21mm rear stabilizer bar. 15” aluminum wheels on 205’s. Some other goodies. I almost have a hard time calling it an escort anymore. The chassis and motor are Mazda. It’ll chirp third and lift a rear tire in hard turns though. Still gets 30+mpg if I’m nice. Gets works done. Hauls the fam sometimes.
> 
> Take care of that SPI 2.0 in your wagon. Don’t rev it out. They love to drop valve seats into the combustion chambers.
> View attachment 353855


Yeah, I'm aware of the valve seat issue. Had to rev it out for the induction clean, but otherwise no. Will probably rebuild heads preemptively as soon as it's convenient.

I read a lot on FEOA but haven't joined yet. Will get around to it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

MobilePioneer said:


> Here’s my Mazda BG chassis with a VCT/G5M and SR ECM. SR tokico struts with H&R springs. Every part of the suspension replaced. Solid motor mount inserts. 4 wheels disc and ABS. 21mm rear stabilizer bar. 15” aluminum wheels on 205’s. Some other goodies. I almost have a hard time calling it an escort anymore. The chassis and motor are Mazda. It’ll chirp third and lift a rear tire in hard turns though. Still gets 30+mpg if I’m nice. Gets works done. Hauls the fam sometimes.
> 
> Take care of that SPI 2.0 in your wagon. Don’t rev it out. They love to drop valve seats into the combustion chambers.
> View attachment 353855


My suspension plans are a little milder. I already have a corner carving E46, I still need some ground clearance for snow with this one, but I do want to stiffen up the spring rates so it doesn't sag by 3-4 inches when I sit on the bumper or sleep in the back .

My plans are KYB-GR2s and Vogtlands - parts are waiting for me in the garage. I had a similar setup on a Hyundai Accent several years ago and it transformed it into a fabulous little go kart. I also have a 19mm sway bar that I _think_ should work for me - it says ZX2, from what I'm reading it should work on any BG chassis.


----------

