# One of a Kind - Lanson's 2013 Ford Flex audio build



## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

Hello ladies and mostly gentlemen,

I have been off the forum for a while (mostly for being naughty and loud), but hey just a point you should not drink and post what's on your mind, right? 

Anyway, I've been a very busy bee and I have an audio build to show you. Join me, won't you?

Our victim is a 2013 Ford Flex AWD, SEL trim. She's painted in Tuxedo Black Metallic, and I do my very best to keep it in perfect detail and condition as I can, despite living in a dusty environment. This particular model has a highly integrated head unit, so that can't come out until someone (not me) hacks and figures out the My Ford Touch (MFT) system which controls the climate, radio, phone, nav, you get the picture. Also the nifty gauge cluster displays key into what's on the main screen so there's really no hope besides using the stock HU. Interestingly, my tests on the stock HU for this particular car find that distortion is quite low until about 19/20ths on the volume dial, so luckily most of it is quite usable!

This is my 2nd Flex, I had a 2010 for a few years, and my build log of that one is here on the forum somewhere, I'm sure. I took some bits out of that one and refit them for use with this one.

Here's a pic of her stock fresh from the dealer in 2013










And here is a pic of her lowered, with forged staggered fitment 22's, tint all around, and tint all around. This is the current stance and look.










So like a lot of 3 row crossovers/suv's, the Flex is a people and cargo hauler for sure. One of the most difficult parts of building a system within, is deciding exactly what will be given up in exchange for system space, because everything flips and folds and takes space up to do so. There is no "trunk" in the normal sense, and you can't even put equipment under the 2nd row seating like you might in some other SUV's, because the seats are designed to flip and fold for extra cargo when needed. It creates a dilemma. The solution, for me, was to ditch the spare and utilize the available space under the 1st row seats, which is surprisingly roomy. 

The Flex is also a car with a built-in center channel...at least my version is. I have something very special to show you on that topic, later.

First thing's first... the battery! The stock battery is fine but I had my Optima from my first Flex, so I opted to install it here in this one too. Unfortunately, the Optima I have is a standard Yellowtop with the battery terminals somewhat inboard toward the center of the battery, while the stock battery has terminals at the very edges. This meant that the stock battery terminal (complete with an amazingly complex fuse arrangement on the terminal) had to go. Here's some pics

Stock









Closeup of this crazy terminal









Along the way, I discovered this thing, which appears to be an ammeter built right into the wiring. Fun!









Carnage shot (there shall be many of these)









Factory ground spot. The ground cable and terminal is the one in the fuzzy foreground, bottom of the pic that's floating. It grabs on to this smallish screw-bolt here









I had to tear into the loom to unwind the small ground cable from the harness. I had to do this to get some extra slack on the stock cable so my new battery terminals could mate to it.









Optima in









I used a fused distro block to connect the stock power connections to the battery


















That factory ground was a little weak so I augmented it with an additional 4 gauge run. I also ground off the paint and tightly reattached it.









Added ground wire (techflexed of course), and I ran it through the ammeter (just in case.)









These are the connectors I used. They are from a 4x4 parts seller, they are patterned off military spec units and are very convenient.









And some really nice terminal covers


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

Power wire is 1/0 gauge, pure copper welding cable. I buy all my wire if I can help it, from www.wireandsupply.com 

BTW, if you are doing one of these cars or one of a similar design (2011+ Explorer, Taurus, etc), there's a better place to run your wire. But I didn't know of it when I made this one!









T-spec circuit breaker. I mounted it to the stock fuse box lid.










OK so the car has seen a couple build-ups, mostly just quick install work so you'll see some partial work in these pics. 

I cut the stock vents shorter under the front seats.


















That's how much









Wired into the passenger seat area, are my pair of amps. This is a Vibe UK Slick Stereo 4 and Slick Bass 1 pair. Pretty solid, cheap amps and I highly recommend them (if you can find them), if doing a low cost build. An honest 75x4 and 600x1, for about $200. They are run with 4 gauge power, each. The ground is the LF seat bolt of the passenger seat. I took a large 1/0 ground terminal and enlarged it to fit the bolt, then inserted two 4 gauge and one 8 gauge wires into the terminal and crimped the hell out it, then pounded it flat so it wouldn't disrupt the seat bracket mount. Finally I soldered it to hold on top of the crimp.

















I like making my wiring really nice. I think its a pride thing, if I'm being honest. I just do it because I can.









With the seat reinstalled, they hide away nicely.









Here's a pic of that ground connection

























I goofed at taking pics of the process under the driver's side, but there's a fused distribution block and my JBL MS-8 processor under there.

























It hides well when the seat is in a normal position


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

So the stock heat unit is utilized here, with a signal output of LF, RF, LR, and RR, and Center to the MS-8 for summing. Then the wiring from the MS-8 is run back to the stock wiring, where applicable. 


























OK let's talk about the pillars. I desired something a nice step up beyond tweeters in the pillar, so I came up with this:









I cut a shape and then wrapped it in Melamine, to get a lip. If I were doing it again, I would use low-temp plastic like Bing and crew uses. The blue stuff. I looked around town for it for about 1/2 a day at various places but no dice. The Melamine is weak and it flexes too much, otherwise it would be fine.

















I then cut in the part to the stock pillar

























coated in mud


































Gettin' there









































Here's the grilles









They are Dayton RS75-4 mids and ND20FB tweeters


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

I made a custom center channel 2-way as well. Dayton RS125-4 mid and ND20FB tweeter










Mounted it to the car using the stock 3.5" speaker's mounting holes









Rough draft

















Looks like stock, right? LOL

















I made my own crossovers for all of this

















I started with the project boxes by drilling and running grommets
















Hours later









Some holes drilled and sunk so the components can breathe if they warm up


































I was going to use plain-jane connectors at first, but then I decided, F-THAT! I spent all this time and some money to let a crappy spade connector let me down? No way! So I ordered a large bulk of XT60 connectors. Let me say, these are awesome and I highly recommend them.

















I made the rest of my wiring to run from my amp to the crossovers

















This is the wire protector doohickey that was in the passenger kick panel area. I drilled a hole and ran the wire right through to the door.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

I love how by adding the wheels and doing the tint, it cleans up and styles this vehicle. Keep those photos coming please.


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## rton20s (Feb 14, 2011)

Yes. More pics. I'm anxious to see what you did.


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

Will do, I just got suddenly busy at work.


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## teldzc1 (Oct 9, 2009)

Like the drop and wheels. Looks pretty fresh. Keep it coming!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk


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## rton20s (Feb 14, 2011)

teldzc1 said:


> Like the drop and wheels. Looks pretty fresh. Keep it coming!


Fresh indeed. 









What make/model wheels?


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

rton20s said:


> Fresh indeed.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Those, my friend, are L&B Forged from Anaheim, CA. They are a machine house for _other_ brands of forged 3 piece wheels that are perhaps more famous.

They are sized 22x9 +37 front, and 22x10 +37 rear. They are traditional 3 piece style, raw polished aluminum barrels and brushed / clear-coated centers. The clear is a newer ceramic powder coat, pretty nice job done I think. 

They are for sale for the right price, only because I'm after a little different fit and style now with a new styling goal in mind. If nobody buys them, I'll probably break them down and get them refinished with some different colors. 

Tires are 265/35-22 all around.

Here's some closer pics of the beauts


















A pic of the machine work quality










Naturally, the goal was go flush (without being absurd for a daily driver)


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## Ultimateherts (Nov 13, 2006)

*One of a Kind:*










or

*One of a kind:*


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

OK so we left off at the doors, so let's carry on:

The doors run 5x7 stock, and that wasn't going to cut it. I went with Dayton RS225-4 midbass in the door. Fitting an 8 3/4" midbass in the spot of a 5x7 took some creativity, as you might imagine. The fit was incredibly close at all critical points, so much so that if this mid was 1/8" bigger in any dimension, it would not have fit without major surgery.


























Heavily deadened with GT Mat Quadro and RAAMMAT inside the door, and tons of RAAMMAT on the outside of the door. The wood adapter is "painted" with rubber spray.









HUGE









FITS!









These door rubbers were a *****









I re-worked the doors again with much more deadener after I ran this for a while, as the vibes were intense


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

The rear doors received a pair of JBL Power 6x8's. There's more pics of the rear install but nobody is going to care. Deadened/sealed, yada yada









More work on the front doors

























Deadening and padding was done everywhere I could

















Bottom line, those doors hold the bottom line.


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

This is the trunk

























This is how it usually sits, 99% of the time


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

That's good enough for now.

I made a couple videos, be sure to swap to 1080 quality for the best sound
Part 1, mostly system walk-through
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnYlkQVrvs0&list=UUn9-B4T55DUmiCmHCYhnxeQ
Part 2, system demonstration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61-O-XoPVMg&list=UUn9-B4T55DUmiCmHCYhnxeQ


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

That is a really nice build you have going on!


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

thehatedguy said:


> That is a really nice build you have going on!


Appreciated!

Its done I'm just throwing up pics of the work as I did it. I would have posted them in real-time as I was working on it, but I was bant at the time.


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## armykyle1 (Jun 15, 2011)

very very nice work.


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

Thanks!

The videos help describe the settings I'm at, and how the whole thing was designed, much more than the pics I think. And by all means, comments, criticism, etc is welcome because that's how we get better. I can tell you that, in its current configuration, I think this system is absolutely amazing to listen to, and I would be happy to give local audio freaks an audition for any constructive criticism or comments compared to other systems heard, or home audio setups heard.


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## All-Or-Nothing (Apr 16, 2013)

This is a SWEET looking Flex. Really good looking.

*off to eBay to look at prices*


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## mrmill (Feb 11, 2013)

Sweet flex...I always thought they were cool yours took it up a notch. Awesome install


Sent from under your mom's bed


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

Thanks all.

If you're ever in Vegas, please let me know and I'll be happy to have you take a listen.


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## teldzc1 (Oct 9, 2009)

Great job there. Interesting that you made passives for the front stage. I'm assuming thats for the mid/tweet pods while the midbasses are actively crossed. Are you using MS8 to power the center channel?


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

teldzc1 said:


> Great job there. Interesting that you made passives for the front stage. I'm assuming thats for the mid/tweet pods while the midbasses are actively crossed. Are you using MS8 to power the center channel?


That's correct, very good observation. The center is about 10dB down from the rest of the system so the MS-8's little 20W chip-amp is sufficient for now. I may power them up later but I have no audible distortion even at extreme volumes, so I'm happy with the setup.


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## trumpet (Nov 14, 2010)

I love this build. Great job.


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## rton20s (Feb 14, 2011)

Looks great. If you're willing to take a little drive, you should bring it to one of the next SoCal comps/get togethers. 

And I hear you about LB Forged manufacturing for other big names. I had a buddy who worked for Intro/I Forged/ID Luxury years ago and they manufactured for quite a few other brands as well.


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

rton20s said:


> Looks great. If you're willing to take a little drive, you should bring it to one of the next SoCal comps/get togethers.
> 
> And I hear you about LB Forged manufacturing for other big names. I had a buddy who worked for Intro/I Forged/ID Luxury years ago and they manufactured for quite a few other brands as well.


Exactly, they just have to be hush about it, else the magic overprice-ness doesn't make sense.

Sorta reminds me of speakers and amps and the rebadging we've seen.


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## Bluenote (Aug 29, 2008)

I bet this is a really dynamic set up with the MS8! It does great things with a center a rears.


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

Bluenote said:


> I bet this is a really dynamic set up with the MS8! It does great things with a center a rears.


Yes, it absolutely does. I listen mostly to EDM of various types, and most times the recording quality is quite good (for electronic music.) The "space" engineered into the recording comes through, and the stage is wide and deep. I had issues getting the stage to be full with a smaller 3.5" center, but the two-way Dayton setup cured that. 

The rears, admittedly, are just barely audible. Its more for the effects, the room ambiance that's been recorded, and very little else. My kids in the back both bop their heads and wiggle their little butts in their seats when they hear a song they like, so no doubt they are hearing the system just fine back there.

That gets to another point, worth mentioning. This is the first system, even including previous system with the MS-8 that I've done, that maintains a rock-solid image in BOTH seats, almost equally. Its just stunning how stable it is, whether you move your head, or shift back or forward in the seat. 

Other systems I've done had these "sweet spots", where you were in a little bubble and if you left that bubble, the stage collapsed a little or things got smeared. Not this setup. If I had to guess, I'd attribute the way I built this thing to perform off-axis, by choosing the crossover points and driver sizes I did. Beaming effects are minimized, so you don't have to worry where you sit. 



I might improve this system later with a larger, more robust pillar midrange (maybe), some larger amps or perhaps more channels too, and maybe a subwoofer upgrade. Other than that, there's really nothing it "needs".


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## Darth SQ (Sep 17, 2010)

Garrett's adorable.
I bet Disney's Frozen sounds amazing in there.


Bret
PPI-ART COLLECTOR


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## SQLnovice (Jul 22, 2014)

if possible, can you give me the link to where you purchased those battery terminals.


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

SQLnovice said:


> if possible, can you give me the link to where you purchased those battery terminals.


Sure!

Military Battery Terminals Boots Set for Heavy Duty Off Road Battery Set Up | eBay

If I were doing again, I might go with something a little different, maybe NRG battery terminals. Car Accessories - Batteries - Battery Terminals - Xplicit Audio there's some there.


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## jbeez (Aug 20, 2013)

it looks like some of your shrink is a little wrinkly, I was having the same problem sealing my techflex lines with standard shrink. I picked up some Ancor marine grade adhesive lined 1" black heatshrink tubing and started using that and its really thick and seals the ends up very well. if you were looking for something slightly more aesthetic. I know you spend alot of time on your wiring based on everything you posted. It might be harder to make it bend though.


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

jbeez said:


> it looks like some of your shrink is a little wrinkly, I was having the same problem sealing my techflex lines with standard shrink. I picked up some Ancor marine grade adhesive lined 1" black heatshrink tubing and started using that and its really thick and seals the ends up very well. if you were looking for something slightly more aesthetic. I know you spend alot of time on your wiring based on everything you posted. It might be harder to make it bend though.


Thanks, man! Nobody likes wrinkly shrink. lol.


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## quietfly (Mar 23, 2011)

great build!


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

quietfly said:


> great build!



Thanks, I've learned a lot since this build, what... 3.5 years ago?


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## glockcoma (Dec 22, 2015)

fourthmeal said:


> Thanks, I've learned a lot since this build, what... 3.5 years ago?


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