# A quick 2004 Ford F150 Install



## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

Built this little system over the past week, a generation of truck i have never worked on before. but as usual with trucks, i love the fact that i can stand up or sit in a chair and work on them, versus having to crunch down and bent at weird angles all day lol.

thanks goes out to Marc aka msall150 for his helpful tips on this truck as he has the same vehicle.

the goals for the truck were pretty simple:

1. overall decent sound from a simple passive system and a limited budget

2. have the system be out of sight for hte most part and eat up little or no usable space.

thats pretty much it. this is one of hte more simple installs, as i usually tend to do either active setup with full dsp and custom locations, or relatively simple installs with one or two amps running passive in stock locations 

anyway, lets get started.

the signal starts with a kenwood 6019 navigation dvd headunit. supplied by the customer:










he also gave me a rear view camera license plate frame, which i installed here:










*note to self, wait for a dry day before crawling under the truck to run cables, drinking dirty water dripping from the body for a few hours sux big time lol.

here is the image on the headunit:











the Front stage was a pair of Image dynamics XS57 5x7" components (mounted coaxially) in the stock location. so nothing too fancy here, the door was sound proofed and new wires run into the door:










its a rather intersted design in that the plastic door car buts right up against the metal opening, and the speaker sorts bolts to screw holders in the metal but also sandwiches the plastic door car too. so i slapped some sound proofing on the part of hte door card that directly contacts the speaker for good measure:










i got lucky here, the xs57 is a direct fit replacement for the stock 6x8s, i mean the screw holes line up perfectly, i just had to chop off the mounting brackets at the two ends. and voila, perfectly secure mounting via stock hardware:










this process was repeated for the passenger side:


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

next are a few wiring pics, the new wires are run in the stock wiring channels, and secured to the stock bundle every few inches. note the stock green and black electrical tape that is wrapped around the stock bundle....kind of an interesting design choice i guess from ford 





































i also sound proofed the backwall of the truck, here is a picture of that. 



















i also mounted the passive xover modules for the xs57 on the back wall:










now comes the main part of the install, whcih is the amp rack and sub box. i toyed with a few ideas before i started, such as mounting amps behind the back seat and a box under the floor. but in the end, i decided that even though that is a much easier job, i dont like having the amp behind the back seat becuase in case there is need for tuning, or repairs or removal, it would be really hard for the customer to get at it. 

so instead, i decided to do both the amp and the sub, under the driver side seat cushion, hwcih runs about 60 percent of the entire width of the truck. 

another factor in the decision making was the customer's request for somehat "boomy" sound to the bass. well, i just happen to have a subwoofer that works in terrifically small enclosures and will provide a little bump in the frequency response when in that type of enclosure.

that sub is the Exile XT10 shallow sub. Exile calls for a .3 cubfoot sealed enclosure for "SPL" purposes. and having done a few of this sub in that type of tiny enclosure, i know it sounds pretty good, albeit with an expect bump in the response. well, i guess this sub fits the bill perfectly then, thin and tiny box requirement.

anyway, i chose also an 800.4xi 4 channel amplifer from Exile to power the system, sending 125 watts RMS to each front door speaker, and 400 watts rms on the subwoofer.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

okay, so back to the build, here is a normal view with the seat cushion down. as you can see, nothing really stands out too much from most angles:










from this angle you can sorta see the structure:










flipup the seat and here is what you get. just a simple rack with cutouts for the amp and the sub. the rack's outide walls is a combination of black carpet on the outter walls for durability against wear and tear), and black vinyl on the top trim for a more custom look. again, the idea is to look simple and clean. i thought about doing the entire thing in black carpet, but felt the black vinyl does add a little extra touch 










here it is from different angles:




























before you ask, i made sure while building the subbox that on excursion, the surround or cone doesnt slap the bottom of the seat cushion, even with someone sitting there.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

so here are a few quick build pics of the rack. again, just a very simple two part concept. first ist he subbox, whcih is mostly MDF except the back part, where the floor contours up. that part is fiberglass. i measured the interal volume to be just under .4 cubft. 










here it is test fitted in the car again:










the amp rack is just a piece of MDF secured to the side of hte subbox at a precise height, with its own side walls to hold up the outter decorative shell.



















so here is the combination amp rack subbox installed into the truck and wired up.










the wiring on the amp rack is tight, but everyhting is bundled neatly. though kinda hard to see hehe the import thing is i can access the gain controls with a small screw driver. and removing the amp takes less than a minute


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

so here is the top decorative trim piece, first in bare MDF:










then trimmed in black vinly:










here is the verticle wall piece, ready for carpet:










and then done in black carpet:










and finally, the two pieces are mated together to form the outter shell of the amprack/subbox. they are bonded togehter with four HD L brackets, and some very careful screws.










so thats basically it, this piece just slips over the bare rack and box like a glove, and then a few screws hold it securely. and done

overall, pretty happy with it. espeically the underseat part. 

b


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

Thanks, Bing! Lots of great ideas on how to make it look clean effortlessly.


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## Ray21 (Oct 19, 2009)

Nice job... the box looks clean!

I'll be doing a couple installs within the next month or so on some extended cab F150s.


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## whoosh (Sep 17, 2008)

Great job as usual! Quick question, what material do you use to sound proof the doors?
Thanks


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## CA4944 (May 2, 2009)

Great work, as usual!

How do you think it sounds, and did you happen to try playing it without the front door cards installed? I'm just curious as to whether recessing speakers into the door card like that affects the sound, and, if so, whether it would be possible to improve imaging any by spacing the speakers out of that 'tunnel' a little in the future.

-Charlie.


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## mSaLL150 (Aug 14, 2008)

Wow turned out great. Much cleaner than my F150 install, makes me want to redo it.


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## Brian_smith06 (Jan 31, 2008)

nice use of some id products 

top notch install as usual


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## ellocojorge (Sep 30, 2009)

im actually going to be relocating the amps in my brothers f150. is there enought space behind the seat to put it there? the amp is about 2.5 inches tall. 10 x20


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

ellocojorge said:


> im actually going to be relocating the amps in my brothers f150. is there enought space behind the seat to put it there? the amp is about 2.5 inches tall. 10 x20


thats a question, much better directed at msall150 

b


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## BrazenC5 (Nov 23, 2009)

Bing,

I'm lovin the system! I thought it sounded good when I picked it up, but I really noticed the sound quality when my wife decided to crank the volume to the max and the audio was still crisp and clean. She was amazed and even commented that there was zero distortion, same exact clarity as listening it to normally, but really, really loud! Now if I can just get the ringing out of my ears. :laugh:


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## mSaLL150 (Aug 14, 2008)

ellocojorge said:


> im actually going to be relocating the amps in my brothers f150. is there enought space behind the seat to put it there? the amp is about 2.5 inches tall. 10 x20


If you mounted it horizontally and as low as possible, It might work. The problem is that your amp is pretty tall (2.5"). You will want to wrap the flimsy metal brackets on the seat-back cushion with rubber to keep the metal from rubbing your amplifier near the top of the seat (since the seat is angled). 

This is assuming your truck is a 04-08 model.


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## newtitan (Mar 7, 2005)

may I ask your opinion on those new exile audio amps? I like the look of them


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## mSaLL150 (Aug 14, 2008)

simplicityinsound said:


>


Bing, as you can see part of the backwall is raised and part if it is not. The raised portions (like where the left crossover is mounted) are 2 layers thick, each layer about an inch apart so you only went through 1 layer when mounting. However, the right crossover is located on an un-raised portion which means you drilled through the cab to the outside. The only concern with that is the butyl material traps moisture, and over time could rust that area where the wall was punctured through. A little silicone would prevent that, but its not a huge deal and frankly nobody would see it anyways.


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## sirsaechao (Jan 25, 2010)

Tight fit for the amp wiring but very clean setup.


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