2002 Ford Escape Professional Amateur Build

[imsickofweed]

I named it professional amateur because this is my first real build and Im trying to incorporate as many professional treatments as possible on an amateurs budget. Also the amount of bass that will be in this thing will be ridiculously low compared to the ground shaking systems I normally see here.

Im in the middle of this build already so the first bunch of posts will come very fast and then slow down and match the speed of the build. I have a log going on an Escape forum Escape City - Ford Escape Forums - Ford Escape, Mercury Mariner, Mazda Tribute, Ford Maverick - View topic - Dynamat and Component Speakers

This one here will have all the pictures, but only be a summary of what Ive done so far.

Click to read more...

 

[ObTechAudio]

Awesome! That's my exact same vehicle that I'm doing a rebuild in. I'm tuned in!

 

[imsickofweed]

Ive decided to dynamat as much of my Escape as I can without too much trouble. I had the rear cargo panels off to replace the shocks and I had some dynamat extreme that I bought years ago for a project on another car thats probably not going to happen anytime soon. Yesterday I did the left side of the cargo area and put the panel back without taking pictures, but Ill have to pull it back off so I can pull the upper panels and dynamat there too. Heres a couple of before shots.



This is my non-subwoofer having panel, Im hoping to find one in a pick a part soon along with some tweeter panels for the front. I want my system to look stock, but my other option is a custom built box that fits in the space the rectangle storage thingy is right now. Has anyone done that before?



Here we are behind the panel, Ill be dynamatting the outside sheet metal as well as the inside. I was thinking about making some abs panels to cover the holes like this guy I saw do on youtube for the front doors, but maybe Just running dynamat over the holes is good enough. The void had a little bag of battening in it, would it help to stuff the cavity with some polyfill, put the bag back, or leave it empty after dynamat?



Heres the left side, it is already done, but I dont have that picture. I did it before I saw the video on covering the holes. It also came with a smaller bag of battening that I didnt put back in. I have some extra house insulation in my garage, would this be an appropriate place for that?



Heres the spare tire area, you can see there is some factory sound deadening stuff. Its pretty hard to peel off so I opted to just put the dynamat over it. I figured that would be ok and any noise that gets through the weak sauce mat will be stopped by the dynamat extreme. Ill be looking for an undermount spare tire upgrade at the junkyard to hopefully gain some extra cargo space for tools and what not. Im sure someone will say to put an amp and subs in there, but I like the cargo panel idea better and Im not sure if the undermount spare is reasonable yet. I also dont need a lot of bass so a quality 8" sub and amp in a stock box should work ok for me.

I have some Focal PS165s for the front doors, and was planning on Hertz HCX165s for the rear doors, but am going to probably sell those off and leave the rear doors empty.

 

[imsickofweed]

I have plenty of dynamat extreme already, theres 6 large sheets left so I think Im good for the rest of the truck. Im interested in something to fill the bulky voids in the rear quarters. Stock they came with little plastic covered puffs, which Ill put back in if I cant find something better. I was thinking of filling a trash bag full of house insulation in case of water and then stuffing them in. I would think there should be something made for cars that goes in these voids, I just need a brand name or material name to search for.

 

[imsickofweed]

Ive already dynamatted the inside of the outer sheet metal and the inner sheet metal. I decided to just stuff back in the little black plastic bags full of the factory insulation or sound deadener or whatever it is. When I hit up the junk yard for my tweeter sail panels Ill pull those rear panels and take some extra bags from the junk yard for a little extra insulation. Im almost done with the rear of the car and it looks like I might need some more dynamat to do the doors the way I want to. Ill have about 2 large sheets left and I could probably do 2 doors with those. Ill probably buy another 4 large sheets to do the rest of the floor up to the firewall and he rear doors. I probably didnt need to cover every square inch of space in the rear, but I thought I would have plenty with some left over. Once you do the inner and outer sheet metal that when the stuff gets used up fast. It sounds pretty good already, but I think the big difference will come after the doors and the firewall are done.

 

[imsickofweed]

I forgot to add that Ive done the big 4 and I'll document that now.



topside of big 4 and optima yellow top. I'm using 0 gauge welding cable wrapped with a ceramic electrical tape.



This is down by the alternator, on the Escape it is under the car right next to the exhaust manifold, in order to access it you have to remove a driveshaft...thanks Ford! I kept all the factory connections and just added my 0 gauge cable to them and wrapped them in ceramic high temp tape. I got one going from alternator case to engine block to chassis to negative battery, and another from alternator hot to stinger 300A breaker to positive battery.



This is the super special tape.



Super fancy breaker. The stock hot cable from the alternator still runs to the fuse block through a 150A fuse, I might take that stock cable out so I can have a screw terminal on my battery to run the amp positive cable from, otherwise Ill go ring terminal.



wrapping the hot side of the alternator.

 

[imsickofweed]

Just ordered some Focal Performance PS165 components for the front and, Alpine Type-R 6x8 coaxials for the rear fill. I also picked up an Alpine PDX-V9 5 to push them. Im still trying to acquire a stock 8" box and cargo panel, otherwise I wouldve ordered an 8" shallow sub for it as well. I know I would get better bass from a proper box, but I haul things a lot and dont want to have to move the box around all the time and I want to stay stock looking and stealthy. I finished the dynamat under the back seat and rear cargo area up to, but not including the headliner. I have 2 large sheets left that I hope will do the front doors and maybe some of the rear doors. Ill have to order a few more sheets to do the front floor to the firewall. I really shouldve started from the front back, so Im forced to buy more. I just ordered some 14awg twisted pair speaker wire and 3 sets of premium RCAs from monoprice so I should have everything needed for the install as it arrives.



Heres a shot of the dynamat progress, it extends under the rear seat and down to the floor. The rear seatbelts are held on by T50 torx bolts in case anyone was wondering. Everything else comes off with regular tools. I bought a 1/2 drive 9 piece torx set from Harbor Frieght for $11.99, I used the 20% coupon and the free screw driver set coupon...I got 4 sets now. Focals just came in, but they wont get installed until the sound deadening, noise blocking is complete. Im going to gut the E and finish off the sound deadening with a new pack of dynamat I ordered. Ill also be putting in some recycled denim sound absorbtion insualtion in all the voids, some fiberglass bat ceiling tile in the inner doors, sound absorbtion radiant heat barrier everywhere and a mass loaded vinyl on top of that. This should be enough to make the E tomb silent and give the best complement to the new system. Im following a guide for sound deadening using home depot products by "keep hope alive" on the ma forum. Its the most in depth write up about sound blocking Ive seen and its backed up with facts and data. Ill try and document the process as much as possible, but Im doing it along wih a few other things on the E under the hood. Im trying to prioritize and get the E back on the road ASAP. I can gut everything but the front drivers seat and do a lot of work that way without teardowns inbetween work sessions.

Budget MLV and absorption at Home Depot.

Just got 36sqft of dynamat and a roll of nico closed cell foam with a peel and stick backing. The CCF will be used on the doors before the mass loaded vinyl. Im looking at my box of dynamat and thinking that its not going to be enough for whats left to do. Im going for as close to 100% coverage of all metal that can be exposed, if its not enough amazon has free shipping so Ill just have to order more.

 

[imsickofweed]

Just ordered the rest of my sound absorbtion materials. They should arrive next week, in the mean time I plan on finishing up the sound deadener on the front of the E. Heres some pictures of the absorbtion materials.



Heres the heat/sound absorbtion mat, it will go first foil side up. Should keep the E a little cooler this Summer. I got the 24' roll because it was only a little more than the 6' roll and thats not enough for me. This will go on the floor, doors, and walls.



MLV goes next, this is the decoupler and blocks the rest of the sound going either way. It only works well if you have the absorber below it and the carpet above. I bought enough to do all floors and doors and panels/walls.



This is some denim fill, more sound absorbtion than the poly fill and less itchy too. Helps with keeping the E cool/warm in Summer/Winter. Ill stuff this in the cavities over the wheel wells and anywhere else that I can find. The 6 pack is cheaper than 3 rolls individually, but I dont think Ill use them all. Any leftovers on any of these supplies will be used on my wifes car.

I do know that, but it is thinner than actual dynamat and other products made for car audio. The research I saw was that it was too thin for what I really wanted. I had already done half the car with dynamat that I had lying around, and I wanted the front half of the car to be samesies.

In other news, Ive got 2 different factory sub boxes on hand, a 6" and an 8". The 8" is 3 3/4" deep and could fit deeper with a spacer ring. Im looking at 8" subs to use, but a lot of them that are close to the wattage that my amp puts out are much deeper than 3 3/4". I still dont have a stock panel to cover my stock box, so Im not sure how thick of a spacer ring I can get and how deep of a sub I can buy. Im hoping to find a panel at the pick a part soon, but if someone feels ambitious and generous they can measure the distance between the face of the top of the factory sub grill and the inside of the panel.

 

[imsickofweed]

I dont think the ring idea will work and still fit behind a factory panel, there is an indentation in the box where the sub sets in and when the factory sub is there it is even with the top of the box and Im assuming its touching the factory panel. Its hard to know the spacing of the panel without actually having one to test fit. I like that JL 10, and its actually pretty shallow at 3.25" and would fit depth wise. Im still on the lookout for a proper 8" woofer at 3.75" to fit in the box. Im starting to realize that Ill probably have to glass the box for it to handle 300w from the kicker comp Im looking at. I think the stiffer the box the better the sound I will get from it, but maybe a flexible box will give it more of a ported box sound? Im guessing not, but before I glass it up I want to test the sub in there. For now I have a 6" factory box with a kicker 6.75" woofer that can handle 150w RMS and Ill just run that til I can find a 8" panel or find a sub that fits my specifications.

I was supposed to start work on the deadening, absorption, and what not today, but it was so hot here and it just didnt get done. Im hoping for motovation today after work to get something done and Ill post some pictures.



8" on the left, 6.5" on the right. The volume looks to be slightly bigger on the 8", but I havent measured either one. I have measuring cups and a faucet, so maybe Ill try to get some measurements during the hot part of the day and start work on the sweaty stuff when it starts to cool off.

 

---------- Post added at 04:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:20 PM ----------

 

I measured both boxes by filling with water and measuring with a 5qt pot. The 6.5" box is actually bigger at ~0.4ft3 and the 8" box is ~0.35ft3. Seems weird that I got those measurements, but thats what I got. I wonder why Ford would give more volume to the 6.5" box?

 

---------- Post added at 04:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:21 PM ----------

 

Squirrel wrote:

Smaller speaker needs a bigger box for the output. The 8" speaker itself can do the output, thus, smaller enclosure...maybe. Could just be a cost cutting measure as you won't hear that small of a difference riding down the road, anyway. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/yes.gif.2d6d3882a589966b8145fbc57db57f33.gif

Or you could have messed up and both are different, altogether. :hyst:

Its possible...both boxes have volume that goes above the speaker hole. I tried to tip each box so that it would fill the most by creating a vacuum in the higher void (hope this makes sense). Maybe a better measurement in this case would be packing peanuts, but I dont have those.

Im in the process of stripping the E down to the bare metal, I already had most of the cargo area stripped, and now I have all the seats out. I found a lot of change!

 

[imsickofweed]

Got the rest of the interior stripped. I didnt pull the door panels, because I want to get the hard stuff done first and then do the doors one at a time.



Look at all the treasures I found! Im happiest about finding my first ever mustache comb.

 

[imsickofweed]

I'll start with this since you may not read my entire post:

The alternative is to get something like a Bazooka Speaker. Not the greatest speaker when compared to a custom setup but, the speaker(s) are matched to the enclosure and they have the integrated amp that is matched to the setup.

On woofer enclosures...simply going bigger does not mean better/bigger sound. You can get a 6.5" "woofer" that sounds better than an 8" with the right enclosure.

All speakers have specifications called Thiele Small Parameters. I hate quoting wikipedia but it's way easier than trying to explain what they all mean. In summary it's a break down of a speakers characteristics and are used to describe certain physical/physics related traits and electronic specifications. A good speaker company will have a spec sheet for their sub-woofers that gives you most of these parameters.

Wiki - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiele/Small

Thiele-small example - http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/rftech/l ... eva-ts.pdf

For a sub-woofer there are two or three you want to pay close attention to:

Vas/Cms - related to each other. In the simplest terms, the larger this value, the larger the enclosure you have to use.

Qes - used to calculate a relative 'safe' or ideal volume of space to install the speak in.

Fs is used to best determine your cuttoff/crossover frequency either by physical means such as porting of a box or using a passive/active crossover circuit.

Speaker Enclosure Volume Calculator There's a calculator about a 1/4 of the way down that allows you to figure out what volume of enclosure you'll need and if the speaker you have in mind is best suited for a ported or sealed enclosure. Rockford also has one on their site.

Since you already know the volume of the enclosure you can use, you can plug in the values from the mfg to see if they fit the space you have to offer.

Granted this is still not 100% ideal because you should ideally be building the enclosure for the speaker, not the other way around.

Quick question, besides the speaker opening, are the enclosures sealed?

I understand that the stock box is not an ideal situation for creating the best and loudest bass possible, but Im going that way for a factory stealth look. My system in high school had a kenwood 12" sub ran by an MTX D class 250W amp and that shook me plenty. I want bass, but a little less than that so I think the stock box will work out great with the Focals up front. Im running into some limitations of what woofers will fit. The one that Ive found that will fit and has the highest RMS value is the kicker compRT 8". The 2013 version gives 400W RMS as its rating but newer versions only say 300W RMS. Ive looked at the rockford fosgate options and they will fit but are only rated for 150W RMS. I havent looked at all the other ratings that youve just told me about, but I will check into them and hopefully that will broaden my options. The box has a hole in the back of it where a bolt held the stock woofer and that will be plugged. In order for the stock box to work better by being stiffer Im going to fiberglass the outside and maybe add some dowls for support inside. The kicker compRT that Im considering has a sealed box volume of .25-.75 ft3, but doesnt list the ideal volume. There are some ofher holes in the box where the amp was mounted, but those will be covered by the fiberglass later on.

 

[imsickofweed]

Work has been slow going. Its too hot for me during the day, so Im only working on it in the mornings and evenings. Ive got a sheet of dynamat pressed in and filled a bunch of cavities with the denim insulation over the rear wheel wells and in the cavities under the seats.



This is the rear seatbelt cavity, leave room for the seatbelt roll, denim can be stuffed all the up the C pillar and over the wheel well from here.



This is the left side cavity behind the wheel well, denim can be pushed in here to finish filling over the wheel well and behind it. I made sure to push it up to the window and down to the tail light. There are a few bags filled with denim insulation from the factory, I tore them open and used the denim to pack the cavities with the home depot stuff. There is another cavity next to the hatch that can finish filling behind the tail lights, but I didnt take a picture before I sealed it with dynamat. Once the cavities are filled I sealed them all with dynamat, you could use roof flashing and screw it down, then dynamat, but I didnt want to expose the metal to possible rusting. If youre going to screw, ideally youd use threaded rivets and clear coat the drill holes.



These are the support channels running across the floor under the seats. I used a screw driver to really jam them in there.



Heres a view of the front of the floor so far, you can see all the leftovers after 6 rolls of denim. I thought 6 rolls was too much, but it goes fast. For the B pillars Im going to reuse the denim insulation that I ripped off the carpet. This will be replaced by my denim backed thermal barrier and MLV. If youre going to do this you have to rip off the old backing or everything else wont fit.

There is the same denim stuff behind most of the plastic panels that Ive removed. Im going to rip all this off and put dynamat there too, but only iff I have any left after I do the floors and doors. If I run out Im going to use a home depot replacement that is thinner, but people have used it with success in place of dynamat. If I didnt already have the first set od dynamat and done the rear hatch area I wouldve used that product for the entire car for cost purposes. However I want my E to be even so I order another set of dynamat.

Tonight after the boys are in bed Im going to roll on another large sheet of dynamat that should finish off the floor. The new dynamat that I ordered is cut in smaller sheets for ease of shipping. These will be used for the doors and whatever this last large sheet doesnt get to. Ill do the front doors first and then rear doors in case I run out.

Ive decided to not put any speakers in the rear doors so I can eventually run my front mids and tweets active off the 5 channel amp I have. Right now Ill be installing my Focal PS165 component set with the included crossovers, but Ill run extra speaker wire to connect the tweeters separate later on. The crossovers will live near the amp so I can just move the tweeter wires from the crossovers to the amp when I go active later. While I have the door skins off in the back I will run 2 sets of speaker wires to each door in case I change my mind about those. I did buy a set of Hertz HCX165 coaxials for the rears and they should be pretty nice, but I rarely have anyone in the back seat and I carry stuff like a truck back there with the seats folded down a lot anyway. What do you guys think? Does the rear fill reall matter? Once I go active Ill either have to add an amp or get rid of the rears anyway. The easiest way to do that would be to get a small amp for the tweets and run the doors off the 5 channel Alpine PDX-V9. The way Id go active is with a Pioneer DEH-80PRS all the audio forums can say enough good things about this HU and I dont think Im ready to get a dedicated DSP. Also the 80PRS has an auto EQ and time delay feature that uses an included microphone to tune your system for you, small adjustments can be made afterwards or you can fully program everything yourself. You just place the mic where your head would be and run the program. These HU run for $250 on amazon so it wont break the bank, I just need to save a little or maybe Santa will get me one?

 

[imsickofweed]

That's the end of what Ive done so far and everything has been copied over from escape-city.com. There were a few things I left out, like comments from other members and my evolution of speaker decision, but everything is there that you guys need to see. I'm hoping to do some more work tonight once things cool down a bit and I get the boys in bed. Stay tuned.

 

[imsickofweed]

I was just reading another thread about active front stage, which got me thinking... What if I put 8"s in the doors where the 6.5"s would most likely go and power them off the sub channel of my pdx-v9. The other 4 channels would power my focal component set with the tweeters in the sail panels and the 6.5"s either in the door somewhere or maybe the kicks if I can make it work. Then run active 3-way with a yet to be purchased 80prs. I would forgo the stock sub box with aftermarket sub for the rear at the moment but it would be possible to add a mono amp for that at a later date. Would this active set up give me enough bass to be happy? Would the sub channel of my amp be ok driving these 2 midbass 8"s either in series or parallel alright? I listen to a lot of music, but usually not bass heavy rap. Currently Im listening to a lot of drum and bass, reggae, and neil diamond, lol.

I was considering using the peerless SLS 8" in the rear doors after they are well treated with dynamat etc. If I dont have the seats folded down, would this be a good addition, or is it better to have those 8"s in front of me?

 

[imsickofweed]

Got another large sheet of dynamat in tonight, it really looks like it would cover more area but once it gets cut and molded to contour theres really not much.



I still have some more to go in the foot wells and up the firewall which will be the most difficult because theres some factory MLV like material in the way. Its bolted in and molded around a few things that makes it difficult to pull out so Im just going to hold it up and roll the dynamat on as best I can.

Its good to be able to work slow and get it done right, which Im able to do only because Im borrowing my wifes old car that we were trying to sell, but not until this project is finished //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif