1989 F-150 XLT Lariat, Complete Build
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Yeah, that surprised me as well. Judging by the amount of dust accumulated inside the door panels, I'd guess they have only been off a handful of time in the entire life of the truck.
Thanks for the compliment, and believe me, I'm only scratching the surface. At the current rate, this will probably take me another month or two before I'm satisfied. I hope to finish, or at least wrap up the basics, before my job transfers me out of town. Then again, a per diem check could certainly help me have enough money for the build!
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Up for the morning!
Today's activities will include:
1) installing the driver's side speaker
2) concealing the speaker wires
3) troubleshooting the passenger midrange
6) identifying problem areas in the interior and brainstorming solutions.
I'll post pictures as I have them. This will one of those very full days that can make me feel like I'm not actually accomplishing anything. At least by the end of the day I'll have a working HU, tweeters, and mids, even though I'll be going back later for deadening and such.
Wish me luck!
Today's activities will include:
1) installing the driver's side speaker
2) concealing the speaker wires
3) troubleshooting the passenger midrange
When I first installed it, it was making a weird "crunchy" noise once I got up to a reasonable listening level. I've got to determine if it's clipping from the HU, or if I installed a damaged mid. Fortunately, I have a stack of these speakers several feet high in my office, so I can try swapping it out. A third option is that I'm simply overpowering it, but that seems unlikely.
4) putting the door panels back onI'll go back later and do the sound deadener, I just don't want to look at bare door panels all week!
5) playing with Sketchup to get a working schematic of what will go under the rear seat6) identifying problem areas in the interior and brainstorming solutions.
I'll post pictures as I have them. This will one of those very full days that can make me feel like I'm not actually accomplishing anything. At least by the end of the day I'll have a working HU, tweeters, and mids, even though I'll be going back later for deadening and such.
Wish me luck!
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1,690 Posts
Okay, I put in 5 hours today, here's what I accomplished:
I ran the wires to the drivers door, the same as on the passenger side. Then I concealed the wires. No pictures of that, there's nothing to see!
Next, I noticed that the basket of the midrange I installed Saturday looked distorted from being wedged into the wrong size hole. I couldn't get a good photo of that, but it was definitely developing a slight bend where I had tightened the screws. So I cut some baffles or spacers from 1/8" tempered masonite:
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Applied a 1/4" roundover so it would fit:
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Test-fitting it to the speaker:
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Test-fitting it to the door:
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Once I had those cut, I used them as spacers so the door speakers would have a flat mounting surface. 1/8" is all it took to make a 6.5" speaker fit a cutout meant for a 6"! I installed the left speaker and re-installed the right speaker. Then I put the door panels back on and buttoned it back up for the week. The soonest I'll come back to this is Saturday, if I don't have work then.
Project total is now 18 hours, thanks for watching!
I ran the wires to the drivers door, the same as on the passenger side. Then I concealed the wires. No pictures of that, there's nothing to see!
Next, I noticed that the basket of the midrange I installed Saturday looked distorted from being wedged into the wrong size hole. I couldn't get a good photo of that, but it was definitely developing a slight bend where I had tightened the screws. So I cut some baffles or spacers from 1/8" tempered masonite:
Applied a 1/4" roundover so it would fit:
Test-fitting it to the speaker:
Test-fitting it to the door:
Once I had those cut, I used them as spacers so the door speakers would have a flat mounting surface. 1/8" is all it took to make a 6.5" speaker fit a cutout meant for a 6"! I installed the left speaker and re-installed the right speaker. Then I put the door panels back on and buttoned it back up for the week. The soonest I'll come back to this is Saturday, if I don't have work then.
Project total is now 18 hours, thanks for watching!
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1,557 Posts
Nice catch on the speaker misfit, down the road that would surely
lead to voice coil rub I bet.
Any plans to coat them in epoxy or some other type of resin?
lead to voice coil rub I bet.
Any plans to coat them in epoxy or some other type of resin?
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Yeah, that's what I was concerned about. I'll be re-doing them anyway in a week or two when I do the deadener, but I'm glad I caught it sooner rather than later. I sure am glad to have a working head unit and speakers for now!
Probably. The insides of those doors don't see much moisture, especially not that high on the door. Not nearly as much as the engine compartment, for instance. Seeing as the masonite is tempered, it's already slightly moisture resistant, it's the exact same stuff every Japanese car from the 1980s and early 90s used for door panels. In fact that's why I have some on hand, I plan to eventually rebuild the door panels on my '89 Sentra.
When I do get around to the deadener, I'll either throw some spray lacquer, or polyester fiberglass resin, or just good ol' deck stain on them for good measure. But I'm sure they'll be fine for now.
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I have a small update: no overtime this week means I have Saturday and possibly Monday free again, and my sound deadener is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I doubt I'll be digging out the fiberglass just yet, but we shall see. I'll see if I can find any scrap aluminum sheet metal at work tomorrow as well, for sealing up the holes in the doors.
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I put in another 7 hours between last night and today, and have mostly completed one door.
Last night I spent some time tuning the DXZ785USB, and I am very happy with it as a head unit. The internal amp seems a little weaker than I expected, so I'm up in the air about whether or not I will need a 4-channel later for my front stage. The PEQ, time alignment, and crossover features are straightforward and powerful, you would not believe how much difference time alignment makes in a cab that WIDE. Okay, maybe you would.
I am really loving the adjustable color backlight on the Clarion:
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20 bonus points for anyone who recognizes both musicians!
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Then I took the passenger door card off to get started on some damping.
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More pictures to follow momentarily.
Last night I spent some time tuning the DXZ785USB, and I am very happy with it as a head unit. The internal amp seems a little weaker than I expected, so I'm up in the air about whether or not I will need a 4-channel later for my front stage. The PEQ, time alignment, and crossover features are straightforward and powerful, you would not believe how much difference time alignment makes in a cab that WIDE. Okay, maybe you would.
I am really loving the adjustable color backlight on the Clarion:
20 bonus points for anyone who recognizes both musicians!
Then I took the passenger door card off to get started on some damping.
More pictures to follow momentarily.
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I had fun figuring out how to put the Z-metal inside the door:
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Eventually, I got it in. Yes, I did test to make sure it doesn't block the window mechanism. The chalk line indicates where the brace is.
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I secured it with several pop rivets along the length. The door feels a bit sturdier now.
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Eventually, I got it in. Yes, I did test to make sure it doesn't block the window mechanism. The chalk line indicates where the brace is.
I secured it with several pop rivets along the length. The door feels a bit sturdier now.
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1,690 Posts
Man, uploading pictures to my website is going slowly tonight for some reason.
First bit of CLD applied (lower door) and test fitting some heavy gauge aluminum sheet metal I picked up from work:
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I thoroughly cleaned inside the door, used some aluminum tape for extra backing (since I would otherwise be attempting to adhere peel-n-stick to that bumpy spray damper the OEMs use), and applied CLD inside the door.
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Another picture of that:
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First bit of CLD applied (lower door) and test fitting some heavy gauge aluminum sheet metal I picked up from work:
I thoroughly cleaned inside the door, used some aluminum tape for extra backing (since I would otherwise be attempting to adhere peel-n-stick to that bumpy spray damper the OEMs use), and applied CLD inside the door.
Another picture of that:
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Okay, finally the rest of my images finished uploading.
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@Fly, I decided to waterproof the mounting rings with Minwax 30 minute lacquer. I got two or three heavy coats on there, and now they bead water.
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@Fly, I decided to waterproof the mounting rings with Minwax 30 minute lacquer. I got two or three heavy coats on there, and now they bead water.
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1,690 Posts
More damping:
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The white stuff is just DAP Alex Plus (acrylic latex plus silicone) caulk. I'm letting that dry over the weekend before deciding Monday if I need any more damper.
If you look closely, you can see that I damped the door in such a way that if I need to access the inside of the door, I can just drill out the pop rivets, cut the caulk with a razor, and remove the appropriate sections of sheet metal. Most of the sheet metal got damper on both sides.
That's all until Monday. Preliminary listening says the damper improved midbass, but if my ears didn't tell me that then the last seven hours was a waste.
The white stuff is just DAP Alex Plus (acrylic latex plus silicone) caulk. I'm letting that dry over the weekend before deciding Monday if I need any more damper.
If you look closely, you can see that I damped the door in such a way that if I need to access the inside of the door, I can just drill out the pop rivets, cut the caulk with a razor, and remove the appropriate sections of sheet metal. Most of the sheet metal got damper on both sides.
That's all until Monday. Preliminary listening says the damper improved midbass, but if my ears didn't tell me that then the last seven hours was a waste.
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1,690 Posts
PS, the project total is now 25 hours, and I would estimate I'm at 25% completion.
Another note, I strongly recommend buying door panel clips at Auto Zone! They come with a 90 day warranty, and they honor the warranty! I went to Auto Zone tonight to buy some more clips to replace the ones I broke, and the guy there was like "didn't you just buy some the other day? did they break already?"
Anyway, long story short, I got a whole box of panel clips for free! Who knew anyone would warranty a dinky little plastic clip?
Another note, I strongly recommend buying door panel clips at Auto Zone! They come with a 90 day warranty, and they honor the warranty! I went to Auto Zone tonight to buy some more clips to replace the ones I broke, and the guy there was like "didn't you just buy some the other day? did they break already?"
Anyway, long story short, I got a whole box of panel clips for free! Who knew anyone would warranty a dinky little plastic clip?
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Do you mean post 29? If so, I tried to fix it just now. Let me know if that works for you.
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Good to hear, I had just used too complicated of an image code initially.
I forgot to say it earlier, but thanks! There is still much work to be done. I'm doing my best to keep quality up, even at the expense of schedule. Schedule? Who am I kidding? I don't even have one for this build!
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Two things that don't belong in a build of your own....
A deadline
A schedule
Take it from me I'm the Master! lol
Nice work so far. I guess now I should take and put up some
pics of mine for you.
A deadline
A schedule
Take it from me I'm the Master! lol
Nice work so far. I guess now I should take and put up some
pics of mine for you.
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1,690 Posts
Of course! I'm eager to see it!
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