What do you do when you have the family "truckster" and can't sacrifice the room to give your car the boom? Take it to the guys at Directed Electronics' "Snake Pit" to give you the best of both worlds. The guys at Directed took a 2005 Ford Focus station wagon and transformed this little grocery getter into a hard-hitting bass machine.
Well, with an accommodating budget, Snake Pit instructors John Wilson and Rene Ortiz took the task in hand. Before transforming the vehicle, the layout of the car was set and the design created. The first task was to eliminate any type of vibration and rattle that can be produced by an amplified system.
Removing the interior door panels of the car allows open access to lay sound dampening material on the inner and outer metal skin of the door, which eliminates any unwanted resonance. John and Rene applied the dampening material to allow the speaker to perform more effectively without causing vibration of the sheet metal.
While John replaces the OEM speaker with a higher-powered Scosche EFX 5x7 coaxial speaker to provide better sound separation and performance, Rene is displaying the EFX in-line 4-gauge fuse holder under the hood and running the power wire through the firewall to the rear of the vehicle under the carpet for a stealth appearance.
Considering that this is a new vehicle and John and Rene are working within a set budget, instead of adding an aftermarket head unit to the vehicle, the guys at the Pit decided to integrate the OEM head unit with RCA high-to-low signal converters to provide a proper signal path for the amplifiers in the rear of the vehicle.
Now that the speakers are in place, sound deadening material laid, and RCA signal and power wire run to the rear of the vehicle, it's time to create a design that's not only hard hitting, but also functional. Utilizing the trunk area, John and Rene decide to build an enclosure that will utilize the spare tire well recessed into the floor.
Taking the existing trunk pad and using it as a template allows John to create a support board that will be mounted above the sub enclosure to protect the speaker from anything being placed on top. Creating an opening around the speakers in the panel allows for the speakers to perform effectively. John adds a metallic grille over the panel opening to give it more cosmetic appeal and protect the speaker from being damaged.
The box now in place and the panel cover completed, Rene jumps into action by designing an amp rack to house the four-channel and mono amplifiers for the system. By measuring out the area behind the back seat as closely as possible, Rene spaces out the amplifiers and fused distribution for killer visual appeal.
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Here we outline the panel for the Accumat material.
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A second application of Accumat on the inner door skin is needed.
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John applies the sound dampener to the outer door skin.
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EFX Accumat noise reduction material is good stuff.
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The Scosche EFX 4-gauge in-line fuse holder is mounted under the hood.
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Here are all of the ingredients for this little "grocery getter."
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Here's the Accumat around the factory components.
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The high-low signal converters are installed behind the OEM radio.
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While John assembles the enclosure, Rene covers the face of the box.
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John creates a cosmetic template from the existing factory pad.
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The cosmetic panel is placed around the enclosure.
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The cosmetic panel is placed in the existing hatch pad above the enclosure.
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John runs RCA signal cables beneath the carpet to the rear of the vehicle.
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John and Rene take measurements for the enclosure in the spare tire well.
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Rene joins the cover panel to the enclosure.