Stereo Overhaul - Mild Documentation

[CowboyKid]

It had appropriate cutouts for everything except these three rear seat bolt holes. These were overlooked (red circles in last pic).

I did the doors (with Second Skin Damplifier - made a big difference) then got busy. I have been intending to do the floor since I got my BD last autumn, and bought the stuff; but am concerned about the possibility of creating a mold sandwich between the deadening layer and the reinstalled washout floor; or maybe even under the deadener. I think once the deadener is down it ain't coming back up if a problem develops. My theory is maybe it isn't a bit deal so long as the drain holes are fully sealed - maybe lay down some silicone beads before laying the washout floor back down? Did you consider this and if so what are your thoughts?

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[John P.]

Glad to see another manual transmission owner trying to run wire through that grommet. I will need to get one 4 AWG and one 8 AWG run for my amplifiers through that grommet (or by another means). I’ve seen people also poke through the lower part, too.

I was originally going to run 0 AWG to the amps; glad I changed course.

 

[brtd]

I did the doors (with Second Skin Damplifier - made a big difference) then got busy. I have been intending to do the floor since I got my BD last autumn, and bought the stuff; but am concerned about the possibility of creating a mold sandwich between the deadening layer and the reinstalled washout floor; or maybe even under the deadener. I think once the deadener is down it ain't coming back up if a problem develops. My theory is maybe it isn't a bit deal so long as the drain holes are fully sealed - maybe lay down some silicone beads before laying the washout floor back down? Did you consider this and if so what are your thoughts?

A ring of silicone is not a bad idea. Before I had stripped the floor, I did have a mild worry about that potential.

I'm not the guy that's gonna hose the floor down every week, but there was a video on YouTube where someone had water underneath the rubber floor. It can happen.

But after seeing how much foam is already attached to the bottom of the rubber floor, I'm less concerned about it. The soundskinz is closed cell as far as I know.

The plug... with the twist cap is not attached to the floor (that I removed). It's a separate assembly attached to the metal. A bit of silicone between that and the rubber floor would be enough to settle any nerves about mold I think. I'll get a few pics this week and quote your post again. Thanks for mentioning it.

Glad to see another manual transmission owner trying to run wire through that grommet. I will need to get one 4 AWG and one 8 AWG run for my amplifiers through that grommet (or by another means). I’ve seen people also poke through the lower part, too.

I was originally going to run 0 AWG to the amps; glad I changed course.

0 awg would have been a challenge. Probably possible but not fun.

 

[eduard4us]

A ring of silicone is not a bad idea. Before I had stripped the floor, I did have a mild worry about that potential.

I'm not the guy that's gonna hose the floor down every week, but there was a video on YouTube where someone had water underneath the rubber floor. It can happen.

But after seeing how much foam is already attached to the bottom of the rubber floor, I'm less concerned about it. The soundskinz is closed cell as far as I know.

The plug... with the twist cap is not attached to the floor (that I removed). It's a separate assembly attached to the metal. A bit of silicone between that and the rubber floor would be enough to settle any nerves about mold I think. I'll get a few pics this week and quote your post again. Thanks for mentioning it.



0 awg would have been a challenge. Probably possible but not fun.

Love to see how your project evolves, can’t wait to hear your thoughts on mObridge once you fire up the system

 

[tjparisi]

Glad to see another manual transmission owner trying to run wire through that grommet. I will need to get one 4 AWG and one 8 AWG run for my amplifiers through that grommet (or by another means). I’ve seen people also poke through the lower part, too.

I was originally going to run 0 AWG to the amps; glad I changed course.

I ran one cable through the firewall (4 awg I think) and put a distribution block under the dash by the steering wheel brace, a little farther back or off to the side, towards the fuse box. Ran 8 awg to each kicker key amp (200.4 & 500.1) from the distribution block. Worked out really well!

 

[brtd]

Sorry for the delay. Today's Wordle got in the way of me posting here for the last few days.

Wiring is done. Home runs from the stock amp location to all speakers, 9 in total.

Washout floor, seats, and most of the interior trim went back in without too much trouble. Broke some clips along the way. I had ordered a variety pack, but none of them really helped.

The door card clips I had tucked away in the back of my 2015 LR4 really came in handy when I reinstalled the drivers side panel in the trunk. Perfect fit.

Dash bits are still on the floor of the barn. Waiting on the speakers before the final snap in.

Received the mid woofers for the kick panel yesterday. Mounting plates from soundsgoodstereo provide a little extra clearance. Not sure how much trouble this will cause when I put the trim back. Cross that bridge later.

M3 Carbon mid for the center channel arrives tomorrow. Not sure what improvisation will be needed to make it fit.

Machined mids and their tweeter pairs are with the "Meshman" now. I should have those and the custom mounting plates next week sometime.

Fraser from mObridge is waiting on some mounting plates for the amp to adapt it to the stock location. I'll be rolling with that and the BO sub until something better comes along (Stealthbox probably).

Hard to tell if the sound deadening makes a difference. I want to say it does, but that could just be confirmation bias. And I'm now driving with no audio at all, which is not how I spent my time in the car before this operation.

I have detailed pics of the wire routes if anyone wants them, but honestly there weren't that many forks in the road. Just sought to make it fit and keep some distance between the power wire and the speaker wire runs.

Here's the last few pics before I started piecing it back together.

And here it was yesterday.

More to come next week.

 

[John P.]

Your impression of sound deadening and confirmation bias seems consistent with other posts I’ve seen on the forum, including empirical dB readings. So much noise comes through the tops on these vehicles—soft top or hard top—to work against your efforts down below.

I have used mass loaded vinyl (Luxury Liner Pro from SSA) before in other cars, and that had a big impact on exhaust noise coming up through the trunk floor (Audi S5 with a V8 and AWE track exhaust, also a manual). That’s the right material for blocking noise.

I’ve already bought 36ft2 of sound deadener (and everything else for this project—thread coming soon). I plan to use it inside the kick panels and trunk floor; definitely not going all-in like you did with the floors. Knowing me the Bronco would be disassembled for a year if I tried.

Do you notice a difference when shutting your doors, though? Mine certainly have a tinny sound when shutting them, so if it helps I’d probably put a panel or two on the inner door skin.

Looking forward to next steps!

 

[brtd]

Do you notice a difference when shutting your doors, though? Mine certainly have a tinny sound when shutting them, so if it helps I’d probably put a panel or two on the inner door skin.

Looking forward to next steps!

The floors were probably overkill, and maybe a waste of time. But this is my YOLO build and the what-if would probably nag me if I didn't go the extra mile.

Going full out on the doors definitely made a difference in the sound of the doors shutting. Still get that window slap a bit, but they are not as tinny as they were before. And the knock test from the outside is remarkably improved.

I also added remnants from the soundskinz panels to various points on the inside of the plastic trim pieces as I was reassembling. Nothing drives me more mad than rattles, either from road vibration or low frequency sounds from music. That should help.

I'm sure there will be additional spot treatments needed once I get everything hooked up again and can run some sine sweeps to locate resonances.

If I didn't already mention it, it should be noted that the soundskinz kits for the doors do not include any material for the outer door panel. I had some extra dynamat laying around for that.

 

[eduard4us]

The floors were probably overkill, and maybe a waste of time. But this is my YOLO build and the what-if would probably nag me if I didn't go the extra mile.

Going full out on the doors definitely made a difference in the sound of the doors shutting. Still get that window slap a bit, but they are not as tinny as they were before. And the knock test from the outside is remarkably improved.

I also added remnants from the soundskinz panels to various points on the inside of the plastic trim pieces as I was reassembling. Nothing drives me more mad than rattles, either from road vibration or low frequency sounds from music. That should help.

I'm sure there will be additional spot treatments needed once I get everything hooked up again and can run some sine sweeps to locate resonances.

If I didn't already mention it, it should be noted that the soundskinz kits for the doors do not include any material for the outer door panel. I had some extra dynamat laying around for that.

I will say that the sound treatment it does it’s job but no one should expect miracles.
I did changed the exhaust with the cord performance one and after I did only the trunk and the panels it did make a difference in attenuating the exhaust sound.
I was thinking to tackle the doors, good to know that the kits do not include the outer door panel …for the price you would expect to get full coverage for the doors

 

[brtd]

I would like to share my joy.

I wasn't sure if the kick panel trim would disagree with the half inch thick mounting spacer for the TM65s.

To my great pleasure, it fits without issue.

Goodbye for now.

 

[MTmeterguy]

Beautiful work! Did you get the spacer from SI?

 

[brtd]

Beautiful work! Did you get the spacer from SI?

I got them from Sounds Good Stereo.

That's where I sourced the additional sound deadening material as well. And honestly, their YouTube video was quite instrumental in giving me the confidence to do the full tear down.


In other news...

Woofers installed today in the kick panels. And I've got my dash somewhat put back together. Ethernet run from the buttons down to below the steering wheel.

Better speaker coming tomorrow for in the engine bay.

I'll be close to wrapping this up next week if all goes to plan. Probably won't have the remaining drivers until late in the week at the earliest. Adding to the Meshman job a mounting plate for the center speaker.

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

Oh wow, thanks for the info/link on the adapters! I'm planning on the TM65's as well and was figuring I wouldn't know what's what until I had everything apart and THEN would have to figure it out. This is perfect, thanks!

 

[brtd]

Here's a little preview of the front mounting plates from Meshman.

 

[John P.]

Nice. I reached out to Meshman, thinking that the plates were ready-to-install. Seems that more work is to be done after receiving them. I may still go with my plan to try the a-pillars for the tweeter location.

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