A Mac in an Escape - Page 2

MochaJunkie · 10-09-2006, 04:54 PM

Nice Work!
Just two questions:
A) Do you have a power drivers seat? I do and I have been tinking about puttng a four channel amp under there. My sub amp is under the passenger, but it would surely suck for some one to hop in drop the seat and crush the amp or hurt my seat...
B) Why an external sound card? I don't know much about the mini but doesn't it have one built in? Just seems like extra cables and such.

All-in-all nice Escape!

iamgnat · 10-14-2006, 09:21 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by MochaJunkie

Nice Work!
Just two questions:

Thanks. Sorry for the delayed response, I forget to check the thread sometimes

Quote:

A) Do you have a power drivers seat? I do and I have been tinking about puttng a four channel amp under there. My sub amp is under the passenger, but it would surely suck for some one to hop in drop the seat and crush the amp or hurt my seat...

Yeap, it's powered. I have my seat all the way up, but it should have more than enough clearance unless you have a weird AMP or have it raised in some way.

Quote:

B) Why an external sound card? I don't know much about the mini but doesn't it have one built in? Just seems like extra cables and such.

There are a couple of reasons. The first is that the Mini has a standard headphone/line-out jack and I want to control all my channels. Unfortunately the card I have doesn't have Intel-Mac drivers so that kinda defeats the purpose

. The second reason is that the Intel Minis have some weird issue where it reverts back to the internal speaker after waking up when it is in the car.

Good luck with your 'scape. I think they are a great platform for this kind of stuff.

-dave

iiooiioo · 10-23-2006, 12:55 AM

First of all great job with the mod.

I was wondering if you have a photo of your DIN with nothing in it before the card stock was added? I have looked around and have found no pictures of the dash without the radio in it. I have a 2004 XLS Sport and I just wanted to see what I was dealing with when taking out the radio and fabing a custom look for the touch like you did. Any pics\links to pics would be great. Thanks for any help.

iamgnat · 10-24-2006, 05:20 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by iiooiioo

I was wondering if you have a photo of your DIN with nothing in it before the card stock was added?

Nope, what is in here is what I have. Sorry.

You can pop the factory HU out without taking anything else off, you just need a set of the radio keys (just about any auto parts store should have them).

Essentially you have an area that is a bit wider than the HU on each side (without pulling the HU, you can judge this space based on your vents. Then there is a metal guide that the HU sits on (and there is a plastic bit on the back that hooks on it) which is what I referred to removing. Then there is a bar at the very back (also mentioned) which is about 1 or 2 inches further back than the HU is long. I don't remember the space above, but I think you have an inch or two.

The big thing you have to work around is the hole in the dash itself (under the fascia). It is pretty much exactly the size of the HU and I had to cut it up for my modifications. As far as I can tell, it is part of the dash so you better be sure before you start cutting

Another option (that I didn't pursue) would be to trim the fascia where it curve in towards the dash. If you trim most of it off, you should be able to get enough room to mount a LCD behind it without modifying the dash at all. But that is a theory that I never tested (I went with the WRX housing specifically so I didn't have to do much modification myself (e.g. fiberglass).

-dave

iamgnat · 08-05-2007, 03:53 PM

My wife just had to get a new BMW back in March and in riding in it, I realized just how noisy my Escape is. So I started looking around and talking to lots of people and decided to add sound deadening mat.

Now for those that know me, you'll know I can't do things in small amounts. No, I have to jump in with both feet even I don't know how to swim.

Some stats:
~16 - 20 hours will have been spent by the time I get the interior back in.
~130 square feet of mat have been laid down, and I still have to do the doors

90+ was the average temp on the days I worked on it (no garage, the green you see in the picks is the tarp I stretched over it to cut some of the heat down).

I have some advice to those that are thinking about doing this themselves (especially to this extreme), if you don't absolutely and without any hesitation love your car, pay someone else to do this. It really isn't hard work, just tedious and painful (in a few ways).

Not pictured (but also covered) are the tailgate and the spare tire area.

Looking forward from the rear:

Right rear "trunk" area:

Left rear "trunk" area:

Roof:

-dave

EagleTG · 08-05-2007, 09:35 PM

I did that on a Chevy Tracker, I felt your pain. I tore everything apart, and laid mat on every panel. Worst part was, once I was done, it was less than two months until I traded it in.

What kind of mat are you using?

iamgnat · 08-05-2007, 09:53 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by EagleTG

I did that on a Chevy Tracker, I felt your pain. I tore everything apart, and laid mat on every panel. Worst part was, once I was done, it was less than two months until I traded it in.

Once I put the Mac in, the wife told me i'm never aloud to sell it so i'm good there

Quote:

What kind of mat are you using?

It's HushMat, but I would have gone with SecondSkin if I hadn't gotten such a good deal on it. It's nice and heavy and pretty easy to work with so i'll pick up more of it to finish off the doors even though I won't get quite as good of a deal.

-dave

iamgnat · 09-07-2007, 09:56 PM

I finally got around to finishing up my doors tonight. 2 months (probably about 30ish actual hours) and 192 sq/ft of mat later and my Escape sounds like a different vehicle.

Thank god it's over though

Sorry, no new pics.

-dave

bellasorrow · 10-02-2007, 07:45 PM

Please tell me how to get the stinkin' center console off of my 2004 escape

I was hoping to just pop off the top of the console where the cup holder and small tray at the floor are but I was afraid of snapping something off. Is there a way to pop it off or does the whole console have to go? I get stuck when it comes to the section where the cubby lid closes and locks. I know there are two clips at the two corners of the floor tray but then the front floor dash gets in the way.

GRRRRRR!.......

help

I've unscrewed every bolt and such and can get the back to lift up but the front of the console seems to be bolted also. how do I then get the whole darn console off? Do i have to take off the cup holder in the back in order to get the sides of the whole console apart? am I making sense?
Please.....

p.s. I cant even find a chilton

Thank you

Bugbyte · 10-02-2007, 08:32 PM

First hit in Google

AznRida · 12-07-2007, 07:31 AM

Hey man,

How do you like the M-Audio Sonica Theater? I've been hunting for a good USB Sound Card. Could you send me a picture of the connectors? I need to see the layout and for some reason I can only find the single picture of the front. Thanks.