boom boom- finally finished up

[AlexN09]

Haha I had that same realization. At first I was like yeah I'll make another one for you and you etc. Now I wouldn't do it for less than $400 bucks. Yours looks great, I think theres less than ten people on the forums with boxes like ours.

[DJ_B_Easy]

Haha my name doesn't start with d3santis!!!!! Gimme a sec I'm in class

Alright here's the picture of basically a mock up of the final setup:


I'm going to finish the box in Nissan-Ocean Grey and I need to figure out some way to mount the amp.

This is where I need help, I wanted to just take a single piece of sheet metal and bend a mount that would sit flat against the bottom of the amp, and bend out at the top and bottom to mount out to the wall. The problem is that the mounting surface inside the trunk has complex angles and isn't really square to the floor or anything. How would you go about mounting the amp?

Straight A's or GTFO!

Looks great. I originally wanted to mount my amps stacked right in the corner where you box actually is because I have the Zenclosure box for my subs. I had the hardest time figuring out where to put them and retain trunk space so thats why I eventually ended up doing the back seat thing. One thing I can say you definitely DONT want to do is mount the amp to the box in any way. When they are separate you can simply unplug signal cables from the box to remove it rather than removing power cables from or the amp itself to remove it.

What you if looked at hanging it down from the rear deck rather than mounting a brace up from the floor?

[AlexN09]

Haha yeah I forgot about straight a's a while ago. C's get degrees!!!! D stands for diploma! And so forth.

I definitely learned not to mount the amp to the box because sometimes you just need the space, or need the spare tire and you need to get the box out.

I hadn't thought of mounting it to the deck but that would be awesome if it worked!!

[Irvxing]

Looking great!
If you wanna stash away your amp look into the space where the spare is.
here is this big hunk of metal there that does nothing. (spare tire retainer or something)
It has 2-4 bolts remove those and you'll be left with a pretty good open space to mount you amp in.
I mounted my distribution blocks on there.

[DJ_B_Easy]

LOL AT YOUR SIG!

Careful with amps in the spare well. They can overheat much more quickly down there.

[Irvxing]

^ he got upset because i posted a on his new build thread. After that he left
I got 4 12 volt fans Pushing and pulling air on my amp rack (4 chan amp is bottom mounted, upside down)
Its warm but not HOT like it was before adding the fans.

[AlexN09]

Look that's a great idea but honestly I would be really nervous about the amp overheating. I know what piece you're talking about because right now the amp is grounded to one of those four bolts. I originally wanted to mount the amp under the floor mat but I got a lot of advice to mount them in free air. When hooking up the fans could you just wire them to the power and signal terminals on the amp? Or is it signal and ground?

[Irvxing]

Remote and Ground.
Or power and ground if you got a fan controller. If not, the fans will stay on all the time.

[AlexN09]

Okay yeah that makes sense. I just have like three devices drawing from the same little 16 awg wire already lol

[AlexN09]

So driving around with the sub banging in my trunk has really distracted me from this build! I didn't wanna take it out but I figured I had better if I was ever going to get this going again. I took Irvxing's advice and mounted my amp beneath the trunk carpet... although I don't have any ventilation yet and cant imagine how it would work...

Anyhow I also grabbed a power distribution block and wired up for this little guy:


I can't wait to get this mounted, I'm putting it under the dash... just wait and see if I can even do it, so far it's proving to be a terrible chore but I have a plan. I've got the nest four days off thanks to labor day and this thing is gonna get sanded, bondo'ed, primed, and not painted cause I don't have the paint yet haha

[Irvxing]

Get the FANS! NAO! PC fans are cheap lol.
You running these amps off the factory HU?
What part from under the dash do you plan to mount this amp?
I'm excited just looking at your thread. Did my audio not too long ago as well.

[AlexN09]

Yeah I'm thinking about just excavating some old pcs and grabbing those, but I'm just wondering from where does the air come from and go to? Like how do you get air down under the carpet? Your idea anyway. And I'm not running the amp at all it's just sitting there powered.

I installed a double din pioneer app radio and it's not exactly audio oriented but it gets the job done for sure. It's not really starving the speakers for power but I wanted this amp for the clarity and extra power to whatever speakers I'll upgrade to.

Yeah I'm having a really great time installing all of it and doing it myself. Making stuff custom etc.

There are some bolts sticking out from the firewall that I'm goin to build a mount on. Hopefully I can make a couple little steel pieces that will boot across or something. Idk but it won't fit anywhere in the console or under the seats or anything unfortunately.

[Irvxing]

Yeah I'm thinking about just excavating some old pcs and grabbing those, but I'm just wondering from where does the air come from and go to? Like how do you get air down under the carpet? Your idea anyway. And I'm not running the amp at all it's just sitting there powered.
.

Good point.
Im planning on mounting my amps somewhere hidden aswell.
Theyre kinda big though (Hifonics HFi series amps)
I got my whole trunk pretty much gutted so i'll see if i can find a good place.

[AlexN09]

The area around the spare is fairly large and it's surrounded by styrofoam so I suppose some channeling could be made out to the cabin from both sides, maybe air in one and out the other?

Fortunately I have two very small amps. I picked both with that in mind.

Tell me about your audio setup!

[Irvxing]

I just recycled the amps i had before
Currently working on Dynamatting the trunk.
And remember this; small-update-t560711.html?hilit=small%20update&start=30
Pioneer AVH p4300 or 3400 im too tired to remember lol
Boston Acoustics Sc95 or Sc65 6.5 components fronts.
Jbl GTO Rears (needed cheap replacements) Replacing soon.
Hifonics HFi 1000.1 Mono, HFi 440 4 Chan
4 gauge from battery to distribution block then 8GA going to amps.
Rockford Fostgate P3 Dual 4ohm sub in a sound ordinance sealed box.
Amps sitting on a MAssive amp rack currently with fans blowing through.
All i can think of for now

[AlexN09]

Cool I honestly know so little about car audio stuff that I don't know what those model numbers are, but I have been trying to learn about more companies. I still don't really know what speakers I want but that's gonna be my last part of the process.

Here's my amp mounted to the firewall, it's not bolted down here but I just needed it loose to take a pic.


I sanded down the resin a ton and it came out pretty smooth:


Then I bondo(ed) like crazy and worked it all out and forgot to take pics! So I primed it and now I'm here:

[DJ_B_Easy]

Looks good. But remember what I said earlier. When you think you are done, do 2 more coats. Did you get the finishing Bondo, small tube for bubbles and whatnot?

[AlexN09]

No I didn't at all but I put about three coats on the whole thing and a little more in other places, coupled with a high build primer it's coming out alright. Honestly it could use more work but I kinda don't really care to make it perfect.. Maybe that's really dumb but it looks good enough for me right now!

[DJ_B_Easy]

I hear ya. I got to the point where I just wanted mine done. I had been working on it for so long I just wanted it to be over. If you are happy with it, its good to go. But it looks pretty clean to me anyway.

[AlexN09]

ugh idk if I want to just paint it and call it a day or sand it all down again and start over with the bondo, the primer really brought out a lot of subtle waves and things and I'm assuming that the paint will also look like this. I think I need to get a hard sanding block so I don't make waves in the surface.

Edit*

Here's some pics of the sub mounted and in the trunk, won't have the paint from the dealership for a while so I figured I'd get it running.


And here it is in the trunk with the amp mounted under the floor mat. I have about twelve feet of speaker wire so I can take the box out and put it on the ground to access the spare tire and amp.


I've got the alpine 4x50 watt amp powering the door speakers now and even at the highest volume all of the power systems are running great! The sound is definitely improved ten fold over the stock system. Now I just need to decide on what speakers to put in the doors.

[Irvxing]

CONGRATS! Looks so clean. Trunk space=not compromised.
Are you running cables directly from the amp to the front speakers?
Or did you tap into the Speakers through the back of the HU?

[DJ_B_Easy]

If the waves and such are really subtle, another coat or two of primer might hide them (depending on what kind you are using). Or try the finishing Bondo I mentioned, its meant for the last little bit of imperfection that you cant fix with regular Bondo (bubbles mostly).

I dont see any waves though, looks great.

[AlexN09]

Thanks guys !!!!


I love how this is turning out, it's really exactly what I was going for.

Irv, I just made a little four foot long harness from the factory wiring over to my four channel amp. It looks like a new head unit may be in my future as mine only has one set of RCA outs. But I'm just splitting the signal to the amp so my only fade control is the gain settings on the amp lol.


Dj, the waves really aren't too bad and I was thinking a few more coats of primer might do the trick. Other than that I'm going to carpet the side with the unfinished fiberglass. But I'll wait until I paint so I don't have to mask anything.


Thanks for all the help on this project!!

[DJ_B_Easy]

Ever get this finished 100%?

[AlexN09]

Nope!!!! I'm so poor right now I am just kinda static until I get some money in. I've been really enjoying it though.

[DJ_B_Easy]

Ha! Fair enough.

[AlexN09]

Well I've finally got some money together again and have started moving forward on my audio install.

I painted the box black and shot some clear over it.


Next I started deadening the trunk lid

This took me much longer than anticipated but I snapped some pics so you guys could learn too.

I started with these materials:


Some Peel Seal, a knife, seam roller, heat gun, and a removal tool.

So first you need to remove the carpet over the trunk lid by popping all of the pins.


To pop these pins, you first pull up the center piece, and then pull the entire thing out.


Next I spread out this plastic so I wouldn't drip any foam in the trunk or on the paint.


Then I just sprayed foam into the frame until it was all full!


I went ahead and let the foam dry completely before I scraped off the excess.

Then I started putting up the peel and seal. I cut pieces to size and then heated them to help conform them into the crevices. I used the seam roller to ensure a good fit.


I was able to get a lot of material behind the frame as well onto the actual trunk lid.

Then I put the carpet back up and tested it out! I would say about a 60% reduction in overall vibration was achieved by only deadening the trunk lid. I still need to do the rear deck and doors!

I will update when I start my speaker installation.

[DJ_B_Easy]

Keeeep it going!

[AlexN09]

Thanks for the support, Easy !

I've got a couple speaker rings cut out to fit the factory mounting holes. I'm gonna have to cut out some metal to fit a couple of Silverflute 6.5's. I have a dremel but I'm not sure what to use to cut the sheet metal.

Have any suggestions?

[DJ_B_Easy]

Metal/tin snips?
http://www.homedepot.com/buy/wiss-metal ... PkcBmdabqU

No idea, Ive never worked with metal.