Rep Power: 257

Alright. I'm looking to redo my trunk right now. It's completely gutted right now, besides my spare, a tool bag, and some jumper cables. I've already decided on the sub I'm gonna get. A Kicker 15" L7. The woofer's decided, but I'm kinda stuck on what I wanna do looks wise. I'm thinking about putting woofer in the front, sunk into the floor, and then having a full size spare sticking out about halfway right behind it. Either way, I need to have room for a spare. Now I just need to know how to go about this, how the box for the sub can be fabricated, where to mount an amp, any extra things, like lights, carpet, stuff like that. Ported, or not? Any ideas, or opinions?

 
Rep Power: 379

Spares are overrated

 
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Your gonna want to go fiberglass. Its all up to your imagination though. I put two 10's in the back of the trunk, using fiberglass I molded them right in the corners. As for the amps I constructed an amp rack. Then I riped out the oem cover for the tire,built a new one hinged it just after the amp rack. I still got to paint everything except the subs box ( had to paint those before I installed the subs)

 
Rep Power: 257

I must have a spare. I seriously get a flat once every 2 or 3 months. Just from nails and ****.

Mishqua, I don't wanna go the fiberglass way, because it's too much of a pain, and too expensive to have someone else to do. I'm not a big fan of the way fiberglass looks anyways. But yeah, I'm thinking of an amp rack.

 
Rep Power: 379

Here is the E-Z build. Commonly called the seal a meal box. Build a MDF frame around where you want it. This way the box will be flat. The bottom of the box would be open now. Use Dynamat to seal the walls to the floor and Dynamat all of the bottom of the enclosure. Now you have a Dynamat "floor", no fiberglass, and all you need to do is build the lid.

 
Rep Power: 285

well if your going with one sub, and putting a full size spare, put the amps right in the floor of the trunk under the spare and have the spare showing but only half of it, then with the box you can still put that into the spare tire well since there's lots of room for it so kinda like a "T" design for the box.. just fibreglass the amo rack that's what i did for my amps, but i don't have a spare anymore plus there's no room to even put the little *** donut spare in my trunk cause the box is so big lol

 
Rep Power: 257

Yeah, that's kinda what im looking for. I like the way texascivic2k1's spare tire is set in his, I would just like mine a little further back. Keep in mind though that this is a 15 inch square subwoofer.

 
Rep Power: 337

ive done this with great results in a civic.

Id combine that with the pic you see below. with some clever supports, the spare tire would become the speaker grille. fancy.

 
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Damn thats a good idea. I'm surprised that's the first time I've seen it.

 
Rep Power: 379

I just redid my own enclosure. I was sick of the subs being exposed as well as the amps so I cleaned it up. Still undecided on how to construct the grills

 
Rep Power: 337

got you covered, rufus

ian01, if you buy an install like rufus there and are charged less than $600 for the box, its likely youll be getting a "no fiberglass" install! (in reality, its a REAL sweet way to get all the airspace out of the spare tire well. and our well is HUGE)

So rufus, make some tabs out of 1/4 inch hardboard. maybe 2 inches by 2 inches. youll need four per grille (and dont use less, I tried and the hatch isnt stable). Youll attach them to the underside of the openings, one in each corner, approximately 3/8ths inch exposure. the farther apart you get them, the more stable your hatch will be.

now you can carpet your floor. I know youve got this already covered, but for the folks who have never done what rufus is doing, don't forget to carpet the whole floor IN ONE PIECE. one piece of fabric, three boards (we can see Rufus has a 3 piece system, left, center, right). This lets Rufus use the carpet AS the hinge, fold up the side tabs for insertion or removal. he then folds the tabs down and smooths the seams by hand. voila, no more seams in the floor!

so anyways, as you pull the carpet around those tabs, youll end up with a very nice looking way to friction fit your hatch covers, and they wont sink through.

after you cut the main pieces for the hatches (if your floor is 3/4 inch, might want ot make the hatches 1/2 inch or 5/8ths for the thickness of the carpet), trace them out on something and save it (I like 1/4 inch hardboard for a saved template). this will only be if you want to recut them later, or take it to a shop to have plexi cut for shows, etc. the main hatches will be for daily driving.

next cut the vent holes for the hatches. Ill bet you only need them for the subwoofers, but if you wanna do them for hte side,s go nuts. its your install

now you can cut your perforated sheet aluminum that you bought from the weld supply store to fit with some tin snips or preferred method. you can skip the aluminum, but then you HAVE to use elastic (read: grille) cloth, which doesnt protect your subwoofers from heavy objects nor matches color/texture perfectly.

youll rabbet out the inside top of the hatches to sink the aluminum flush. I use a silicone as an adhesive because I dont want vibrations to crack the bond and have a rattle point. I dont know if this is overkill or unneccesary.

now you can carpet over the whole thing, complete wrap around, same carpet as the floor. I have to test fit my hatches to get the depth right, as I never know how thick my carpet is. I prefer to shim up hatches rather than rabbet out the tab locations.

for finishing touches, I cut a piece of carpet or grille cloth about 3/4 inch wide and four inches long. I fold it in half then glue/tack/staple the non loop end to the bottom so the loop wraps around the side and is exposed on top. Gives me a pull tab to lift up the hatch.

by the way, I just did a "similar" install to yours and we decided to use the same carpet material on the subwoofer baffle as well as the floor. I feared it might be either plain or have no contrast, but my gosh it looked SWEET. made the whole trunk look like a uniform piece, that it was all one fully designed and integrated system. especailly after matching the floor to the trunk sides (I recommend you do the same!)

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http://www.objext.com/semi/wrx/37
your hatch, complete with pulltab loop. keep in mind, the pulltab takes up space too, thus will affect hatch fitment!

not my pic (I prefer to give perspective), but here is the install with the same fabric on the subwoofer baffles:
http://www.objext.com/semi/Atlas.jpg

 
Rep Power: 379

Your idea is pretty much what I wanted to do, but I'm confused about carpeting over the entire thing. It sounds as though you mean to lay the fabric over the opening as well. Are you meaning to glue to the ring that fits around the hole? The problem I see with doing it that way is that 1) I trace the shape of the hole, and I cut out the opening, and then rabbet the edges. Now I'm dealing with this very thin "ring". I'm worried that it will crack/break while I'm creating it 2) If I carpet directly over the mesh then how will the amps breathe? I can't glue carpet to the mesh right over the subs. The pressure the subs create will blow the cloth all over. I dunno. Have any pictures of that install?

I see the pics you linked to but I guess thats not what I imagined. The top one doesn't seem to have a rabbeted edge.

I looked at more of the WRX pics and I get the idea. I can have seperate baffles....

 
Rep Power: 0

I'm making some plans right now for a hinged floorboard for 2 10"s. I'm replacing the cheapy-little particle board floor with 1/2" MDF and building a box for 2 subs into it. The subs are vertically mounted, but canted away from each other at maybe a 30 degree angle. I should be able to put pics of the 3D model and/or build plans up by tuesday.

Maybe it'll give you some ideas.


Jake

 
Rep Power: 297

Wow that setup in post #7 looks familiar....

 
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no worries about the carpeting. at least, not any more than you worry about the amps "breathing" through your rear seats. bass finds a way!

I'd probably be concerned if it were tweeters under the false floor, but a subwoofer?

here is a VERY crude in progress pic of one hatch. you can see I made it with the same thickness material as the floor, and had to rabbet out material where the tabs were. if I made it out of 1/2 inch stock, I wouldnt have had to!

fit in place, that hatch looks the same as the WRX, except black. and with rounded edges. surprisingly, the sharp edges look better. (actually, I think the WRX hatch looks that "good" on the backside as well!)

Also note the tab at the top of the hatch, sprayglue and stapled into place.

im sure if you cared, you could make the backside look pretty too. next install in the WRX will definitely have a pretty backside to the hatch, too. easiest way would be to sandwich two pieces of 1/4 inch furniture grade ply together after treatment with the perf aluminum and carpet on either side. (2 layers grill cloth on the backside)

http://www.objext.com/semi/perfalum