OK, so I spent the afternoon ripping out the plastic in the back of the Z and measuring, cutting, re-mesuring, recutting etc. to try and get the absolute largest possible (wood) box into the stock subwoofer location. I think what I've come up with will work... It's a downward firing box.. There is a lot of unusuable rounded space below where the box fits, so the sub fires into this area.. Need to get some hushmat now!.....

If I did my math right (this time) there should be ABOUT 1500 cu. in. minus the volume of the wood & sub.

I've completed the box, however my wife has the digital camera (she's out of town, hence my ability to tinker in the garage all day!). I'll try to put up pics early next week. In the mean time, here's a diagram of what I did. The diagram is pretty close to scale (Visio), and shows the mounting location for a 10" sub. At that location there is about 6" of mounting depth available.

 

that looks interesting... i was gonna make another "other" box this week, so since i have my tools out, I will make one of these too. Thanks for sharing.

The black line, is that a brace? did you use 3/4 or 5/8wood???

 

I used 5/8, but the dimensions are all given in outer edges, so you could use whatever you want. The black line is the shorter edge of the angled side (see the top view on the bottom, it's the corned formed by the edge right above the arrow labeled 14".) This beveled edge is needed to clear the raised metal hump off of the back right hand side of the compartment.

Another note, once you wedge this box into place, theres no working room to bolt it to anything. It is so tight that I don't think it can go anywhere but if you aren't comfortable with a friction mounting than you may need to make a narrower box to allow for brackets etc.

 

Ok, I dug out an old digital to get a quick snap-shot... The box is installed and working very well. I was suprised how clean it sounded, even without dynamat in the compartment. There is no rattling in the cabin at all. Under -heavy- bass, there is audible rattling when standing outside the car... Not sure what I'd need to secure to clean it up more....

Here's the pic if anyone's interested.

 

damn awsome! please keep us updated ! and keep measurements and diagrams i'll need to steal em ^_^

 

looks great man.. could you please post a pic of it installed? Also, does the box just fit snug with no need to bolt it down?

EDIT: also, what sub are you using?

 

BadBlood,

I commend you for your effort on this one, but I really would recommend rebuilding that box out of some MDF.

HDP is arguably the worst box material this side of panelboard. Sorry to be so critical ... I am not tryin' to be rude here.

I will admit, if the box is properly braced internally ... this point will be worhtless .... but it is usually difficult to get good bracing in these boxes.

Jim

 

I appreciate the honest crotique.. I worked with what I had available at the time. I built reasonable bracing on the interior based on needing to use some small pieces to size out the front angled piece. I'm satisfied with the sound, so I'm not too interested in tearing it all out at the moment...

I'm sure there's plenty of die-hards that will chime in and echo your concerns.... I'm running a pretty light setup (single 10", 200w) with more power I'm sure the PB would be a bigger problem, since it's biggest weakness is flex.

If it bugs you, make sure to use MDF when you build one

 

I'll try to get an installed pic this weekend. The box mounts in tight enough that it cannot move once it's installed. If you use too much sound deadening, you might even need to trim the box back a 1/4 - 1/2".

The sub I'm using is an Infinity 1042w dvc. It's ideal box is actually a little smaller than this. when I started building the box, I just assumed that the end result would be a little too small, so I maximized all dimensions. If you want to make this design smaller, I'd suggest making it narrower, not shallower.. If it is made less deep it will not fit tight and a mounting bracket will be required.

 

cool thanks a lot for sharing your ingenius craftsmanship! this looks to be the best choice for me so i will be TRYING to build one myself, shortly.

 

do you have to remove the stock mounting brace for this to fit?

I assume that it fits without difficulty (getting it in)

What are the mounting points (how is it secured)

Potentially you could fit a 12 inch if there's one that's shallow enough.. I think

 

The box requires the removal of the stock subwoofer mounting plate. In addition, the L brackets in the back of the compartment need to be cut-off or bent upwards.

To install the box, you just need to push the seat forward and rotate the box in from the top. The only tricky piece is to make sure you dont scrape the speaker lip on the bottom edge of the stock opening as you are inserting it. Once that part is inside the compartment theres plenty of space for it to move.

The box isn't actually hard mounted currently. The depth is so tight that it presses itself in place so tight it can't move..

A 12" might be do-able but it would be close. It would have to be mounted in just the right spot to ensure that there was enough mounting depth, and that the cone excursion would not interfere with the edge of any of the metal underneath the box.

 

intersting, u might think about picking up some thinner mdf, that doesnt even look to be mdf to me, like particle board. But it looks like a good design.

 

OK as promised, here are installed photos.. The last two show the clearance on the top and right side of the box. The tight part of the mounting is the bottom edge front to back, and the left side. To position the box fully, it helps to insert your hand through the seatbelt opening so that you have working room.

Front View:



Right side view (clearance)


Top view (clearance)

 

have you tried it out? Just wondering about rattling issues for an install like this.

 

It is very clean from the inside, even with just the stock sound deadening. Again, I'm only running a single 10 with about 200 - 250w 'individual results with vary'.

If you do crank up the bass, from the outside there is an audible rattle from underneath the car. I dont know what bracketry or whatever might be causing this, but it would not be acceptable if you were tring to show your car, so there may be some adjustments needed under the car.

 

any problem with the excursion hitting the floor?

 

.. No, once the box is installed, there's about 2 inches of space under the box to accomodate speaker lip and excursion.

 

do you still have the diagram for this box? ^^
i'd like to put a jl 10w3 in there

 

that's some nice wood your working with