For those of you who have built (or had built) an amp rack in this area:

1) What did you mount it to to keep it from bouncing around?

2) Do you still have the dimensions used (especially for a dual shelf rack)?

3) Any heat problems? What cooling setups did you use if so?

My stuff is starting to arrive and I'm starting to finalize my stuff and thats still one of my unknowns.

 

Mine's made out of aluminum angle iron bent at a 90 degree angle and welded. In the front, it's bolted to one of the factory sub bracket mounting holes and in the rear it's attached to the tabs that hang down for the glove box bracket. It has a shelf made out of aluminum stock bent in an L shape and bolted to the angle iron part (have to have it removable in case i need to take the bottom amp out). I don't have measurements since I just fiddled with cardboard until it was right then used that as a template--it's since been thrown away. No heat problems yet, and that's with the JL 300/4 and 500/1 in there. There's no fans installed yet but it's an option if the setup gets too hot.

If you look at the space, two of the stock sub plate mounting holes line up more or less with the holes in the tabs for the glove box, and they're ~13-13.5" apart (perfect for the mid sized JL amps). Note though, the rear screws were a serious pain in the ***** to put in, since the two amps limit the space and they also have to be held up while the screws are being put in. Took me about an hour probably to get it done.

I would post a picture but I don't have a digital camera. I have to borrow one--hopefully in a week or so I can post something.

 

Here is a picture of the one created by my shop. It attaches to all factory bolt holes, and is designed to accomidate additional layers of amps (since I'll be adding a 500/1 for a sub in the future.)

The space back there is huge, no heat problems.

 

just one quick question on your install. looks like the RCA input and power are running right next to each other. Do you get noise from the power cable?

 

My rack is custom fitted to the exact size of the sub opening, and covered with black carpet to give some appearance that the amps are floating. The entire rack is made of 1/2" mdf, and is attached the the sub enclosure opening using 2 heavy duty L brackets.

 

wow, nice amp rack onecoolee!!

 

Nope, I have no noise what-so-ever.

 

Monster cables help...I see that Jason used the same cables as I did, and they are a Monster Cable brand designed for car stereo (noisy environments)--they have some built-in noise immunity (shielding) and noise cancelling (balanced) features. I think I paid like $30 for my 9 footer, but in the long run its probably well worth it.

 

Here's my amp rack. Entire area was fiberglassed and then a sliding plexiglass shelf was installed to hold the crossovers (Boston Acoustic Z6s). Never had a problem with overheating.

 

Wow, some nice installs. Hey, how's you get those 6" bostons in there? Did you try and fit them behind the stock grill, or did you not bother trying and just put the Boston grills over it?

 

The stock grills are terrible with very small perforations and I would highly advise against using them. Those speakers are actually 6 1/2" and they fit in there fine. Thanks.

 

Not in the factory sub location, but same idea.
Used factory glove box, added 1/2" extruded aluminum channel. 3/8 plywood slides in channel perfectly, creating a slide-out tray. Covered with carpet. No heat problems, but I was concerned when I first built it.

 

I guess my question would be, what was required to make the aftermarket grills fit that nicely? Did you have to use some special kind of bracket, or did it just fit and work correctly out of the box?

 

Here's mine, I put the regular cover back on (no grille), installer ensured me that there would be no heat problems.

 

Does anyone know what size fastener fits the factory mounting holes in the two tabs that hang down in the rear of the sub compartment? Just curious since they are difficult to get at and it is trial and error otherwise.

Thanks

 

I should also mention that I have a power distro block in there.

IN- They are PROBABLY 10s.

 

Appreciate the help Jason - I'll try 10s, also really sweet bracket you had fabricated, plan to do something similar.

Thanks