(1 of 2 posts, was too long). I was going to wait until it was all finished, but I think this is the only real part that I couldn't find any information on. Not sure if anyone else has done it this way. I couldn't find anything, so if you like how this turned out, here's how I did it.

I first started out with an acrylic sheet that I ended up taking down. Lets just say that was delicate, a PITA to work with, and a learning lesson. It ended up breaking just from laying it down on disassembly.

I had to buy a new sub amp, just so it would fit between the seats. With my setup, my seats bottom is completely back, and the recline is as far reclined as possible (without anything in the way), and then one notch upright. If you like your seats any farther forward than that, you will give yourself a lot of flexibility on something I wouldn't compromise on.

The rear wall has two ridges on it that hold the rear panel. Those two ridges are on the same plane, so you will use both of them to mount to.

The other tool I needed: I ended up using some rather large sizes 1/4 for mine, but only because I had some serious problems with the mounting holes. I started by getting a rivet nut gun, and making rivet nuts. The problem with rivet nuts is if you don't get them 100% secured, then when you put in a bolt and tighten it down, the rivet nut will spin. You will strip it, it won't hold, and you will have to cut the head off (and good luck not damaging the rack), then you take it all back down, and cut the rivet out. It was a real PITA and a reason I lost motivation on this project for a while. WHAT I FOUND was that rivet BOLTS are the answer. I used Astro Pneumatic 1455 Hand rivet stud setter kit metric and SAE. The kit came with some rivet studs, but the threads on the ones included are too short with the sound deadener the rack, a rubber bushing washer, and lock nut. I found some longer rivet studs: TSBS420-B (seller topqualityhardware had many sizes). The great thing about these rivet studs too is once you install them with the tool, put a nut on there and tighten it down, just a little bit more. It will pull itself on and the nut will lock on.


My second rack I made out of Lexan. The final size ended up being about 56 1/4" x 11" 1/2". On my second attempt I started with a Lexan sheet 1/4" x 13.25" x 57" (Ebay seller POPDISPLAYS). Lexan Sheet Clear Polycarbonate 1/4" x 13.25" x 57" | eBay I ended up cutting a little off both ends. As you can see how my subs are, I had to keep it within the limits above the posts, and tried to keep it below the window.

The black is the acrylic, but had a real nice black mirror finish to it. It really looked like my window tint extended far down. You can find that color in lexan. I ended up using the clear Lexan for the final amp. It has a nice floating look to it, guess it depends on what you are going for. There is going to be a possible MAJOR advantage in going with the clear that I'll try and show later, but with the clear, you can see the ridges in the back wall, and would know right where to drill without all the extra measuring. THE ONLY CONCERN here is a lot higher chance you will scratch the surface since this will most likely require you to remove the protective plastic before having it finished. You can still drill without damaging it, but if you do this, I would probably tape up the bottom of any equipment before putting it up to the board so you don't scratch it. After working with it, and knowing the steps, I would go the long way. I got pretty accurate with my studs.

To make an amp rack like this, don't bother with acrylic, just use lexan. I would suggest buying one a little larger. It's just a little bit more work to cut it down. Hand cut it with a (mini) hack saw or you'll leave burn marks pretty quick, and might start to melt it, unless you have a cutter that you know won't, mine did. Low angle will help keep the cuts straight, 90 degrees if you need to adjust the cut lines.

1. Start by taking off the rear wall carpet and the pillar panels. Get it down to metal to where you can see all the factory mounting holes for the panel. Go to the top pillar screw hole on either side. Add a bunch of tape above and to the outside of the hole. Then measure and mark it at 1" increments (you only need a few at most). Now do the same to your amp rack from the edge in. You can do this to line it up and get an idea of where you want the hole to go. It doesn't need to be exact, but try to. It's a little more work, but you can always let it overlap farther and cut it down. You can put the pillar panel back on when you think you have found the hole to see how much clearance you have so that the panel fits back in the holes over the rack. For the outside holes, you don't need much excess on the board. My outside mounting holes are about an inch from the edge. There really shouldn't be any reason to have a lot of weight that for out, you just need enough to secure it. You can still trim it down afterwards if you really want. Once you get it lined up to where the hole is, mark it, take it back to the bench, then you can drill through the rack and you have your first mounting point. This was my first time with lexan. I learned don't drill it slowly, it sounds like it will crack that way. It's also pretty easy to drill a smaller hole then needed to check your alignment, then you can drill a second hole at an angle at first if you need to try to adjust the hole's location, then drill with the right size.

2. Use a level to hold the rack where it should mount and get the other side. Use a similar method with tape and find the hole. You might need to trim the entire side down a little depending on what size sheet you bought. Don't cut off too much before you find the hole. You can always just find em, without the pillar panels on, and cut em down after to fit. Mark and drill the second hole out, mount the two top sides, and then measure and find the lower holes. Drill those out, and mount the four outside holes for the pillar panels. Now you know what to work with.

3. Your biggest amp should be your sub amp. I planned on using 3 amps, having my crossovers and blocks on there (plus relay, busbar, and wiring). If you decide to move the seats forward, or with less equipment you give yourself more options. Assuming you want the seats to recline as far back as you can, then the biggest thing you need to fit is your sub amp, and the biggest area for it to fit is between the seats. You can measure it to see if the one you buy will fit, or just hold yours against it, and trace the mounting holes, or the outside of the amp, to get an idea of where it will fit.


4. In this picture I have a rubber strip over the lower set of holes. (I had planned on using that, and changed that. Before I covered the holes I used tape right above em to mark them all. You can kind of skip this step, if you just make a cheat sheet of where the holes are, over the rack across the window. If you still have your rack covered with the protective sticker, you need to get an idea of where those two ridges are. You can measure based off the pillar mounting holes, and run tape across the rack so you can see where those ridges are underneath. If you wanted to, you can then even transfer those holes from your window cheat sheet onto the rack itself. I at one point had the full rack being held up by two of those pillar screws. I wouldn't suggest it long term, but those will hold just fine for an amp or two while you are figuring this out.





5. Once you know where your big amp is, take the rack down and go figure out the placement of everything you want on the rack. You want to leave space between stuff to mount to your studs. I left space above and below the amps to run wiring. I ended up running speaker wire behind the rack, and power wire on the front in areas where I needed to run it close to each other. (It shouldn't cause interference, but I can't confirm that just yet). Figure out where your power and ground wire is going to come from and lay, if you are using distribution blocks, and how the wiring is going is going to lay out. Once you get they layout figured out, trace the equipment and take a picture. If you marked all the ridge holes on the rack, then you already know how close you are going to be. If you didn't do that like me, you put it back up and check them. If you are piecing it together because you want to get started and might change equipment, and your sub amp is in the only place it can be, but the other stuff might change, then mount the sub amp, and go ahead and mount the rack. Use a test scrap piece to find your drill sizes. (Over the course of this, I made a cheat sheet of every drill bit size I used for everything I drilled). Using the size just big enough for the threads, drill through the rack and through the ridges to create your mounting points. You will then drill through the ridges to create a larger hole for the rivet studs to fit. (I used some scrap metal to test this first. For the 1/4" I drilled 3/8" holes in the ridges, and then had to make a few light circles with the smallest round dremel "sanding tubes". I was able to get the holes just right every time, and they all held well.

 

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Here you can see the pillar screw holes:






After you install the studs, you can put a nut on the end and hammer them lightly to angle them better if need be.


7. Your call on how you finish it out. If you have your holes marked, and know where to drill, then what I did and what I suggest is to put studs on each side of an amp.. The pillar screws can remain those screws if you'd like and there is no weight out there. Otherwise those screw clips will pop out, and then you can drill it out. (I took those out, and I used 1/4 sized rivet nuts. That is about as small as I would go if you plan on using rivet studs on the end. I didn't get a perfect circle there, there's a hair of a corner exposed. If you want to conceal it, that might help leaving those there too). Once you have the mounting studs in for around the sub amp, you can take the amp off to make it easier to work with.

You might have to get creative with the wiring. I have the DS18 amp RCAs running across the back of the rack. The speaker wires are across the back. The RCAs fit between the PS and center subs. The power and ground wires were able to be ran between the channels on the back wall. I drilled holes to run evenly spaced zip ties to hold all the wiring. (You can see by the corner of the alpine amp, I have RCA wires in front of and behind the rack, and using the same ties). Had to use a couple sets of 90 degree bends on the RCAs to make em fit.




I took that rubber strip off and used it to make bushings under the mounting washers. I'm hoping that reduces vibration on the rack enough.

You can see at the distribution blocks I made odd cuts. Start with your hack saw, get close, then drill where the cuts will meet and finish your cuts. Then take some pretty rough sandpaper and just put it around a piece of scrap wood or whatever, and sand to make your corners round, your edges smooth, and to finish shaping the edges down after you cut em.


Here is the black:











It's in there.



If there's any questions, I'll gladly try to help anyone that wants to do this. I'm not an expert or professional, but certainly had to learn a lot to do this. My #1 place for information has to be this guy on youtube CarAudioFabrication CarAudioFabrication - YouTube Really high quality work that makes this look half-***.

I've said it in a few other posts, but those 3 12" kicker subs are a PERFECT fit from side to side, and one of the fewest subs I could find that let me put the seats all the way to the back. Two round 12" @ 500w each had my mirror drooping down on the right song. This will be three solobaric subs at 600w each, (or probably a little more).

 

This **** is so ******* badass. Seriously good job.

Did you consider using braided loom for each of the wiring routes? Also instead of zipties did you consider using velcro straps?

Good job driver!

 

Thanks man, appreciate that.

No, the braided loom would work. The one thing I had to change on the new amp, is my power wire to the alpine amp. The first red one got damaged having to cut out a stripped rivet nut, and I had the silver wire already so I just used it. When it was red wire it was a bit more visible over the top of the center console, (at the right angle). I covered the wire over the top in some shrink tube just to be a little bit more camouflaged. The RCAs have their own wire loom. I did use zip ties as a separator behind the subs and after, but had to bundle them to make it fit under the subs.

Didn't consider velcro straps. I'm generally not a fan of hook and loop, (I tried to say that sarcastically). Not sure I'm visualizing the velcro straps. If that is to secure the wiring, you would have to make bigger holes or figure out how to make slits. I think the zip ties can also be secured tighter, (can always get an extra notch or two with pliers).
On the first one I had a few extra holes where the power and ground wires are above the blocks, to secure em to the board. On the second version, I liked it better to just make a zip tie separator and connect them together. They hold in place very well.


I didn't say, but any bolt that is where it might be near those ridges, I used flat head style bolts and countersunk them so they are flush with the surface.

(#6 is not missing, I just had to guess cause I only had one shoe on while I was typing).

The entire thing is completely assembled, and then mounted. I made the wires for the pillar speakers have enough length so I connect and mount them after the rack is in. If you have some wires that you want to run in a different place, or if there is one you are stuck on, there is no reason you can't get it up, and drill out holes while it is mounted.

 

Yeah the braided loom would be a very nice touch.

The velcro straps I am talking about are these: I use them at work because it is easier to undo them than to cut a zip tie and put a new one. May not be very good here though depending on how you ziptied everything.

 

The braided loom would probably look good. It wouldn't be that much work for me to pull it down and change a few things. I'll change that back to a red wire if I ever decide to take it down. I still don't know if this will hold yet either. Just need to figure out the ground, and the parts I'm hoping will work are on their way. Once the ground is good I can at least get the subs going and see how this holds.

All the zip ties I used on the rack, I either drilled through the rack to mount the wires securely to it, or there's a couple spots where I did it to connect the wires with a wire separator method to secure them, without needing to. I could have used white zip ties, which would have been a little more discreet. Or I could have even used metal zip ties to go with the dynamat, (that might have been a cool look). The velcro might work better when doing the setup to get everything figured out right, but I don't think they would work better to finish it.

 

It's so nice to build electrical panels modular so you can work on them outside the vehicle. Definitely a lot of stuff packed back there! Nice work.

Those are prebuilt sub boxes correct? What model?

Oh, and the stud nuts are news to me, looks like a nice fabricator's option I will have to keep in mind.

 

The solobaric enclosures are Kicker L7T loaded enclosure 46TL7T122 (2 - Ohm) 46TL7T124 (4-ohm). I originally had the round CompRT subs which are a discontinued model. The round sub enclosures have since been made longer and they added a passive radiator to them.

I guarantee it would be cheaper to build an enclosure if you can. I originally had two of the CompRT (same dimensions), that I picked up from Frys for I want to say $79 each. Then I ended up adding a third, and this is more of an easy, lazy solution. I just had to modify them to add posts on the top, because there isn't enough space to run speaker wire to a side terminal.


Yeah the functionally are a much better product, and with the rivet nuts I had to hold the entire rack up and screw the bolts in, then hope I wouldn't screw it up until I got a second and third bolt in. With the empty rack you can align all the studs, do a hole slightly bigger if need be, and then mounting it finished just slips right on.

 

Stuff came late, and it's well over 100 out during the day, so I had to stop early from just sweating too much. I should be up and playing by tomorrow. Got the ground figured out.






There is the factory drain plug in the rear corner. It pops right out, with a couple clips that you can just push it back in. Cleaned up the factory seal around it, and put one layer of dynamat down around the hole. Used a 1 1/2" grommet to fit around the hole. Very nice fit.

I wasn't sure I was going to have to create something to fit, but that pass through suggestion seemed perfect. I went with this one, probably has 1mm of play for this one inside the grommet before tightening.

It's kind of hard to get the connector to tighten down really well since you can't get a good grip anywhere, but I felt like I got it on there pretty snug. It says to tighten to 212 in lbs on the nut. I think I got there, but I may end up pulling it out tightening both cables on this, and then feeding it back through and securing it. On both sides of this I plan on using some rubber spray coating over the lugs. If that's is still not good enough, my other plan that I usually do is another dremel cut in the end of the thread to hold it with a screwdriver.

I have what I need to connect to the frame, (the right bolt and lug size), just need to cut the bolt down, and see if I have access to the one I want to use, (if not I have to pull the tank in a couple weeks and I'm waiting until then, but I think I can get to it.

My next post on this, which should be early in the week will be after testing out the subs. I don't generally do videos, but I might have to learn for this.

 

I'll add this in here too.
CHASSIS GROUND

Here is what I could find for the best chassis ground:
Take off the DS plastic inner fender flare, and there are two holes on the outside of the rail, near the top, (you can probably see one, and pull the fender out of the way to find the other). The rear of the two holes is next to the brake line mount. You can use a marker or tape to follow the center of the hole up to the top of the rail. IN HINDSIGHT, go about 1/2" forward from where you think the center of the hole is, because the rail is at an angle there, and you will get closer to center of the hole on the inside of the rail. Drill on through, clean it up to metal, and was able to get a lock not through that forward hole and tightened down. I was even able to reach through the rear hole to hold a washer on while I got the nut on.



Sprayed some liquid electrical tape on it just to protect it a little from the elements.


The two ground cables are right about 40" total.