How I originally wanted to do my trunk was something like this:





That is a custom trunk from a ’99 Alty on Cardomain, which I actually think came out EXTEMELY well, and looks like it was done to perfection.

I basically wanted to do the same thing, have an amp rack, and then a wall with the sub imbedded, but instead of having 3 shitty Kickers, I wanted my MTX 15” dead center.

I then drew up this blueprint for the setup after much planning, and tons of measuring. It has the measurements for my box and the amp rack, as well as every necessary measurement of the trunk with nothing in it. It is very accurate if I say so myself, and if anyone is actually planning to do a custom trunk themselves in a 2nd Gen. Alty, these measurements can probably help you out a lot…



After the blueprint was done, I seriously started mapping out the setup.

I then went and purchased MDF, which is what the amp rack and the box are made out of. I got it all from Home Depot, I think it was around $70 for everything.

This is one of the sheets:



This is a sheet up against my leg so you can get an idea of the thickness:



Another one:



And a pic after the MDF was cut to size:



After much trial & error and planning of the project, I realized the actual “wall” with the sub imbedded was going to be quite complicated, and more time and effort than it was worth. So I scratched the wall, and decided to just have the sub box carpeted sitting nicely behind the amp rack.

The 9500 came with a blueprint of its own, and it had exact dimensions for a perfect ported box for it, and it has all the measurements of each side, and how it should be put together:

 

MDF after cut for sub box:









I also got some supplies while I was at Home Depot, 3M 90 Adhesion Spray for the carpet, and Elmer’s Wood glue for the MDF pieces.



The trunk carpet I got from CCity is also in this pic:



Another pic of the carpet:

 

Now for the sub box assembly. The box was assembled one piece at a time, each piece being glued, and then screwed in.

Pic of the front MDF piece, with the sub hole and port hole cut:



After some assembly of the sub box:

 

The port:









I then painted the port with some black wood paint from Home Depot to give the port a clean look:

 

After the sub box was completely assembled, it was time for carpeting. I really didn’t do too much upholstery up to this point, but I have to stay my skills are up lol, and it came out AMAZING:













At The Circuit we also had sub box speaker-wire terminals, which I imbedded into the back of the box for some clean speaker wire running, and that professional look:



Then it was time for the amp rack. A lot of planning and mapping was involved with the amp rack. Not only for the perfect size and fitment, but for the wiring aspect too. All of the wiring had to be completely mapped out for the build of the amp rack to cut to appropriate holes and all that.

I wanted the amps, the cap & distributing block aligned in the amp rack like this:



So then I cut the appropriate holes for the wiring in the bottom MDF sheet of the amp rack:

 

After that, the rest of the amp rack was cut to size, and I assembled it to make sure it was perfect:

 

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLYYYYYYYYY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll get a chance to see and hear it at the meet, right??????
Even thou u said it's DONE there's no pics of installed and final product (or am i typinf this as u're typing your 3rd post?lol)

EDIT: i quess u're typing 5th post now lol

 

Hahaha...damn man you didn't give me a chance to finish, you f*cked it up! Hahaha, just kidding homie. But you'll will def get a chance to hear it, see it, and check it out at the meet for sure!

 

After perfection was determined, it was time for the carpeting the amp rack. Every piece of the amp rack had to be carpeted one by one, and then I assembled it. I left the sides of the amp rack open for air purposes, so the amps can breathe, especially during hot weather.

 

I also got a sheet of plexiglass for the amp rack top. I did some ventilation with the plexiglass, I cut a hole out of the middle for some more air flow, and I order a Nissan emblem off of ebay, which I put over the hole for some styling:

Nissan emblem:



Nissan emblem back, 3M’ed:



After the plexiglass was attached to the top of the amp rack, and the hole was cut:



Amp rack top completed:





I also got a waterproof blue led strip from Super Bright LEDs - LED Products and Accessories, which I cut into 5 led strips, soldered the wires, and incorporated them into the amp rack for some additional lighting:

 

After everything was cut, assembled, and carpeted, it was then time for the installing of all this into the car.

At one point The Alt was completely butt-naked in preparation for this install. There was no back seat/rear deck, and the trunk was completely empty.

It took me about a day to run all of the wires to perfection, all the seats were taken out, basically every panel and the dash was ripped out, and all the wiring is ran on the appropriate sides underneath of the carpet, to perfection. Trust me, it doesn’t get much cleaner.

I completely dynamated the trunk:















And the rear deck is completely dynamated as well.

Passenger side speaker hole:



Driver side:



Rear deck:

 

There is an also a port hole I cut out of my rear deck with a Dremel (terribly time consuming) for some more sound into the car, and for a little of customization to my rear deck:



Completed rear deck with Nissan emblem over port hole, and speakers installed:





Before the box went into the car, I need to make a box rack for the sub box to sit on, and be even with the amp rack while it sat in the car.

Box rack:







Box on rack, how it sits in the car:

 

Installing all of this in the car was a pain in the F*CKING ass. It took about 4 hours till it was perfected (and keep in mind, all the wiring was already ran).

It was really a test of trial & error. I had one of my boys help out for some extra man power, because shoving that 100 pound box onto a rack into a virgin trunk hole wasn’t easy. I then had to fit the amp rack in, wire all the amps up, and then get it to sit as flush as possible.

The trunk bars that hold my trunk open had to be removed for fitment. Sucks, but you got to do what you got to do. In order for my heavy as trunk to stay open, it now it has to be propped open with a MDF wood stick.

Pic after everything was installed, right before the amp rack cover went on:



Now for the finished product:













At night:







I’m going to try to get a few better pics of the trunk completely finished, and I will be uploading a couple videos very soon of the car inside and outside with the system on, just so everyone can get an idea of the output.

Few things to know:

This was done over a course of time. I did a little bit each day, piecing stuff together. If I would have tried to do it all at once it would have been impossible, because this was an EXTREMELY time consuming project. Everything was installed by May and I have been enjoying my setup since May, but I just recently got the plexiglass to complete the amp rack cover, and declare the project finished.

It looks like the sub is being “bent” from the amp rack. Its actually completely fine. As I mentioned above, I had the system installed for a while, and I was riding around with the amp rack cover not on. When the cover is not on, the sub isn’t affected by the amp rack at all. But when I put the amp rack cover on, it gave the amp rack a lil extra height, and it gave the sub the flat tire look. It doesn’t affect the sub AT ALL, and it you touch around it, or move the rubber you can see that it is fine and it isn’t affecting anything. Its just slightly pushing the rubber up a lil. I also think it looks worse in these pics then in does in person.

I actually need another battery. I am going to be getting an Optima Blue Top for under the hood, and relocating my Optima Yellow top to the trunk. The gain and boost on the sub amp aren’t even half way up, and then the 4-channel gain isn’t even a quarter of the way up. If I put the gains and adjusting the settings to almost maximum performance, the setup doesn’t stay on. A quite common complication when there isn’t enough power. I should be getting the extra battery sometime very soon, and I will be able to crank it to whatever volume I want.

Overall it came out GREAT, barely any run-in’s and problems, and I am finally completely satisfied with how my setup sounds. Probably one of the best setups I’ve ever heard, and trust me, I’ve heard my fair share.

Any thoughts, comments, opinions, etc. greatly appreciated!!!

 

Holy F*CK that was a computer freezer! God damn it took me FOREVER to post that shit! DAMN!

 

Great job. One question. It looks like the speaker cone foam ring is against the amp rack at the six o'clock position. Doesn't this limit the throw distance of the speaker and won't that section wear through ?
On a side note. Taking the torsion bars out, I thought there was a thread about installing gas shocks on the trunk hinges.
Again clean, great install.

 

It looks like the sub is being “bent” from the amp rack. Its actually completely fine. As I mentioned above, I had the system installed for a while, and I was riding around with the amp rack cover not on. When the cover is not on, the sub isn’t affected by the amp rack at all. But when I put the amp rack cover on, it gave the amp rack a lil extra height, and it gave the sub the flat tire look. It doesn’t affect the sub AT ALL, and it you touch around it, or move the rubber you can see that it is fine and it isn’t affecting anything. Its just slightly pushing the rubber up a lil. I also think it looks worse in these pics then in does in person.

Make sure you read everything bro . And I'm going to do a motorized trunk, eventually.

damn ure one crazy mutha f u caa...great job broo...post some sound clips, some bass flexinn

I’m going to try to get a few better pics of the trunk completely finished, and I will be uploading a couple videos very soon of the car inside and outside with the system on, just so everyone can get an idea of the output.

what a little bitch.....i just fried 2 12" w3's.....stupid voice coil.....and not the new shit either.....was the OLD ones back when they made them right.....but i had a 1200 watt sony bridged pushing them.....im working on getting my shit straight....trying my best to get away from sony.....


but damn good job! i have the carpentry skills to do all that shit just lazy....

Thanks bro

 

damn ure one crazy mutha f u caa...great job broo...post some sound clips, some bass flexinn

 

what a little bitch.....i just fried 2 12" w3's.....stupid voice coil.....and not the new shit either.....was the OLD ones back when they made them right.....but i had a 1200 watt sony bridged pushing them.....im working on getting my shit straight....trying my best to get away from sony.....


but damn good job! i have the carpentry skills to do all that shit just lazy....

 

Nice work. No need to post all those pics tho. Very happy to see the finished product and I know how much work all that is. I just recently took my sub out because I am so happy with my interior setup. 900RMS over 6 infinity kappas...

 

Not too bad, but with all that work, why not build in a beauty panel? And a big 3/alternator/extra battery would have been better than the cap.

 

Looks good...

As to the surround on the sub hitting the amp rack...My opinion is that it is affecting that sub. It may not be something that you can hear, especially in a ported design, but that surround moves with every note. Even butyl and santoprene will wear after awhile, and the carpet is not the softest of surfaces to rub on. Another factor would be heat...with the movement of the surround against the carpet, friction will result.

 

Not to mention what pushing on the cone in one spot could be doing to the alignment of the coil.

 

I mean yea, of course its not the best thing for the sub. But honestly, its really not that bad, when the sub is at full potentinal its not being affected by it at all. You see absolutely no rubbing. The only time it doesn't look to great is when the sub is not on, and when it isn't on, you can actually feel where it is, and it really isn't doing anything at all. Its just slightly molded around the top of the rack. It just looks like a minor flat tire.

I've sat and watched the sub with a couple different songs playing to see how it the rack was affecting it, and its look like any other sub knocking, with no restrictions.

Its only been like that for 3 days, I'm going to fix it eventually.

I've just had so many setups in and out of The Alt...I'm just happy I got something in there thats basically to perfection, and I'm actually satisfied with. I've been working on perfecting my setup since '07, and honestly, I'm tired of it. I just want to enjoy my music, and thats damn sure what I'm doing.

As I mentioned, since May I was riding around WITHOUT the amp rack cover on. If you look at the first pic without the cover on, you can clearly see that the amp rack isn't affecting the sub at all.

It wasn't till I put the actual cover on that it was being affected by the amp rack.

I just have to raise the sub box a little bit, and its not going to fun or easy, and its going to be a huge pain in the ass.

I wasn't expecting that to happen when I put the rack cover on obviously, and when I saw it did, I didn't want to get into trying to correct the problem yet. I wanted the amp rack cover on for the meet, and I wanted my trunk to be completed for the meet. I don't have the time to try to get into fixing it before the meet, so its fine like this for the little time frame its going to be like that.

And nismo, I mentioned in the first original posting that I was getting another Optima battey. I was thinking about getting a little Kinetik (or however you spell it) battery, but I think I might just go with another Optima. I got a brand new alternator, upgraded wires, a Optima yellow top, and I'm going to be adding another battery, I'm fine. I've had the Tsunami 5 farad cap for a while, before this setup, its really more just for the look and style, and to fill up the amp rack, then it is for actual charging. It definitely isn't hurting anything tho, all it is doing is helping.

 

Even Though U Went Through Hell Nice Set-up!

 

^Thanks bro, I appreciate it.

 

Looks like if you make your 'box rack' another inch taller, you'll eliminate the interference between your amp rack and your sub.

Nice work though. Nothing better than the feeling of accomplishment when you do it yourself.

 

Looks like if you make your 'box rack' another inch taller, you'll eliminate the interference between your amp rack and your sub

Yea, thats what I'm going to try to do, only problem is theres really no more room for the sub box to go any higher, but I think I got a idea of what I might do. It's just going to suck because I got to take everything out.

Nice work though. Nothing better than the feeling of accomplishment when you do it yourself.

I know thats right, thanks man.

nice man ...must be a bitch if u wanna make adjusments

Thanks man. I've already got all my adjustments set to exactly where I want it now, I won't need to do anymore adjusting until I put the extra battery in the trunk and I'll be able to turn it up more, and everything is going to have to come out when I install that in the trunk anyway. But the amp rack cover comes right off, its not screwed in. It just securely held in by the box and the back of the trunk. Doesn't move. It just lifts right out tho.

 

nice man ...must be a bitch if u wanna make adjusments

 

Did your speakers always sit on top of the rear dash? Mine are under the reardash cover. I run a 12inch kenwood and my back dash rattles a crapton.

 

What nismo14 said. They are stock underneath of the rear deck, but I cut holes and mounted them on the top of the rear deck for show purposes, I think it looks alot better that way.

I actually did that before I put the Momo's in the back, I actually first did it when I had the Kicker KS's in the back, then I had Polk db651's, and now the Momo's.

I would have had to end up doing that anyway, because the magnet on the Momo's is so big & deep that it would have hit the box and prevented the speaker from being flushly mounted, because the box's height would have interfered with the stock mounting hole if I mounted them underneath of the rear deck. So it actually worked out to my adavantage in the end.

Good job!!! I've done custom installs in the past before so I know how much labor goes into it. Most importantly, hows it sound? haha

Thanks man! I appreciate it. And it sounds AMAZING, I really need this second battery tho to have it at the output I want.