Another trick you can do to mount the amps is to use backing plates.

Take some flat stock and place the amp over it. then drill out the holes and run bolts up through the plates. Then tape the plates to the back wall place your wall carpet back on and push the bolts through. You then bolt the amp to your plate. This will squeze the carpet between the plate and amp.

 

Your going to love that Kenwood DNX-7100. I do mine.

 

Getting back to business this weekend...

Found the bushings. Like was posted, Home | Fastenal has them. Here's where I ended up getting them.

The manufacturer is Welcome and they're called "snap bushings", designed to snap in to sheet metal of 1/8 - 1/4" thickness. I had one of the same bushings from the Monster Cable amp wiring kit and tried it in the MDF panel and they hold well. They're made from nylon and available for hole sizes from 1/4" to 6".

Here's the Heyco catalog for the 1/4 - 3/4" sizes (see PDF data sheet within):
Heyco® Snap Bushings (1/4" to 3/4")

And here's the catalog page for the 13/16 - 6" sizes:
Heyco® Snap Bushings (13/16" to 6")

I purchased them from a site called Mouser Electronics (Mouser Electronics - Electronic Component Distributor) at a cost of 10 - 15 cents a piece. Needless to say, shipping was more than the cost of the bushings, but sometimes you gotta just bite the bullet.

I ordered a number of sizes, including 3/16, 9/32, 5/16, 5/8, and 7/8 inner diameter.

 

And for the amp rack.

Coated it with flat black Rustoleum during the week. Here is is sanded down today (bored the holes bigger for the new snap bushings). The sanding was required because the initial coat of Rustoleum lifted the fibers of the MDF a bit. The Rustoleum was used to prime/seal the board and allow the bedliner a better surface to adhere to:


Sprayed some flat black enamel in the holes and on bare spots revealed after the sanding:


Selected the Plasti-Kote spray-on bedliner, available at Walmart for like $7 a can:


Sprayed three light coats a side. One side took one can. I suggest testing out the spray first, the greater the distance from the object being sprayed does produce the most even, textured results.


I will probably grab an additional can and dust each side one more time.

 

I had played with it a bit when I installed it a couple of weeks back. Had some confusion around whether or not the buttons should be lit when the unit was off (I will leave mine in "standby" mode rather than turn it off). Updated the Garmin software for the nav, but have not updated the Kenwood software for the head unit. Found a number of wallpapers to upload as well.

Looking forward to hearing it and playing with it some more!

Thanks.

 

Some more tinkering with the amp rack...

Testing the layout:


And one more layout shot:

 

Mounted the fuse holder. Chose the driver's side battery for the + connection:


Installed the fuse, flex loomed the 4 gauge, and wired it up (short of making the connection at the battery, of course):

 

I was very disappointed with the original amp rack, so I decided to give it another go. I'm not much of a woodworker, but so far I'm much more pleased with the new design. Spent much of the day building this.

The layout, similar to before:


Framed out for the amplifiers:


Test fit, starting the wiring:


Another view:


Wiring this up in the truck is going to be fun:

 

After wasting way too much time playing with these amp racks and not really being satisfied with the fit, I scrapped the plans. This weekend, I decided that the amps will be mounted right to the floor of the truck.

Preparing the wiring for a floor mount. The 300/4 ended up under the driver's side of the rear seat. The 500/1 ended up under the passenger's side. The fit on the passenger's side is real tight, especially when you bring the wires in to the mix. I wanted to ensure that the wires were routed neatly, signal and power would not cross, and that the seat rails would not crush the wires once installed. Took a number of hours just to lay it all out:


View from the other side:


Carpet back down, wires fed through:


Fused distribution block installed (last-minute purchase, and the only item I got from Radio Shack). I did not feel comfortable with the un-fused block that came with the Monster amp wiring kit:

 

Now with the amps installed. 1/4" MDF was inserted between the carpet and the floor such that the amps could be screwed to the MDF and not the floor of the truck. With the seats bolted back down, there is no movement of the amps whatsoever:

 

The final connection at the battery:


So far, the only carnage from the install (tried hard not to break a thing!):

 

Have not made much progress with the install itself, but selected a set of front components to try out. I will be going with the REF version of the Alpine Type-X 6.5" (SPX-17REF). For now, some more pictures and some questions.

Mid:


Crossover (HUGE, measures 6x4x1.25):


And for the question... Where would you mount this crossover if the door were your only choice? The thing is huge and there's not a lot of room behind the panel except to leave it loose or risk some flex of the panel when it goes back on. The back of the passenger's side panel, for example:


Best spot might be in the upper left of that picture, to the left of the door handle opening (beneath the armrest).

The front of the same panel:

 

It's coming along nicely!

Gorilla tape FTW!

I would try exactly where your thinking. Under the armrest near the speaker. I would use tape to test fit it a few times to make sure all is good.

 

Thanks.

Under the armrest is a bit further from the speaker than I'd like, but it's the only place it will tuck in between the door and the door panel without causing the panel to bulge at one spot or another. Unfortunately, it's kind of twisted when it's in that location (does not sit flush to door panel, concerned about ability to dissipate heat). I will test fit it with duct tape and make the call from there.

 

The heat will be very minimal. Another spot would be in the lower portion of the door. There is about a 5x5" hole in the door that you could build a plate for and recess it into that hole.