Custom Amp Rack (in progress)

DesertTitan · 12-27-2004, 11:57 PM

I've been working on a custom amp rack to mount on the back wall and thought I'd post a few pics. The rack mounts to the back wall using the lower fasteners on the cross braces. The taller middle section fits between the braces. You can't see from the pics, but it also attached to the back wall at the bottom. Hard to explain, but I'll post some pics of it later. It is covered in grey vinyl. This was my first time working with vinyl and my fingers and thumbs are raw from stretching it! It's definitely not perfect, but I think it looks pretty good for my first time. The large black things at the top are hole covers to hide the heads of the bolts. The smaller black things are grommets to route the wires behind the board. I'll post pics of it installed in the truck once I get all the wiring routed.

smoketitan · 12-28-2004, 12:31 AM

damn your good man

, did you ever get that snazzy box finshed??

I gave up and had mine made traded an amp for it ( I know I punked out, but I earned my striped I made four boxes forunder the front seat--lol)

how long is that board overall??

wow I am building a new one since I now have three amps also never thought to use vinyl was it a pain in the A##?? I have heard it is, but it ends up looking better than carpet

are you going active?? why do you have three amps??

DesertTitan · 12-28-2004, 01:13 AM

The box is still sitting in my garage, still needs more sanding and some minor shaping. I sort of lost interest in it for the moment, but I'll have to get back on it soon. I guess I'm still planning to have it painted to match my truck exterior.

The board for the amps is about 59" wide. I can get you exact dimensions if you want to make one. There's a slight gap between the ends of the board and the plastic panels in the truck, so it could probably be a little wider. I'll probably make some finishing panels to cover the gaps a little later. I also need to figure out something for the back wall above the amp rack. I was thinking about cutting the stock molded carpet, but not sure that would look that good. I might just make something out of fiberglass and cover it with vinyl to retain that custom look.

The vinyl wasn't too bad to work with. I first covered the board with comforter style foam (can't remember what they call it) and stapled it around the back. Then I put the vinyl over that and stapled it. I read somewhere to use a heat gun to help the vinyl stretch and that worked great. The hardest part was the corners, especially the inside corners. I should have given them a radius when I cut the board, would have made the vinyl job MUCH easier! Mostly it is just a lot of pulling with your fingers and thumbs, which is somewhat painful... Nothing a few beers can't overcome

I'm still a ways from going live. The center amp will power my 10" Audiobahn subs (about 600 watts per sub). I just bought 2 MB Quart RCE216 component sets, so each of the other amps will power the components with 130 watts per channel. I also have a Stinger 3F capacitor on the way. The main thing I need is the HU. I'm planning to get the Alpine IVA-D901. Hopefully I'll have the money to order it in January. Eventually I plan to get the Alpine 6 DVD changer and the Sirius Alpine tuner, and maybe a couple of headrest monitors. But as soon as I get the HU I'll be able to get everything hooked up. That will hopefully be a great day!

smoketitan · 12-28-2004, 01:33 AM

damn man are you sure you are not a professional many cheers to you as that is awesome!!!!!! you and bestatchess are some wood maniacs

I finally have mine running but still need to cover the box, ( carpet, vinyl or linx spray havent decieded yet and I am too excited to have full system so I am aprehensive about pulling it out--lol

and I am redoing my amp rack this weekend to make it look nicer

I looking to get two of the new rf power series amps most likely a t8002 for my mids and a t8004 for the woofers

but I may have to wait one more month as I need to replace my muffler to get some more torque and thats going to set me back a few hundred

either way I have to recut my amp rack, so sure man if you want to shoot the dimesions my way Id really appreciate it

are you using 1/2" or 3/4"

can you still move your seat okay??

DesertTitan · 12-28-2004, 09:19 AM

Thanks for the nice words, but I am definitely far from professional at this stuff. I guess I take after my dad, good at a lot of things but not great at anything. Bestatchess on the other hand does great work. I am getting ready to make speaker adapter plates for my 6.5s and I hope they come out half as good as his did.

I know what you mean about not wanting to pull your system out. That's why I am waiting to install the HU last because I know once I get it working I'm not gonna want to mess with it!

I'll get you those dimensions when I get home tonight. It's a pretty simple build. I had to put a bevel along the top edges to clear the radius on the back wall. The only other tricky part was getting the holes to line up. I removed the braces from the back wall and clamped them to the board to trace the hole locations and that seemed to work good. Also, I installed 1.25" thick MDF (actually .5" and .75" pieces) along the bottom of the wall where the lower brace is located. I used the existing brace fasteners to hold it in place. This gave me something at the bottom to screw into for extra support. I'll take some pics to show you what I mean. The main board is .5" MDF, but if I had it to do over again I'd probably use .75" to give me more thickness in the counterbored regions. I was worried about clearance between the amps to the back seats which is why I went with .5". I still haven't reinstalled the seats yet, but based on measurements I took before hand I think it will be ok. If not, I'll have an amp rack for sale

DesertTitan · 12-28-2004, 06:16 PM

Here's the dimensions of the board I cut. These were taken after I covered it so they might be slightly larger than the actual board.

smoketitan · 12-28-2004, 07:18 PM

thx man for the dimensions!!!!! Ill cut a trail board tonight

P-Kidd · 12-30-2004, 07:18 AM

Nice work. Can't wait to see the finish product.

grunge311 · 02-23-2005, 02:56 PM

Are you in a KC or CC? and once in do your seats fold up?

Im trying to plan things out (i have CC) and need my rear seats to fold up.

DesertTitan · 02-23-2005, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grunge311

Are you in a KC or CC? and once in do your seats fold up?

Im trying to plan things out (i have CC) and need my rear seats to fold up.

I have a CC. I have not yet reinstalled the rear seats because I am changing the amp rack design a little so the amps look flush. But based on measurements I took with the seat folded up I think the seats will be in contact with the amps, but it will lock in place. It also depends on how thick your amps are.

grunge311 · 02-23-2005, 04:12 PM

I dont have my CC yet, hopefully I will pick it up in the next week or two. do you have any measurements of hand for depth before the seats hit?

ohiodish · 02-23-2005, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DesertTitan

Thanks for the nice words, but I am definitely far from professional at this stuff. I guess I take after my dad, good at a lot of things but not great at anything. Bestatchess on the other hand does great work. I am getting ready to make speaker adapter plates for my 6.5s and I hope they come out half as good as his did.

I know what you mean about not wanting to pull your system out. That's why I am waiting to install the HU last because I know once I get it working I'm not gonna want to mess with it!

I'll get you those dimensions when I get home tonight. It's a pretty simple build. I had to put a bevel along the top edges to clear the radius on the back wall. The only other tricky part was getting the holes to line up. I removed the braces from the back wall and clamped them to the board to trace the hole locations and that seemed to work good. Also, I installed 1.25" thick MDF (actually .5" and .75" pieces) along the bottom of the wall where the lower brace is located. I used the existing brace fasteners to hold it in place. This gave me something at the bottom to screw into for extra support. I'll take some pics to show you what I mean. The main board is .5" MDF, but if I had it to do over again I'd probably use .75" to give me more thickness in the counterbored regions. I was worried about clearance between the amps to the back seats which is why I went with .5". I still haven't reinstalled the seats yet, but based on measurements I took before hand I think it will be ok. If not, I'll have an amp rack for sale

Not sure if I follow the 1.25" bottom, do you have any pics of that?

DesertTitan · 02-24-2005, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ohiodish

Not sure if I follow the 1.25" bottom, do you have any pics of that?

I don't yet, but I'll take some pics this weekend since I plan to pull the amp rack out to do some more work back there.

DesertTitan · 02-24-2005, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grunge311

I dont have my CC yet, hopefully I will pick it up in the next week or two. do you have any measurements of hand for depth before the seats hit?

I don't know where I put my original measurements, but I can tell you that the total height of my amp rack including amp board and amps is about 3.25".