Last weekend I went through replacing my MB deck with a Kenwood. The car originally had the 1432 tuner-in-trunk system with active bass.
Someone tore out the 1432 and replaced it with (I believe) an "Audio 10" CD player unit.
They removed the door speakers and replaced them with wood.
So I tore out the tuner/amp and active bass unit. Tied all speakers to my Kenwood and went on with life.
Now I've purchased two amplifiers and a single 12" subwoofer. I've got a four channel amplifier and a two channel amplifier. In my 126's there is a metal divider between the fuel tank and trunk. Thats where I mounted the amps in those cars. The 201, the PO mounted them to the bottom of the hat rack area. I have a larger set of 12" subwoofers with the amplifier mounted to the box.
This car will have to be different. Any suggestions on mounting locations?
Not the best picture, but I made an aluminum rack and angled mine over the left well in the trunk. but, I only have one amplifier. The only problem with this is that you have to be careful when it's raining. I haven't gotten around to it, but I plan to make some sort of "roof" to go over the one exposed corner where water could go in through the vents.
I thought about taking some plywood and running it vertical in front of the fuel tank. Mounting it with angle brackets to the hat rack and trunk floor. Mount the amps to it, hide the wires behind. Paint the plywood black or something. Thought it would look fairly clean.. Minimize trunk space loss.
That would work well, though I usually try to save as much weight as possible. But a piece of plywood that size wouldn't really be that heavy. Personally, I would cover it in speaker carpet rather than paint. It's cheap and I think it would look better.
One thing to think about if you do that is how the trunk carpeting will work. You will probably either want to cut it somehow so it doesn't go under the board, or you will want to make the lower mounting brackets in such a way that they fit at the outside edges around the carpet and elevate the board enough above the carpet that you can pull it out if you need to. Otherwise getting to the spare tire could be a PITA. Another thing is that you'll have to drill holes to the outside through the trunk floor, so make sure you seal those up properly to help avoid rusting in the future.
That looks nice! So did you just put a piece of plywood behind the factory carpet then?
Yup. Got some small 90 degree brackets and self-tapping screws and bam. Now i just have to make the wiring look as neat. So far not so good. i just hooked everything up real quick as it was getting late on Sunday. I forgot to buy distribution blocks for ground and power. So they'll be here hopefully before Thanksgiving so I can finish it off.
The following configuration has proven out nicely in the trunk of this W124. Best of all, it does not require any drilling of sheet metal & does not impede access to the spare tire well. It does require the inner trunk linings.
A sheet of MDF board is bonded to the back of the OE inner trunk panel that covers the gas tank face. This panel is held in place on each end by the OE inner wheel well linings & by two OE push-pins fastening the panel's upper edge to the parcel rack bottom. Adhesive neoprene weather-stripping on the back of the MDF board buffers any contact with the gas tank surface.
The amplifier is attached thru the panel into the MDF board with screws. Behind the panel/MDF board, there is plenty of room above or below the gas tank to run amp wiring. This configuration's wiring is run from the top through the panel/MDF board to a 5-channel amp. Wiring connections on each end of the amp are covered for a cleaner look using matching trunk material.
A boxed 10" subwoofer resides in the left inner tire well. Industrial-strength Velcro bonded to the box corner protectors holds the SW very securely in place. As stated, this configuration doesn’t interfere with access to the spare tire well, no drilling into the car’s sheet metal is required & there is minimal visible wiring
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