So i've done some searching and now have a few questions about this. I know that you have to remove the carpet, cut away foam and all that, my question is, do these setup's tend to overheat the amps? I have a jl 500/1 amp and really don't want to blow it up. Also, could you not cut the carpet and keep it completely hidden? I see how most people cut out the carpet covering it. I would like to keep it completely hidden but don't want it to overheat.

Thanks,
Brandon

 

Where there's a will there's a way. I'm sure that you could leave the carpet in place over the back of the seat but you would have to come up with some way of getting air in there. The advantage of having the amps showing is that they will throw heat that way.

 

Not to hijack, but it would be amazing for someone to write up a tech article for the tgo.org homepage. I know the basic idea (remove plastic and foam chunk) but I'm foggy on where to really cut/bolt the amps to. It seems like the'd move around alot. There's so much info on these boards, it should be archived better in the tech section. Again, i apologise for the hijack.

Oh yeah, and if you had 2 fans (suck and blow) hidden, it'd probibally be best.

 

hey if i had two fans to suck and blow, i would be a very happy man. But that has nothing to do with car audio.

But seriously, i think it would be hard to get two fans in there and for there to be adequate flow the seat would have to be almost hollow. I think i am just going to pop off the carpet, remove the plastic and foam, attach a couple pieces of plywood to the seat, velcro the amp on and maybe a couple staples, (wouldn't that suck to sit in someones cars get and poked in the back with a screw), make sure the surroundings of the seat keep it from moving around and possibly attach a real thin layer of mesh over the amp.

I was also thinking of drilling a breather hole in the top of the seat so that the amp will have air to it even when the seat is up. It will also be covered in mesh. I think that if i got one fan in the breather hole, it would expel the hot air and the mesh covering the amp would be thin enough to allow air in to cool it down.

Does this smake sense?

My biggest issue wil be the split rear seat.

 

maybe something like this with 2 2" pcv pipes with fans in them coming off the top.

crude drawing but you get the idea.

 

Keep in mind that a portion of the set extends above the hump. You could install fans there and duct the air down if you wanted to.

 

Thats why I went with Kicker Amps, they have built in cooling fans No matter where you mount them, they get good air circulation

 

first for pictures, go to my cardomain site and click on the stereo link on my 91 camaro


pretty easy doing this mod myself. basically take carpet off, you will find your foam and PVC plastic backing..... iff u want somethign to show through. cut hole in size u want to come through. you will find some tedous modifying will have to be done to the pvc backing, other than just cutting a hole there are 'ribs' on one side, and you will be best to take a little air saw to this, or whatevre can get into close proximaties. so you will basically have a hole say 12" by 24" and then the ribs cut back soyou will actually have a 1" mounting surface all the way around, meaning the ribs will be cut to 14" by 26" . so you can then screw your amp box to this, as what I did


you could keep it covered, you would then just have to build a box much what like I did, but dont cut a hole. heating will probably be an issue with mine, and almost any others. I thought about the idea of having fans just cut into the back of the seat, higher than the back axle hump but meh... all this trouble and do something 'simple' like that? what I had invisioned, is that i will go to the local radio shack kidna deal and get 2 bass ports. of say a 2-2.5" diameter. cut hole in my amp box... on on each side. (passanger side and driver side) firing SIDEWAYS so one hole firing towards a sail panel and the other vise versa. then paint, cover whatever the hole to make it inconspucious in my situation( you coudl see it)_ and mount a little CPU fan to the actual OUTSIDE of the amp box. still inside the SEAT. and get some flexable ducting of the same kind of diamter. I know Q LOGIC made these . anyways have this, connected to these bass ports in which you bought, obviously a hole wil have to be cut on each side of the seat carpet/fabric to fit these in, these might be a little loose. but might be a little stiff as you will have to cut a hole for the ductin in the foam. so basically you will have a nice clean looking port. which is probably unoticable when up or down position. have one fan pulling, one pushing.


its not going to matter if your amp has a fan or not. the fact is..... warm air wont excape. be like upgrading a car which has a rad with no water pump... to one with a water pump....without a fan...... it only does so much........



if some of you visit my site. let me know if the pictures are helpful I'd be happy to make a tech artical on my site, which could be linked to this site

 

I sort of went blake's route only BIGGER lol

all kidding aside I just hallowed out the back seat all together and bolted a 3/4" piece of MDF to the two metal side brackets

I left about 3" of the top plastic and 1" around the bottom

i then cut out 2 small wholes in the top corners for the 3" fans and left the bottom open a little to help vent then covered the MDF with and inch and a half of foam and glued the cover back on then covered the whole rear with tinted plexi

In total i have 4" of depth inside the box and enough room for my amp's and xbox that is if i ever get around to putting the car back together again

picts' to follow

 

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thats sweet! but i dont see where you cut the wholes for the fans. Did i just miss it?

 

the holes were cut out but the carpet is still covering take a close
them in the posted picts but you can sort of see it in the 2nd pict.
I'll try to take some better shot's of it this weekend for you if you want

 

I think i see them. My setup is going to be different though with my split rear and only one amp. I think I'm going to try a tray like that, completely covered with the carpet and two bass ports for cooling with maybe just a push fan running off the remote wire and ground.

 

good job man, I dont think i will remember everyt step i did...... and each person will modify every step or take another whole route.... if I did it again.... I think I would make a fiberglass replica of the actual ABS plastic and have the hump worked in with it, make for some nice lines

 

I went the easy route this weekned. I pulled me seat off and just couldn't cut through it. I don't have a spare tire so i used a sheet of plywood and mouted the amp in the spare tire well. Sorry about that guys.

Brandon