Amp Rack

AnthonyO said:

Mine has to wait another week or so. I have been extremely sick. I was diagnosed with COVID and a bacterial infection. For a whole week vacation, I have barely had the energy to get out of bed.

I’ll update once I get it completed.

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Get well soon. Have you never had COVID before? Just wondering cause second time around should be easier.

man.. I hope you get to feeling better. things can wait. Your health is most important for sure. ive been feeling under the wind myself lately.

I'm about to put ~10 more build pics of it now on my thread but I will post a progress pic for those who don't follow my build. This will be for 6 amps, a dsp, and some passive crossovers. I should have it done by Saturday. I'll post another photo then.

Snap bushings test fit. The holes need to be cleaned before the fabric is added. Hope to have the car playing again tomorrow.

This is me at 21 hrs of work on the trunk. I trimmed it out in black suede. Built some trim panels and added some fancy washers. Amp rack is done. Still need to pretty up wiring but I'll do that after my tune.

AnthonyO said:

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Decided to go behind the rear seat

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Put bass knob on dash left of steering wheel.

I gotta finish up tomorrow. These old bones can only take so much laying underneath a dash.

I took out the Rockville 4 gauge and replace with NVX 4 gauge.

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Looks great. I have to mount by bass knob/DSP up front too. Crawling all over this car isn't as easy as it use to be. Closing in on 50 definitely changes you. The running and lifting helps.

AnthonyO said:

Lets see your amp racks. I need some motivation.

I have a sheet of HDPE, but its so damn hard to work with. So I am thinking of building my amp rack out of 1/4" MDF.

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1/4" MDF isn't worth using, IMO- it's not rigid enough and it's too easy to strip screw holes.

How is HDPE hard to work with? It's a mess, granted, but with a table saw, router, disc sander and jigsaw, you can do whatever you want. Just make sure your dust collection is good because you'll be wearing a lot of dust and little shards of this stuff and static electricity adds to the charm. It also holds screws really well if the torque from a battery powered driver isn't excessive.

I really like ABS and used it for more than 20 years when I did car audio full time. I would like to have had better access to info back then- I used CNA to join it and when that didn't work great, used a chisel tip on my Butane soldering iron to weld it together since actual plastic welders weren't easy to find and they were expensive.

Fast forward to early last year, when I needed to make a large panel for a yacht, to replace the thin fiberglass piece that had come off- I chose ABS and found out about using MEK to adhere it- best thing I have ever used. Because this piece was going to receive pressure from waves/wake, I added backing and used the MEK to chemically 'weld' it, followed by stainless bolts, washers and Nylock nuts.

For anyone who might want to use MEK- do it in a well ventilated space, brush it onto the pieces being joined and move fast because it evaporates very quickly.

Practice with small scraps and place the wetted piece (edge or face) on the other piece and slide them slightly, to make the joint work better. If the raw edge needs to look more finished, brushing MEK onto it will make it shiny and more smooth, but it should be sanded with fine paper for a better appearance.

Since ABS is easy to paint, it's a great material for these kinds of panels- HDPE doesn't take paint well as a permanent finish.

Just getting started on mine.

1-1/4 " Countertop piece cut to 32x24 to fit forward part of 300C trunk. Sprayed with epoxy enamel.

Need to route cables so it's puzzle time now trying to figure out cable management. Using cable claps with #10x1" pole barn screws. They already have built in rubber washers, will use to secure equipment as well. Using restaurant style heat mats they use to set hot pots on, cutting them to shape each bottom piece of equipment being screwed down will help with vibrations and strength.

More pics to come.

AnthonyO said:

I am just adding a little AudioControl 300.1 and a Kicker downfiring 8.

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Are you choosing 8AWG or 4AWG in case you want to up-size? How about for signal?