Project subwoofer Part One. I went ahead and started this project as I am waiting on formed power steering return hoses, I have the entire power steering system torn apart currently as there is a slow leak, I hate waiting on parts.
I really have missed not having low bass, this car is desperately needing some bump. I had already decided on a Kicker Solo-Baric L7S8 2 ohm DVC as it is a near perfect physical fit in the passenger side rear cubby. It is really the only place to make a sub fit without sacrificing the already non-existent space in the rear compartment. I really want to take this car on one of my mini-vacations and need every inch of space I can get for overnight bags and such. Now to make it work and play low enough.
What I had to work with...
This cubby has it's own issue, there are wires that run through it and exit out behind the seat...
I have no idea what the unconnected plug is for but I zip tied it securely to the other bundle. All of them are now held tightly and will not vibrate.
When I gutted the interior and ran the Frost King and Butyl KilMat I sealed this up as well as I could before putting the jute and carpet back over it. I contorted myself like a pretzel and added more Butyl to the cubby this time and ran a piece along that back wall. That wire is not ideal and short of gutting the interior I can not adequately seal that up to be completely air tight but there will be much less air pressure being exerted on it with a ported box, so it will be what it will be.
I modeled this "enclosure" in WinIsd, BassBox Pro and Unibox408 and wasn't thrilled with any of them, this isn't really a software issue, though all of them gave different results, but more of my box design being too complicated for my designing abilities. Perhaps someone else could model this to perfection, I cannot. Calculating the available space in that cubby was easy and I could have made a sealed design and it would have worked, but it would not have played very low and I want as low as I can get with an 8" so that meant a ported design. I have .86 cu ft. to work with, that is if I do not build a box to fit within that box, more on the solution to that later. The issue is the port and where to put it. The only place to put a long port is over the tunnel and into the right side cubby. The math checked out and I could build my "enclosure" and run a rectangular port over the tunnel but that presented challenges as well, mainly the port size to get the 35hz I wanted to tune it to. Once again every piece of software came up with a different port size to get to 35hz tune. I went with a basic port calculator from the12volt.com and built it.
I made the port 6" wide and 1.5" tall and approx. 20" long, folded to go down into the driver cubby. My hope in terminating the port into that cubby is to slow down the air speed exiting the port into the listening area, no chuffing wanted, and with a 6" wide port it is possible. Of course making the port over the tunnel meant I had to raise the top baffle to allow that 1.5" port. The baffle has to be secured tightly to the car, fortunately the fiberglass shelf the stock enclosure screws to is the perfect place to attach the baffle and the rest of the factory screw locations fit perfectly for the baffle, even the nubs the screws fit into are in a great location to be reused. I used med. density particle board for the baffle, Oak and MDF for the rest of the baffle structure and coating it epoxy and painted it black.
The Oak strip that will the baffle will mount to opposite the waterfall. I added some nutserts to screw the baffle to so it is easily removed if needed and foam gasketing all around. Screws in place to hold it together until the epoxy cures. It isn't pretty but it doesn't have to be, I will add some KilMat over the top of the baffle when I am satisfied with the tuning so it will never be seen and the carpet will cover it. I have some misc. nuts and machine screws coming in tomorrow to attach the sub, all of mine were too short or too big.
I had some blowouts while making the countersinks, I should have epoxied before drilling but it holds down fine.
Final mock up, I will put the stock speaker cover over the driver side hole/port exit. I will need to make a cover for sub, the one Kicker makes is woefully inadequate to protect the sub.
The amp rack as it currently is.
I will need a different amp, though the old RF amps from the 90's were very under rated for actual power output it will not provide enough power for the sub even with channel C bridged. The dynamic rating for the amp is 190 watts bridged @ 4ohms and the sub is rated for 450 watts RMS (375 in ported enclosure) and 900 dynamic. It will work for now but I cannot really drive the sub hard which is OK as my goal is not to be heard from 1/4 mile away but to give some low bass to the system. I looked up what this old amp goes for on evilbay and in good working condition and good cosmetic condition they are selling for over $300 with a couple currently for sale at $400. I may get a different amp and sell this one, as much as I hate to let this old beast go, I am not a museum and have too much junk already.
