Front mounted sub

[Jean]

Anybody mounted a sub upfront, maybe a single 8-10" in the passenger side footwell or dash / glove box area ?

I am more into sq than spl and always wanted a front mounted sub but never had a chance to do that in my previous cars.

So, share your project / ideas.

[Teaguer]

I mounted a 10" sub behind the center console in an old E21 of mine after losing the A/C and chunking the evaporator .
Eventually mounted 8's in the doors too .

Haven't done anything that ambitious in an E30 though .
I still have plans to mount a 10 or 12 on either side of the rear seat behind the side panels one day .

[Jean]

Exactly, there is enough room in the a/c,heater area for one as I tossed the whole thing.

[Teaguer]

Why don't you toss that dog of an M10 and then you can mount a couple of 18's under the hood . :D

[Jean]

M10 will be gone don't worry ;) I just gotta do a couple more things to the chassis first before I do the swap. Things like urethane rear mounts, rota wheels, headliner, seats, gauges blah blah blah. Probably another 5k into it :hitler:

[P.Kelly]

Resurrecting an old thread, but I think I'm going to give this a try. I've got an 8" Pioneer shallow on order, and will try a MDF/fiberglass box molded to the floor pan in the footwell. More to follow in the next few weeks when I actually get around to laying some chop.

[george graves]

You know how I know this is an old thread? Jean had a m10.

[P.Kelly]

Okay, so no pictures yet, as I'm still exploring, but after gently removing all the "old aftermarket shit" that was in my car (RF Changer and associated wiring), I pulled the center console, the glove box and peeled back the passenger footwell carpet enough to discover how MUCH padding there is. I would wager there is .3 cu ft of padding and spacer alone underneath the existing "foot board".

My belief, is that using this space, plus taking another 2-3", at a steeper angle, could produce a .5-.6 cu ft box for a small shallow sub, in the cabin.

More to come, as I explore. Unfortunately, you cannot remove the carpet without removing the dash (as far as I can tell). Which may slow down my investigation.

[StereoInstaller1]

Send back that POS Pioneer before you even get it. It is a miserable pile of shit.

The Kenwood 8" is pretty decent though. In a tiny little box like you would have to do in that space, it is really your only chance of any kind of actual bottom end.

I did a 2.6 cubic foot box for a single 12 in the floor of an '89 Eldorado, with a pair of 4" in my semi-aperiodic TQWT enclosures...stage for days...tri-amped on my old HK CA260s.

[P.Kelly]

I'm actually looking at the Alpine 10" shallow as a more long term, but the pioneer was on amazon prime, so I can try it, and send it back. The rviews on the shallow alpine r have been really good, considering what it is.

[StereoInstaller1]

have not heard that one, but the Kenwon't is pretty impressive.

It is a shame the Exile is no longer made, those were excellent, not just "excellent for a thin woofer".

[P.Kelly]

I pulled the foam padding behind the carpet and did a rough measurement of .38 cubic feet. With only 2" of foot space removed, I should be able to get the .7 specced for the alpine in a vented application. Now, building a vent into the footwell box is going to be the largest challenge.

[StereoInstaller1]

Habitrail!

What I use is drain pipe and the appropriate elbows, all available at your local Home Depot.

Getting .7 cubic feet and woofer/port displacement is gonna be tough in that footwell.

Post some pics when you get it done! I have done that Kenwood thin 8" in the footwell of a Miata and in a CLK, both worked pretty well. Both were fiberglass and a raging pain in the ass to get perfect...wear a respirator!

[dwvw]

The Alpine is pretty good, the older MTX thin are good, the JL is pretty much the MacDaddy right now.

I am probably going to go Alpine in the sidepanels of my car. Supplies arrived today, when it stops raining I will get that glassed and post pictures.

[P.Kelly]

I looked at the JL specs online, but IIRC it was almost 4 inches where the Alpine was 3.25