rbeyer
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
To be fair I know I could have searched around for one that came with the factory subwoofer but it wasn't on my mind when car shopping. I picked up a Pioneer WX106b (10" sub in a box) and coupled that with a Boss Audio R1100M mono amp. I put it all together with everything mounted on the back of the amp box with quick connect fittings with the idea if I wanted to pull it out it would be a quick 5 minute job.
My big gripe with the setup is even with the small box it took up a surprising amount of trunk space. On top of that I could not figure out how to securely mount it without drilling holes, which for me was out of the question. I tried some high strength Velcro on the bottom of the box and it certainly kept attached to the carpet (a little too attached), it would peel off the box.
So off to eBay I went. I picked up a factory sub and swapped out the paper woofer for the one from the Pioneer box (plenty of how-tos on YouTube for that). Luckily the seller of the one I purchased included the factory mounting bracket.
I found out though that the right side carpet has some cut outs for this bracket and I didn't want to hack up my carpet, so back on the interwebs I go. Ford must hold these pieces of carpet in high esteem, factory prices are around $420 just for that piece. Some places sell it for $250-ish, but it isn't clear what the part number is for the non-sub version versus the sub version. Another trip to eBay and I found one for $160 shipped.
All together I tried to make this as "factory" as possible, from an outside glance you can't tell the difference. Wires are routed and loomed (most of them). The biggest issue was mounting the amp. I made a 3D printed leveling mount that attaches to the spare wheel well floor with double sided 50-lb mounting tape. No screw holes and no permanent modifications, even built Y-harnesses for the attachment of the LOC to the rear speakers.
Anyway, didn't happen without pics...
Amp power wire comes up the passenger fender and into the battery compartment just behind the strut.
Fuse is mounted in the battery box with more 50-lb tape.
Amp comes into the trunk area through a factory plug replaced with a grommet and some extra shrink wrap.
Loomed into the factory harness path, the one on the right is the speaker feeds to the LOC.
lOC is 50-lb taped behind the trim panel under the trunk electronics.
Amp sits where the foam trunk insert used to live. I'll be designing a holder for the air pump to still live in that space. I hoped I could just spin it around and it would fit but no joy there. Amp did not fit above the foam insert. I also tried to put it inside one of the fender wells but the carpet wouldn't lay flat.
New factor carpet with the holes.
All buttoned back up
I'm not an audiophile, so this is more than enough kick for my needs to fill in the missing lows from the factory system. I did replace my rear speakers with kickers, but it still didn't hit enough.
For anybody wanting to take this on, the four floor holes where the bracket goes are there, just covered with a clear sticker that's easily removed. The upper bracket bolt though, there must be a factory J-clip or something in that hole that didn't make it into my car. No big deal, that bracket could hold the car together, but you will want to put some foam padding because it seems like it may vibrate against the rear inner body panel.
My big gripe with the setup is even with the small box it took up a surprising amount of trunk space. On top of that I could not figure out how to securely mount it without drilling holes, which for me was out of the question. I tried some high strength Velcro on the bottom of the box and it certainly kept attached to the carpet (a little too attached), it would peel off the box.
So off to eBay I went. I picked up a factory sub and swapped out the paper woofer for the one from the Pioneer box (plenty of how-tos on YouTube for that). Luckily the seller of the one I purchased included the factory mounting bracket.
I found out though that the right side carpet has some cut outs for this bracket and I didn't want to hack up my carpet, so back on the interwebs I go. Ford must hold these pieces of carpet in high esteem, factory prices are around $420 just for that piece. Some places sell it for $250-ish, but it isn't clear what the part number is for the non-sub version versus the sub version. Another trip to eBay and I found one for $160 shipped.
All together I tried to make this as "factory" as possible, from an outside glance you can't tell the difference. Wires are routed and loomed (most of them). The biggest issue was mounting the amp. I made a 3D printed leveling mount that attaches to the spare wheel well floor with double sided 50-lb mounting tape. No screw holes and no permanent modifications, even built Y-harnesses for the attachment of the LOC to the rear speakers.
Anyway, didn't happen without pics...
Amp power wire comes up the passenger fender and into the battery compartment just behind the strut.
Fuse is mounted in the battery box with more 50-lb tape.
Amp comes into the trunk area through a factory plug replaced with a grommet and some extra shrink wrap.
Loomed into the factory harness path, the one on the right is the speaker feeds to the LOC.
lOC is 50-lb taped behind the trim panel under the trunk electronics.
Amp sits where the foam trunk insert used to live. I'll be designing a holder for the air pump to still live in that space. I hoped I could just spin it around and it would fit but no joy there. Amp did not fit above the foam insert. I also tried to put it inside one of the fender wells but the carpet wouldn't lay flat.
New factor carpet with the holes.
All buttoned back up
I'm not an audiophile, so this is more than enough kick for my needs to fill in the missing lows from the factory system. I did replace my rear speakers with kickers, but it still didn't hit enough.
For anybody wanting to take this on, the four floor holes where the bracket goes are there, just covered with a clear sticker that's easily removed. The upper bracket bolt though, there must be a factory J-clip or something in that hole that didn't make it into my car. No big deal, that bracket could hold the car together, but you will want to put some foam padding because it seems like it may vibrate against the rear inner body panel.
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