I got a nice new alarm system installed. This thing is stupid sensitive, and stupid loud. Sirens inside the car make your ears want to bleed.

So, over the last couple, and the next few days I will be installing the new system in my car. It is 80% show, and 20% nice listening.

I have made quite a few boxes in the last couple of months, and used up the majority of my black carpet without realizing it. I have more on the way, but for the time being I'm rolling the bare boxes and floor. My order arrives some time next week.

I started picking up components for the install last year.
The goods:
Memphis M3 15'' Mojo sub x 2
Memphis Big Belle 1300W RMS amp x 2
JL Audio 250/1 amp
JL 8w7
Alpine Type-R Coax
Hertz HSK Components
Kenwood 8129 Excelon HU
Kinetic h/o batter x 2





I started by relocating the battery to the trunk, and using two batteries instead of the Optima Yellow top that I was using. I ran like this for a day just to determine that it was fully functional.


The batteries were held down this way because I wasn’t sure where they would end up. It’s the same reason the power and ground are as long as they are.


The I set everything up in my sun room as it would be in the trunk:


Then I started the install.
From the rear:


Memphis installed:


8w7 installed.


With the seats placed in normal seating position. There is about ¾” between the seats and the sub.


I had planned on putting the batteries under the trunk floor, but determined that would be detrimental. When the batteries die, whenever that is, it would be a huge nightmare to replace them, or even to access them to jump the car.
I then was going to leave them in the location of the first picture, but I'm 3/8'' shy of having enough room. So, unless I can think of something in the next few days, they will just stay behind the driver's seat as pictured. I can't put them in any sort of symmetrical locations, as the GF requires that I keep her side of the car free of obstruction for her luggage, and my groceries.

With the stereo in the car, my ride height is even all the way around. I was afraid I was going to rub terribly in the rear, but now I know it won't be quite as bad as I had expected.


I'll post more in the near future.

5/13/2009 8:23:22 PM

what about the back seat

5/13/2009 8:39:43 PM

who needs a back seat?

With the way this is installed, I could have a back seat in about an hour if absolutely necessary.

[Edited on May 13, 2009 at 8:41 PM. Reason : .]

5/13/2009 8:40:17 PM

who needs a back seat their hearing?

5/13/2009 9:18:39 PM

nice. if anyone around here is past due for a serious alarm, i think it's you.

for the batteries, if you really need the room, a couple of random ideas you may or may not have considered:

- what about keeping one in the stock location and then the other in the rear somewhere? not a big difference, but at least a little extra girlfriend/grocery room.

- the jump starting/charging issue could be addressed easily with them under the floor. lots of companies make remote mount terminals in all shapes and sizes for exactly this reason. most dedicated race cars use them, lots of boats, rv's, etc. wire in/mount a pair inside somewhere, in the recessed license plate mount area, under/behind the bumper cover, or whatever. replacement would of course still be an issue. assuming you don't have a fluke premature failure or manufacturer defect, how often are you really going to be doing that though? maybe once every two years, even with hard use?

- or, the best option imo, put them under the floor and keep your yellow top or a cheap oem style under the hood as a dedicated starting/accessories battery. isolate it from the other two so it's still available to start the car and provide "normal" accessory power even in the event of something drawing the other two down. obviously, it would also allow you to be care free about running the stereo batteries down if you want to play it at meets, spl comps, tailgating, or whatever. lastly, the stereo system gets 100% of the available power from the two extra units 100% percent of the time since there's no load from any of the other vehicle accessories. maybe a negligible difference in the real world, but i guess every little bit counts when you're goal is max performance.



[Edited on May 13, 2009 at 9:25 PM. Reason : i shudder to think what power/ground cable that size costs, lol]

[Edited on May 13, 2009 at 9:30 PM. Reason : what are the specs on the batteries?]

5/13/2009 9:23:27 PM

daryl i need to get you over to help me plan somethign for my new truck, I need it to sound respectable and I only have 4 months

5/13/2009 9:36:00 PM

Quote :

"- the jump starting/charging issue could be addressed easily with them under the floor. lots of companies make remote mount terminals in all shapes and sizes for exactly this reason. most dedicated race cars use them, lots of boats, rv's, etc. wire in/mount a pair inside somewhere, in the recessed license plate mount area, under/behind the bumper cover, or whatever. replacement would of course still be an issue. assuming you don't have a fluke premature failure or manufacturer defect, how often are you really going to be doing that though? maybe once every two years, even with hard use?"

That's exactly what I was going to say, but after hearing them I think your first or third option is a better choice.

[Edited on May 13, 2009 at 9:52 PM. Reason : l]

5/13/2009 9:40:47 PM

The reason I moved the battery out of the stock location is that I want to put a water/meth tank in that location. I thought about leaving the battery and using an isolator, but then I would have to give up/share the washer fluid reservoir and that is not as good of an option to me.

I still want to play with the idea of putting them on the floor behind each seat, because I didn't give it enough thought earlier.

I do appreciate the ideas though.

The power cable is zero guage, 5600 strand count. For 18 feet, I paid $90. I got a good deal.
The batteries are 26lbs, 950 Amps, 36 Ah, 750 CCA, 7.6” x 5” x 6”

[Edited on May 13, 2009 at 10:20 PM. Reason : .]

5/13/2009 10:13:20 PM

^^^"only" 4 months to install a stereo? that sounds like the time frames of my projects.

5/13/2009 10:18:58 PM

I just read on their website that they can be mounted in any position, just like an optima.
This may open up more options for me to mount them. I'll find out tomorrow morning.

5/13/2009 10:21:53 PM

yeah, as far as i know, any and all dry/gel cell batteries are safe to mount however you like. that's why i asked what the specs were above. i figured it was pretty unlikely they'd be lead acid, but wasn't sure since i'm not familiar with that brand.

does the water/meth tank take up the entire stock tray? take a look at odyssey batteries. they have a super compact model that would work just fine as the starting/main accessory battery. only weighs like 10lbs. or so too.


[Edited on May 13, 2009 at 10:34 PM. Reason : seems there's another company that has a similar offering, but i can't recall the name...]

5/13/2009 10:31:46 PM

The tank I'm looking at does. Its 5 liters
I like boost.

At this point I don't think I could move the sub box, without undoing everything I did today. The thing is pushing 300lbs when loaded.

I'm going to look at a few options tomorrow for mounting with them on their side.

5/13/2009 10:36:20 PM

so where does the safe fit in all of this??????

I need to hire you to help me out sometime. Or just buy you a few beers or a few boxes of ammo or give you back some ammo.

5/13/2009 10:46:29 PM

dynabatt is another small battery. i have a friend that is using one of those

5/13/2009 10:57:43 PM

I'm looking at a slim safe (ones that look like contractor clipboards) that I can bolt to the back of the sub box. Or one that will fit between where the batteries are currently located and the 8'' sub's box.

5/13/2009 10:58:51 PM

Have fun setting off cars alarms.

5/14/2009 7:26:42 AM

where did you get that huge gauge wire?? I need about 15' of that, please

5/14/2009 8:55:04 AM

I got the wire on ebay. Just lucked out on the price.

5/14/2009 10:49:33 AM

Good Lord man. Just out of curiousity, what is the Gross Weight Vehicle Rating for your car? And how close are you to exceeding it, LOL.

5/14/2009 1:09:25 PM

The back seats and spare come in at 140lbs.
I'm putting in about 350.
Net is ~200lbs extra, or a couple people in the back seat if I had one.

5/14/2009 2:43:20 PM

you should get the sticker "no fatties"

As a matter of fact, I should get one too. If anyone rides with me weighs more than 200lbs I'm over the GVWR for my car, lol.

5/14/2009 3:47:52 PM

my truck squats ~1.5" with 275# in the bed

[poast hore]

5/14/2009 3:49:54 PM

you could make an acess panel and mount the batteries under it, seems like a lot of wasted space under there

5/20/2009 7:55:08 AM