Thread: F-Body Ideas - Camaro and Firebird

Originally Posted by sporty_drew

how much air space do you want each sub to see?

I only need 1cu/ft per driver, but 1.5 would play lower.

I'm thinking I might be able to put the spare in the far back. I can cut the metal floor to drop it down a few inches. I may also have room on each side to make enclosures and have the cones facing the tire. Then I'll built a false floor over the whole rear compartment with a wood grain finish.The spare can be covered with a hinged door and have some mesh on it to let the bass through. There will be more hinged doors over the gas tank for various types of storage. I can also add some windows so you can see into the boxes and see the massive subwoofer frames.

Originally Posted by XxAndyxX

Those some badass installs, I just got a new Firehawk and need some idea's about what to do with my stereo to account for the T-Tops. Where did you get those pictures? I'd like to browse through some for more idea's.

The bottom 2 pics are DJSexay.
http://www.djsexay.com/gallery/albums.php
http://www.fbodyaudio.com/gallery/djsexay2

Here is another good thread:
http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=585731

As far as basic boxes, visit Subthump. They have a big box with a slot for the t-tops to slip into. They also have the boxes that fit into the sides like the first pic.
http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=442116
http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=581340

Also check out http://www.fbodyaudio.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

hey man, car looks great on the new wheels, I really liked the retro look before too, when the big brakes go in it'll look all out.

I'm dealling with spare issues too, have you considered runflats? I'm thinking of doing them & then I can use all the room for a false floor, don't know if that's an option for you or not

Have you driven on runflats? Most of the vette guys I've heard from don't like them and swap to regular tires. I don't plan to run them either. I do plan to add a Wireless Tire Pressure Monitoring System (WTPMS) to keep track of the tire pressures and temps. This unit is $199.
http://www.wtpms.com/wtpms.htm
I don't know if your caddy has this or not, but it's a good idea.

As for fitting everything into my car I may go a bit more radical and chop it up some. I can relocate the fuel tank and get rid of the muffler to open up more possibilites. If I need to extend the exhaust to the rear I'll go under the axle. I'm going to reduce the axles extension travel about 2" which means more room under it. Eventually I want to add another 2" of compression travel to the rear and I'll probably need to move the tank anyway and well as a little floor board reworking. Right now I can cut out the dip in the right rear seat area and weld in a flat piece. This would give me room to mount a muffler there and dump it before the axle. Or I can just run it without a muffler like I do now.

This is the stock layout:


Here is one possible plan:


I'm still working on the best way to do it, though. I'm not real satisfied with the above layout. I could built twin 10 gallon tanks in the rear seat area but I'd like to have that weight in the rear and be low for improved stability.

I would like to use that big open area in the tire some how. One thought was to build a new gas tank in the stock location but add a large circular notch so the tire fits over and sinks down into it.

It's like a big jigsaw puzzle made of square blocks. I can rearrange it in all kinds of ways it's just a matter of figuring out the best way to meet my needs.

Here's a better one:


I'd like to have more of a 50/50 weight distribution as well as a lower center of gravity as well as a bad *** system and a full sized spare tire. This seems pretty good, finally.

EDIT: I was able to get some measurements for a tank to fit in that spot behind the axle. 30x12x9 would be the size. Unfortunetely that's only 15 gallons and with the foam we're talking 12-13 actual gallons of fuel. That's just too small. So here is another version using the larger 24x20x10 fuel cell which is a 22 gallon unit. This would be about 18-19 actual gallons which would give me more range between fill ups.



Having the spare tire tilt back to show off the chrome would look nice. I should be able to get the air space I need for the subs by extending the enclosure into the spare tire well and over the top of the battery. I also might be able to motorize the spare to make it easier to get to the storage area underneath. Under the storage area can be a trap door for access. I wonder what I can put in the drivers side cubby hole?

Hey John, did you get my email about cutting into the front fenders?

OK, guys. I got my car back after not driving it for 2 weeks to get new gears put in. I tore a tooth off my pinion gear. Got new 4.10's and love them. Anyway, I was finally able to get under there and do some measuring. I mentioned earlier about moving the gas tank so I could have more room to allow the axle to move up, but it turns out there is enough room. I've already been able to tuck it this high:




And with a mod or 2 I can have it go up another 3/4" before the tank becomes an issue. That should be enough. Anyway, I think the best plan of attack is for me to remove the muffler and raise the floor in the back storage area and then I would have enough room to mount a thin, full diameter spare under the car just like on pickup trucks. Like so:



I could even use one of those gear drives like the trucks have to raise and lower it. If I can keep the tire about 7" thin it shouldn't scrape or be touched by any steep driveways. I'm not real sure what I can do about the 11" tire I took off, but I could probably get a carry bag of some kind to keep in the car and slide the dirty tire into it and then stick it in the passenger seat or strap it to the roof. Something. :jest: I don't get flats often so it shouldn't be that big a deal. It may even tuck under the car where the spare was as long as the road is flat.

The bottom line is that it would be out of the way and I can use the rear for storage and put the subs on the rear deck like I planned all along.

wow a 2.5" ground clearance... How much have you dropped it so far? I'm glad your going to be able to keep the congo shell enclosure idea because i like it, it's very unique and not many people would put a "wood" theme in their f-body.