I made the box so that I could flip it and face to the rear or the front of the car. I tried both configurations, with it facing the front of the car it had a muddy sound, to the rear actually made the rattles worse, facing up sounds the best to me. There were two 8" subs stock in the rear deck and I am no longer using them and took them out and it actually sounds better now. I could achieve the same sound quality with the sub forward but I would have to leave the back seats down and I still usually have passengers so I couldn't go with that. I had the same concerns with it being to close but it has about 4" of clearance so I really don't have too many worries. I would defiantly have it facing the rear if I was going for any type of SPL or metering, but I am just looking for a nice back massage while cruising usually don't have it full tilt! Thanks for the compliment on the car, next video I should show what kind of get up and go she has even with 200lbs in the back, can you say 160 mph! And yes I am still waiting on my Second Skin to arrive in the mail