2018 golf R - upgrading "Premium" fender audio system

[Dafaseles]

22 minutes ago, BboyTaktix said:

I was thinking about it and jeeze, can’t I just wire the second left set of wires directly to the terminal posts on the side of the box ?!?! - result in the same and way cleaner. So basically two sets of wires coming from terminal posts - one set to each sub.

Yeah, that's the same as the distribution block idea. Just using the posts as distribution blocks. 

[BboyTaktix]

Got the box finished up finally (minus the carpetting)

 

Re-routed wiring so each sub has their own cables - much cleaner.

 

 

 

Then made some finger grab holes in the top piece in order to be able to lift out of trunk floor. Works well.

 

 

 

 

Made grooves in the side where box will be sitting on OEM floor sides, and also serves for me to cleanly wrap carpet around and tuck behind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Due to wanting the fitment being perfect, I decided to put glue and attatch the top to the box inside the trunk. This would allow me to align the box with the top exactly how it should be, put some finishing nails in to hold it together then remove the box. Protected the car with tape and rags of course.

 

 

[BboyTaktix]

YAY it worked - with one small issue...

 

 

 

 

 

So to perfectly align everything, i thought it would be wise to put the two M10 bolts in behind the box, connecting the amp rack to the box using some M10 threaded inserts. Well, after securing the top to the box, I got too excited and tried to remove the box. Now you will know what happens when M10 threaded inserts get ripped out of their location due to impatient builders;

 

 

 

 

 

So, I decided this could happen again and not worth the trouble. I then flush trimmed that little surface with the M10 inserts out and now the back of the box is perfectly flat/flush.

[BboyTaktix]

The other "issue" I noticed was that, despite my patience and medium woodworking skills, I had managed to still have some tiny gaps between the top of the box and the walls. When I shined light I could see the light from the other side.  This could not be left as I wanted the box perfectly sealed. So, I carefully used my hand/index finger inside the box  with some sealant through the subwoofer cut-outs and applied to all corners between top of box and walls. Now there should be no gaps left un-sealed. Some photos of the results;

 

 

[Dafaseles]

2 hours ago, BboyTaktix said:

Made grooves in the side where box will be sitting on OEM floor sides, and also serves for me to cleanly wrap carpet around and tuck behind.

 

 

How did you go about getting those nice, straight, deep grooves on a side with a bend in it? 

[BboyTaktix]

5 hours ago, Dafaseles said:

How did you go about getting those nice, straight, deep grooves on a side with a bend in it? 

 

OK let me try my best to explain through text - hard without demonstrating. 

 

So I did these "Grooves" before I attached the top. Basically I took a straight spare piece of MDF and clamped it tot he piece. I used a straight router bit (the one that cuts on the top and no bearing), adjusted it to cut at about 3/16in depth,  and used my router loose, using the spare straight spare piece of MDF as a guide for my router's base plate. Once I made one groove all the way along the furthest in, I then moved the straight spare piece a little bit out towards the edge, and then repeated the process. The passes got shorter and shorter as the piece was already curved from before. 

 

Hopefully that makes sense to you!

[BboyTaktix]

More progress today...quite happy with how things are coming along.

 

First thing I did was finalize the mounting for the top amp rack board. I decided the best way to make it solid was to put two little tabs on the back of the sub box (first photo) and one support at the back on the bottom rack, on which I would put two threaded inserts to hold the top and bottom racks together (but not the sub box!)

 

 

 

 

Once I was happy with that, I started permanently mounting all the equipment on the top and bottom amp rack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was then going to start routing the RCA cables but I realized that 6 footers I purchased were too long and I didn't want to deal with all the slack. I had one three foot but I would need at least two more (for zapco to two top amps) so I figured I would wait until I went back to the store to get 3-footers instead. Plus I was unsure of how to cleanly run the wires, whether to drill more holes and go down then up, or just use the slot at the front I made to go down, roll excess under then come back up. Since I was not too sure and didn't have cables in hand, I moved onto another area of the project; THE UNDER-HOOD FUSE BOX BRACKET.

 

 

Since the golf R engine has quite a lot going on, I had been struggling to find a good area to properly secure the bracket. I knew I wanted the fuse holder to be beside the battery, ideally in between battery and the ECU (to the right of it). So I used cardboard to make a rough template and see how it came out. I liked it, so I cut it out of ABS plastic;

 

 

 

Used a butane torch to bend it at the two areas I needed, turned out better than I expected. This butane torch really came in handy for this and for soldering 10GA and larger wire terminals to the wires.

 

 

 

[BboyTaktix]

Then I drilled and tapped two mounting holes for the fuse holder and installed it in the engine bay - Although it isn't perfect, I am pretty happy with the look - not too in your face but clean, at least in my opinion!

 

 

 

[BboyTaktix]

some photos of all the gear in the car after all this - you can see the top amp rack, the equipment is a little higher than the top of the sub box, which is fine - I plan on doing a stepped floor - the sub box beauty panel is in the third and fourth picture, the amps stick up less than 3/4inch beyond that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BboyTaktix]

Finally, I also got a little wiring done on the lower rack. Attempting the cleanest possible using ferrules and shrink wrap. I'm liking this method a lot.