Woofers Without A Box - previously titled "Can the (coupe) Mach 460 rear box be installed from the bottom?"

[shovel]

Before I go track a used one down, can the plastic enclosure be installed from the bottom? I have no speakers at all in the rear deck, have been using a trunk mounted subwoofer but that's going away.

To keep things on topic I'm not asking for any other sound system advice, just whether you think it's plausible to run some fasteners up (maybe rivnuts?) without disassembling the interior of the cab. I know that removing the box requires access from the top but that is not a concern here as I have no speakers at all in the rear deck.

The last time I had the rear window trim panels off the plastic was getting pretty brittle so I would like to avoid pulling them out again.

 

[ttocs]

it has been a LONG time but I thought the box mounted to the bottom of the package tray.

 

[Rod]

The box is held in from the bottom. Yes is will come out the bottom. I've had mine out before, but like ttocs it's been a LONG time.

 

[Frank.JD.Perez]

Yes

 

[badass98svt]

The box is attached via 8(?) nuts that are located on top of the rear deck, from what I remember.

Not sure if you'll have enough access to throw some rivnuts on there.

 

[ttocs]

I remember having to remove the amps on the bottom in order to get access to the nuts on the outside to remove it.

 

[shovel]

I removed one of these from my 96 V6 a few years ago but didn't pay much attention to it.. removed it from the top by undoing the nuts that were on top of the rear metal shelf panel.

Since I no longer have that car or that box I wasn't sure if the hardware went all the way through it or if those threaded studs on top were mounted from inside the enclosure where it would be impossible to affix it from the bottom.

Now I need to be able to fit a collapsible wheelchair in the trunk of my 94 so the big subs go away and I'll just have to be satisfied by some aftermarket 6x8's. I know the non-Mach rear shelf cover isn't cut out to allow the Mach tweeters but that doesn't matter as I won't be using the Mach tweeters or amplifiers.

 

[ttocs]

they actually make some very small self powered subs that can easily be hidden in the corner out of the way. I have a powered 12" under each front seat in my DD. They would not fit under the seat in the mustang but you could tuck it to the side of the trunk and still have plenty of room.

 

[badass98svt]

I removed one of these from my 96 V6 a few years ago but didn't pay much attention to it.. removed it from the top by undoing the nuts that were on top of the rear metal shelf panel.

Since I no longer have that car or that box I wasn't sure if the hardware went all the way through it or if those threaded studs on top were mounted from inside the enclosure where it would be impossible to affix it from the bottom.

Now I need to be able to fit a collapsible wheelchair in the trunk of my 94 so the big subs go away and I'll just have to be satisfied by some aftermarket 6x8's. I know the non-Mach rear shelf cover isn't cut out to allow the Mach tweeters but that doesn't matter as I won't be using the Mach tweeters or amplifiers.

The studs are mounted to the enclosure. Not removable.

 

[shovel]

It looks like this should work, M6 rivnuts drop into the holes




The hardware isn't molded into the enclosure and just comes out



I used M6X1.0 screws - but discovered that I underestimated the length a bit. The two middle screws toward the front of the car will be 25mm, the two rear middle screws might need to be 30 or even 35mm, the two outer ones will need to be 30mm.

I put adhesive foam on the parts that will contact the underside of the deck and the screws have to be long enough to compress that down but not so long they contact the underside of the shelf cover.

 

[lwarrior1016]

It looks like this should work, M6 rivnuts drop into the holes

View attachment 46207
View attachment 46208

The hardware isn't molded into the enclosure and just comes out

View attachment 46209

I used M6X1.0 screws - but discovered that I underestimated the length a bit. The two middle screws toward the front of the car will be 25mm, the two rear middle screws might need to be 30 or even 35mm, the two outer ones will need to be 30mm.

I put adhesive foam on the parts that will contact the underside of the deck and the screws have to be long enough to compress that down but not so long they contact the underside of the shelf cover.

Awesome! Take a bunch of pictures of the install for us.

 

[badass98svt]

Bonus!

 

[ttocs]

I would not give the rivnuts more than one UGGA, skip the DUGGA or if you overtighten it there is a chance you could crack the plastic.

 

[shovel]

confirmed m6x1.0 rivnuts, 25mm button head screws for the forward two holes, 35mm for the rear two holes and 30mm for the outer two holes. All with flat washers to avoid friction on the enclosure during hand tightening.

I have a tiny cheap 2 channel amp from Dual (DA6002D, not that it matters) which the manufacturer boldly claims can do 240 watts bridged to a 4 ohm load. To its credit the walmart-only twin of that amp (XPR82D) did 260+ rms in a youtube video so maybe.. For now I have the factory 8 ohm 6x8 woofers in there wired in parallel to present that 4 ohm load to the amp. That's about 3x as much power as the speakers would get from the Mach460 amps but I'm not exactly blasting & if I do happen to cook them it won't be difficult to drop this back down and adapt a pair of aftermarket 6.5" woofers that can take more power.

No point in putting the big MTX subwoofer amp back in there.. that'll just go in a drawer until some future time when maybe I go big again in this or another car. Or my surviving relatives can sell it on ebay, whatever.

 

[ttocs]

The stock speakers are probably so dry rotted that they have ported themselves.

 

[shovel]

I wanted to give a little update here -

Up front I have some 6.5" component speakers mounted in 6x8 adapters. I don't want everyone to get caught up on brands, they're the "better" of "good, better, best" within an established brand's portfolio.

Compared with a V8 and 90s car wind noise they don't move enough air to sound full and rich while driving so they need help from some kind of dedicated woofers. We all have our own idea in our head of what the right amount of bass is - I'm just going to say full and rich sound and hope you can get a picture of where that sits in relation to a volcano erupting or an iphone sitting in a cup holder.

I can't do a box in the trunk, need to be able to transport my wife's chair and besides I really don't need that amount of bass and don't want anyone to get a reward if they vandalize my trunk.

So here's what I came up with: I got 6x9 spacer rings, mounted them with machine screws & nylock nuts to the underside of the 6x8 holes and then mounted cheap 6x9 component woofers to the bottom of that. Again I don't want anyone caught up on brands, they are the woofer from a set of 6x9 component speakers that were under $100 so.. cheap stuff.

They're being driven by the same $60 walmart amplifier.

This has been the best solution to date, it's still nothing like having a subwoofer nor did I need that. It's full, guitars sound like guitars and drums sound like moving air. Glad I tried this now I can move on to more important things. I'm going to make a separate comment below this one about a different idea I almost implemented, maybe it'll be interesting to someone else.



The whole top of the package tray got some deadener a long time ago.

 

[shovel]

Here's the idea I had and almost implemented... but then decided the above plastic rings would probably be 90-110% as good with less weight and less work. I'm just adding it in case anyone happens to get inspired by it later.

You should be able to get everything you need from this one photo. Basically I turned the Mach enclosure upside down on a piece of scrap plywood, sprayed a little black paint around its perimeter to make a stencil, sprayed a bit down the mounting holes to stencil the mounting holes, and then got a set of manufactured 6x9 spacer rings to mount a set of 6x9 speakers under it (and to use as router guides to cut out nice holes) . Presumably a set of 8" woofer rings, or maybe even a single 10" in the middle? would work just as well since it's OK if the driver overlaps the underside of the main panel, once it's in the car. Then this whole baffle could mount up under the rear deck basically the same way the Mach speaker box mounts.

My plan was to shape it, sand it, paint it, woofer it, mount a ton of foam around the top to (mostly) seal it when installed and use the trunk as the woofer enclosure. I have an aluminum rear seat delete so the only way air moves between the trunk and cabin is through the deck or around the sides under the interior trim panels. Hardly a new idea, I haven't seen anyone do it in a SN95.

Ignore the crossovers, I will explain those below the picture, they are unimportant for this topic.




*ok since I'm sure some audio nerd is going to be curious about the crossovers. I'm selling this enclosure locally. I had long since cut off the speaker wire harness, so it couldn't just get plugged in to the stock audio system. Nobody who wants this would have the OE mach amps anyway. So they would need to be able to drive it with a regular head unit or maybe amp. I had the crossovers lying around from a set of components I blew up years ago. No, that's not the brand of components I used in my Mustang. Yes I understand that the Mach woofers are 8 ohms and the Mach tweeters are mid-range speakers that are 4 ohms and I understand that the frequency at which the 8 ohm woofers get filtered by the crossover is 2x what was intended, which means quite a lot of overlap with the tweeters and a roughly 3dB increase across whatever mid band that represents, like probably 3-6khz. Everyone's aftermarket radio can scoop that out with EQ if they want. I've played it full range with no EQ and it sounds better than you think.. and actually pretty decent with the mids scooped back to normal. Hopefully this answers all the questions you had about the crossovers that aren't the topic of this post.