• If you currently own, previously owned or want to own an Avalanche, we welcome you to become a member today. Membership is FREE, register now!

10" Custom Box DIY

arizona-dave

SM 2010
Full Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2009
Messages
1,691
Location
Phoenix, AZ
:wave:
Ok, Im gunna be posting my progress and results on this new thread, for a custom 10" sub box Im currently making that will fit under the rear drivers side seat and extends under the center rear seat.

Here is a link to the Speaker-RCA Level hook up: http://chevyavalanchefanclub.com/cafcna/index.php/topic,115804.msg1804069.html#msg1804069

My Goal: Have a custom 10" Sub Box with proper cuft volume for the speaker and allows the rear seats to fold down far enough to allow the midgate to function at least 95% of the way down.

I didnt want to Hijack JEFF D's 8" Sub thread, since Ive now decided to try the 10" box. Ive been posting a lot on JEFF D's thread because I was going to do the 8" boxes, but Ive decided to try a complex 10" box design, and test the sound. If it doesnt work, Im doing the Dual 8's - I will be out $30 in supplies - no biggie. (and 30 hours of time!!) haha

The other under-the-rear-seat boxes that are sold dont allow the midgate to fold down anywhere near full-way, but I think I will get mine to fold down all but 1"...to me, that 1" is insignificant because when I put something heavy on the gate, the seats can compress 1" without ruining them.

Attached is a picture of the bottom of my enclosure, I will be building the sides and top over the next week or so, and I will post pics of it, and the final box installed with the seats down and mid-gate down.
 

Attachments

  • Box-Bottom-Test-Fit.jpg
    Box-Bottom-Test-Fit.jpg
    99.1 KB · Views: 1,873
Here are some additional Images, with dimensions, and key information anyone will need.

Why am I putting all this here instead of trying to make a million $$$ ? - Easy: This box requires so much work and nothcing, NOBODY would be willing to pay for the labor of making it - Except NBA players...who will get it done by a real professional, not the likes of an ammature like me! HAHA  >:D

Its kinda like JEFF D's thread - It requires some tweaking for each vehicle, but the overall concept is here for other to use.

My Box may Fail...It might sound like crap, or it might hold the midgate up an extra half inch to where I find it unacceptable...but, at least the info will be here for others to use.

It might sound great, in which case, I wont have to explain to my wife why I spent 30 hours making a dud.  :p
 

Attachments

  • seat-frame.jpg
    seat-frame.jpg
    96.5 KB · Views: 1,836
Here is a Pic of the Floor Pan, with the padding removed. Notice the 3/8" High Square Bump under where the rear drivers side seat is - yeah...it forces the bottom of the Box to have an additional notch in it.  :E: Oh well.

Removing the large seat is a major pain in the butt, and I HIGHLY reccomend having someone help you remove the drivers side rear seat, it Barely...and I mean barely fits outside the door.

You Cannot remove the padding on the Middle HUmp without removing both rear seats.
 

Attachments

  • Bump-On-Floor.jpg
    Bump-On-Floor.jpg
    99.4 KB · Views: 1,822
I definatly want to follow this project as much as possible, and since you have the ability to post pictures I should be able to easily. 

Hopefully I wil have the ablilty to post some pics of mine soon.  Untill then I will try to keep posting constructively and get my numbers up.
 
tritonboulder47 said:
Lookin good so far...   (y)  Can't wait to see more progress...

:D Thank you.

Im going to make some modifications. I did a dry-fit with the sides and top. The area over the middle hump needs to be very shallow, but surprisingly, the closer you get toward the front of the truck, the taller the box can be, I had it designed the opposite way.  :E:

I may end up re-building the base of the box to extend another 3 inches toeatds the front.

I dry fit some other shapes and I got it to where the midgate was virtually all the way down...the question is: WIll it sound good?
 
Good luck Dave and thanks for sharing the pics. I did mine several years ago and used a 12" Premier sub. What kind of sub are you using? I also built mine to have NO loss of midgate. Works great. The only difference is I built mine into the rear seat.
 
irontrain said:
Good luck Dave and thanks for sharing the pics. I did mine several years ago and used a 12" Premier sub. What kind of sub are you using? I also built mine to have NO loss of midgate. Works great. The only difference is I built mine into the rear seat.

Im gunna use a Kicker 10" CVT. Its tight , but I think Ive tweaked the design now to allow the seats to lay down almost flat, within about 1-1/2" of totally down.

Im going to keep my existing base, and make 2 small modifications.

How far does your midgate come down?  Did you mount the 12" sub onto the back of the back seat? So its facing toward the midgate?

Any pics?

Thanks!
 
:B:

Ok All - Here is The basic design.

I didnt put dims on it, because quite honestly I am building this thing to fit with literally 1/8" clearance sides and under the frame, and my hunch is that the seat frames, and clearances will be slightly different for each truck.

I really dont know how this type of odd box shape will impact the Air volume inside the Box. Ive calced the volume to roughly 0.81-0.82 cuft - the surface area is roughly 466 sqin (I.D.) and the average height is just over 3" (I.D.).

The Volume of air of a sealed box type for a Kicker CVT 10" is 0.8 cuft....so this box mets Kickers specs. I honestly dont think I could squeeze any more volume from this box design without making even more notches, which Im not gunna do.

I will post updated pics if the russian lets me work on this thing tonight. I obviously had nothign to do as work but draw this thing on cad.
 

Attachments

  • 10in-Box-Design.jpg
    10in-Box-Design.jpg
    62.7 KB · Views: 1,797
  • 10in-Box-With-Seat-Frame.jpg
    10in-Box-With-Seat-Frame.jpg
    55 KB · Views: 1,795
Well, progress has been made in the land of the Sun.

I made the box and base modifications, and did the dry test fit. Its fitting very good.

The Midgate comes down all but 2", and I can get it down another 1-3/8" by a simple mod to the rubber stops on the midgate. The Rubber Stops on the MIdgate are about 1" tall. The Back of the seat also has them. I plan on Cutting The ones on the Midgate by 5/8" - this will drop the midgate to where its down all but 1-3/8".

Now, in some people's eyes they may say thats not a "fully funcioning" midgate, but its down 97% of the way...and to me, thats fully functioning. The other boxes Iver seen leave the midgate up 4-5", which doesnt work.

I will post the dry-fit pics, and its back to work for me, assembling the final box.
 

Attachments

  • Dscn2335.jpg
    Dscn2335.jpg
    72.8 KB · Views: 1,759
  • Dscn2336.jpg
    Dscn2336.jpg
    76.9 KB · Views: 1,749
  • Dscn2333.jpg
    Dscn2333.jpg
    66.4 KB · Views: 1,741
Here is a side view with the tape measure. Its showing the drivers side seat up 2" higher than all the way down, 1" of that is due to the rubber stopper.

The Midgate can come down another 3/4 in or so by modifying the rubber stops. The back of the rear seat is shaped so the rubber strops arent even really needed, but I will keep 1/4" of them to keep the thing from rattling/squeaking when down.

 

Attachments

  • Dscn2334.jpg
    Dscn2334.jpg
    47.8 KB · Views: 1,722
Looks good so far. I don't know where you are putting your amp but make sure if you seat sits on it when down that the amp doesn't get too hot. It might mess up your leather.
 
KevMack said:
Looks good so far. I don't know where you are putting your amp but make sure if you seat sits on it when down that the amp doesn't get too hot. It might mess up your leather.

Thanks KevMack - The amp is an Alpine Mono 1000, and will fit under the pass side seat frame right up next to the back.

I run the same amp in my boat, and it actually never gets too hot.
 
highvelocity said:
I like it.  It looks very well done, your plans look very well thought out.
Are you going for 1 ten or 2 in this box??? 

Thank you!

Only 1 ten inch. The area under the middle of the seat is about 1-1/4" more shallow than under the drivers side seat, so there is no room for a second.

Plus, the speaker im using requires 0.8 cugt of volume per speaker, and this box will give me approx 0.82cuft, so only enough air in there for 1 speaker. It will allow it to hit to 22-25 hz range of lows, which is what I want.

 
:welcome:

I worked on this danged thing until midnight.

As you can see, I had to modify the bottom a bit, not cuz it didnt fit, but because I decided to add 2 more inches to it. Its dowelled and mitered out. Its now 24" deep x 26.5" wide, and will be 5.25" tall at the front, and 5" tall at the rear. the middle will dip to only 3" tall, which is where the seat coem down close to the floor.

Each screw is drilled and countersunk to be flush. I tried nails, but MDF just splits in half, and Im using generous amounts of glue.

 

Attachments

  • box-progress.jpg
    box-progress.jpg
    68.1 KB · Views: 1,691
Dave, it looks like I can post pics now.  Here are a few of my rig so far.  BTW, good glue is the key, I wouldn't worry.
 

Attachments

  • 1110091522a [50%].jpg
    1110091522a [50%].jpg
    88.3 KB · Views: 1,661
  • 1110091523a [50%].jpg
    1110091523a [50%].jpg
    87 KB · Views: 1,669
  • 1110091524a [50%].jpg
    1110091524a [50%].jpg
    75.7 KB · Views: 1,650
highvelocity said:
Dave, it looks like I can post pics now.  Here are a few of my rig so far.  BTW, good glue is the key, I wouldn't worry.

Im using very good glue...its so good, I tried prying off a piece when I re-worked the base, and it peeled off 1/16" deep into the MDF board, so I had to fill that area in...

Im going to be getting the midgate down all but 1-1/4" from fully down.

Nice wiring job BTW - is that blue shrink wrap, or blue union connectors?
 
Dave,

    Those are blue unions between the AMPs for the high impeadence input (love Alpine for that), and that's a piece a blue electrical tape nearest in the pic,, used ONLY to MARK the wire...lol  NO TWIST AND TAPE HERE!!!!!

I used 4 different color electrical tape colors and made a key as to what speakers they should goto.  Pretty crafty huh???  LOL
 
Did the final test-fit this morning before going to work. It fits great.

Ive only got about 1/8th - 3/16" clearance side to side between the bolt nuts on the seat frame, so Im going to router out a 1/4 deep slot on each side, which will allow for carpeting of the box. Other than that mod, which I anticipated, no other nothches or modification will be necessary.

Im running an Alpine 500 mono, 500 Watts RMS at 2 Ohms, and Im now debating between using the Kicker CVT 10", or a Rockford PS3 10" - I want 2 Ohm sub for sure, and its needs to be able to handle serious power.

I run the same amp on my boat, with an Alpine Type R 12" sub, and its insanely loud, I blew apart the first box I got from best buy, so I had to get a better box for it.

Anyone have any suggestions for a high power, good quality, hard hitting shallow 10" sub other than Kicker or Rockford? Lemme know.

Thanks!
 

Attachments

  • 1120090054a.jpg
    1120090054a.jpg
    84.9 KB · Views: 1,629
  • 1120090800b.jpg
    1120090800b.jpg
    95.4 KB · Views: 1,612
Back
Top