Susan's Z3 sub box.

[Rha]

Thanks Dino for the feed back, I did post that I have to sauce a amp to run just the sub woofer and any help in that direction will be much needed, never bothered all these years of motoring with ICE so I'm a bit of a dumbo when people are talking big sounds. Have been trying to educate myself by reading on the net but to be honest I think I'll need a lot of guidance, I do now appreciate good quality music in car but not a big fan of huge bass, as long as the base takes preference in a piece of music when it should then I'll be quite happy, the Hertz package I put in recently has made a terrific differance as the oem's were nackered but there is defiantly a need to boost the bass just a little more than the new Alpine HU can manage.

Roy.

 

[Rha]

I hate to admit it Ant but you could be right but after all that sawing and screwing I'm loath to even look at it, in any case I do rather like the after market look of Susan's and the HK oem hasn't had anyone raving about it. Did they fit HK in any other models than the "M" cos I'm not up on the BMW OEM ICE. May give your Idea a thought with the nice grill on the front, have ordered mesh one for the top, maybe fit the same one on the front just for looks, or mabe trumpet for the box, what do you think.
Roy

 

[Rha]

Nicely done, what amplification will you be using?

Thanks Rudy but although it looks nice it hasn't been offered up yet and it might not fit, anyway as for the amp I'm still looking for advice so untill it's finished I couldn't and wouldn't recommend one. I know that a lot of people have tried differant configurations and I will be guided buy what they've experienced.
Rha, Roy.

 

[Antm72]

My 2.8 has H.K and a grill ao not just the ///M Roy .

 

[Rha]

Oh!!!!!!! (Egg on my face) So you've got the HK in your Z, didn't realise, is it as bad as I've been reading about, and you do have a bass woofer in the centre between the seats so all you'd have to do is upgrade it if it's not good enough. Is it mounted in a decent box.
Roy.

 

[Antm72]

There are two H.K sub boxes one has 2 5.25 speakers which i have and already changed the speakers in mine and the other a single 6.5 sub . Where the lower cubby Box is mine is just a port and a grill and the upper lid just a cover .
If retro fitting you could cut out all of the rear of the lower cubby box and then the front leaving a frame which you could stretch speaker material over to give the same effect as stock. You will have to remove most of it anyway to get what you have built in won't you ?

 

[Rudyrov]

This looks really great!

 

[Rha]

Hope to loose as little as possible, will take pics of the install when I do it and hope I won't need Spurs fan to get me out the crap if I mess up, got my new Dremel and not frightened to use it if necessary.
Roy.

 

[Antm72]

It will look great mate either way im sure heres whats in mine.....https://zroadster.org/threads/subwoofer-fix.8462/

 

[Dino D]

I got an Alpine MRP-M350 used on eBay:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-1Iu1TD4ZsDl/p_500MRPM350/Alpine-MRP-M350.html

It's a bit more than what I need but it's highly rated as an amp for sound quality and I keep the gain low. The 'bass booster' feature lets you fine tune the sound from the sub.

You'll need to check what is the recommended amount of power your sub needs, the crutchfield normally shows that or you'll find it in the sub manufacturer site.

I fixed the amp in the boot by modifying the OEM amp mounting bracket that was there already. Ran a new power cable with a proper fuse and fed the sub wire through the gap with the other wiring on the passenger side. I'm going to reroute the sub wires to the drivers side as it picks up a tiny amount of engine noise were it now (on the passenger side with the other wires).
Having said that I think I'll just look or make hole in the center and run the sub wire away from any others (on the drivers side I think the main power cable for the battery to the engine runs there so may be a source of engine noise too).

So no chance of you mass producing these boxes then Roy, there be plenty of takers once they hear it!

 

[Rha]

It will look great mate either way im sure heres whats in mine.....https://zroadster.org/threads/subwoofer-fix.8462/

Sorry,
Have posted on your sub woofer post, Durrrrrrrr

 

[Rha]

I got an Alpine MRP-M350 used on eBay:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-1Iu1TD4ZsDl/p_500MRPM350/Alpine-MRP-M350.html

It's a bit more than what I need but it's highly rated as an amp for sound quality and I keep the gain low. The 'bass booster' feature lets you fine tune the sound from the sub.

You'll need to check what is the recommended amount of power your sub needs, the crutchfield normally shows that or you'll find it in the sub manufacturer site.

I fixed the amp in the boot by modifying the OEM amp mounting bracket that was there already. Ran a new power cable with a proper fuse and fed the sub wire through the gap with the other wiring on the passenger side. I'm going to reroute the sub wires to the drivers side as it picks up a tiny amount of engine noise were it now (on the passenger side with the other wires).
Having said that I think I'll just look or make hole in the center and run the sub wire away from any others (on the drivers side I think the main power cable for the battery to the engine runs there so may be a source of engine noise too).

So no chance of you mass producing these boxes then Roy, there be plenty of takers once they hear it!

Dino it was no easy task trying to get everything sawn straight and accurate but its not beyond the average DIYers scope, just a bit time consuming and now wife has seen me working like a man possessed she's decided all the kitchen doors need changing and some of them are DIY made up to fit by Guess who a few years ago, "OH" if only I had a little workshop out the way somewhere. Life can be such a bi***, even when your retired. Now where's that length of rope.--------------------

 

[zedonist]

I would go and try it for size before you add to much value to it, I would not hold great hopes on bass as with the roof down all bass effects will be lost. If you can't face the sub into tthe car, then I would at least make it a ported enclosure with the port facing the cabin, after two attempts, I bought a bespoke made enclosure off eBay as my wood working skills were not up to it, this enclosure fits and works as per oem, and works extremely well.

With regards to an amplifier, a good mono block amplifier is what you need of around 300 watts. This will be plenty for the size of speaker you have. I would also re moment a good set of shielded RCA cables to run from the HU to the amp, decent speaker cable and interconnects from the amp to the speaker.

The amp is best situated in the boot, keep the earth cable as short as possible 6" max, this is the biggest cause of alternator wine, as it acts as an aerial.

If you are running new speaker cables or RCA cables run them down the top of the centre tunnel, running them down either side if the car puts them close to power cables, and can again give you alternator wine. Mine us set up as above and I have no alternator wine at all, and you want to avoid fitting a suppressor as it just reduces signal and sound quality, a good install is better than a fix.

Good luck with it, with the hertz kit it should sound nice when finished.

 

[Rha]

Thanks for the much needed advice, I'll look at how I can fabricate a port coming out where the small front opening bit in bobs stowage pocket is, will keep you posted as to progress.
Rha, Roy.

 

[zedonist]

Do a search on eBay for sub woofer tube ports, there more important on smaller enclosures as the allow the woofer to move in and out due to air movement, which can't happen otherwise.

 

[Rha]

Quick update to the above, picked up a brand new kenwood amp KAC 6403 for £48 so I've now received everything but the RCAs as of yesterday so after removing the top of the stowage box and all mounting screws found I needed to remove rollover bars to get inner stowage box out but couldn't shift the bars, yes I did remove torx screws so now for the moment I only have the stowage box top to take home and play with. Looks like I've made my box width 5mm to big but won't actually know untill the bars are out the way and inner box out, not too much of a problem as it will dismantle for any alterations. Tried shifting the bars with club hammer then bottle Jack so now it's a case of sledge hammer, any damage will mean replacing back the Original bars which I still have. Might end up sawing the bars then twisting them out, shame but needs must be. Could saw inner box around bars with Dremmel and will probably try this after sledge hammer if there's no damage, saw bars as a last resort.

Rha,Roy.

 

[Grumps]

You'll go deaf.

Tony.

Hey!

 

[Rha]

Hey!

Already got problems Grumps, with this new gear you should be able to hear me coming and I'll be adle to drown out the horrible sound of me own voice.

Seriously though, the OEM sound in my Z was crap and now it's 100% better but just needs that little help to put the bass up slightly to get over my hearing problem, never bothered with ice befor but with some guidance from the great Z DIYers I'm really starting to enjoy some music on the move, gonna have to get the exhaust sorted as its spoiling it a little around 19-2300rpm with a drone which my hearing actually dislikes. It's going to be neighbour friendly not the bad boy sound you hear these days, good quality sound no more no less, hopefully.

Roy

 

[Rha]

Managed to get a couple of hrs in on the sub woofer box today and managed to shift the roll over bars with a little light tap of a sledge hammer, then whent on to dismantle the storidge box and get it out of the Z. The box was 5mm too wide so altered to make a nice snug fit. Out with the Dremmel and cut the inner box sides to refit after box was installed. Now it all fits I'll cover with speaker carpet and mount the spong and black leatherette hopefully at the W/E.

Lots of hidden screws to find before it would come out.

Inner box middle was cut out leaving the two ends which are needed to cover the roll bar mounts.

Nice snug fit after a lot of Dremmel work.

Bit more shaping to top then it'll be ready for covering.
That's it for now.
Rha, Roy.

 

[Low Rider]

Looking good. Watching with interest