Need ideas for an install in an old cruiser (long, lots of pics)

[aaron_sk]

Last summer my brother and I ended up with a 1963 Mercury with the breezeway hardtop. Basically that means the back window is slanted back the wrong way, and rolls down behind the rear seat like so:



You can see it from inside the trunk in this shot:


While it's an interesting bit of 60's styling, it seems like it would make it a lot harder to get decent sound out of the subs, with so much metal framework and glass in between everything.

This will be my first stab at building a custom box, and I admittedly don't know much, but I was figuring on something like this:

Red brackets to be cut out, white is box with slanted base to fit trunk pan, green is 2x 12" subs.

In addition to the possibility of distortion of vibration from the rear window, I'm also wondering what I can do about the sides of the trunk, which are open like so:


Originally it had some fiberboard junk that blocked that section off (you can see the bracket for it inside the fender, and the screw holes on the white brace in the left side of the photo). I was considering replacing it with a piece of MDF, and then covering that and the entire pan in Dynomat (or equivalent) and some cheapo carpet or something.

[aaron_sk]

Up front it has cable-actuated vents on either side of the car up under the dash (lousy photo taken upside down in a hailstorm):


I was thinking about cutting the vents themselves out, blocking off the hole into the fenderwell, and then building a small box for some comps. Ironically enough the vents are about the size of 5.25" comps themselves.

I was planning on topping it off with the typical head unit stashed in the glovebox. :RE I've got no plans to make it super loud, and I highly doubt it will ever be a decent SQ system in this rattly old car, but I figure I'm up for a little challenge getting it sounding decent.

Any thoughts, ideas, criticism? Am I crazy for even trying this? (Probably )

Thanks guys,

Aaron

[Ryan from Ohio]

Thats going to be a tough order. Theres no good way for the sound to get into the cabin. Getting through wood is tough enough, but glass and metal...

Next, why is there big holes on the back side of the box? Then another in the center?

I would sound dampen that trunk well.

[CaptainPioneer]

Thats a cool car... Good luck with the build... Like Ryan said. Its going to be very difficult to get decent sound through the trunk... A good resource that might be able to help you out is check out some of the Low-rider forums and customs forums. A lot of those guys have loads of experience with the older bigger "boat" cars out there.

[smoker]

i

want


that


car


!!!!!!!!!!!

[aaron_sk]

lol, thanks guys. You can't see if very well in the pics, but the window unit is actually only mounted at the top and bottom. You can kinda see the back of the seat between the sides and the fenders in the third pic.

@ Ryan, ignore the red circles, those are actually mounts for the spare tire that need to be cut out before the box can be built.

[Bwcad1]

What about possibly doing a console?

[aaron_sk]

What about possibly doing a console?

: I'm a little new to this still, does console mean something specific? I'm assuming you don't mean a dash console, or mixing console.

[Purple RS]

Aaron, I'm sure he's asking if you have bucket seats and if you could build a console between them to hold a sub. Seen lots of pickup trucks and SUVs done that way.

[aaron_sk]

Aha, so he did mean dash console. It does have bench seats though, Al, so no console.

For the fronts, does anyone foresee any problems building some small boxes for a set of comps, above where kick panel speakers would be? I'd rather keep the speakers out of sight if I can.