# '05 Mazda3 Hatchback Build



## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

I have an '05 Mazda3s hatchback that im building a false floor and amp rack and area for a prefab 10" sub box. I will be posting more pics as I go along. If you have any comments or questions just let me know. I hope these can help someone else out.


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## tibug (Jan 22, 2011)

I love those cars. Looks like a good start too!


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Here some pics of the Raamat and Ensolite I installed in the hatch area and doors.


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## jimp (Jul 12, 2009)

I have a 05 MZ3 HB as well, GL with the build. Do a search on here for mazda and you'll get some good pics that may/may not help you.


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Finally got all the panels done and ready to be painted and the top trim panels to get covered in fabric. Once the techflex and heat shrink gets in, I'll take out the seats and carpet to run the wires and begin hooking it all up.


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Here are pics of the baffle i built out of 1/2" birch wood for the 5 1/4" Hybrid Audio Clarus 51-2s in the front doors. They are being powered by my Jl Audio 450/4. 

I also cut the factory speaker ring off the inside of the doors for clearance for the new speakers.


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Here are the finished pics of the amp installed and the 10" sub and ported box installed. I can still remove the spare tire and the jack is held into place with very strong magnets that are under it in the wood. The front panel is held into place with the same magnets so it does not move around while driving. I am waiting on carpet to come in to cover the top trim panels with. So the wood that has stuff painted on it will be covered, haha.


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## Mixerdriver (Nov 8, 2010)

I like the install gave me a few ideas for a 06 speed im doing for my neighbor.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

I have an 06 3 hatch, how well did the deadening cut down on the road noise?


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

It helped a little on road noise. It mainly only added weight to the thin metal to keep it from vibrating and creating more noise. The ensolite helps with absorbing the incoming sound from the road. In my own opinion, if you really want to quite road noise you need to get stuff like ensolite or second skin's luxury liner. I do not believe in spending $100s for bulk sound deadener when all that's really doing is adding weight to the metal. I would suggest buying some sound deadener/vibration dampeners and spend more money on things that are insulated or foam material that will actually absorb road/engine noise.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Hey man, where's your trunk ground point for the amp?

I tore the floor trim panels and bench seat out looking for a decent one, but I couldn't find anything good. All of the bolts that were the right size (8mm) had poor metal around the bolt hole.


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## 9mmmac (Dec 14, 2010)

I think it's a nice build overall. I have 1 suggestion and 1 question though. 

S1: I'm concernd about amp cooling. Please detail what/how you are dealing with heat buildup.

Q1: I see you are using the foam speaker baffle things in the door. I've always thought they were a good idea to keep stuff off/out of the spyder and such. Do they seem to work for you? Any effect on the sound?


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

S1 - The amp does get hot because it is basically in a sealed box, I do live in Texas so I will be addressing the issue soon. My 2 ideas for that is to install fans in the side panels of the box to cool the amp off. The other option is to cut a hole in the wooden panel on top of the amp, the actual size of the amp, and put in grill mesh that way the amp can get some fresh air. 

C1. I installed the foam baffles because mazda doors can leak water very easily. So I have those to protect the speaker from anything that might come near them. I don't think they do much for sound. Ive heard people say that they make their speakers sound better with the foam baffles but I have not noticed anything. 

PS: I finished this install, minus the carpet for the top panels, about 2 weeks ago and Im already drawing up a new build for the hatch area.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

voltij said:


> Hey man, where's your trunk ground point for the amp?
> 
> I tore the floor trim panels and bench seat out looking for a decent one, but I couldn't find anything good. All of the bolts that were the right size (8mm) had poor metal around the bolt hole.


Quoted because I think you missed my question


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

haha sorry bout that I did miss your question. The previous owner had drilled a *HOLE* in the frame below the back seat and had removed the paint so I just went with that whole and it works great. Next time I pull the seat out Ill post it.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

you mean HOLE.

hole

whole


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Just a small, tiny idea I have working.... Took the dash apart last night to see what all it would take to move the gauge cluster to the center of the dash. having to see how much of the driver side and passenger side dash ill need to cut out. Might have to lose the passenger air bag completely.


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Haha, If you could just move to Texas please and work for me, and spell check all my work stuff that would be great.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Let's see some updates man!


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Sorry Im not good at taking pics as I go but Ill change that tonight haha, Right now Im working on the gauge cluster build. The pics show the gauge with the wood around the actual gauges that ill either paint, or wrap, then put in a piece of plexiglass. The half piece of wood that is currently glued to the factory trim piece, that I cut, will be filled with body filler and molded to the plexi and gauges. Hopefully tonight I will finish it all up and finish the piece that goes on top and covers the gauges.....

I also went ahead and covered the back 3rd windows and painted the outside of them black so you cant see in the small windows at all, Im going to be filling the gap with acoustical material to help absorb some standing waves, since this will be a competition SQ car.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

wow dude that's ballsy, covering up the 3rd
i was REALLY paying attention to what window i look out of when merging and it's definitely that one. Just be careful. Maybe a 5% tint would be a better idea.

And nice going on the dash, what's the overall goal on it?


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

eventually Id be covering the 3rd window up completely with stuff so I thought id go ahead and see how I would do without that window, so far its been fine.

The purpose of the gauges was to have the dash completely flat all the way across, that way if i tweeters in the a pillars I wont have issues with the dash not being symmetrical. and i hated the huge visor over the gauges. I actually repositioned the gauges down so that I didn't have to trim anything off the actually gauges(a new set is $800) they lay more back into the dash now.


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## jimp (Jul 12, 2009)

voltij said:


> Hey man, where's your trunk ground point for the amp?
> 
> I tore the floor trim panels and bench seat out looking for a decent one, but I couldn't find anything good. All of the bolts that were the right size (8mm) had poor metal around the bolt hole.


A lot of people use one of the bolts that holds the back seat down to the floor. Just sand all the paint off for a good connection.

OP:

How do thos Clarus comps sound ?? been interested in hearing those,


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## pat_smith1969 (Feb 17, 2010)

hey dude.. nice setup so far. 
I am doing almost the exact same thing in my trunk area.. check out my build log...


One thing I will say is that if you flip that spare tire upside down and build a fiber glass cavety you can get enough room to put that sub UNDER the false floor. If you do it like something like I did you can make the glass-box removeable if you get a flat, just pull it out and pull ou thte spare...


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

jimp said:


> A lot of people use one of the bolts that holds the back seat down to the floor. Just sand all the paint off for a good connection.
> 
> OP:
> 
> How do thos Clarus comps sound ?? been interested in hearing those,


The clarus sound awesome, they will take a good 2-3 weeks to break in and begin to sound great. I am not running any tweeters right now and these do a pretty good job playing the higher freq stuff, 3k-16k. I have the 5.25 and if I did it over again Id probably get the 6"s because the larger the cone the better the low end is. 

pat_smith - Thanks for that idea of turning the spare over, After I get the dash done and my new Arc amp comes in I will be redoing the back. But the false floor idea will stay. Only probably with keeping the spare tire in is that the subs Ill be using need 7" of depth the mount and I want to do 2 in the spare tire area.


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Heres pics of the gauge trim panels being test fit. I still have more molding to do to the main trim panel then grind down more dash parts to get the top piece to sit flat. Kind of hard to tell in the pics but the dash will be completely flat all the way across now and it flows with the dash. I will eventually have the dash covered in Ultrasuede. (This is my first time at using body filler by myself so its taking longer and I am learning as I go. Tonight I hope to get the grey (primer) wood painted and installed with the glass then sand and finish shaping the body filler.


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)




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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

Looks pretty good, do you plan on counter-sinking and covering the nut on top?


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

oh yea, Im actually going to mold that piece into the dash then have the whole dash wrapped in suede or vinyl so that will be part of the dash and not ever come out. The bolt is to just hold it in place for right now.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

very cool idea!

that really does look sweet, just the finishing touches and you will be golden!


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Build is on hold for a little bit. I decided to drive through some water and hydro-lock my engine! Luckily the insurance company is going to put a new engine in. Once I get it back ill finish the dash off, and get the dash wrapped in vinyl. Then Ill start on the A-pillars for the tweeters and also start completely rebuilding the hatch area.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

markn05 said:


> Build is on hold for a little bit. I decided to drive through some water and hydro-lock my engine! Luckily the insurance company is going to put a new engine in. Once I get it back ill finish the dash off, and get the dash wrapped in vinyl. Then Ill start on the A-pillars for the tweeters and also start completely rebuilding the hatch area.


Did you have an intake on it? Big puddle? Something I should worry about with my car?


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

My car is lowered about 1" or so and I have a fujita 5 cold air intake. so if you have a CAI then look at getting a bypass valve. Once I get the car back I will be putting that onto my CAI


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Well after seizing up my engine and flooding the engine with high waters and a C.A.I. I got the engine rebuilt and finally got the car back a couple days ago.

So here's the updates: 

- Started to finish the dash and decided to wrap the dash myself. Its not perfect and I will have to get a part of it stitched on next to the air vents. 



























- Next is to extend the seat rails and lower the seats to the floor. I used 1.5" wide 1/8" thick steel plate. I still need to finish bending the front brackets to alow the seats to sit better on the carpet. I will be doing this to both seats but I started with the passenger seat first, the driver seat is still in the factory location. The seats will sit 3" lower and be able to move all the way back to sit up against the rear seats. It still allows me to move the seat on its track forward so people can sit in the back and the shortest driver will still be able to drive the car.









- yes i used a hacksaw to cut the steel into 6-8" pieces then drilled holes for the bolts.

Seat in factory spot: 









Extended part: 









Driver seat is pushed all the way back at the factory bolt locations, Passenger seat is on the ground pushed all the way back to the rear seat.


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Here are some updated pics with the dash back together for right now. There are some spot that still need addressing but I want to finish the seat brackets first and get those sent to powder coat them. 



























The front brackets are bent to allow the seats to sit on the floor. Still need to finish the rear brackets. They will take more time and work because of the factory locations they were in. 









This is of both seats sitting mostly secured on the ground and pushed up against the back seats. Front seats sit about 1-2 lower now.


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## voltij (Feb 15, 2011)

More closer pics of the dash please! I like it, maybe I'll want to do that with mine


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Ill try and get some pics today or tomorrow. and ill also try and find some of the pics i took during the build and post those


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## mrzapco (May 27, 2011)

ive heard the speed 3's are quite sleepers.


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## trojan fan (Nov 4, 2007)

Sorry, but I'm a little lost as far as what you're trying to accomplish here with this build


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## screamatamonkey (May 15, 2009)

I love the work you've done to your dash. Looks prett tits (o)(o) 

I do have to ask though, why are you pushing back/lowering your seats? Does it make the front stage better for judging purposes?


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

@screamatamonkey - Yes moving the seats further back helps with the path lengths between the speakers. So yes it helps the front stage a lot. Lowering the seats also helps to get the passengers legs out of the way of the passenger mid bass in the door. 

@trojan fan - Im trying to accomplish a better front sound stage for SQ competition purposes. Also to change things to my liking


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

I have started on rebuilding the hatch area to give myself a break from the front stage and dash. Heres a quick pic of what ive started on the center console. 

















I will be putting in 2 10s or 3 8s. This is the pictures of the build on the frame of the sub box. After i am done with the frame I will fiberglass the wheel well and attach to the frame and strengthen the box. I used 1/2" mdf for the bottom and top of the box and used 2x4 studs. Since 2x4 is not the best thing to build a sub box I used wood filler to fill the gaps in the wood then will go over it with a sealer to seal it up. All the sides have been glued down then screwed in ever 1.25" apart.


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

Here are a couple updated pics to the car system now. I rebuilt the hatch area and finished the front stage with dash wrapped and tweeters on the A-pillars.

The tweeters are Hybrid Audio L1Pros. I am running an Arc audio 900.6 for the quasi active 2-way system. and the last 2 channels bridged to give 500 watts to the subs. I am using 3 8" D.A.D. subs that a good friend of mine designed and had built. They can handle up to 1200 watts with no problem.

The box was fiberglassed to fit in the spare tire wheel. It takes up about 3/4 of it, so I have space left to add anything extra in that area if needed. 


















I did about 3 layers of fiberglass, then put in bondo-glass for strength, then siliconed the heck out of the boxes edges inside and out. I let the box sit for alteast 2 days before even putting the subs in so that it would all dry and air out. Then put in some deadening and sprayed the inside with rubberizing spray then a little bit of bed liner. 









I finished the doors off and ran 16 gauge speaker wire through the stupid molex. Then put non-hardening clay around the speaker to seal it up more.


















http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i375/markn02/CarInstallPics066.jpg

Here are a few pics of how I installed the tweeters to the A-pillars, this is really only temporary till I get the aiming corrected and adjustments. For this car the tweeters do alot better in that area instead of the kicks or sail panels. 


















I covered the rear 3rd window on the sides of the car and then put in a sound absorption panel then wrapped it to cover the panel. Obviously the panel is not very large considering the area it went into but it will absorb some of the standing sound waves in the rear of the car. 









I dont have any pics of the amp rack yet, but once I get it all cleaned up I will take better pics of the completed install.


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## NIU_Huskies (Feb 24, 2011)

markn05 said:


> I have an '05 Mazda3s hatchback that im building a false floor and amp rack and area for a prefab 10" sub box. I will be posting more pics as I go along. If you have any comments or questions just let me know. I hope these can help someone else out.


What kind of flat board wood did you use for the bottom and tops of your first false floor? I'm looking to build a false floor this weekend. Did you also use hinges so your top floor boards flip open? I think i saw hinges. I like your idea of using your 2x4s to build a small wall around your subwoofer box to keep it from moving around.

On your flase floor rebuild where did you get those mesh grills?


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

The board I used was 1/2" MDF, its probably the best wood to use for car audio. You can get it in two different sizes at HD or Lowes. Also I did install hinges but on my mazda the hatch has like a lip right below the window and so if it was on a hinge it would only go up like 1.5' so right now I just slide the top part out. 

The metal grills are actually expanded metal grill thats also from HD or Lowes and comes in silver, I spray painted it flat black and the one above the amp I cut it to a smaller size.


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## NIU_Huskies (Feb 24, 2011)

markn05 said:


> The board I used was 1/2" MDF, its probably the best wood to use for car audio. You can get it in two different sizes at HD or Lowes. Also I did install hinges but on my mazda the hatch has like a lip right below the window and so if it was on a hinge it would only go up like 1.5' so right now I just slide the top part out.
> 
> The metal grills are actually expanded metal grill thats also from HD or Lowes and comes in silver, I spray painted it flat black and the one above the amp I cut it to a smaller size.


I could not find your style mesh grill in Lowes or HD. I looked everywhere in both stores but the only thing i could find was this and it was in the lumber department:










I ended up buying the silver version for $10 because they wanted $18 for the black painted one. Figure i could just use my left over bed liner spray to make it black.


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

That should work fine. But im with you on buy the silver and just painting it black or something.


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## markn05 (Nov 8, 2010)

FINALLY.....the interior pics. This car will always be a work in progress. I did the whole dash myself, even wrapping it (that is why the vinyl looks like crap in areas, but I was quoted $200 just in labor to wrap the driver side top and passenger side top pieces.) The hatch area was pretty much a rush job, it was completely built in about 3 days completely from scratch, including the fiberglass box. That is why some of the black paint looks off, I accidentally used flat black spray paint AND regular flat black paint. When I save up some more money for the processor I will rebuild the amp rack at the point so Ill just hold off till then. 

































- my wife likes to paint, so I let her paint the plexiglass over the gauges. (Notice the tach arm is a tad off.......when you do this try not to touch the arms, this is the result. but a very small nail placed correctly will hold it in the correct position.)


























- the amp and subs sit on the same vinyl used on the dash but this type has a layer of foam under the vinyl to give it a softer look. But when using contact cement to apply that to the wood and you dont let it dry long enough you get the "dents" in the vinyl that you see around the subs.)


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