# Grand Marquis Install



## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

Well some of you have seen my own personal install, which is the Mazdaspeed 3 here on DIYMA. I also have been working on one of my friend's cars too. I owed him a favor so I decided to repay him by totally hooking him up on his install. I've talked about it some on the general forum, regarding subs and whatnot.

We started on the project's real work this morning, and I must say we got a TON of work done. After the usual visit to Home Depot, the work started with the basic framework of the sub box. I was shooting for a simple and pretty large design to hold a pair of 12's when its all done. The sub box also doubles as an amp rack. It worked pretty effectively, and everything feels very solid.

We started with a base board and the sides, with good bracing. Notice this subwoofer, this is what my friend had already. It is an Orion H2, with a RE Audio re-cone job. A very nice sub, IMO. According to WinISD, this Orion 12 needs a lot of airspace all by itself. My calculations put the final box design near 2.8 cu. ft. when complete. 

















This pic shows how the amp rack will integrate into the sub box.

















Here it is after a good gluing and sealing.









This is after a few braces installed.

















During a test fit inside the Grand Marquis. Fits like a GLOVE in the trunk. Keep in mind we'll make a final top board to keep everything looking clean. I wouldn't leave it like this, trust me.









We cut the hole for the Orion sub, and I also made another MDF ring to give it some clearance for the very deep basket it has. Its worth noting that we won't be using this sub permanently. I'll probably use a DIYMA, Dayton, or TC Sounds setup in pairs soon enough. Whats neat here is a single Orion H2 requires about 3.0 cu. ft, and a normal pair of 12's will need about that as well, so when we swap subs, all I have to do to make it work is cut another hole. I really like the simplicity in that.









Here's the innards









This is the finished (for now) box.









I'm looking forward to finishing this one up. Right now, I'm exhausted, and pleased at just how fast and effortless this one has been to build. Compared to my own car's setup, this one is flying by and going well.


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## Sephiroth619 (Jun 24, 2005)

Looks like you created quite the mess in your garage. 

Box looks great. Keep it up.


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## chuyler1 (Apr 10, 2006)

Gotta love the Grand Marquis. Here's an install I did back in 2002...
http://www.carstereo.com/installs/photo_gallery_album.cfm?home=yes&photoid=1571&galleryid=226

(12" sub was mounted in a box firing upwards and the 5x7" speakers were removed from the rear deck. Didn't punch the low end, but sounded very smooth through out its range.)


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

Here's an update. This car is coming together nicely. Even though it is taking a lot of time to build, I'm sure one of my fastest and best installs done for someone other then myself. And really, I'm enjoying the fact it is for someone else. Especially a friend.

So, we had our hands incredibly dirty most of the time during this session of installing, so the camera was left alone, until we finally got to a stopping point long enough to clean up and grab some pics. 

This shot shows my friend's amps in the new amp rack, along with his sub. Keep in mind the amps will be matching Octanes soon enough. For now, the Hifonics stays. Also notice that the box is nestled nicely in the trunk. If you are carefully viewing the pic, you'll notice that we have some paint stirrers as spacers in the amp rack (on the bottom and top of the pic.)









This is the vinyl beauty board we made to cover up the box. Simple, but it makes the trunk look clean. Initially, we were going to either carpet this or use laminate, but it was Sunday, so no good carpet to be found, and laminate at Home Depot (though they had nice black countertop laminate) is expensive, $30 for 4'x8'. You can buy an entire counter top w/ laminate already put on for $60. Examples of that was right under the storage place for the countertop laminate. Anyway, because of this surprise, I just let him use the rest of my black PVC vinyl. Worth mentioning that the sub's trim ring thats visible here in the pic will eventually be painted black as well.









This is a neat little grille my friend and I found at the HD, we think it is some sort of reinforcement netting or wiring (some of you might actually know what its for), we painted it black, clear coated it, and hot-glued it to the back of the amp's beauty board. Makes an EXCELLENT grille for the amps. $9 for a LOT of it. We only used a tiny portion. 









Here are some pics of the whole thing together. Obviously the amp rack's internals will be painted. I'm actually thinking of painting them w/ the leftover sound deadener spray I bought at PepBoys. Its black, and may reduce vibrations a bit on the amps. 

























Thats all we got done for the day. Getting the beauty boards done was a real pain, and took up a lot of our time. Vinyling took the rest. On our next work session, we'll be wiring the car up and installing the front component speakers, and tuning the system in. What do you guys think? Pretty clean?


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## unpredictableacts (Aug 16, 2006)

Looking Good are you going to do a cover for each side of the box, to finish cover the trunks floor?


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## Whiterabbit (May 26, 2006)

thats a definite must, as vinyl in a carpet trunk is gaudy and looks about as appropriate as a man in drag.

whereas a nice integrated false floor made in colormatched carpet with stealth hatches that open up to reveal gear installed on expanses of vinyl upholstered panneling just looks sweet


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

don't know about all the drag queen issues, but in reality (without a flash camera) the look is nice and clean. The carpet is actually dark in this car, and the black vinyl is even darker. In other words, it looks good as is. Carpet may eventually cover the entire floor (which is why we used a grille over the amps), but until then its staying as-is. WRT the issue of the sides, yes, I'm planning on making some panels for that. Thats very much a "when its all done and running" issue.


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