350Z Amp Rack

The Rack, The History – and Stuff

Re-working my woofer pods I was looking at my amp rack. I created this in 2006 at the same time as the pods and while it served it’s purpose, it has long needed a complete overhaul. It was constructed of MDF mounting two amplifiers. The problem is that it sits there and that is about it. Getting to it to do something as simple as replacing a fuse is a real pain.

Location – Location

Behind the driver’s seat is a compartment. In the base model this is simply an empty box that you can get to by removing a cover. In the higher end 350Z it contained a 10″ woofer .. part of the Bose sound system that came with the car.

This is where I put my amps back in 2006.

MDF Amp Rack

Here’s a front and side view of the amp rack with amps mounted and everything wired. It was made to fit the uneven interior of the compartment simply mounting with straps. It works fine for something that never has to be accessed.

Circuit Tester / Capacitor Charging/Discharging

Stopped by Harbor Freight and picked this up for $3.99 – a Circuit Tester yes – but can be used for charging an Audio Capacitor if you can’t put you hands on the charging thing that comes with your capacitor. You can risk damaging the capacitor if you just slap power through it .. you are supposed to add resistance. The tester will do that – you simply use it between the charger/battery and the capacitor. You can also use it to discharge the capacitor simply connecting across the terminals until it discharges (light goes out). Point .. always double-check the capacitor with a multimeter.

Amp Rack & Compartment

Here I am pulling the amp rack + amps. This took a while as I labeled every single piece of wire with white electrical tape and a marker. The amp rack as shown fit .. but that was by tilting the back down into the compartment and wiggling it into position.

Vertical Clearance

Here’s the ‘thing’. I have the level .. sitting on the lip at the front of the compartment and .. well .. level. The ruler shows that I have 6-1/2″ of vertical clearance. That is it if I want the amp rack + amps to pull straight out like I was opening a drawer.

I should mention that this 6-1/2″ would be the maximum for the amp rack + amps. I would want some additional clearance beyond that to prevent any scraping at the top.

Design

I created this in Sketchup yesterday – call it version 1 of the new Amp Rack. The rack is made from 1/2″ steel tubing and 3/4″ steel angle. The top amp – the AP1040 is set even on the left side with the lower amp, the CA600M but set back slightly on the front to clear the 45° angle of the compartment opening. If the amp rack + amps are completely inside the compartment then this setup is necessary with the leading edge of the translucent blue wedge as shown the leading edge of the bottom opening of the compartment. This would give a total depth to behind the capacitor mounted on the back of the frame at 20″ depth (represented by the translucent pink and blue.)

If the cover is left off of the compartment then the entire rack could be moved forward until the front edge of the rack and the front edge of the compartment opening would be the same. This would mean part of the frame would be proud of the opening – but that would reduce the required depth to about 16-1/4″(just the translucent pink area).

Well .. a check and I have approximately 19″ of realistic depth – and about the same in width.

Version 3

After a lot of thinking, measuring – and rethinking .. I came to the decision just to forget about the capacitor for now. I will find a place to mount it – away from the amp rack. I did a lot more rearranging, tossed out unneeded bits and came up with this design .. which for now .. I am calling the ‘final design’ –

Parts

.. well .. I HOPE the last design is a good one since I cut up 3/4″ angle iron and 1/2″ sq. tube

Test Fit

Have the amp rack welded up .. more or less .. (a REAL welder might have doubts but I think It will work for me!). The amps are just sitting approximately where they will go. I still need to add mounting points for the drawer slides – and drill holes for screws but getting there.