350Z Woofer Pods

The Pods, the history – and stuff

Recently I started working on my woofer pods I had build back in 2006 for my 350Z (this was done while living in an apartment – all the work was done on the second floor balcony. I still can’t believe I got away with it!)

I had blown one of the speakers a good year or two ago. I had ordered a new set of speakers but they wouldn’t fit because of the way the pods were designed (had the speakers slightly ‘sunk’ into the surface in a circling ring) so I put them in the shop with the intent to ‘get to it’ … at some point. Well .. that time has arrived but I remembered that I had stored the photos taken during the build and thought – “Why Not?” .. and post the build. It might be of interest to some.

Location – Location

I had seen a lot of woofer installs in a 350Z and honestly wasn’t impressed. There were very nice installs – but they just took up too much of what little room there was in the 350Z. Looking around I realized that the area between the interior and rear strut bar was basically an unused space.

This shows the area on the passenger side of the car. The one on the driver’s side is basically a mirror of this one. This photo of a rather dusty interior shows what I am talking about.

Speaker Selection

I selected a Rockford Fosgate Punch 8″ Subwoofer – the P2D4-8 (actually that is the current speaker but I think it was the same model number for the originals – they were 4-ohm, 8″ Punch Subwoofers). My reasoning was that a pair of 10″ subwoofers was probably overkill in the 350Z – that 8″ subwoofers would provide more than enough sound and mostly, require a lot less space. Power Rating: 250 Watts (RMS).

Enclosure: 0.23 cu.ft. or 6.5 Liter (Sealed) – that’s the “less space” part.

Estimating Volume

I purchased a bag of Perlite at the local hardware store. It’s low density and relatively low price means there many commercial applications. It is used in lightweight plasters, concrete and mortar, insulation and ceiling tiles. it is also used as a soil amendment – purchased a bag at Lowes from the garden section. Currently, 8-quart is $4.38 …

I measured out 6.5 liters of Perlite into a plastic bag and tied the neck off. This is the volume I needed for my woofer

Placing

The next step was to simply place the bag of perlite in various positions until I was relatively happy with the placement. As shown in the photo the bag fits almost completely behind the rear strut bar. This is just approximate (it is just a bag of perlite after all) but I figured it was a ‘good’ approximation.

Outline

Now I outlined the bag with masking tape. no rocket science here – just some masking tape.

Make a pattern

I have already removed the outline I had made using masking tape. I took cardstock and cut and taped until I had a shape that followed that tape outline. This would be the outside walls of the pod that touches the car. I wanted a pattern so I could use it to draw the outline back later and by flipping, mirror the other side.