Hey everyone,
I'm bummed I have to ask for help but I find myself just totally lost. There is nothing for me to reference in my car. I drive an E46 Coupe, so the equipment gets mounted in the back left corner of the car. The bottom floor isn't flat. The left wall (towards the quarter panel) is not flat. Without two points to create some "squareness" it's hard to engineer a mount. What's worse, is I also have two pieces of equipment from the car (radio and navigation module), and the navigation module can't be mounted vertically because of course it can't - it has a CD in it. It's also poorly shaped because the wheel
Here is everything I have to mount:
The stock mounting isn't ideal.
It has a tiered shelf, pictured below. The radio sits in the middle of the vertical mountings, and the stock amplifier mounts to the far left/quarter panel, but the stock amp is 1.375" thick. When mocking in the Alpine amp back there, it would touch the chassis. When mocking an amp in the most inward position, I'd have to do a lot of trimming if the metal bracket and there still isn't a home for the second amp. Also, the amps would be stuck below the navigation module, which would potentially trap a lot of heat.
I proposed a new design where the radio and navigation module where would be stacked on top of each other horizontally and then have the amps on top, mounted vertically. Each of the amps are roughly 5lbs, so that's 10lbs mounted vertically. I track the car, and in my last track day I was holding 1.3 sustained G's, so that mount front the horizontal section to there vertical has to be sturdy. I just don't know how to go about this and am tempted to take it to an audio shop. That would just feel like defeat and ANY help from an overall solution to designing one would be appreciated.
I'm bummed I have to ask for help but I find myself just totally lost. There is nothing for me to reference in my car. I drive an E46 Coupe, so the equipment gets mounted in the back left corner of the car. The bottom floor isn't flat. The left wall (towards the quarter panel) is not flat. Without two points to create some "squareness" it's hard to engineer a mount. What's worse, is I also have two pieces of equipment from the car (radio and navigation module), and the navigation module can't be mounted vertically because of course it can't - it has a CD in it. It's also poorly shaped because the wheel
Here is everything I have to mount:
- Stock Radio
- Navigation Module (7.375 x 6.5 x 2.375)
- JD 400/40 4channel amp (9.5 x 7.5 x 2.125)
- Alpine S-A60M (8.0 x 8.125 x 2.25)
The stock mounting isn't ideal.
It has a tiered shelf, pictured below. The radio sits in the middle of the vertical mountings, and the stock amplifier mounts to the far left/quarter panel, but the stock amp is 1.375" thick. When mocking in the Alpine amp back there, it would touch the chassis. When mocking an amp in the most inward position, I'd have to do a lot of trimming if the metal bracket and there still isn't a home for the second amp. Also, the amps would be stuck below the navigation module, which would potentially trap a lot of heat.
I proposed a new design where the radio and navigation module where would be stacked on top of each other horizontally and then have the amps on top, mounted vertically. Each of the amps are roughly 5lbs, so that's 10lbs mounted vertically. I track the car, and in my last track day I was holding 1.3 sustained G's, so that mount front the horizontal section to there vertical has to be sturdy. I just don't know how to go about this and am tempted to take it to an audio shop. That would just feel like defeat and ANY help from an overall solution to designing one would be appreciated.
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Why would you want the original 2-bit navigation system? Wouldn't you want everything (navigation and audio) to go through your phone?
"E46" is a Y2K vintage BMW. (I did not know that.) Maybe a cellphone would be out of place in a fine old machine?
I don't see much alternative to steel, painful as that will be. Wood far too bulky. Small Aluminum may make sense but any large bracket wants steel's strength. Fiberglas? If you don't already know fiberglas, you don't want to mess with it. 3-D printing? Not for 5 Gee shocks.
In simplest terms, I am "designing" my own headunit, but I am about seven months out from having a completed product. It would just be a waste of money to purchase something for such a short term. Audio does come through my phone via bluetooth. I use something called BlueBus which allows me to stream HD audio straight to the stock system.
Yeah, a couple amps is just a lot of weight to secure with just wood or back strap metal. If I use wood strong enough, it starts getting thick for the enclosure. I think I'm going to be forced to not DIY this project. I get a lot of pride from DIY-ing everything, but perhaps it's time to admit when it's too much for my capabilities. I was just hoping I missed something and someone knew something I didn't.
Isn't the biggest hurdle accommodating the stock DVD player ie "navigation module" horizontally? But you're keeping the original display?
Use plywood! Cheap, strong, light...
Use plywood! Cheap, strong, light...
So I ended up getting an aftermarket headunit to make more room in that corner. I also ended up taking it to a shop to just get everything mounted properly. Well they just called and said sh*t still won't fit. Sigh. So I will have to make a custom enclosure on the left side of my trunk. Guess I'll be doing a lot more reading out here. I'm just going to make it straight.