How do I make the world's least useful spare tire ever?

I am planning to remove my spare tire and put my amp in there. I have seen some people put down a wooden base with various degress of fanciness. Anything from bare plywood, to paint to carpet. The question I have is how do I attach the wood to the car to keep it from moving around while I am "enjoying the music?"

I have plans on putting the amp in place of the spare tomorrow (Sat). I'll let you know how it goes. Or better yet pm me if you wanna stop by. I see that you're local.

Rev

That is a good question...I was gonna say bolt it, but what can you bolt it to in there? The gas tank?

I think what would be fun is if you use fiberglass and black vinyl so your amp rack *looks* like a spare tire

Then, if you get a flat, call up AAA and when he asks where your spare tire is, say, "It's right there, jerk!"

And he'll be a little angry about what you said and even angrier when he says, "This isn't a spare tire at all!"

But I bet you he'll laugh a little too. Because hey, life is funny.

b0mb, you're da, well, ummm, bomb. That is some funny crap!

I have been thinking myself. Mabey use a bolt as a "locator" pin where the spare bolts down, and then mabey some velcro or something? I don't plan on removing the amp on a regular basis, but I would need to be able to get it back out fairly easily.

Any other suggestions? (That won't get my a$$ beat down by a tow truck driver!)

it's hard to say, but you could make the rack a circle w/ a small handle type cutout, and make it very close to the diameter of the lower part of the tire. then, line the outer part of the rack w/ some sort of compressible foam (my thinking is - foam pipe insulation, w/ a section cut out lengthwise and use it to edge around the rack).
the thinking being -- the compressible foam would allow you to shove the thing in there tight and also act as a interference/compression fit simultaneously... not a perfect solution, but one that is fairly easy to pull off and easy to remove. you'd need the handle to pull the rack out when you wanted to use it...

maybe?

Why not find a bolt wit the same thread size as the one that holds the spare tire down? Build some 'legs' under your amp rack so it sits level and bolt it to the existing tie-down for the spare?

how does he get the amp rack out of the spare then? or did i misunderstand, and he actually has no intentions of keeping the spare?

edit: DOH! "I am planning to remove my spare tire and put my amp in there."
i'm an idiot. forget everything i said above... Bryan has it right... buy some 1" MDF and countersink a bolt in there that has the same threading and size and use the boltdown for the spare...

SC_Highlander. I am a little confused by your solution. I think I like the concept, but I can't tell. How would I remove the amp again if I needed to?

I thnik I understand, but I want to be sure. Would I make the "legs" tall enough to clear the length of the bolt minus the thickness of the MDF? That way I would just put my wrench under the amp and un-bolt the assy. Once the threads are free of the tie-down, I should be able to slide the whole mess out. Is that what you meant?

That might be a possiblity.

Anyone else have any other cool engineering solutions? (Please remember the KISS principle!) (BTW -- I am an engineer too, so this IS actually about as cool as it gets for me.)

or you can do this......

22.jpg[/PHOTO]

Here is my take on an amp board

http://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...threadid=112508

Been there, done that. The spare tire bolt is a 8M-1.25 pitch thread. Look for it in the specialty hardware bins at Home Depot or Lowe's. It's metric and I can't remember if it was in the bin marked for automotive bolts or not.

I used this bolt to hold down a small piece of scrap wood, which I then mounted the amp board to(with some other scraps to make it level front to back and provide extra support). Everything is connected to the first scrap by wood screws. I'm sure somebody's gonna ask how I was able use wood screws in the spare tire area......angled bit driver on my cordless drill.

Here's a picture during the dry-fitting stage:
PA111178.JPG[/PHOTO]

Those are my crossovers way back in the back, the amp goes in front of them, kind of like this.
PA111201.JPG[/PHOTO]

Mike: HOLY CRAP! Man, THAT"S a HELL of a setup!!!!! We need to rename your car: shock and awe! Anyone who didn't check out the link needs to. That is awesome, WAY beyond what I have planned.

Although I did just help my mom buy an '03 accord with the build in navi. DAMN that is a SAAWEEEEEEET setup.

Jeff, thanks for the tip. That looks very cool. Similar to my plan.

I made this for a local about 1 year ago. It is a shelf that is raised up 1 1/2" and held in place by the spare tire hold down bolt. You can see the bolt in the second pic. It has a JL Audio 500/5 mounted on it.




He is also trying to sell it (amp and board) because he has sold his car.

Yeah I saw that on the WTB forum. (ILIKEBEER's Car.) I will PM him about the mount, but I already have an amp.

Thanks for the tip Strat.

BTW -- I started my install today. I must say it is much more challenging than I thought it would be. So far, I have it all torn down. I have the power run to the trunk (4 guage) including the fuse holder. I also have all the interconnects run through the center console.

I am struggling with getting the new speaker wire through the door gromits. (I have MacGyver's instructions, but it's still a PITA.) I have the speaker baskets cut for the new speakers, but I am going to have a problem with the tweeters, but I'll get to that when I get to it.

I am going to be working on it in the evenings this week, and hope to have it all done by the weekend.

(Part will depend on shipping as I just ordered Lucid's Dash controller for the Sony HU on Friday night.)

Lots of fun, here's some info with pictures that I posted last year, maybe this will help

http://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...?threadid=84505

Awesome writeup, Jeff. I think this is going to help.