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It was tight fit, but I got it to work. Since the mounting holes at the corners of the amp did not match up with any holes on the A-shaped metal frame where the Saab amp goes, I had to rig my bracket supports. (The Saab amp comes with a bracket that allows you to connect it to pre-drilled holes in the A-shaped frame behind the kick panel.)
Here is a brief description of what I did to position it. (I hope it makes sense.)
I went to the local Home Depot (any hardware store should do) and bought two metal brackets in the lighting/ceiling fan department. These brackets are about 4" long and 3/4" wide and have a small hole in the center and two slots on either side of the hole. (I think these brackets are normally used to attach light fixtures to a junction box in a ceiling, but I just wanted some sturdy metal brackets.) The slots in these brackets helped me attach them to the metal A-shaped frame to extend out to the mounting feet at the corners of the amp. I positioned the amp against the A-shaped frame with the long dimension horizontal and the speaker connection terminals on the top edge. Here is how I connected the mounting feet using machine screws, lock washers, and hex nuts:
Top left corner:
drilled a hole in the left edge of the A-shaped frame
Bottom left corner:
drilled a hole in the lower left edge of the A-shaped frame and used one of the 4" metal brackets to extend out to the amp's mounting foot
Top right corner:
I left this mounting foot unattached
Bottom right corner:
OK, this one takes a little more explanation. Just below the A-shaped frame, there is a heavy gauge silver metal right angle bracket. It contains the hole for the screw that secures the bottom of the kick panel. If I remember correctly, there is a second hole in that metal right angle bracket (or perhaps a slot like on the brackets I bought). The 4" bracket I bought would reach from that right angle bracket over to the bottom right mounting foot, but the angle bracket sticks out farther than the amp. So, I used pliers and vice grips to bend the 4" bracket into sort of an "S" shape so one end could attach to the right angle bracket and the other end could go back behind the amp's mounting foot and be fairly flush.
Once the machine screws and hex nuts were all tightened down, the amp was very stable and would not move even though only 3 of the corners were fastened.
Three things to watch out for:
1) Be careful not to push the amp too far forward because you don't want to
interfere with the mechanism near the front of the footwell connected to the heating system thermostat knob (this is on the base 9-3, I don't know of the SE with automatic climate control has this)
2) I positioned the amp so that the bottom of it was just above the metal right angle bracket mentioned above, but not resting on it. This is because the switch on the amp for flat response/low pass filter is just above that location and you don't want vibration in the car to bump that.
3) One of the trickiest parts was getting the hex nuts on the back of the machine screws behind the A-shaped frame. Things are tight in there and it took a combination of carefully pushing ducts and such out of the way, using needlenose pliers, and other contortions. :-)
In order to get this all to fit around other things behind the kick panel, the amp is basically parallel to the floor, with a slight downward tip toward the front of the car.
Now, when you put the kick panel back in place, you may have trouble securing the screw at the bottom of the kick panel back into the metal right angle bracket. That is because the amp is a little longer than the Saab amp and the corners stick out for enough to push the kick panel out a little ways. If you push in on the bottom of the kick panel as you try and get the screw to catch, it SHOULD eventually catch and allow you to secure the kick panel. It is tight, but I have not noticed any problem as long as you don't force things too hard.
There have not been any heat problems because the amp is not working that hard. In fact, I had to turn the gain on the MTX amp down most of the way just so that the volume being sent to the door speakers was balanced with the dash and rear speakers. I have been using it all summer long in the heat here and the amp has never overheated and the kick panel does not even feel warm.
I hope this has made some sense. I did take some pictures of the process and if I ever get a free weekend, I will try and write up a detailed explanation with pictures and a list of all the parts I used.
Mark Anderson
posted by 216.140.17...
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