sowaxeman

I know the custom sub topic has been debated plenty in here, but I installed my MTX Thunderform tonight and decided to take a couple detail pics beyond what they show in the manual. First let me say that I have been doing this for 15+ years, and it seems the newer the cars get, the bigger the pain in the *** it is route wires [:@] The job took me a total of 3.5 hours - but I am very **** and took my time so to not scratch my pride and joy!! I spent 30-60 minutes of that figuring out the firewall penetration. If I had to do it again I could probably knock it out in 2 or less.

The Thunderform comes with ALL the cables and accessories you'll need for the job

First you have to remove the seat bottom. The mtx manual tells you how, but I snapped a couple pics so you can see exactly where the clips are located. You don't have to muscle it out like in the fox cars, just use a finger to press in the retainer clip and pull up:

Look about 12" from each end and you can see the clips (not quite centered under each seat area):


Close up of clip:


Next you pull out the main carpet/spare tire board, and pull off the door kick panel on the passenger side:



Route the battery cable along the factory wire bundle, up under the seat cushion and along the kick panel area, and up behind the lower kick panel (passenger side) where the fuse box is. I found that the easiest place to penetrate the firewall was by drilling a hole just to the left of the grommet where the antenna cable (orange) penetrates. This part requires a bit of flexibility and patience:


It is easiest to find the wire on the engine side if you remove the battery and battery tray. If you reach your fingers behind the battery area - in the gap between firewall and battery support you will feel the antenna cable, and your hole/wire. Just be carefull not to gash your finger on the burs like it did [:@]:


Then you take the supplied speaker to RCA cables and splice in according to the directions. I tied up all my cables to the factory bundles that are tied down under the spare tire board. Follow the rest of the directions, and TAKE YOUR TIME tuning before you mount the sub. I bought the powered version and the controls are buried once mounted [:'(] They should have put the x-over and gain controls on the side somewhere instead of the back where you can't get to them!!

Nice finished look:




The jury is still out on the sound - I think I need to spend a little more time adjusting it. I just ran out of patience tonight. I think its trickier to get it sounding good with the Shaker Subs in the door - takes a little more tweaking with the gain, x-over and bass settings. But it definitely makes a big difference. The bass is deeper, hits harder, and isn't as localized as the 8 inchers from the door.

If you are thinking of getting one, I would probably recommend you buy the passive version and do an outboard amp so its easier to adjust (no dismounting required). These few pics, plus the manual that comes with it should be more than enough for the average DIY'er.

Enjoy!

hawgman

Looks spiffy man. Nice fit.

Good to see that someone besides Scosche is coming to market with enclosures for these vehicles. Not that there is anything wrong with the Scosche unit. That is what I have. I'm just saying....

Now...if someone would hurry the hell up and put something out for the other side so we could run duals.

Sinister Audio

ahh that sucks i thought it was actually going to be custom. i was never a fan of the MTX thunderform but it looks decent.

sowaxeman

Thunderforms = Custom molded enclosures. Whats not to be a fan of - they look great, sound pretty damn good, at a great price, and one of the biggest names in car audio [&:]

Oh yeah - it also helps that I work for the parent company of MTX and got it at mfr cost which was, well lets just say it was cheap [8D]

Sinister Audio

id ratcher do the fiberglass work myself and have it look nicer and use a higher end driver but hey if you like it thats cool im sure alot of others like it too.