Corvair Forum

That is really nice!
Wish you had done this before I did mine.

Thank you sir!

So, update time. Finished up the amp install (to follow), and re-did my temp stereo connections from the first page to permanent heat shrink splices. Cleaned up some wiring, and ran the front speaker wires, even though I'm not that far yet.

FINALLY decided to try to keep my air vents and install in doors. Main reason being I'm having some fun playing with a new budget/beginner router table from Amazon (under $200) and I may try to make my own door panels.

Mocked up my almost useless original panel and cut a hole in it to get a feel for a 6.5" driver in the doors. The door speaker install will be a while off yet, but it pays to have a plan, even if it keeps changing over time.
Next was roughing in the amp location. The world isn't all Glamour Shots, sometimes it's just a hot mess. What I was looking at here is if I wanted to mount it on the floor in the depression where the seat bottom would go, or put it on the back wall. I eventually decided on the back wall, as that gives me easier/more options for a beauty panel later on to cover it up.

This step wasn't absolutely necessary, even though I think even a basic amp panel is a good idea. Pretty sure I spent my teenage years shoving amps under the front seats of every car I owned. There's some basic good practices to be aware of though, even if you don't want to mess with it. This one really is as simple as it gets, as I decided I would rather mount the front speaker crossovers in the front, rather than on the panel and have to run additional wires.

Once I decided on placement and size, I traced out the base of my amp for position (the only thing on there), marked the screw locations and what wires I was running and where the terminals were on the amp for everything.
Amp panel does a few things for you. Gives you a layout if you're adding multiple things, gives a stable platform, you can isolate it from vibration as an assembly, and isolates and further secures the wiring so you're not on a conductive surface and/or have something come loose.

I have a small "sealing washer" kit that I mainly end up using as spacers to lessen vibrations. I mounted these both under the amp feet, and under the board.
**Detour**- Speaking of boards, I used 1/4" pine, but mdf would be fine. There's also plastics. I would recommend using HDPE instead of expanded PVC. Make sure you know what you're buying. I wouldn't use either in and engine compartment, but expanded PVC has a very low melt point and is more flexible. It has it's uses, but for hard mounting, I'd stay away from it. Either wood or plastic will be pretty much non-conductive though. I used wood since this will eventually be hidden, I already have it, and I wanted to play with my new router.

After the board was to my liking, I drew out wire lines with a pencil, and drilled small zip tie holes every 1 1/2" or so.

Unscrambled my birds nest or wiring and started doing the runs one at a time from off the board, working my way in to final termination point. Starting outside and keeping everything secure and organized stops bad things from happening down the road.

This chunk will be pretty quick as well. We touched on wire gauge and whatnot doing rear speakers. I had used the 8g Amp install kit on the other amp I put in the C10, and this amp required something bigger anyway. Went with KnuConceptz (crazy a$$ spelling) 4g kit. Pretty nice. OFC (Oxygen Free Copper) and nice and thick.
I needed to replenish my ferrules, and found a nice, inexpensive kit on Amazon that included new strippers and crimper.
Ferrules are just ends you put over the wire strands like the thingy on the end of your shoelace. Makes for a much better connection instead of just twisting loose strands and smashing them down with the set screw. Again, just insurance so less bad things happen". I use them and this kit is super simple and easy. Recommend.

Slide your ferrule on and crimp it really quick. You end up with a tight connection, shaped like a square, with a collar for any errant strands of wire that stick out.
For the bigger 4g wire, I use copper battery terminal ends. Again, like I mentioned at the beginning, there will only be 2 grounds and you want them REALLY good. Nice and tight, bare metal, solid contact, and a good ground location.

You want your ground wire as short as possible to chassis. I just went through the floor under where the back seat would rest. You also want your engine ground to be solid as well, especially in a corvair. If you're using a 4g amp, you want you battery to chassis ground strap at least that big.

Stereo guys do whats called a "Big 3", has nothing to do with the install, it's all at the battery. From Google "upgrading three key wires in your car's electrical system: the alternator-to-battery wire, the battery-to-chassis ground wire, and the engine-to-chassis ground wire. These wires are crucial for delivering power from the alternator to the battery and back, and upgrading them allows for a more efficient and stable power supply, especially when running high-powered audio systems." This is something I had already done, since the 60's didn't use much juice apparently. That 10g wire powering the whole car is laughable nowadays, so I upsized all of that when I put in the 63a alternator.
Wire size is important here. Look up your amp user manual and NEVER use a size (or super cheap wire that cheats you on the size) that is smaller than called for. Bigger is better too ("That's what she said...").

AWAYS use grommets when passing through metal and don't try to kink the wire over too much.

To finish this up, just want to touch on a couple more things.

This is where I routed my power line. Amp kit big power wire will always go to the battery feed, and make sure it is fused appropriately. This is where getting a premade kit is handy, with or without extras like RCA lines, speaker wire, etc.

I put fuse easily accessible within a few inches of the battery, then made a dedicated run straight up the inner fender and through the firewall. This came out hidden in the speaker cavity of my package tray, so all the better.

USE A GROMMET. Never chance a fire by running hot wires over sharp metal.

I also really suck at figuring out what size drill bit to use with grommets, so I usually just grab a stepped bit until I've got it right.
Next thing is keeping power and signal wires apart. In a perfect world, everything you buy would be completely sheilded from interference, but that's just not the case. I've just always been in the habit of running signal wires down one side and power down the other.

Passenger side:
Driver:
A lot of the extra work is trying to keep noise out of the system. Nothing sucks more than spending a bunch of money and a bunch of time only to turn it on and have irritating noise or whine when engine RPM changes.

Take the time to at least try and it will save you headaches later. I know I've harped on grounds a couple times already, but they're tricky little suckers. It's always looking to flow to balance.

2 Good grounds= no noise
1 good and one not so good= NOISE.
And the kicker...you can have 2 EQUALLY bad grounds and have...no noise. Until something changes, and you can never do it on purpose so it reverts to #2 and you're back to having noise.

Make sure they're good to begin with and no worries.

That's it for amp install and wiring I think. If I've forgotten or missed any good tips, please chime in for everyone.

We still have to cover amp tuning, head unit setup, and I have to do front speaker installs. That will all come later on though.

Sort of a dumb basic question but what's the reason for using particle board and is there something lighter that will work?
I remember my days in the lumber business carrying 4 x 8 sheets of 5/8 particle board into houses and they were HEAVY. I suppose something thinner and not so much of it isn't so bad but it's etched in my mind.
So starting at page 1 I'm just curious about why particle board is used in the first place. How come not plywood or masonite?
Edit. I went back to read and saw you used 3/4 MDF whatever that is. I'll have to do some more exploring but I'm still wondering about choice of material.

Here are some answers I found when I used Google to ask that question...

speaker cabinets of MDF

MDF stands for Medium-density fiberboard. It's an engineered wood product made by breaking down wood fibers into fine particles, combining them with resin and wax, and then forming panels under high temperature and pressure.

https://www.reddit.com/r/diyaudio/comme ... ?rdt=49837

they key characteristic is density (rigidity also, but MDF must be braced to get that). yes, it is also cheap, easily machined, flat, very paintable and veneer-able and dimensionally stable…but density is the goal. why? the air pressure and vibration that the drivers produce will excite the box panels. when the panels move, they produce sound, just like a driver diaphragm does, which is distortion. concrete is a great loudspeaker box material, although rarely used for obvious reasons. i used 1 3/8” walnut for my last project. i can’t stand using MDF, but you can get rigidity and density other ways. good luck.

This pretty much says it all. The bigger the panel the harder it is to control vibrations and this is amplified with real wood. It's not that it's impossible and you must use MDF but it's more difficult and you'll need more bracing. The other factor is wood is a natural substance and made of semi random densities add patterns of fibers. Make 10 panels out of wood and you'll get 10 different responses but make 10 panels from MDF and they will vibrate the same. Everybody hates working with MDF and its dust might give you cancer. Cost is also a factor but even $50K audiophile speakers are usually made of MDF.

Yep, brad nailed it. MDF is just particle board made from powdered wood instead of particles. I could be wrong, but I think Masonite is just the brand name of HDF, high density fiber board. For a subwoofer, I don't want flexing or vibrating. I used it for the top because I needed the sheet anyway and something too thin may warp in the heat.