After deciding that JL Steathbox and Bavarian Sound Werks subwoofers were too expensive to my liking ($550 (sub and box only--no amp) and $600 (full kit for 8" sub and amp), respectively), I ended up persuing over Essam's and ZeroChief's designs.

I initially decided to use ZeroChief's design as a good template as I wanted to maximize space. However after building the box in 1/2" MDF with my handy with tools brother (he had a finish nail gun, which works great in conjunction with Liquid Nails; belt sanders and router make for great finishing touches as well), we realized that more space could be had with a rectangular box that protrudded from the lower box and still fit under the plastic back cover surround (4-6 oclock to the spare tire), so a modification was made. See pics. if I had to redo this, I would consider decrease the top box width from 10 3/4" down to 10 1/2" so it gives a wiring harness (near the front of the back right cargo space--prob for park distance sensors and rear hatch controls) some more clearance. 1/2" MDF was used to maximize internal volume as the subwoofer space available in the right rear cargo area is very low.

In the end, will this extra air volume make for better bass? In theory it should, but is it really noticeable in the real world? Without having both boxes on hand to compare, I couldn't say. Sometimes, I do wonder if it was worth the extra 2 hrs to figure out a way to fabricate the extra additional space (esp. trying to seal it internally with internal bracing blocks to attach 2 walls onto) after modifying the original ZeroChief design. Extra air volume on this very small sealed subwoofer box never hurts as there was room to get closer to the recommended 0.45 cubic feet (accounting for loss of 0.081 cubic feet that that sub displaces in the box).

SURFACE PAINT. We used truck bed liner black paint for the exterior (Duplicolor brand as it has more texture than the Rustoleum brand).

AMPLIFIER. For the ampliifer, the Alpine MRP-M500 (300W RMS @ 4 ohms or 500W RMS at 2 ohms) will be used ($142 from Buy.com). The Alpine will fit snugly in the place of the left plastic surround on that's at the 7-8 oclock position of teh spare tire (just remove 3 nylon screws and lift out the plastic cover). With that plastic surround trim cover removed and mounting the amp there, the left aligning rod from the cargo bay tray will close and hit the amplifier--remove that arm's 2 screws to get it off. As 2 bolts are exposed on the unibody (as I have a hitch kit), we created a platform out of 1/2" MDF for the amp to be mounted on--pics to come in a few days--so the trim screws and hitch bolts are not jamming the amp from the bottom. EDIT: Instead of the Alpine, I ended up using a Kenwood X500-1 amplifier as it has a smaller footprint and easily fits in the very tight space.

SUBWOOFER. The older 10" Pioneer TS-SW251 (shallow mount; $65 shipped from Buy.com) will be used for the subwoofer. I debated using the newer TS-SW2501S4 (or the S2), and I'm sure it would have worked just as well (albiet a little more expensive but also more power handling; slightly faster frequency dropoff from 40Hz down vs. the older TS-SW251 however). A couple of other shallow mount subwoofers are also available by 2-3 other manufacturers--in the real world, they all probably would sound comparable.

WIRING. I plan on tapping the factory amp wiring (nav, non-DSP, 10 speaker stereo) later this week when the electronic parts arrive. Lots of good info on Xoutpost on how to access the factory amp wiring in the left cargo access compartment (just remove the CD changer's 4 front bolts to reveal the amp and wiring harness that's situated towards the floor).

RIGHT REAR ACCESS COVER. Will trim the plastic ribs on the cover to give the subwoofer more clearance. Then will cut out a 10" hole in the lower port of the cover. Ordered a mesh metal 10" 2 piece speaker cover (off eBay for $16; first piece is the cicular mount to go on the carpeted access cover, and the mesh screen then just snaps in place over the mount) so it will allow air movement into the car's rear bay and minimize rattling in the access compartment.

Will update once I get the full install done. Looking forward to getting a bit deeper sound than what seems like 70Hz that the stock stereo's tiny speakers can bottom out at. I also tried BSW midbass speakers and they don't help the least bit for bass--as the stock speakers sizes are too tiny to do any good for deep notes.

Can't wait to get some bass in my car--don't need thunderous bass, just to add it in for musical enjoyment. So far, thanks for the groundwork laid out by ZeroChief and Essam.

Zerochief design (original)


Zerochief design (fit) [notice space that is not filled towards the spare tire]


Modified Zerochief (fit) [extra space that protrudes under the plastic spare tire surround (the plastic spare tire surround trim still fits in place--not shown, though)]


Truck Bedliner painted Modified Zerochief