I finally got my hands on my new Kenwood 8120 last week so this past weekend was solely dedicated to installing everything. Took me all day Sat. and Sun to get it in and Monday was the detail day.
I wont go into too much crazy detail with this write up since alot of guys/gals have already charted these waters many times before me on previous post, but I'll be happy to answer any questions thrown my way.
A quick preface, this system began its life in Sept. of 07 when I ordered my first Sub, and took a whole 7 months to complete. In the end I think it was well worth the wait of the Kenwood 8120, but I have to admit I nearly bailed on it a few times when Kenwood was holding the release date.
First thing first, truck is gutted and covered wall to wall with Dynamat Extreme, followed by a layer of Ensolite.
With the truck apart, the signal, power and speaker wires are run
A 120 amp breaker is installed in the engine bay. I chose this set up over an ANL fuse, but either way is fine. The 4 awg main power line is run thru the boot on the drivers side firewall.
I spent many nights up, thinking what the best way would be to mount an amp rack without doing permanent damage to the truck, like drilling thru the back wall. This is what I came up with, its not the end all be all amp rack, but its solid as a rock as doesnt flinch a bit.
The rack was measured and cut out of 1/2" MDF. Slots were cut out for the seat brackets. It was carpeted in the same carpet as the sub box.
Next came the problem of keeping the rack solid on the back wall and still able to support the weight of the amps and wiring. I found a good solution at Home Depot with these metal straps.
I found 3 evenly spaced 12mm screws on the upper part of the back wall holding in the child restraint straps. Since my wife and I dont have kids they would never be missed if I used them for my anchor points. I took the straps one by one and pounded them out on the vise to follow the bends of the back wall.
It took some time but the fit on all three were perfect.
While I was back there I took some time to carpet the upper part of the back wall. I'm glad I did this because it really gives it a nice finished look.
The straps were trimmed up and painted black, mounted on the rack and the rack was test fit..... everything fit nice and tight.
