Ok let me run this by you and see what you guys think. I have 2 JL W10v3 subs in a partitioned and sealed enclosure right now that was designed to sit behind the seat and fire back. I built legs on the front and flipped it over to fire down and sounds scary good w/300 RMS to each. But it's in the way and can be taken to easy. It's in the way no matter how you sit it. That brings me to my idea......I want it under the back seat but lets face it even with a 2 or 3 inch seat lift the enclosure won't let the subs be their best. Not even close.

So I'm looking under the truck and notice the floor pan area is clear of cross members and because I have a three inch body lift there is a bunch of room under there. I have a MIG welder and put floor pans in my 63 SS so why not build a drop in the floor pan out of heavy sheet metal on each side of rear seat the size of the required foot print of box on both sides to give esch sub it's own sealed MDF box? Even if I sold the truck w/o the subs it would make a great place to store a hand gun etc. Just build a lid. I would build a proto type pan first and see how much room it would give me first before hacking the truck floor pan. And they would have to fire up or back but would be worth all the effort because I hate the thought of the small sub box's people are settling for. The key is the body lift though. Other wise the gain would not be worth the trouble. That drop would net me at least 4" to 6" going down and this would not compromise the body integrity if these drop pans only were under the area inside where seat bolts to floor and the hump in middle was not cut. Heck I will even add a brace forward and back of new pan area and it would be stronger still. The box/pan would easy to make because a perfect square won't matter under there unlike shaping with a body hammer to duplicate a Classic car repair. This is not hard to do at all with basic skills learned through car restoration and could be done in a day easy for under $50.00. I just looked under there for a moment so more math needed, but as crazy as it seems, I could do the mod quicker then building a 2 sub box to go under the same seat w/depth of 5" - 6" for a sub that wants a least 9". The bottom of the sub box would just sit down in this pan and dyno mated to extreme. I'm I crazy? The key again is the body lift.

99 F150 4x4 s/c XLT

 

Ok...nobody has a view on this? I bet money if it was an F150 Stage Coach made of wood this would have been done the first week of release. Some find sheet metal as easy to work with as wood. Maybe easier because you can change anything with a hammer and dolly. Come on...tell me what u think? I'm not talking the whole pan but the area under the seat that a single box foot print would sit in to, cut out and then droped down in an area where there is nothing but empty real estate close to and between the frame out of harms way. A stereo shop must have done this before as extreme as some of these installs are.

 

Since you asked...

I think you're going to shoot yourself in the foot on gaining approval from others as well as resale value. Whether you do the job right or not, anyone looking at your truck in the future is going to have doubts, since it's an "out there" idea.

If you want to, by all means, go ahead. I probably wouldn't but that's the difference between your truck and mine. Even though I am capable of doing such a mod, I wouldn't consider it more than about two seconds because it wouldn't be worth the effort to me, and the long term view doesn't improve the looks.

See what happens when you ask for opinions? They are just loke a$$holes: eryone's got one and they all stink!

 

Sorry but I disagree 100 percent on the resale issue. That is sooooooo not true on a truck out of warranty etc. It's a 99 with just 100K on her. There is not a scratch on it because I don't drive it to work but one day a week and use it just to have fun. That being said, there is no way if I did sell it and prob won't, that the professional job that I'm capable of would do anything to a buyer but fascinate them x 10. I'm not talking taking a blow torch and putting a jagged hole in the floor? I'm talking two perfectly symmetrical areas under the rear seat that would look like an optional storage place if no sub was in there. They would not even set as low as the top side of the frame. And they are close to and inside of the frame rails so huge protection. In fact I would bet that any owner of same would wonder why Ford, given the place these two 10" x 16" cubbys with fantastic protection were not standard. I'm sure I mentioned I restore cars. I cut most of the floor pan out of my 63 SS over braces and cable route and you could not tell anything was ever done. Now this area on the truck is void of any obstacles and with carpet run down into them and the sub removed the jack could lay in one and a tool box, flash light etc in the other. You could even put a cargo net over them. It would be an easy mod and cool even if did not put a sub into them? And I could do everything including carpet and paint between 6:00 AM and 9:00 that night. Trouble? Building a custom sub box is more trouble. I bet a buyer would think "what a cool option" and nothing else, save "wow I'm going to ****** this beauty up before someone else sees how nice it is and those cool storage areas that would let me drop a sub box into. Scary is the over done fiberglass work done to door panels and the like. And before you say they could be replaced, I could replace that pan area in one afternoon for $15.00 worth of sheet metal and a $6.00 can of white paint. But what ever. Kiss your trucks good night boys. You would think I was talking about putting it in the middle of the hood

 

I remember seeing pictures of someone doing it before. I say if you think you can do it right, go for it.

 

If you got the materials needed and the time to do it....I'd say "GO FOR IT"....If I was good at doing stuff like that, I would definately do it.

 

Wow I got a nudge in the right direction. Make that two. I still don't get what the fellow means by look nasty or ruin the look of the truck? You would have to get it on a lift to even see what was done. And even then it would look OEM. I'm talking no different then a spare tire well in the trunk area, Carpeted and the whole deal. Even with out sub they would be much cooler then cramming a box that won't let the sub get it done under there. The floor pan and trunk pan are by far the most desirable places to cut and add unlike a body panel where it would make the truck look funky. Maybe he didn't understand what I was thinking of doing?

 

By all means if you have the skills go ahead and do it i think its a viable idea but please ease up on the hard sell to the rest of us you don't have to defend your idea nobody has said it was stupid good luck


regards 2088bob

 

I say do it if its done right it will look great, whan you think of it thats the way it should have come from the factory, and dont forgret the pic's as well

 

Hard sell? The first and only response was from Walking it Dry and was a blanket slap in the face that more or less said "stupid idea" and he could speak for most of all on this board to this conclusion....so I bed to differ bob.

 

listen rkymtnfrdman i WAS trying to give you encouragement to go ahead with your project and i WAS being sincere but you seem to keep wanting to **** in peoples cornflakes like? what is your problem remember you are one we are many don,t come here looking to start something thats not the way to get along

 

Never heard that one before.


Why dont we all just cut the crap though guys? All this arguing on here gets old real quick. If you want to fight, please make it personal-its stupid reading through all the arguments on here.

Walkin it dry was simply stating it might have negative affects on resale, which I know there are people out there that wouldnt touch it because someone put a big hole in the floor (the way they would look at it, not saying thats how I would look at it) But then again like you said, some people would think it kicks **** and be even more interested in the truck.

Like I said before-I say go for it. It's something your not going to see everyday, and dont right would probably end up working out pretty well.

 

Everyone knows I've had my disagreements with Mr. WI Dry, but I think you're reading too much into his post. He even started off with "Since you asked".

Why are you asking for opinions~~~looks more like you just want a fan club to say "oooh that's neat and you're so cool because you thought of it". If you don't want reasons NOT to do it, don't ask if you SHOULD do it...

In other words, take a big bite out of whatever chills you out, man..

 

Why not do a seat lift and a false floor above the original floor, housing the subs in a box that fires upward under the seat, but uses the air volume of the entire false floor?

Oh, and you could do that all with MDF supports, fibergalss contoured molding to form fit the original floor, and either sheet metal, or better yet a 1" thick plexiglass top... with a color-matched OEM carpet cover.

Then it's all removable should you sell it, or remove the lift.

Just a thought. Unless you're carrying three 6'6" or taller people in the back, it seems possible without breaching the integrity of the cab.

My two cents.

 

bartak1 is right lets cut the crap i apologize to the entire forum for my hostile outburst we come here because we have a common interest and the way to further those interests is to learn from the experiences and advice of others