Ok Guys:

I'll try to spell this out as clearly as possible. I recently had a 97 SC300 with a stock 8" Free Air subwoofer. I upgraded to a 10" Pioneer Free Air subwoofer and had a friend do the install (albeit a bit of a hack job). Anyway, unbeknowst to me, the magnet of this 10" woofer was hitting my gas tank the entire time and I am told by virtually everyone that this is a very dangerous situation. On the plus side, the 10" sounded very clean and hit pretty damn hard. I was happy.

Fast forward 2-3 months.

I just bought a 99 sc300 and asked the Lexus dealership to take the 10" sub out of my old 97 and put it in the 99. All was well until the tech takes down the trunk wall of the 97 and freaks out when he sees the magnet hitting the gas tank. The guy refuses to install that sub in my 99. So I take my car to another shop across town, and they too refuse to do the install, for fear of the gas tank issue.

Now, the mounting depth on this puppy is roughly 4.75 inches and Free Air subs are not very common anymore. Several people have suggested MDF baffleboard. However, the local car audio techs keep telling me that I would hafta remove the stock grill cover if I used MDF. I DO NOT want to use a box setup in my trunk. Now I know there are several of you sc owners with a 10" sub in the factory enclosure. So PLEASE PLEASE tell me what you did, because this little problem has the entire Ft. Myers car audio community scratching their heads. Please let me know the make and model sub you are using and how you did the install (MDF, etc). Remember, I DON'T want a box setup, and the sub CANNOT hit the gas tank! Oh, and I'd really like to keep my grill cover.

Thanks guys,

Doug

 

sporty,

You probably have a spoiler with light, and therefore have no third brake light/speaker cover. If you did, then you would have enough space for the spacer ring on the subwoofer. You can purchase the third brake light grill cover if you like.

Best of luck, however, I would doubt either shop has ANY expertise if they cannot figure this out. Drive the distance it takes to find a better shop.

MW

 

Well i don't have an SC... i have a 1st GEN GS.. i upgraded to a Kenwood 12' Free Air.

I am not sure of the space issue you have but try to take the sub out and put a spacer (make one) between the top of the sub and rear deck to give you the clearance, you should still be able to use your grille. If i saw your car i bet i could definitely figure something out for you. Like sportythief79 said, drive farther for a shop that does competition audio.

 

Sporty,

I just installed an Image Dynamics 10" in the factory spot and an adapter or spacer had to be fabricated in order to keep the magnet of the gas tank, but the grill fits on there fine even though I dont have the third light on the inside. I can post a pic if you want to see how it all fits.

 

Could somebody explain why the magnet touching the gas tank is such an issue? Is it because its putting too much pressure on the tank? or that its a magnet..or what? I dont have an sc or have any idea of how this situation looks, but i was just interested in whats going on.

 

Ali SC4:

Yeh, a pic would be great. I would also be very interested in the mounting depth, which should be listed on the box or in the instruction manual. The variance of depths on these subs is very small, but then again, I only need a few millimeters. I am taking the car and sub to another shop this week to see what their take is on the situation. After giving it some thought I imagine that the following helped influence the previous techs' decisions not to play with it.

The first guy was outside ALL DAY on a Saturday removing the equipment from the 97 and putting it in the 99. I know this b/c I was out there with him ALL DAY to 1.) learn some more about the installation and 2.) make sure he didnt try to pull a fast one. The sub was one of the last things to be addressed and it was starting to get dark, so maybe he just had enough for one day.

The second guy was hyping up a custom box enclosure in the trunk, saying it would sound MUCH better than the free air setup. He had me going until he quoted me over $300 to build a regular box for an 8" woofer whose brandname I had never even heard of!! I promptly declined and told him to do whatever it took to make my 10" free-air sub fit. He called back and said it simply wasnt gonna happen. I suggested MDF baffles and he said I would hafta lose the grill cover. It just sounded like he didnt wanna work on my car unless he could overcharge me for some questionable equipment in the process.

Fierce gs, you know....thats a very good question. I believe they said it somehow had the potential to blow the gas tank. I mean, you shoulda seen this guys face when he took down the trunk wall. You would have thought he found some dead bodies back there!

Any other SC owners with a 10" free air sub in the Factory 8" enclosure?? Cmon guys, I want to know what you did!! Those who have the magnet hitting the gas tank need not respond (that smiley is pretty funkdafied). Help a brotha out! This is the last piece to my system upgrade and Im certain that many of you have pulled it out without any problems. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Bottom line....part of me thinks that this guy is full of BS when he says that a 1/4 inch spacer (or maybe even less!) will render the stock grill cover unable to fit.

 

Sporty,

I will take a pic after work today. It just sounds like your guy doesnt want to get involved b/c its not a simple plug and play application. One thing you did say is your car had an 8" sub originally, mine had a 10" sub so Im not sure if that will make a difference. Also the mounting debth of my woofer is 5.25".

 

Well, actually, I just assumed all this time that the factory sub was an 8" woofer. Today I called my local Lexus dealership to verify and they said they will look it up and call me back. Whoah! If you can get it to fit with a depth of 5.25, I am certain it is possible to fit this one in. And if the stock sub truly is 10" instead of 8" (as I originally thought), that should make it even easier.

Thanks for all your help Ali. On a side note, have you used anything to keep the rear deck from rattling?

Doug

 

Doug,

Check out this link I found on CL, it was very helpfull when I installed my sub. I did not reuse any of the factory mounting equipment as this individual did as I had removed it all a year ago and was using a box. But he does show some good ways of padding the rear deck to stop rattling. Infact he is also using a Pioneer sub as you are.

http://www.onmonitor.net/directql/gallery/padding/

 

Thanks for the link. Looks like he did a very thorough job. In my case, there only seems to be a problem in the rear deck on the passenger side. Everywhere else is satisfactory except maybe the door panels. Well, I got off the phone with Lexus Service dept and they actually do NOT know the size of the stock sub. So before I go through the trouble of ripping out the back seat and rear deck to measure, does anyone out there know what the size of the factory sub is? Please state year of your sc and woofer size.

Thanks

Doug

 

Here's a pic of mine with and without the grill, fits perfectly.

 

2

 

Yeh, looks like there's still some breathing room b/t the sub and the grill too. And did you make that porthole in the first pic yourself? I don't recall ever seeing that on any other sc's. Well, I'm going to make the appointment this weekend or middle of next week, but it definitely sounds like this can be done. Thanks for all your help Ali SC4.

Doug

 

I own a 93' SC300. I recently replaced the factory sub, which was definatly 8". I replaced it with a 10" JL Audio IB4 sub (free air). I did all the work myself and it took me the better part of 2 whole days. Included was cutting a custom baffle to incoproate into the exisiting stock pieces that hold the grill cover. I dont have a spolier, therefore the grill cover has a brake light in it.

Anyway, I have been meaning to take pics of it and this gives me even more of a reason. I will try to get them up soon.

Mark

 

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...threadid=77751