Kicker Hideaway

kellster

Anyone have a Kicker Hideaway in their Z. If so, where did you place it. It's too big to fit under the seats. Will it fit in the dead space where the foam piece is in the back, or maybe on the shelf behind the driver's or passenger's seat? I'd prefer not to mount it to the deck in the cargo area, but seems like the best option I see so far.

RonRizz

It should fit quite neatly on the shelf behind the seat.

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twyrick

I know I'm updating a really old thread, but FWIW? I just installed a Hideaway in my 370Z last night. I still like the idea of installing it on the shelf behind the driver's seat if the dimensions allow a perfect fit there.

But what I did for now is made use of the child safety seat anchor in the hatch area. Instead of using the included tie-down straps with the Hideaway, I used another strap I had lying around that was originally meant to be a shoulder strap for a camera bag. Basically, it had an adjustable buckle on it to change the length of the strap, and both ends had plastic snap hooks.

(See web link below for an example of the type I'm talking about.)

Plastic Swivel Snap Hooks - Strapworks.com

I was able to tighten it around the right-hand side of the Kicker Hideaway, attaching both hooks to the metal attachment point intended for a child car seat.

The unit is heavy enough so that keeps it pretty much in place, even without anything tying it down on the left-hand side.

SwissCheese

Sounds cool. Do you have any pics?

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twyrick

Unfortunately, I didn't take photos before I took it back out and decided to work on mounting it behind the driver seat, where I really wanted it.

The problem I've run into now, with it strapped to the plastic panel behind the back driver seat? It looks great, but it makes everything rattle when the bass hits.

I even tried taking some 1/8" foam insulation tape and putting a strip of it along the bottom of the Hideaway, where it touches the rear shelf, and stuffed some fiber fill material behind the amp, to stop it from vibrating against the plastic panel it's strapped against. That only helped marginally.

I fear that the only way to eliminate the rattle is tearing out the plastic trim all the way around back there and putting Dynamat in. That's way more work than I wanted to go through. I had zero rattle/vibration issues with it sitting in the back hatch.

So now I'd love to get other suggestions, since I already had to drill 4 holes i the rear plastic trim to mount the straps/belts that hold the Kicker Hideaway up against it.

Jayhovah

Drill some holes through the plastic and fab up some mounts to the metal behind it. If you use some long bolts or threaded rod or something you could mount it floating off the plastic to avoid any kind of panel vibration.

edit: Just realized you are trying to avoid pulling all the panels...

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twyrick

That's a really good idea, except that's the thing.... For whatever reason, I'm finding this car is the toughest one I've ever owned to deal with the interior plastic panels!

It just seems like Nissan made every effort to discourage people from messing with the panels, the way they alternated between 3 or 4 different types of fasteners, often totally concealed behind panels so you have to use the service manual as a guide to locate. I have a cheap 4 piece plastic set of trim pulling tools that got me by on every other car I've owned. But they never seem to be enough with this Z.

I wound up going back to my original idea, putting the Kicker Hideaway back in the trunk, strapped down to that child safety harness point.

I left the mounting straps installed that I screwed in on that panel behind the driver's seat though. Not sure what I'm going to do with them just yet, but I have a feeling they could be useful? They're pretty adjustable in size and have velcro on the ends of them to keep them from flapping around after you feed them through their buckles.

I mean ... you could take a small computer and strap it back there or something.