Well I finally had a chance to try out my subs in my car. I had to use my 4 ch amp b/c I had nothing better. (only 60 watts rms :() So I hooked up the amp to a seperate batery, and the preouts on my HU. I think the preouts ore like 2 volts or something because I had to turn the gain all the way up. (or low amp power) but anyhoo. I have a few questions.

1. how do I hook up the GAIN to my sony HU?? I tried plugging the speaker outputs into what I THINK are the gain inputs, but that didnt work, so I tried using the preouts for the gain, but that didnt work. There is a seperate lead (3 wires, green, green, and brown)that plugs into the wiring harness but theres no pins or wires to hook it up to anything on the HU. Could this be used to turn on the gain amp? and

2. How do I stop the truck from flexing like a son of a beach? First I thought that it was the rear lights so I took off the lights and license plate thing and put foam weather stripping around all of it and that worked a bit but I found out that the problem is that the sheet metal on the rear of the truck was flexing a LOT. is there a way that I can brace it at all? I was thinkning that I could bolt on pieces of wood ( 3/4" x 3" x various length) to the inside to reinforce it and then cover it up with the grey carpeting. Any opinions?

3. More of a note: I now know the resonant frequency of the black louvered part of the rear lights. Im kinda scared that they are going to break off because they smack together at the right bass note

Dynamat

I didn't think of that . I can't understand how it would stop the metal from flexing, I BELIEVE you but I dont understand... I need enlightenment

In my stereo shop, there'* a front desk bell like at a hotel, one is regular old bell, and next to it isthe same bell with Dynamat on the inside. Bell one sounds like a bell (duh), chimes and has an echo, dyan-bell, just goes "ping" more like a thump actually, no sound will reproduce afterwards. Not allowing the metal or plastic to vibrate is the key, You can also try foam/rubber weater stripping in areas that vibrate, they don't need dynamat just something to block it from vibrating against something else. For example those that waste dynamat on license plates, Why? just use 2 way foam tape/weatherstripping, if it can't set next to something, it can't rattle, Did the edges of the plate holder too. For some spots, expanding foam works great, fills up panels to make them more solid, that mike work for you too.

There'* many brands of dampening material out there, best place to buy is Ebay, type in dynamat and several brands will apear. This will help a lot with the rattles and keep the sound inside the vehicle. As for the flexing, well my roof flexes a fair amount, but you can't hear it flex.

Yeah Ive seen the bell example, seems to work well. I don't have any experience with any kind of matting so I don't know what to expect. I guess I will just have to try it. On the outside of the car like the rear lights and license plate frame I used 1/2" adhesive foam and that stopped some of the plastic noises, but its the rear of the trunk and the trunk lid that seem to be making the noise b/c if I squeeze the trunk lid down it quiets quite a bit. Maybe the trunks on the older bonnes are worse for noise because of the shape? I also adjusted the trunk release to make it close tighter. and another thing, In these matting installs, if it a good idea to mat the sheet metal behind the rear seats? it doesn't make and noise and wouldnt the flexing metal allow more bass to be transferred into the car? If I don't make sense just remember that I'm new to this.

If you buy enough material, do everything you can, IF your trunk lid is a problem, leaning on it solves it, mat it. Now don't get scared, its VERY EASY, test fit a piece and cut if to size, try to have it butt up and not overlap. than it'* all basicly peel and stick,

Check out mine for ideas http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/395342/2