Question to anyone who has installed something in the "pocket" of the hatch

[spta97]

I've got a quick one here. I installed an amp and subwoofer in my X last weekend and ended up putting the amp in the factory "pocket" location on the rear passenger side. Everything went well (and thank God I have bass now!) but there is one bolt that I could not remove.

The plastic casing for the pocket location goes around the rear window over to the back seat. There is a small dry cleaing hanger (for lack of a better term) that I could just not get the size for. I tried all my sockets and could not find a fit (it is a regular bolt). Does anyone know what size this is? When I was removing the trim piece I was able to slide it out from under the hanger bolt but now that I've put everything back I need to remove the bolt to get it back in the correct position.

I tried 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 mm so I'm not sure if my sockets were too fat or if it was just late

Thanks!

 

[draft]

You need to push it in, and yes, they may be fat. I do believe it was a 5.5mm though.

 

[CDW6212R]

I haven't looked at mine, but it sounds like the same screw as the sun visors use. Those are Torx bit screws. Look again, LOL.
Don

 

[draft]

No, sun visors are a regular phillips screw. The seatbelts are torx screws. In newer fords, seatbolts are both metric and torx.

 

[bigtigexplorer]

I believe Draft is correct, on my '99 the coat hanger is held on by a 5.5mm hex bolt.

 

[foned]

I would reccomend making sure the amp doesn't get too hot in that pocket. the stock amp was put there by ford and probably had specifications of some sort to reduce heat, but an aftermarket amp might get hotter.

 

[Spdrcer34]

Just to confirm, the "oh $#!t" bar/handle, and coat hangers were either Phillips or 5.5mm. Most I've seen are 5.5, but I have run across a few that are phillips.

Ryan

 

[spta97]

5.5mm?!??!!? No wonder I couldn't get it to work! Where to a pick up an in-between socket of that size? I had no idea that they made 1/2 sizes because I've never seen one for sale or in a set.

Thanks for the help!

 

[spta97]

I would reccomend making sure the amp doesn't get too hot in that pocket. the stock amp was put there by ford and probably had specifications of some sort to reduce heat, but an aftermarket amp might get hotter.

I agree. Especially the amp that I have there now. It's my first amp a Kenwood 923 and it was prone to overheating in other cars that I installed it in.

With the temp outside now I'm not too concerned, but I plan to put the pocket "frame" back with speaker grill cloth. I figure that will let it breath better. If that doesn't work, I'm gonna swiss cheese the amp housing and perhaps install a 12v computer fan on the amp turn on lead. If that all fails I'll get a class D that does not run nearly as hot as the AB I have now.

On the plus side I was able to do everything with left over parts except the fuse holder so the whole install cost me $20. I was gonna throw out this amp and sub box too! The sub box sounds good and allows me to close the cargo cover. Not the best system I ever had - that is sitting in my basement waiting for my potential future M3

 

[foned]

good thinking, the fan should work if everything else doesn't.

 

[imnotted]

I put my amp between the back ob the driver's side rear seat, shielded by the metal plate. The only time it's visible is when I fold the seats down. It's proved to be a good alternative mounting space for my application, anyway.

 

[spta97]

I put my amp between the back ob the driver's side rear seat, shielded by the metal plate. The only time it's visible is when I fold the seats down. It's proved to be a good alternative mounting space for my application, anyway.

You mean the metal / carpeted flap that covers the gap between the rear seats and the cargo area? Do you have any pictures?

 

[CDW6212R]

Interesting, I have two Nakamichi amps that I will be hunting for a place to hide soon.

I just pulled my 99 headliner out yesterday. Yes they were not torx bolts. Only high dollar socket sets will have those odd sizes. We used a Japanese 7/32" for them, it was a loose fit, but it worked.
Don

 

[Crankcase]

Most Craftsman socket sets with 1/4" drive sockets have the .5 sockets also....

 

[DeRocha]

As Crankcase wrote you can get an individual 1/4" drive 5.5mm socket at Sears...

 

[spta97]

Most Craftsman socket sets with 1/4" drive sockets have the .5 sockets also....

Not mine . I'll stop by Sears tonight. I hate getting the individual sockets. It's like buying CD singles!

 

[draft]

My socket set had 5.5 and 6.5, the only halves I ever use, plus the american side of it.

 

[spta97]

I stopped by Sears tonight and got the 5.5 mm socket. That was the only 1/2 size in the whole rack but I really didn't check the socket sets (since I have one already).

I ran the situation by my buddy and he had never heard about 1/2 sizes either. I guess you learn something new every day

In any case, I got it all back together - thanks for all your help!

 

[bigtigexplorer]

I've had my MTX mounted there for going on 4 years now, and have never had a problem with overheating. I always have the factory speaker grill covering the amp to keep it hidden, but like I said never had a problem.

Build up pictures:
Pic1, Pic2, Pic3, Pic4, Pic5, Pic6

 

[spta97]

Oh man that looks awesome dude. Makes mine look real amature compared to that. I was going for the stealth look on mine so I didn't do any nice carpeting.

The other thing with mine is I had a pocket there - not the factory subwoofer so it is only 1/2 covered - that's why I was going to use the speaker grill cloth.

I'm going to see if anyone has those grill covers for sale, I figure if people put subs in there they are probably just lying around. That way I could just snap it in and forget it!