How to make your Z sound better

By James Patterson, IZCC#81

There have been a lot of questions posed on how to get "good" sound in a Z. Personally I prefer the header, 2.5"exhaust and flowmaster route but that is just what I call "music to my ears". On the other hand I have a friend who is a professional car stereo sales/installer and a national IASCA judge (the huge sound competitions). He is also a Z enthusist. He has done about all you can do to make his Z fast (custom threaded and shortend struts, port and polished, balanced and blueprinted 2.8 hi-comp with Mikuni side drafts, headers, etc...) and have good sound. ( the car is 71Z)

These are some of the things he has done:

Sound deadening all interior surfaces using a combination of Dynamat and carpet jute. This is a must, the Z is a very noise intrusive car.
For front speaker placement, tweaters mounted flush in the metal plate at the top of the dash give fairly good imagining. Since he has power windows he made small enclosures to hold 2 3" mid-range drivers per door mounted at the lower forward edge. (This has been a slight problem because when you are sitting in the seat the knee tends to rest against it. This is not uncomfortable nor does it place strain on the enclosure, but it does muffle the speakers somewhat.
For the rear compartment he has built a deck which raises the height about 2". At the front of the deck are the system amplifiers. These are sunk into the deck so there surfaces are flush with the deck. In the spare wheel well he has heavily lined and insulated it to hold the 15" bass driver. This fires directly up and is mounted below the deck with a flush screen gaurd to protect it. He has lost the use of the spare to say the least, but he has said that with some modifications and a mini-spare a small (6 or 8") driver could be used. For the rear speakers he built a small panel which fits below the rear hatch lip. This necessates the removal of the platic panel and he has a set of mid-range and base drivers firing towards the front. This still allows for full use of the rear area with only a small loss of space due to the raised deck.

This all sounds like overkill to me... but if you want "good" sound... This is what someone who was looking for the best possible sound in their Z did. He also noted that the Z with it's small passenger compartment and highback seats makes a terrible sound platform but it sure is a hell of alota fun 8).

James Patterson , IZCC#81 , 72 240Z