That's exactly where i want to put my amps... they'll be a much tighter fit and i'm thinking i might have to create an air channel complete with fans in there

Whether or not you cared about resale of the car (the hack factor, and about which i didn't care), I expect you could pull that whole forward styrofoam block out and fashion a molded replacement tray out of f-glass and plywood that would hold a lot more amp. I wanted "small" in any event and the lowest-end MTX won the prize. They seem to run very, very cool even when I have been cranking it.

I put the MTX in in Boston after I decided that the cheesy old Soundstream amp (that I had pulled off the boat for sucking too many amps) was running so hot it could set the car on fire. Seriously. Talk about bad design. No wonder I got that Soundstream on sale!

Oh, and yes, there is another grill in the carpeted sub cover panel. I may spray the sub housing with some RoadKill, but then I'm done.