port location

i am building a ported enclosure for my subs and i was wondering if anyone has had better luck with port locations. the subs that i have are the hcca 12.4's and they say that the subs have to  be mounted either facing up or down, so i am going to face them up. i am putting them into a 09 nissan versa and i was wondering if facing the ports up, in the same direction as the subs or having the port face the rear of the car would be better. the only thing with the rearward facing port is that there will only be about two inches between the end of the port and the rear hatch. thanks

two inches is going to be too short of a space for the port end function.  Who says that a certain sub has to be facing either up or down???  They??  But whatever they say, you can face the ports in a different direction than the sub if it works out best for the install.   The general idea is to have both the woofer and the port firing into the same cavity, such as the trunk or the hatch area of a smaller car.  Try to leave several inches of space at the end of the port opening, at least as much as the diameter of the port (if round).Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.