imadigitalgod

Hey guys, I thought I would post my fiberglass subwoofer enclosure pictures to help others that may be looking into

doing this.

This is for a JL 10W6v2 powered by a JL 500/1v2 amplifier. After I am done with the box, I will make an amp rack right beside it



The car's factory floor will definitely not work for a heavy box and you will need something to bolt the enclosure to so

a substantial floor will need to be made. I made this out of 3/4 inch MDF and fitted it to the car's floor. This will need to be bolted to the car's floor:




In case you have a flat, you will want to make a hinged door so the spare can be easily accessed



This is a picture of the base. I am using this to mark a parallel line with the back of the trunk, then marking that

line with tape. This is so the base will be square so when I make the amp rack, ill be able to get it to match with this enclosure.



Im using the sheet of wood in the back of the car so I can mark where I need to trim it to fit





You have to make sure to mask off the part of the car so the resin doesnt get on the carpet. Once resin gets on it, it will be impossible to get off






Here is a picture of my starting to glass the pieces of wood together as well as making the mold of the trunk





This is the box when i pulled it out of the car:


Next you need to start trimming the box so that the internal volume can be to specs. this can be estimated by using peanuts and positioning a cardboard wall where you want to cut.


Next you will need to make a brace/side for the open side on the left







Next is mounting the subwoofer ring. I made a recessed sub ring with a router table that I built:






Since there is a logo at the bottom of the sub, and i want it to look square, i needed to make sure the holes ill bolt the sub to are perfectly aligned. I used the T nuts that I know are square and glued some dowels to the two bottom ones.

Then I propped the ring up on a few pieces of wood as I mount the ring to the box.





I will use sturdy pieces of wood but I will support the sub with pieces of dowel rods then use an angle ruler to make sure its square with the box:







I bought some polar fleece on sale and stretched it over the mounted sub ring:




After this is stretched, i put fiberglass resin over it and let it harden over night.

Since I dont want to do too much body work on the outside of the sub box, I will reinforce the box with fiberglass and resin on the inside of the box. to make sure I get the glass where its supposed to go, I look through the rear of the box (the speaker wire terminal cut out):


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For those areas of the inside that I couldnt look through the wire terminal hole to see, I used a mirror. It was a pain but it worked:


Now that all of the inside fiberglassing is done, I needed to start sanding on the outside to clean up the edges. On the straight parts I used some sand paper. On the curves I used a Dremmel took with a sanding bit on it:




This is the speaker wire terminals attached to the box sealed up:


This is out of sequence but here is a shot of the hinged door:
3

This is the picture of some "tracks" i had to make to slide the box's bolts into place. The box was too high to reach back where I needed it to so I made slits into the carpet and the floor board I put in the trunk so I can drop it down and slide it back. The box is on top of the carpet so it won't be seen:



This is the box bolted down inside. I used some mini angle brackets so I can use them as support for when I lay fiberglass over the bolt to hold it in place. I know the glass will not stick to the metal but it will hold it in place and seal the area around the bolt so no air leaks out:


This picture is the glass laid over one bolt. Again, the glass wont stick but when the glass is hardened, it acts like a permanent wrench to the bolt holding it in place as well as sealing the hole:


Here is a picture of me starting to make the amp rack. To make sure the piece of wood stays aligned to the box, I screwed the MDf to the floor:












UPDATE: I finished this a few years ago but I wanted to post the pictures I just found and didn't post

Here is the speaker box after i put a layer of body filler on it. I have worked with many products but I always come back to Evercoat Rage Gold



On top of the Rage Gold, I used their glazing putty to fill in any fine pin holes and fine dips:


I cleaned off the speaker box with a shop towel, then I used a wax/grease remover that I got from Advance Auto Parts. I believe it was called Prep-All. After that i used their automotive gray filler/primer:


After I finely sanded the primer (it took a few coats to get it perfectly smooth), I used the wax/grease remover again and then I sprayed the enclosure with Honda Black from a rattle can from Advance Auto Parts:




Next is the amp rack being sprayed with primer then paint. This is jumping ahead a little bit but I can't find pictures of the earlier steps I took to get to this point. The same methods were used to make the amp rack platform as were used in mounting the speaker ring to the enclosure base:



[IMG}http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac90/civicfiberglassproject/14-IMG_0198.jpg[/IMG]


After the paint is fully dry (check the manufacturer's instructions on all dry times/prep/sanding...etc), it is time to mark the holes that will be used for mounting the amp. I put the amp where it will sit on the rack and I used a drill bit to mark where the holes need to go by poking it through the mounting holes and making a mark on the paint. I used a hose set to make the amp area level. I then mounted the amp with stainless steel screws:



After the amp was mounted, it was time to mark where the holes will be drilled for the various wires that will operate the amp:


To make the holes look clean, I got some grommets from the hardware store, cut off one side of the lip and glued them into the holes with quick set epoxy:








Its time to mount everything!




Final Product! The front looks scratched/dented in a few spots but that is from the reflection of the lights/background:



I cant remember off hand all of the different paper sizes that I used between coats but the instructions that came with the paint you buy will give a pretty good guideline to follow.

This project was fun, educational and it gives a nicer look to a good sounding setup compared to a store bought carpet box. Good luck and have fun on your projects!

madblkscientist

nice

blackoutt

Nnice

imadigitalgod

Updated. Almost done!

kozanatos

Good work sir!

imadigitalgod

Thanks, I should have named it fiberglass enclosure AND amp rack for 500/1v2. The last pictures on the page show the amp rack being made

sirEGhatch

sweet

chero112

iTrader: (1)

nice

madblkscientist

what car is this for

imadigitalgod

1999 civic ex 4dr

Mike M

Looks good but had a few comments:

1) I like that you used T Bolts but confused why you changed the way you mounted them. In the first pic it appear you put them in correctly but in the 2nd and 3rd pics it shows them just glued to the mdf?
Not sure if its the angle of the 1st pic or why you would change that but having the T Bolt go into the MDF and using some epoxy to secure it to the mdf would be a much more secure option.

2)The Speaker terminal port, a few things I don't like about them and why I would suggest against using them, 1st is the reson of a break in wire gauge size and second and the main reason is losing the thickness of the material and density in that area just to mount that. A better way would be to drill 2 holes the same size as the wire you will use, say 8 or 10 gauge black and red power wire, drill the appropriate holes about 1" apart and slide the wires through the holes and fill the cracks with silicone. If your worried about cutting wire down and having to replace it A) its not to hard to do and B) leave some extra inside and out say an extra 6" on each end.

3) On the Bolting issue I'd reccomend in the future to seal the interior after the holes are drilled with resin and then for the bolt and washer use a standard bolt, lock washer, flat washer and then a neoprene or rubber washer that fits tight to the bolt also use some silicone in the hole when sliding the bolt in and on the bottom of the rubber washer to the box. This will gaurantee no air leaks and that it will stay put. No reason to glass them over as you can never get to it again and risk breaking the resin if the nut ceases to the bolt and you really have to torque it to loosen.

4) Last thing I couldn't tell what thickness you built the glass up to but it doesn't look to be more than 1/4 or so. I'd reccomend using a product called Kitty Hair from evercoat to buildup the glass side and the back of the fabric up to a thickness close at least to the 3/4" mdf. Not just for strength and rigidity but for density of material.

I hope it doesn't come off as telling you what to do or you did something wrong just passing on knowledge that was passed to me by a friend who built db drag and iasca sound off vehicles for most of his life.

lude_e90

looking good

xunsungheroesx

Did you use off-the-shelf fiberglass and resin or buy from a website? What was the weight of the mat you used?

nsxxtreme

You do realize that your wire is only as good as your weakest link in the chain right? Do you think they use 8 guage speaker wire/trace inside that amp? Or the wire from the mounting post to the voice coil?

That 8 guage may look cool but serves 0 purpose.

That's the only part I don't understand how are those L brackets strengthening the connection to the bolt?

Anyway nice job. I have a pair of 8w7's I will need to build a box for once I find a car to put them in LOL!

imadigitalgod

i used fiberglass and resin from US Composites. The Resin i used was their B-440 Premium Polyester Layup Resin. Very easy to work with. I used the 2oz Chopped Strand Mat i believe

Mike M

Your talking a couple inches of trace vs a couple of feet of wire, so yeah I'll look cool with 8 or 10 gauge I guess. I also reccomend power wire because its round not squared or flat edged so it seals nicely through the hole.

Using one of those puck mounts is garbage beyond wiring sizes and resistance just on the lack of density.

jin207

nice work

blackoutt

Bump for finished pics!

imadigitalgod

It has been way too long but (a few years ago now) the project is finished and new pics are posted.

93SiHatchguy

Nice work. Good job on taking this on your own. Are there newer pics, or is it just what you have posted?

Vtak_GoKart

Damn the pics aren't showing up on my work computer I'll have to see what this looks like when I get home haha