imadigitalgod

Hey guys, i am well into(but not close to being finished with) my door speaker pod piece. I know it would be better to make kick panels but with where my clutch is and the way i drive with my feet when its not on the clutch, my foot would be bound to mess it up down there.

I have a 1999 Honda Civic EX Sedan that I am doing this in.
I have 6.5 " Alpine Type-R Components for the front powered by an alpine MRV-T320 amp.

This following picture is of the inside of a 1999 civic but its not my color. THe box in red is what I am replacing:



The way I am doing this is that i made the base for it by coating the door panel in mold release wax and fiberglassing straight on it; it released very nicely from the door...it didnt stick at all when pulling it off. I used many coats of mold wax though. next i made a mold out of fiberglass and urethane rubber. THis mold is the outside part of the factory speaker pod/door-pocket so when i make my door piece, it will have the factory "trim" on the outer edge of the piece so it mixes in well with the existing door.

This is the door waxed and masked off:



Now here is how I made the mold so i can make a copy of the outer edge of the door panel piece.

First coated the piece in mold release wax and brushed on Poly40 Urethane rubber. I wish it would have been thicker because i had to keep brushing back on the runoff rubber. After i worked with it in one small batch, i let it sit for a while so it would start to thicken up:



This is jumping ahead a little but this is the rubber trimmed and i am about to make the "mother mold" which is the backing for the floppy rubber:



I wish i would have taken more pictures but here is the jump ahead to the fiberglass piece being trimmed; both the fiberglass and rubber is sitting next to eachother:


....and this is the mold and rubber together:



Tonight I fiberglassed the inside of that. Again, i applied mold release wax to the rubber and then fiberglassed it; its curing right now as i type this:



UPDATE 09/08/08
Tonight I trimmed the outer edge of the piece. There is a little more to do but, its good enough for a picture. This part has turned out rather well. When I get a chance, i am going to trim the inside portion of this; the bottom straight part ill have to cut exactly about halfway up where it starts to curve because thats edge of where the cloth will stretch over the piece. if its cut too much, there will be a line shown; i want to make it smooth.


Here is a close up of how it looked before it was trimmed. You cant see it very well but it was a perfect copy of the factory piece:


EDIT: 9/12/08

Well, i hit a bit of bad luck...i made the mother mold, seemed to come out perfect, I made the actual copy(by laying glass inside the piece against the inside rubber), that seemed to come out perfect. I trimmed the piece so its smooth, looked perfect so far. I put it up against the door to test fit before i got everything else ready....not such a good fit. apparently the mothermold for the rubber shrank or did somethin to make it bend in a little(the "C" part of it where it curves around). It wasnt much but it was enough to throw the whole piece off. its like taking a yard stick, holding it on the very end and moving it the slightest on the end you are holding it on. your part didnt move much but the end thats farthest away moved a lot....its kinda like that.

Tonight I laid down more glass re-using the rubber part(perfectly good to use) so I should have this project up and running asap...i might even start making the copy tomorrow after the mother mold fully cures.

In this picture you can see the support i made for the "C" part. I am not sure if this is the cause of it bending but, i had extra wood laying around so i said why not, it wouldnt hurt. I also am using the Bondo brand of resin for this mothermold....i switched to the resin from USComposites for my actual glassproject so the resin i 'wasted' making the last mother mold that bent wasnt really a waste, it would have just sat anyways. I find the 435 resin to be a LOT better than the bondo brand.:




.....more pictures to come!


Update 9/18/08:

Well I tried to fit the original piece back into the mold after it cured and it didnt fit exactly right again!!...except for that it was only a little out of alignment this time. So what i did was break the "bar" support, put the original piece in the mold, put epoxy inside the broken bar joint and then pulled/twisted the 2 pieces(the parts on each end of the break) until all parts aligned perfectly with the original. I can tell you this is where you will want the "60 second" epoxy if this happens to you. I could not sit there for 15 minutes holding that perfectly in place. The epoxied part of the joint is shown in the red box:



I am writing this as the following picture cures. I see no air bubbles so I expect this to turn out nearly perfect:




Update 9/19/08:

Tonight I took the mold piece out of the mold and i couldnt be happier with how it turned out. I put it up to the door to see how it fit(in this picture it still needs to be fine-trimmed) and it fit perfectly:


Next I needed to make a "ring" that will be the piece that screws into the door (where the factory screws screwed into the door to hold the factory speaker part). These two pictures show 1. the door taped up and 2. the door with fiberglass curing:




Update 9/20/08:

This weekend i started off getting all the basic parts ready to be bonded together.

Here is the ring that goes ove the speaker hole in the door right when its taken off of the tape and when its trimmed and screwed to the door. I marked what direction is up on the piece so i wont have to guess and try to fit it:




Last night I started on glassing the "base" of the project on the door. This morning I pulled it off the door and started to shape it:




To finish shaping the piece, i needed to clean my door off so i could see the lines of the door perfectly. I can tell you it was a BI##H to do. I had to use GoofOff2 because the Goo Gone and others contain petroleum based solvents that may harm the vinyl....I sure figured that out on my center console when I fiber glassed the hole where the cup holders are; the gray piece is faded where i used goo gone. With this stuff(its water based) you may have to use it a few times but it will come off. Got it at Home Depot:



Here is the background part with a rough cut laid on the door:


This is the part I am working on which is fitting the right side of the piece perfectly to the door panel. where it turns from the right side "bar" around to the top of the piece is a little difficult to get exactly right:


Here is a rough look of waht it will look like when some of the pieces are joined. Still needs to be trimmed but its a look...i gues all i have to imagine is the outer rim of a factory door panel though lol:





Here is the door piece base that is almost all trimmed. The thing left to trim and shape is the right side where it curves from the vertical "bar" to the horizontal top but it has its basic shape:


Update 10/01/08

Its been a while, been very busy. The way i want the tweeters to look i will have to cut the MDF really thin(the amount of material between the inside hole and the outside) so i wanted to get something stronger. I had extra rubber material left over so i first made the size of circle i wanted for the tweeter mount, used mold release wax on it and then poured rubber over it. i let it harden/dry for a day, trimmed the sides and then fiberglassed the top of the rubber to make the mother mold. Now i can make as many pieces i want but ill only really need to make 2; one for the passenger side and one for the drivers side.











Here i trimmed the top part to match the factory door piece where it is flat and wraps around the side:



Here is where you see the piece fit against the door:




Update 10/04/08:

Last time i left off making sure the main outer edge piece that will be visible was aligned properly. Now it is time to start putting the pieces together.

This may be a 2 person job but i rigged up a set of 2 extra hands(cheap $1 vicegrip knock off and tape around the door attached to the fiberglass) that you can see below. I used a small piece of a wooden stick for cushion between the fiberglass and the grips:



Even though people wont really look at this very easily or too much, i still wanted to align the piece as well as i could. I wrapped a piece of tape around itself enough times to make a thick flat piece. I made it the same thickness as the space between the door panel and the metal of the door. I did this so i can get the exact same spacing without having to look; all i had to do was press the piece against the tape and knew it was the correct spacing:




Now since i was able to align everything (i also had to trim the thickness of the fiberglass piece in some spots to make it fit around some curves/bumps in the factory door panel) its time to start putting the pieces together.

I wanted to make a "tack" hold (like a tack weld i think its called) so i could have it strong enough to stay and then later i would come back and reinforce it with fiberglass resin and mat. For this I used 60 second epoxy. i didnt want to sit there all night holding it. Dont expect to get 60 seconds of working time, this epoxy i had set within 15 seconds:



I used a piece of scrap fiberglass from trimming some pieces to join the 2 pieces together until I go back and fiberglass the 2 pieces together. I first epoxied it to the base part against the door, let it harden and then pressed the molded edge part against it and epoxied it together.



More pictures to come! I hope to get this done soon.




Here are the 2 pieces fiberglassed together



Here is the ring I made for the tweeter. I am not sure if I am going to remake this or not. Im contemplating this because idk if there should be the "lip" that is barely out farther than the tweeter's rim or if it should go on like this:




Its been a while. I am waiting for more resin/glass to come in the mail. WHile I have a little resin left, I decided to make the mounting ring for the crossover. The way I did this was, pop off the top of the crossover, wrap a small piece of masking tape around the edge of the crossover so it will be smooth around the perimeter, then used the wide masking tape to cover the rest of the crossover so no resin will get on the electrical components inside the crossover. These pictures are with the tape taken off of the top of the crossover.

After this hardens all the way, I will pop the crossover out and then start sanding it all. This looks like a mess and its hard to explain exactly what im doing but future pics will show what im doing.




Bottom....which after sanded smooth will actually be the "top"


This is the piece starting to be shaped and sanded down



Obviously this isnt finished; i have to shape the outside but right now, the inside dimensions are 100% perfect. I also have to fill in the very small pin holes.


The crossover has a few surface scratches on it :-( but, i guess that might happen anyways through normal wear and tear when it will b open on display...cant really notice them in regular light but with the camera's flash you can.


Here is the crossover piece half done:

I think i am going to make this a little thinner but here is what it looks like right now




Thinner


Update:

I have the speaker ring made, they look good. I am using my old grills with my new alpine speakers so i had to modify the speaker ring due to the different way the new speaker fits. If i just mounted it regularly, the speaker grill would hover over the speaker ring, it would look terrible. THe way i made this ring is that i made 2: one is to be where the speaker screws into and the other is to fill the gap that wold be there if i just put the grill directly on top of the speaker.




The grill goes over this but i have that part put away right now



Modified by imadigitalgod at 5:15 PM 11/9/2008


Modified by imadigitalgod at 5:16 PM 11/9/2008

omega02379

You're just a fiberglassing freak aren't ya?

__________________
FOR SALE: 89 Delorean Wheels (WTT for Plutonium)
WTB: Flux Capacitor - a 1.21 gigawatt fuse

AMidgetAndAClub = Me on XBL

junkspeedproject

in for this one as well

gl on this project. the first one was clean!

__________________
"slowest swapper in honda history" 5 years and running baby!

JUNKSPEED. THOTCHU KNEW! hahahahaha

Car Doesn't Run Cuz I'm Lazy to Work on it Member #001

imadigitalgod

I wanted to get the radio in because it didnt take too long to do...now im making these door pieces and then i am moving to the trunk...after all that i should be done with my car


Modified by imadigitalgod at 10:05 PM 9/7/2008

omega02379

Can't wait!

__________________
FOR SALE: 89 Delorean Wheels (WTT for Plutonium)
WTB: Flux Capacitor - a 1.21 gigawatt fuse

AMidgetAndAClub = Me on XBL

specoperformance

any updates? im curious

__________________
FS: Rear disk conversion with 40/40 valve

imadigitalgod

I should tomorrow...i made the copy and it was as perfect as can be(it even had the factory texture on it....which doenst matter but shows that its a good copy). I went to make sure it fit on the door and....f$%k! it doesnt fit. I dont know how but the part that curves around came in slightly(as if it were gonna form an "O"...but not nearly that much) so i am making a new mother mold, but the rubber is perfectly good. THis time i added a support for that curve so it wont move...but i still dont know how it did. It was such a slight bend that no one would notice it on the mother mold but it was enough to make the piece go enough out of alignment that it woldnt fit perfectly.

I am still very confident this will turn out well. it would have been well on its way if it wasnt for it bending a little bit....i just got back inside from laying down the glass for the new mothermold so updates will b posted asap!

imadigitalgod

Here is an update for 09/18/08. I got the new mold perfectly aligned to the original part (made sure to test fit before i started glassing the mold!) so I expect this piece of the project to turn out very well.

imadigitalgod

9/19/08:

I trimmed most of the part i was making a copy of with the mold and i laid the fiberglass out for the ring that will attach the piece to the door where the factory screws held the speaker part of the door's "pocket" to the door.

omega02379

Can't wait!

__________________
FOR SALE: 89 Delorean Wheels (WTT for Plutonium)
WTB: Flux Capacitor - a 1.21 gigawatt fuse

AMidgetAndAClub = Me on XBL

imadigitalgod

Another Update

imadigitalgod

Small update. I'm starting to make the mount rings for the tweeter, woofer and fine tuning the fitting of the pieces i made.

Davus

Cool, cool. Still watching, waiting for new pics.

__________________
My EJ is NOT an EK
Also, secure your stuff the right way.

omega02379

MOAR PICS!!!

__________________
FOR SALE: 89 Delorean Wheels (WTT for Plutonium)
WTB: Flux Capacitor - a 1.21 gigawatt fuse

AMidgetAndAClub = Me on XBL

tazeat

LOL I was thinking the same thing, but it looks like your doing a damn nice job, I'd for sure screw one of the pieces up and be too lazy to fix it xD.

__________________
For sale thread: http://www.hondamarketplace.co...17862

imadigitalgod

Thats some of the reason why I made the fiberglass mold of the factory piece instead of using the plastic piece itself because if i screwed it up id have to go to honda to get another one quick(or a junk yard but they would want to sell the whole panel there) and start over. With this i can make one within a few minutes then let dry for a few hours and presto i have another one for only a few bucks(material cost)

Im starting to join the pieces together. Right now its just parts to hold the piece together and in place so i can go back and fiberglass and make it strong.

imadigitalgod

I got the tweeter ring done...maybe.

I am deciding what would look best, the way it is now or if I should make a new ring(not hard at all) that is a little closer to the rim of the tweeter?

imadigitalgod

I'm in the process of making the ring for the crossover display. I molded around it with glass so i could get the exact surround of the crossover

KRock459

I have to say, you are doing some great work, from concept to (near) complete product. I have done a TON of fiberglass work, mainly for this purpose (fiberglass sub enclosures, kick and door pods, etc), I love your concept of the urethane rubber to make a negative mold.

I have been in the car audio installation business for 21 years, many years of that time dedicated to custom work such as this, your work is top notch

Looking forward to seeing the finished product!

Kirk R

omega02379

MOAR!!!

__________________
FOR SALE: 89 Delorean Wheels (WTT for Plutonium)
WTB: Flux Capacitor - a 1.21 gigawatt fuse

AMidgetAndAClub = Me on XBL

elusivEm1