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Home > User Content > DIY / Install Guides > DIY: Custom Fiberglass box build

DIY: Custom Fiberglass box build

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nick06tc


Reg'd: May 20, 2006

Vehicle Designer



Ok Since I love pictures so much....here is my progress

This is what it looks like finished.




First I had to clean the garage to have room. We have a ton of empty boxs to get rid of.

Before:



After:



Some of the tools I have bought. A palm sander, jigsaw, drill, rotozip (waste of money) and a bunch of other things:





I used 3/4inch MDF board. Its 19.95 a sheet. If you have them cut the 49"x97" sheet into 3 pieces it will fit into our car. but make sure you dont need any pieces larger than what its cut to. I didnt. My base is 37"x13". The back is 37"x12".



Ok I started the baffles with a rotopzip but it was impossible to cut a perfect circle, so I used a jigsaw. What you need to do is find out the inner diameter of the sub so you can make a mounting ring. Make the circle for the inner diameter then add to it an inch over the total diameter of the sub. You will have a ring.
The other ring to go ontop of it will be slightly larger than the size of the sub then add an inch for the outer cut. You end up with two Rings, one larger than the other. I used 13 [sup]19/32[/sup] for the outer diameter of both. I used 10 [sup]13/32[/sup] for the inner of one and 12 [sup]19/32[/sup] for the inner of the other.





Ok i then used wood glue and put the larger ring on top of the smaller ring. I predrilled two holes to hold it and used 1 [sup]5/8[/sup] screws to hold it and I also clamped it. Hopefully you can see what i mean by the different rings.







I let it dry for a day then test fitted it. Its tite so I will sand it down a bit.



I started laying it out and wanted this but it wont fit.



So I am doing this:



I measured from the edge of the carpet in the back up to an inch from the amps and made the base that deep. For width I measured the opening of the trunk and subtracted an inch, so I can put the box in and out. 37"x13"



For the height I measured where the trunk lid is and subtracted an inch. 37"x 12"



I then put it togethor with wood glue. Clamped it, predrilled holes and screwed it togethor. Its drying now.
[#] Nov 23, 2007 08:00am
nick06tc


Reg'd: May 20, 2006

Vehicle Designer

I put the joined front and back in the car. used some packing paper to get the sub to where I wanted it to sit. It looked like it should fit so I added a center divider. I cut a piece of MDF to fit. Once it fit a trimmed it down to flow with the box. Good thing with fiberglass is you can have cool angles.



Center divider added and caulked so its air tight. I used glue and screws like the rest of it.



I then put the subs back where I wanted with paper and used dowl rod to support the rings. I used hot glue to hold the dowls in place then when there was enoguh I removed the paper and it held.





For the other side I took measurements from the first side and duplicated it. Its pretty darn close to the same.






Once I was sure it was braced enough i took some fabric that i got on clearance made out of stretchy polyester and stretched it over the box. I used hot glue to hold it in place. Make sure there are no folds or anything. I had a few and they all showed up. Air leaked where they were so I had to refiberglass so of it. Whatever shape this fabric is, will be your final shape of your project.





Ok now the fiberglassing.

I bought:

1 gallon fiberglass resin with hardner
2 packs of medium strength fiberglass matt
1 can of acetone
4 respirators for fiberglass
25 rubber gloves
a paint pale (didnt use it)
5 CHEAP paint brushes

I used:
4 empty water bottles
a glass jar

Ok. The resin is extremely hard to work with. It takes 15 drops of hardner per 1 ounce so you mix very small amounts. I mixed 4 ounces at a time. Make sure to wear gloves and the respirator and do this outside. I still felt dissy when done. The resin is EXTREMELY harmful. Mix the resin and hardner stir it. Take your paint brush and cover the fabris with resin. Make sure to cover it all and wait till it hardens. This gives you a base to work off of.

Now take you fiberglass matt and rip it into smaller pieces. Like paper mache. Place the fiberglass on the box and use the brush and dab the resin onto the mat. brushing doesnt work to well so do what you can to make sure it is saturated. It will go from white to the color of the fabrick once its on. Make sure there are no air bubbles. You will now have fiberglass all over the paint brush and your gloves, your shoes, and everywhere else good luck.
While mixing batches of resin put the paint brush in a cup of acetine so it doesnt harden. If the resin GELS up on you while applying it, DONT USE IT. Mix a new batch. I waisted a lot of resin.

Cover the whole box as many times until the box is hard.
I dont have many pics because you are on a time crunch and my hands were sticky.







[#] Nov 23, 2007 08:01am
nick06tc


Reg'd: May 20, 2006

Vehicle Designer

Once I was certain it was all thick enough.I let it dry over night and in the morning I cut out the speaker area. Sanded out any majorly high spots with the rotozip sander and palm sander. I sanded the rings down so the speaker would fit. I test fitted the subs and they fit just fine. I put them in reverse mounted to make sure I had no air leaks. I did have one. So I went back and refiberglassed that part. The subs were just sitting in and not screwed down and it sounded amazing. And that was with just one sub. Cant wait to secure and wire up both of them.















Here is the amp rack. I just used 3/4 inch MDF. I traced the stock floor on it. The placed the box on top. Then traced the box. I cut everthing out. I cut the holes for where the amps would be placed.
[#] Nov 23, 2007 08:04am
Aciidsneaker


Reg'd: Feb 24, 2007



Nice write up what did you use for the final blue color?


[#] Nov 23, 2007 05:48pm
nick06tc


Reg'd: May 20, 2006

Vehicle Designer

The final blue is Azure Pearl.

[#] Nov 23, 2007 08:16pm
EviltC_004


Reg'd: Jan 07, 2007

Tech Advisor

wow dude thats awesome, goodjob!

want to make one for me now in green? haha j/k

http://www.scionlife.com/profile/eviltc_004
[#] Nov 25, 2007 05:09pm
youngflyer


Reg'd: Jul 07, 2007

Scion Guru

haha he could make bank building them for people!

ThE JeWiSh PiMp
[#] Nov 25, 2007 05:49pm
nick06tc


Reg'd: May 20, 2006

Vehicle Designer

I could deffinetly make a pretty penny. I wish I had time.

I actually sold this fr $40 just because I needed it out of my garage.

[#] Nov 25, 2007 06:35pm
inspector_gajet


Reg'd: Oct 28, 2007

Oil Changer

So what do you have now???

[#] Nov 25, 2007 08:30pm
nick06tc


Reg'd: May 20, 2006

Vehicle Designer

inspector_gajet wrote:
So what do you have now???
Its inanother DIY wroe. Check my one labeled MDF BOX. Just something to give me some trunk spce.
[#] Nov 25, 2007 08:53pm
youngflyer


Reg'd: Jul 07, 2007

Scion Guru

dude this system was way hot. you made it look easy haha. i really want to try this with my dad but i dont want to waste a lot of money and screw it up.

ThE JeWiSh PiMp
[#] Nov 25, 2007 10:05pm
nick06tc


Reg'd: May 20, 2006

Vehicle Designer

It does cost alot to do. Supplies are so expensive. And its time consuming. Plus I had to buy all the tools. But once you have everything, and time GO FOR IT.

[#] Nov 26, 2007 05:42am
youngflyer


Reg'd: Jul 07, 2007

Scion Guru

WHAT DO YOU THINK WAS THE COST OF MATERIALS ALONE MINUS THE TOOLS

ThE JeWiSh PiMp
[#] Nov 26, 2007 07:06am
tC_vixen


Reg'd: Aug 16, 2007



awesome, awesome job. reading this DIY is actually making me want to take the box I have now out and make some custom ones. I love my box, but I dont have room in the trunk for anything! I want to try and put my two 10's on each side of the trunk, to make room in the middle. will I basically use the same procedure? just with different measurements, of course.

[#] Nov 26, 2007 03:33pm
nick06tc


Reg'd: May 20, 2006

Vehicle Designer

youngflyer wrote:
WHAT DO YOU THINK WAS THE COST OF MATERIALS ALONE MINUS THE TOOLS


I would say materials, $125-$150 not including paint.

Th resin is around $25 for a thing of it. Matt is like $7 a pack and you need alot of it. Sand paper gets expensive. You have to get 40-60-120-200-400-800-1000-2000-4000 and plenty of it.
Add in alot of bondo. The fleece, the hot glue, the dowels, the MDF at $29 a sheet, the screws, the caulk, the paint brushes, gloves, cups, and then move into the paint side of it.

Now that I think of it, I might have spent more in materials than I think.
[#] Nov 26, 2007 04:29pm
nick06tc


Reg'd: May 20, 2006

Vehicle Designer

tC_vixen wrote:
awesome, awesome job. reading this DIY is actually making me want to take the box I have now out and make some custom ones. I love my box, but I dont have room in the trunk for anything! I want to try and put my two 10's on each side of the trunk, to make room in the middle. will I basically use the same procedure? just with different measurements, of course.


Pretty much, except you would be doing a mold of the area you want them.

You would take painters tape and alluminum foil and line the area you want it. Apply the resin and one layer of matt to the area, allow it to dry then pull it out and work on the rest out side of the car.
[#] Nov 26, 2007 04:30pm
youngflyer


Reg'd: Jul 07, 2007

Scion Guru

is there enough sealed air behind the speakerS?

ThE JeWiSh PiMp
[#] Nov 26, 2007 09:20pm
psiewert


Reg'd: May 05, 2007

Vehicle Designer

do you have any problems with rattling? I made my custom box that fits on the left side and its like 7 layers thick of fiberglass. When I put my type R in it i can hear crazy shacking and rattling. When I put the sub in my mdf box there is no rattle. Any ideas?


[#] Nov 26, 2007 09:26pm
nick06tc


Reg'd: May 20, 2006

Vehicle Designer

youngflyer wrote:
is there enough sealed air behind the speakerS?



There was actually to much. I had to get extra scraps of wood and fill in the box a tad. When I played it with out the wood, the sound just wasnt there, it wasnt tight at all. Added a few scraps to take up some internal space, and the sound was amazing.
[#] Nov 27, 2007 06:02am
nick06tc


Reg'd: May 20, 2006

Vehicle Designer

psiewert wrote:
do you have any problems with rattling? I made my custom box that fits on the left side and its like 7 layers thick of fiberglass. When I put my type R in it i can hear crazy shacking and rattling. When I put the sub in my mdf box there is no rattle. Any ideas?



At first, NO.

But after a year and tunning my amps again and playing it REALLY loud at shows for hours on end, I finally did crack the fiberglass where it joined the mdf, and then you could hear the air leak. I resealed it with straight resin to get a seal again.
[#] Nov 27, 2007 06:04am
psiewert


Reg'd: May 05, 2007

Vehicle Designer

my alpine type r 10 inch subs say they need .5 - .8 cubic feet of air. My custom all fiberglass enclosure is almost exactly .5 cubic feet. When I put any sub, weak or strong on it, it sounds like crap. I might try porting it but I'll need a 10 inch long 2.5 inch wide port for that volume and pressure. I added some polyfil to it and it got more quiet. I think its because there is just not enough volume. I may have to redesign.


[#] Nov 27, 2007 02:13pm
youngflyer


Reg'd: Jul 07, 2007

Scion Guru

how can you measure the volume of a custome fiberglass box?

ThE JeWiSh PiMp
[#] Nov 27, 2007 02:31pm
FrAnkRYzzO


Reg'd: Oct 21, 2005

$upervillain
for Hire

for one like he made, you would have to use some creative math. You could use the volume equation for a cylinder mutiplied by two and then factor in the center section. Or you could just fill it with water and then measure the water in a container that is easier to use a volume equation on.

Even Zombies can Search...
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[#] Nov 27, 2007 03:50pm
psiewert


Reg'd: May 05, 2007

Vehicle Designer

haha, or you can use packing peanuts...i used the H2O method.....

I just filled it with water and poured it out into a measuring cup. Each container was 3.5 cups and 18 containers filled up. Thats 63 cups. 16 cups in a gallon means it was just under 4 gallons. 231 cubic inches in a gallon means it was 910 in^3. 910 in^3 = .52 ft^3


[#] Nov 27, 2007 04:00pm
FrAnkRYzzO


Reg'd: Oct 21, 2005

$upervillain
for Hire

Packing peanuts... Brilliant! Give that man a Guiness

Even Zombies can Search...
..............
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[#] Nov 27, 2007 04:07pm
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