These were made with fiberglass with MDF for front mounting. They fit perfectly in the areas behind the wheel wells and take up very little space. The boxes are completely different shapes due to the gas filler tube on the right side of the car. This also created a little difficulty because of the air space requirements as well as the mounting depth needed for the sub. The rest of the hardware will be installed as soon as Circuit City gets the Metra kit in I ordered.

Here's the left box...

 

left upper

 

right box

 

view from front...

 

this is how thick the fiberglass is after several layers plus a layer of undercoat paint...

 

and here are the other goods going in...

 

looks very nice.
what size are those subs, and what is the volume?

 

They are JL Audio 8W3's. The volume is approximately .375 ft cubed. It's hard to be exact on this while working with so many curves and fiberglass being a pain to deal with in some areas.

I would have to say the hardest part was glueing the carpet on, though. The back and bottom of each box has some "patches" of carpet. Don't know how strong the glue is that I used but I hope to redo the carpet at some point. We'll see.


DD

 

yeah, I was just looking for an approx. volume.
I know how hard it can be to glue down the carpet, i had a tough time doing it a few years ago.
It still looks very nice!

 

Thanks bro!

 

I have never worked with fiberglasss before, and I was considering doing something similar to what you have done here, but only on the left side and not both. If you take out the humongous black styrofoam block, you can get alot more space over there, and possibly mold a fiberglass box in that area. I am planning on using 1 10W6 and not 2 8's, so my volume requirements are almost 2x what an 8" sub requires.

Can you give me any advice as to how you created your fiberglass mold, or the process involved, and the materials you used ? Like I said, I am a total newbie when it comes to fiberglassing, but I would like to be the one who does my complete install. I already have my custom amp rack built for the stock sub location, and all wiring is complete. I used 2 Phoenix Gold amps, and Audio Control EQX EQ, and a PG line driver. I used Audio XR650 CSi seperates up front and VR650 Cxi in back. All I need now is an enclosure for my sub, a little cleanup, and my system will be finished.

Thanks for any help...

 

I've never worked with fiberglass before. It is actually fairly easy once you get used to how it acts/reacts to curves and corners.

To make the mold, I used masking tape, aluminum foil and paper to cover the areas to be molded. Then, I used some stuff I bought at Lowe's called "Water Putty". It's just a powder that you mix with water and you get a paste to paint on the aluminum foil/paper. After it dried and hardened, I used foam insulation spray, (called Great Stuff), to fill the area in as I didn't know how strong the putty would be.

I let that dry then pulled the paper and aluminum foil off of the mold and started fiberglassing. You have to work quickly with small amounts of the hardening solution as it thickens in about 10 minutes. There are a few different types of material you can use for the actual "fiberglass" part. One is very dense yet soft and silky which is good for curves and density. The other is for large spaces but requires numerous layers.

Then sand it, cover it, insert speaker, you're done! Good luck and make sure you have plenty of ventilation while fiberglassing....that stuff is pretty gnarly on the brain.

DD

 

In case I missed it somewhere...how do your 8W3's in your custom enclosures sound ??? Just curious. I would think the bass wave would be more developed coming from your location versus the stock area. I wanted to get your opinion about the sound of those speakers from where they are positioned now...

Thanks for the info on the fiberglassing, and it sounds like a project worth taking on...

 

I wish I knew!!!!!!!! It's driving me crazy. I'm waiting on the dash kit from Metra so I can install everything.

Hopefully it will be by the end of the week.

I'll let you know as soon as I can turn it up!

It's definitely a fun job to take on yourself...not to mention saving the $. You also will have the satisfaction of knowing YOU did that! Do it! If you screw up, all you have to do is start over or redo what is messed up! Oh, don't forget, you don't have to cover the boxes with anything. You have the option of sanding them down and painting them to match your CS!!!

DD

 

Here are some websites that might help on the box.

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/7165/how_to_1.htm\

http://www.meisearch.com/directory/M...al/index2.html

http://www.meisearch.com/

 

I really like the way that is done. Nice an neat job. Hope it sounds as good as it looks.

 

Thanks Lemans!

 

I just got back from getting my fiberglass supplies at Home Depot. I spent about $80 for everything, which included plastic sheeting, water putty, paper sheeting, masking tape, brushes for the fiber resin, the fiberglass material (3 packs of each kind), a 2' x 4' sheet of mdf for the baffle, and a mixing bucket. Not too bad considering a stereo shop wanted $600 to do it. I think it will take a few hours (3-4), but thats well worth that cost savings, plus I can say that I did it...

DiverDown, thanks for the info, and thanks for the links magnetic Z ! This is going to be fun...messy, but fun !

 

Yes these are close to perfect... not obtrusive and probably delivery great accustics

 

Heh, yeah, messy is an understatement. If you can, get some latex gloves for the fiberglassing. Also, tape some newspaper down on the garage/shop floor as the resin can pull up some chunks of concrete while trying to remove it!

You may also want to plan on it taking a little longer than three or four hours!!! The putty takes a while to dry.

Have fun and post some during and after pics!!!!!!!!

Oh, and thanks 3rdpower!

DD