Custom Sub Box Build (90+ pics)

adalos · Sep 10, 2007

i've been working on my first fiberglass/mdf project and figured i would share my progress log in case anyone else wanted to do something similar. keep in mind i have never fiberglassed before, and am not a professional fabricator in any way at all. i'm just a joe schmoe with powertools, patience and determination. anyhow, on to the project:

I've been thinking about how I wanted to build an enclosure for my 12" JL 12w6v2 sub in my trunk. My original plan was to utilize the spare tire wheel well, but after much deliberation I decided against it because it would mean raising my entire trunk floor, removing my spare tire, and being a general pain in the butt. It definitely would have been easier to fiberglass there than in the location I decided on, but I think overall, the side was a better choice for me. I care a lot about my trunk space, and I don't really want to be in a situation where I don't have a spare tire. I decided on the driver's side area of the trunk. Both sides of the trunk are similar, but the passenger side has a fuse box located in the hole area, so the driver's side was a better option.

The aluminum stuff you see in the picture is the sound deadening adhesive (eDead) that I used to deaden the vibrations and lower the incoming sound noise through my trunk floor/sides. My main issues I see right away is:

1. I don't want to mess with moving the wires that run along the side of the trunk
2. I also don't want to fiberglass directly on top of them
3. I don't want to fiberglass directly against the tail light
4. I'm going to have to make some sort of pre-fab box in that hole area for the fiberglass to form to

Now, before I continue, let me just state that I have never fiberglassed before or watched anyone do so. I've been reading a lot about it over the past few months, but reading and doing are rarely the same thing. I had a basic understanding of what needed to be done, and the order of things I needed to do, but that was about it. I bought a bunch of crafting supplies I thought may prove useful and just went from there. I'm sure there are better ways of glassing, but this is how I chose to do it.

I had a bunch of poster board that I had intended to use for drawing out the shape that my MDF cover would need to be. Instead, I used it to design a box in the hole area in order to keep the fiberglass away from the tail lights and to create a smooth transition between that hole and the hole I am going to cut in the plastic wall panel (thus avoiding the electrical wires). I just started doing rough measurements and attaching posterboard pieces to each other to create a basic box.

That little flap was necessary because there is a metal bracket thing in the way. Mandatory picture of my 12w6v2:

I continued working on my box fabrication, took it out and closed in the little panel/box area. Then I covered the entire inside with blue painter's tape:

I placed it back in the hole to test fitment, and then folded the edges of the box back so that I could mount it flushly to the car's metal panel body. I used duct tape to secure it. Just as a hindsight note, that little 2"x2" box on the inside of the enclosure was a holy hell to fiberglass. I would definitely have figured out a different way of doing that if I had known, even if it meant losing some enclosure cubic volume. Ah well. Learn from my mistakes. Also, I haven't been able to pop the enclosure out yet, and part of the reason is the duct tape holding in that box. Not sure how else you can do it, but just make sure you use lots of painter's tape and aluminum foil on the inside of your box so that it will pop out as easily as possible.

Next I put on the plastic interior panel that goes over that whole section. I brought my sub over and test fitted it and found that the plastic panel didn't give enough clearance for the magnet on the back end of the sub, so I drew lines of where I needed to cut and cut that area out with some tin snips. I don't have pictures because it was impossible to hold the sub in the air with one hand where it needed to be and take a picture with the other. Use your imagination!

I put the plastic panel back on and tested the fitment again with my sub to make sure there was clearance. You can see the wires there in between the metal car panel and the removable plastic panel. I want to keep it that way so that it doesn't get fiberglassed over and so that I don't have to bother with moving it.

In order to achieve this, I used more poster board to create a "bridge" between the box I made and the plastic panel. This will also make for a smoother and "easier" (lol!) fiberglassing.

Once I had finished creating my bridge, I started covering the entire plastic panel with blue painter's tape. I used a lot of it on this project (2 rolls), as well as a good deal of duct tape, and a roll of masking tape as well. One thing I wish I had done was buy thicker painter's tape (like 2" or 3" inch tape), as it would have sped up the masking process by a lot. I ended up with raw fingertips from applying so much tape.

With the plastic panel and box done, I started designing the outter part of the enclosure. More test fitting ensued. This is a top down view of where the sub is going to end up being as far as how far it sticks out. Keep in mind that this outter wall is going to be made of 3/4" MDF, so it will be all the way straight across. From this picture you can see that it's too far out to mesh into the part of the panel closest to the seat, so more fabrication will be necessary.

Before I got to that, I had one more thing to deal with first. If you look under your trunk carpet, there's a ring on each side of the trunk bolted to the floor close to the seat. I plan on probably using that bolt hole as part of my enclosure's "securing" feature, both so it won't move around and so that someone can't just smash my window and take the entire enclosure. They're gonna need to bring the "Jaws of Life" if they want my sub.

Anyhow, I took a paint stir stick and broke it in quarters. I taped two of them side by side and completely wrapped them in masking tape and placed it over the bolt hole. This will allow room for a bracket or whatever I end up using under there. If I had just covered the hole with tape, it would have prevented me from using that bolt hole without lifting up the side of my enclosure. In the last pic, you can see my measurement line of where I plan on having the MDF wall. Note the location of the bolt hole. I'm thinking I will end up using a big metal bracket there and bolting it to the MDF face of the enclosure. We'll see.

Now to the fabrication of the outter side walls. I used more poster board here, creating an extension that followed the curves of the plastic panel so it would flow well when all is said and done. The arching actually strengthens the poster board as opposed to being straight and flimsy. Just make sure you tape it well. I continued with the "roof" part, and then the other side, taping them both to the plastic panel and to each other. I strengthened the roof part with some paint stir sticks broken in half and taped to both the plastic panel and the top side of the poster board "roof". This greatly strengthened the roof part and I had no worries of it being too flimsy to fiberglass on.

I made sure there was plenty of clearance for the trunk hatch to close.

I remeasured again, using an actual ruler, level, and some boards to more accurately depict where my MDF front will end up being and marked my lines all the way around.

All that's left now is to add my layer of tin foil to further prevent resin from seeping through the tape and to make the enclosure pop out more easily (no such luck!). I also cut up some garbage bags and taped them to the edges to prevent me from getting resin on my car. Fiberglassing is VERY VERY messy, so I would seriously reccommend doing everything in your power to protect your car. Most of the first timer fiberglass threads I've read have been full of DIYers with resin/fiberglass everywhere. I just got my car painted, so I was very careful. I also used about 20 disposable latex gloves, and a long sleeve shirt to keep the fiberglass and resin off my arms. I got some on my legs tho cuz I was wearing shorts, and then ended up being very itchy and BURNING! When the resin "sets", the chemical reaction between the resin and the hardener makes it get very hot. If you get any on you, you won't feel it right away. But when it starts to harden, you will have no doubt!

NOTE: I made the mistake of wiping the sweat off my forehead with the back of my latex glove. There was resin on the back of said glove, and about 10 minutes later my forehead felt like someone had pushed my face onto a heated grill. Learn from my mistakes! lol (didn't take pics of my forehead... sorry!)

Now to the actual fiberglassing. I'd say now to the fun part, but it's anything but fun. I have learned that fiberglassing is not something I'd want to have a career in, or really have to mess with ever again. It was a good learning experience and a DIY challenge, but it is not something I enjoyed doing. I'd take wood and a skill saw over laying fiberglass any day!

This first layer of glass was brutal. First, I had no idea what to expect since I had never touched the stuff before. Second, sitting in the car trying to fiberglass was super uncomfortable. And third, that little box area in the back part of the mold was hell on earth trying to fiberglass in (especially having to go upside down to do the top part of it).

Once I finished the first layer, I let it set for a while so that when i layed the second one, it wouldn't be moving around the first layer. Then I started on the second layer. It's hard working against gravity. Trying to paint and stipple the resin on the top (ceiling) areas was difficult and much of it would drip from the brush to the bottom. I tried to mop it back up, but after a while it was just impossible, so the bottom area definitely had a lot more resin on it than the top did.

Here you can see the nightmare area. It was just impossible for me to do a good job in there, so I just tried to get it as best I could and hope it didn't break when I popped the mold out. The whole thing is kind of ugly, but I'm a fiberglassing newbie and I did the best I could. You can see my lines there too that I did on the posterboard in black marker. That's going to be the actual edge of my enclosure, so I fiberglassed a few inches past it to make sure the edge would be strong when I trimmed it down later.

Now I just had to wait for it to cure before I could pop it out.

Unfortuneately, I had a short deployment that left the next morning at like 6 AM. I got up a little early and spent about 10 minutes trying to get it to pop out, but I was getting nowhere and had to just leave it in my car for a week while I was gone. I was afraid it would really stink up my car, but it wasn't all that bad.

On a side note while I was on my deployment, I just thought it was interesting how close the air traffic controller guys were bringing in planes, one after the other. I wonder what happens if one plane rear ends another. Do you get points on your driver's license or your flying license? hmmm...

When I got back home, the first thing I did was get back to popping it out. It didn't come easily, but that was mainly due to the way I had taped that little box over the plastic panel with duct tape. I eventually grabbed a paint stirrer and used it as a shim around the entire thing and slowly worked it out inch by inch. With only 3 layers of glass, it was still pretty brittle, so I couldn't just yank the thing out by force without risking breaking it. It finally came out though, and I was thrilled to get it the hell out of my car.

Honestly, I'm surprised how well it came out as this was my first time glassing. I thought it was just going to crumble into pieces or something, but it was actually quite structurally sound. The little box area needed some serious love tho. I had pulled off most of the tape and foil, but after seeing some bad spots, I retaped and I got some fiberglass filler to patch any weak spots or holes in the area.

I began adding more layers of mat, and started getting fairly good at it. It was so much easier working with the mold out of the car vs. it being in the car. Any bumps or rough spots I would sand down before laying the next layer. I talked to a professional fiberglasser online and he gave me some pointers that really helped me. All I can say is get yourself a little 2 or 3 inch paint roller. It makes things 10x easier and better looking than trying to just use a brush.

Over the next few days I would add a couple layers and then let it cure. I think I ended up with about 8 total layers. There isn't much flex to it at all any more, so I figured that was a good point to stop.

Now that I was done fiberglassing (THANK THE LORD!), I needed to trim it back to where my initial black lines were. I used a dremmel to cut with, and it went through fairly smoothly. Make sure you wear a fiberglass mask, eye protection and long pants/shirt because the fiberglass dust will be everywhere and is bad bad bad.

I can't tell you how happy I was to be done with fiberglassing. Now it was time to move on to the wood working part of the project, something I'm much more comfortable doing (although not necessarily any better at!). My wood front is going to set inside the actual fiberglass part, so I used some posterboard and got a tracing of the inside. Then I took the posterboard and put it on my 3/4" MDF sheet and traced the outline onto it and used a skillsaw to cut it out.

Next I did some test fitment to figure out where the hole needed to be. My initial plan was to have the sub mounted right to this board, but after some research and contemplation, I decided that it's not going to give me the angle I want to project off the hatchback glass, so I would need to build sort of a wedge to give myself an angle. Therefore this hole is just to allow the sub to pass through. You'll see what I'm talking about later. I used a router with a circle making attachment to cut out the circle. Worked pretty well.

Now, my front MDF cut out was a little too large to fit into the fiberglass, so I began the tedious process of slowly filing/sanding it down until it was a nice, snug fit. I made my brother hold the board while I filed, as I am the elder and I didn't want all that sawdust getting all over me!

My original plan was to fiberglass the board in, but after my time spent glassing, I decided to just liquid nail the hell out of it instead. This stuff is awesome. I just gooped it on generously in a zig zag pattern and slid the board into the fiberglass enclosure. Then I went back over the seams like you would normally caulk something and smoothed a line with my finger to make sure it was good and in there.

Next came building my angled wedge. I spent a few hours testing placement and doing the math, sketched up what I wanted and made the pieces out of posterboard. Then I used the posterboard pieces to trace the shapes onto my MDF board, and used a table saw to cut them out.

After all that hard work, I figured it was time for a break, and what better nutritional food than graham crackers and milk. I myself am a half dipper. I dunk the first half, eat said half, and then dunk the remaining half. I find this to be the most efficient way of eating graham crackers. Make sure you don't hold the dunk too long or you'll end up with graham mush as you're trying to get it to your mouth. (I'm losing my mind at this point)

So here's what my angle wedge is going to look like. I need to do some angled cuts on some of the pieces to match with the slant of the sides.

I noticed now that my top piece of the box needs some angled cuts as well to make it look right with the support pieces. I didn't have any way of making accurate angled cuts, so I had to freehand it as best I could. Once everything was cut, I set the box up on the enclosure and got an idea of where I would mount it, and I used my router again to make a hole through the top of the wedge piece.

More test fitment ensued, this time with my sub in place. I wanted to make sure I had all the clearance I needed and that everything was fitting right before I started putting it all together.

Everything looked good, so I got out my trusty tube of liquid nails and went at it. I started with the base pieces and glued them together so that everything was flush. I used the clamps to aid in positioning everything perfectly, not for holding the thing together while it set. With liqiud nails, you don't even really need clamps, as it's adhesive enough from the get go to do it on it's own. Next I put more liquid nails on the top of the based. I felt like I was building a gingerbread house (note: don't eat liquid nails). I put on the "lid" and caulked all the seams of the entire box, in and out and then let it set overnight.

Obviously, I needed some sort of terminal or outlet somewhere on my enclosure for connecting the amp wires to the sub wires. I found a nice little banana plug terminal at radio shack in one of those misc. drawers in the back. I mounted it on what will be the underside of the wedge box so that all my wiring will be invisible. It took a little fabricating to get it to work with the 3/4" MDF, but I eventually got it mounted and attached my speaker wire to the inside.

The last thing to do to complete the enclosure was to attach the wedge box, so I grabbed my liquid nails and went to down again, icing it like a cake and setting it onto the main enclosure. I let it set overnight and then it was ready to go (and super strong).

I attached the sub and put it in my car (damn thing is heavy with the sub in it). I know it's not all pretty right now, but I was just itching to get it in my car finally after weeks and weeks of working on it. Once I have some more free time, I'm going to take it back out and sand it down and either carpet it or put vinyl over it. I havent decided yet. You can't see any wiring in the pic, but my sub is actually fully connected with my amp in the tire well. Not sure what I'm going to do with the 2 amps and 2 crossovers I'll be running, but that's how it's gonna stay for the time being.

And without further ado:

silentchaos · Sep 10, 2007

ummm wow..... where to begin.... i guess the beginning would be a good place.

ok first off mad props for mr. DIYer looks like you spent alot of time on that box. now im making assumptions here so reply and correct me if im off or if there was a reason behind it.

you said you did alot of research on fiberglassing and box building. now dont take this the wrong way but im going to just throw out some points for you to think about or respond to.

-did you look up how much air space that sub needs and calculate how much you have? because that looks like WAY more than enough air for a 12 inch sub.

-this goes with #1 sorta. if you calculated you air space im 99% sure u could have avoided cutting a hole in your trunk plastic.

-i'll find a link later but have you seen other similar boxes to yours done for the celica? they are 99% fiberglass and are much smaller and blend in nicely with the trunk plastics.

-its an arguable point but i dont think the wedge was really needed at all. most systems are in the trunks of sedans facing away from the passengers anyways. just my opinion though.

i cant think of anything else right now. but like i said before im not doggin you. just giving you a little something to think about. i plan to do something similar to what i was talking about earlier (the smaller total fiberglass box) props though for doin it yourself.

adalos · Sep 10, 2007

i knew i left something out. once i had finished glassing, i used thin packing peanuts to determine volume. i used a square box to measure out the amount of peanuts that equaled the volume i needed, and then i dumped said peanuts into my fiberglass mold. i used that level as my new cutoff line before i sawed off the outter edge of the shell.

this sub requires more space than most 12s i have come across. while most sealed enclosures for 12s are usually recommended around ~.85 ft^3, mine is recommended at 1.25 ft^3. my MDF is also inset into the glass, so keep in mind that's an extra 3/4" off the internal volume.

the wedge was just one of those things that i hemmed and hawed about. i did a lot of research and the general consensus on sub placement in a hatchback was reflecting off the glass. i'm pretty comfortable working with wood, and MDF is cheap, so for like 5 dollars i went ahead and made it. the wedge added a little volume, but i needed to add some because i forgot to take into consideration the volume displacement that the sub itself would create in the box. my math puts my box around 1.33 cubic feet versus that 1.25 it should be. i can always take the wedge off if need be in the future, but it sounds pretty damned good right now and i haven't even hooked my JL 500/1 to it.

as far as the little box on the back side. my original intention with that was to be able to place the sub as far back as possible, making my enclosure take up the least amount of trunk space. it was free space behind the sub box anyhow, so i thought why not use it so i get more volume without having to extend the box's outter dimensions. with the wedge, it was kind of a moot point, but i didn't know that's what i was gonna do when i originally planned things out. if i had to go back i would definitely get rid of the mini-box, more because of how much of a pain it was than anything else.

i too have seen a lot of the side celica boxes. but if you look at where my box would be if i didn't have the wedge on it, i think you will find that it is pretty similar. lastly, this box was done more for utility and trunk space than appearance. i'm still going to pretty it up, but my main goals were to have a custom box for my specific sub, allow as much access to my trunk space as possible, and be able to access my spare tire without having to remove anything.

anyhow, i appreciate the comments and insight. i'm TRULY happy with how it came out because of this being my first ever fiberglass project and me seeing what most first time fiberglass projects usually look like by my research over the last few months online.

RekD0514 · Sep 10, 2007

My suggestion is that you should have made an MDF ring for you sub and used wood dowels. Then you could have angled the sub anyway you want. You would have had to do more fiberglassing, but you would have got more practice. Don't get me wrong, I have never glassed before either. I was thinking something like this thread.

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6915&highlight=side+fiberglass

bman365 · Sep 10, 2007

nice job, you thought of a weird way on some things than what i've searched up. I've started a box project like this before, but never got past the first mold part, because i changed my mind of the sub i was using.

But for a cleaner look, its still possible for you to do it this way, cut back the fiberglass to right where it meets the interior panels, instead of it cutting out into that box shape you made it do.

Next do like that guy said, and make a mdf ring for you sub and use dowels or anything to suspend it and aim it the way you want. Longer the support for the ring, the more airspace you would have. You can measure it by packing peanuts i heard, so once you get the ring mounted where you like, stretch fleece over it and temporarily secure (tape) it to the edge of the fiberglass and use the peanuts to measure the airspace.

When you get the right air space. overlap the fleece over the edge of the fiberglass and secure it. Make sure you stretch it tightly so when you put the resin on, it dont droop down and sag. Then from there, paint the resin on it where it soaks it up and let it dry. then fiberglass layers on top of it, the flater spots will need extra support, just check for weak spots..

So thats a way for a cleaner look instead of boxy, and still get the angle and airspace you need.

but good job on the writeup and all that. i know those take a long time to sort through everything even for a short one.

adalos · Sep 10, 2007

ya, i didn't want to do a fiberglass front and mess with making rings and all that. i know that's how most of the boxes are made these days, but with my original design, i was going to have a 100% flat front face, which would have been very difficult to do with glass. plus i didn't want to have to go through the whole process of sanding, bondoing, sanding, painting, sanding, etc that you have to do with a fiberglass front. i would have ended up covering over it anyhow, as i don't like the look of painted fiberglass.

thanks for the comments. i know i could have gone other ways on some things, but i assure you i thought things out for a loooong time before i even attempted anything. i'm happy with the end results because it sounds awesome, it leaves me the majority of my trunk space, and once i get it sanded and carpeted over, it will look a lot better. i never show off my trunk tho, so looks don't really mean much to me.

and yes, this write up took FOREVER. i have like 300 pictures that i've taken over the course of this project that i had to sort through, edit in photoshop, upload, etc. the project itself took me a long time too. i would estimate the total time spent on this (not including countless hours of research) to be around 50 hours. i learned a lot tho.

bman365 · Sep 10, 2007

as soon as i can figure out a easy way to cut a mount (ring) for my square kicker sub, ill make a box. is a skillsaw pretty easy to use, does i cut through the mdf well?

adalos · Sep 10, 2007

ya, the trick to using a skill saw is to cut with the saw towards you. i know this is sort of anti-safety, but it let's you see exactly where the saw blade is and have better control (IMO).

for making circles though, i would suggest you get a router with a circle cutting attachment so that your circles are as perfectly round as possible. you can do it with a skill saw, it just won't be as nice.

mdf is very easy to cut/drill/sand/etc because it's not really wood per se, but more like super compressed wood fibers.

GTShondakilla · Sep 10, 2007

So how thick did the glass have to be to equal 3/4" MDF?

I am thinking of doing this for my Type-R....

adalos · Sep 10, 2007

i did about 8 layers of fiberglass mat. i would have no qualms of flipping the thing over and standing on it. from the research i've done, people do between 5-9 layers. i just kept adding layers until i no longer had any flex. the corners will be super strong after only a few layers. any long, flat areas will need more layers until they become completely rigid.

GTShondakilla · Sep 11, 2007

So how does it sound?

adalos · Sep 11, 2007

sounds awesome. i had a 12" kenwood in one of those generic best buy sub boxes before and my JL12w6 in the custom box i made flat out destroys it. i have it hooked up to a kenwood 4 channel amp that can't give it nearly the power it wants, so i can't even imagine what it will do once i hook up the 500/1 to it. it's very clean sounding, which is what i wanted since i listen to rock. can't wait to add my rainbow components up front and getting everything pumping.

anyone figure out a way to keep your rear view mirror from moving due to the sub vibrations?

GTShondakilla · Sep 11, 2007

I don't think its really possible... I guess you could try and deaden the roof to prevent the vibrations from traveling through the top of the car.....

silentchaos · Sep 11, 2007

um turn it down

GTShondakilla · Sep 11, 2007

Oh, and good choice on the 12W6.... you won't be disappointed with the 500/1 either... I used to have one and it was a kickass amp... really powered my 2 10W3V2's well.

bman365 · Sep 11, 2007

i know all about making the rings..i got two right now for 12" subs that i made and never used. Im wanting to make one for my 15" kicker solobaric. which is square instead of circular.

I've cut through the mdf with a table saw, just didnt know how the skillsaw did against it, since i've never used one. i've always used the bigger machines like tables saws, band saws, table mounted routers, etc...so it made the job faster and easier.

slvrcelicagt00 · Sep 11, 2007

did u check flexing on the fiberglass after you made it? because you cant flex .5" mdf either but a good sub will flex it easily...thats why your choice in .75" mdf was good. however also i would just recommend you trying to double the size of the baffle(front) of the enclosure, and the way you have it setup it doesn't look like it would be to hard to do that either. i would also recommend 8awg wire for the sub in and outside the box. but overall, it looks great. nice work and congrats it payed off. i've been trying to figure out what i can do with my t2, i already have a sturdy and great sounding box, just need to finish the setup.

adalos · Sep 11, 2007

i had actually bought 2 of them, but i ended up giving one to my brother since it would have been overkill in my celica.

adalos · Sep 11, 2007

slvrcelicagt00 said:
did u check flexing on the fiberglass after you made it? because you cant flex .5" mdf either but a good sub will flex it easily...thats why your choice in .75" mdf was good. however also i would just recommend you trying to double the size of the baffle(front) of the enclosure, and the way you have it setup it doesn't look like it would be to hard to do that either. i would also recommend 8awg wire for the sub in and outside the box. but overall, it looks great. nice work and congrats it payed off. i've been trying to figure out what i can do with my t2, i already have a sturdy and great sounding box, just need to finish the setup.

the glass doesn't budge. i have so many curves in the glass that it is super strong. the only areas that had flex until i kept adding more layers were the top and the bottom. they don't flex any more. add to that the mdf is fitted very snuggly inside the actual frame of the fiberglass, adding a ton of support and the fact that those top and bottom areas are flush against the bottom of the trunk and the interior panel/frame, and there's nowhere for it to flex even if it wanted to.

can you explain more about doubling the baffle? i'm not sure i follow you on that. you're right on the wiring too. i have my JL 500/1, my crossovers, and my rainbow SLC 365 components, and a ton of high end wiring waiting to go into the car. i took all these pics at my parent's house, which is where i did all the fabrication since i don't have a garage or most of the powertools that my dad has at my house. so i just used whatever wiring was available from my old setup.

slvrcelicagt00 · Sep 11, 2007

ok ...yea i figured you knew about better gauge wire... well a double baffle is just doubling the front panel, the baffle. so you would have 1.5" mdf in the front, it just adds extra support to prolong the life of the box and add support to the enclosure. are you doing the big 3 as well?

adalos · Sep 11, 2007

definitely doing the big 3, possibly getting a better battery too. i'll be running 2 amps. the 500/1 will be going to the sub, and my kenwood 4 channel will be bridged into 2x185 RMS to my rainbow comps. i've got a couple interior mods as well that pull some extra power (custom gauge, cathodes) so i want to make sure i keep my power situation in check.

doubling the baffle wouldn't be too hard/expensive, so i may try that. i may even take the wedge off since most of the feedback i'm getting say it is unecessary and it would save me quite a bit of room and make the enclosure a lot cleaner looking. what do you think? remove the wedge, double the baffle and mount the sub flush?

slvrcelicagt00 · Sep 11, 2007

i would personally like it without the wedge but its ur setup and it still looks great either way....it may actually sound better by having the sub in the entire enclosure. as far as a rear battery, kinetik's are great....you can either get em off of ebay or sonicelectronix.com either way its only a battery so ebay isn't a bad choice... that is going to be alot of power usage so u will need a new alt eventually. how much where ur rainbows? i went with focal polyglass comps and i love the sound of them, but they are only 75 rms...almost 200 rms per speaker is alot of vocals for one 12.

GTShondakilla · Sep 11, 2007

One last question... How may gallons did that take you?

adalos · Sep 11, 2007

i believe i used around 1.5-2 gallons. i'm not sure on that though. i'd have to check to see what the actual size is on the containers. i think the first one i used was a gallon, then i went through a quart sized, then i used a bondo type filler with fiberglass in it, and then another quart sized. i'll get back to you on that next time i go to my parent's house. i'd recommend buying a good deal of resin at once tho, as i had to keep making trips to lowes/homedepot to get more. if i do any fiberglassin in the future, i will order an epoxy resin online.

i bought the rainbow 365's for around 200 refurbed. awesome deal, as they go for almost twice that if you can even find them. only problem is i'm gonna have to fabricate something for them as well, since it comes with tweeter, 6.5", and 4". i'm probably gonna make some sort of door pod for the 6.5 and 4, and leave the tweeters in the OEM tweeter location on the door. i probably won't bother with the stock 6.5's by the back seats, although i may just run them powered through my head unit to add a little mid fill between the comps and the sub. i have to see how the rainbows sound with the sub first before i get into that though.

back to the resin, i don't think i mentioned this, but i found 4 oz of resin with about 40 drops of hardener to be the perfect mix for me to work with. if you add more resin or more hardener to the same amount of resin, it will set too fast and you'll end up with an inch of rock hard resin stuck to your brush/cup. i bought a whole bunch of those plastic paint measuring cups with the ounce lines on the side. made things super easy.

things you need:

resin
hardener (usually comes packages with your resin)
LOTs of disposable latex gloves
fiberglass mat
LOTs of cheap paint brushes (i found 1"-2" brushes to work best)
a small 3" paint roller with roll replacements
painters tape
aluminum foil
scissors
drop mat

that's all i can think of for now.

adalos · Sep 11, 2007

oh, acetone and paint stirrers

VehoCelestial · Sep 11, 2007

Good work! I am wondering what it will look like when its completely blended in to give my final opinion. great progress so far!

Custom Sub Box Build (90+ pics)

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