my 240 system project...

[ayjay]

these pics of the carbon fiber don't do it justice at all... looks soo sweeet! and that pail of resin weighs about 40 LBS :pface

so i want this box to be perfect. i want someone to be able to look inside my trunk at all angles and not be able to see any interior panels except for the backseats... i think i might even cover the rear speaker panels in CF just so that the trunk is a SEA OF CARBON FIBER i'm even going to extend it so far out to the edges that i will need to cut a hole for the "latch of the hatch" to fit through...

but problem is i need to be able to take this box out without having to cut the top off my car, or even worse, having to cut the box i need to keep the box down to the height of my backseats, but i also want it to extend it to the left and right edges of my hatch... things get complicated there... if you guys have any suggestions on what i could do for this box, post em up! it's always good to get outside oppinions on things even if i don't like some of em'

[stretch240sx]

wrose comes to worse... make it in sections....

[ayjay]

ya! i was thinkin about doin that, but how would i make the sections overlap each other so that i can attach them to each other with a fastener of somekind? would i have to make the main enclosure first and then use it as a mold for the other sections which will attach to it? seems like a lot of work

[stretch240sx]

make the main enclosure first, then work off of it. for fastners, you could use some sort of snap or lock type thing, so that when they get placed together it clicks in. it would be extra work, and materials.

wiat for the fastners, you could have everything connect to the main enclosure (sub box) just incopporate bolts in all the other boxes that slide into hole into the main enclosure and just use a seal of somesort, washer, and a nut and bam... might work, just some ideas. all you had to do to take them apart is remove the sub and unscrew all the nuts.

[Simmsled]

Ayjay, dont you just paint on the resin to the fleece, then lay a layer of fiberglass over and then keep doing that until you have the proper thickness, then bondo if needed?

[ayjay]

i think i've figured out what i'm gonna do... main enclosure is gonna run as close to the edge of the hatch opening as possible, and go flush to the back of the rear seats... my amp rack is kinda complicated and it's gonna be somewhat *bling*bling* so the main enclosure will have to be build AROUND the amp rack... seems complicated but it all makes sense in my head :pface for the left and right sides where the speaker grills normally are, i'm just gonna build little covers to patch up the holes and they will attach to the box with "allen key" bolts...

here's what i did last night



to get an idea of what i'm doing, the sub is facing the rear of the hatch, and the amp rack (big triangle thing) will face the rear seats, so that when you put the rear seat down, you see this magnificent RACK... you can see why i have to build the main enclosure AROUND the amp rack cause it takes up a big part of the trunk... i actually have to modify the real version cause in this model (which is to scale by the way) extends too deep into the trunk and only leaves about 16" to the end of the trunk for the 15" sub... easy fix though... gonna start cutting the mdf tonight, and i'll be posting up progress pics

[ayjay]

Ayjay, dont you just paint on the resin to the fleece, then lay a layer of fiberglass over and then keep doing that until you have the proper thickness, then bondo if needed?

ya simm that's how i'm going to build the main enclosure... but i would have to build extra peices which attach to the main enclosure, and i didn't know how to build the peices so that they would overlap and fit flush... i think i got it now though :thinker

[ayjay]

well i've started my amp rack and got a fairly major part of it done so far... the angles were pretty crazy and i managed to do them all by eye and trial & error... there was a lot of cursing during that whole process :pface

so i started to do some CF work on some of the panels cause i want the majority of it to appear as carbon fiber. the surfboard resin dries a LOT clearer than standard resin and the weaves in the CF get a lot of depth to them once you get 2-3 layers of resin on it...

BUT i kinda ran into a problem, and luckily i did this with a small test piece before i went ahead with the larger pieces. when you start applying multiple layers of resin on top of each other, it gets really nice and shinny but it also gets wavy/bumpy, and you can see it when the light reflects off it... so on my test piece i tried sanding it with progressively higher grit (220, then 400, then 600) which is what the fibreglass dude in the shop told me to do. but when i sand it, i guess there are small bubbles in the resin and they show up and fill up with resin dust... so although it gets nice and smooth, i get these white dots everywhere from the bubbles!!! anyone know how to not get bubbles in the first place? or how to get rid of the dust in the bubbles? i tried rinsing it off in water and using rubbing compound but that didn't work... could it be the harsh cold temperatures and the insane amount of catalyst that i need to mix in in order to make it harden in like 6 hours??? maybe i should be posting this in another forum, that would know a little more about this kind of work... help would be greatly appreciated either way...

so... on to the pics! (next post)

[ayjay]

ok so here's the pics... first of all i'll post the pic of the test piece with the bubbles in it after sanding:

you can see all the white bubbles in the resin and they appeared only after sanding because of the dust that went in them after i sanding the top layer off..

building covers for metal braces behind back seat (see next pic)

i didn't want anyone to be able to see those ugly *** braces when i put the seat down... look pretty sweet with the other part of the amp rack which i don't have pics of yet...

wrapped this cover in carbon fiber and resined it, but don't want to sand it quite yet until i can figure out how to fix the bubble problem on the test piece...

[ayjay]

haha that cover (CF one) isn't finished if you couldn't tell before... looks kinda funny with the CF all ragged on the edges

here's a few pics of what my buddy's been doing for his system... he claims this will be his last system ever for this car anways, and he's going to make it PERFECT so he claims... so far his plans are to keep his Focal PolyKevlar 165K3's, and run them off two Sony Mobile ES 2100G's (300W RMS per side)... and he's gonna save up for Focal's NEW 46KX 18" (yes EIGHTEEN) PolyKevlar sub which he can get for pretty cheap, somethin like $1500 CDN!! dunno what amp he's gonna be runnin though but it does have FOUR 1 ohm voice coils in it :pface

anyways the pics... this should give you a good idea on how to make your own kickpods:

tape area that you want your kick pod with multiple layers of Green Painters Tape... seems to work the best

next step is to apply resin to the specific area on the tape where you want your kickpod to be, then place small strips (2" width) of your 1oz fibreglass matte on the wet resin, painting resin on each individual strip before applying the next one. when you place the strips put them at overlapping angles to build strength... one you get about 3 layers of the matte layed down, let the resin harden, and then.......

you can pop it right out!! AMAZING!!!!! :rolleyes

next you wanna figure out what angle you want the speaker to be positioned at so you just build small little wood supports to hold the speaker ring in place... in his case he is puttin the 4's in the kicks so he's aiming them up to the dome light in the middle of his roof...

next, get some nice thick stretchy fleece from a fabric store, and wrap it as tightly as you can around the ring and hot glue it to the fibreglass mold... once it's all nicely stretched around and glued on, dose it with resin until it looks as if it's all been soaked... once it hardens the fleece is like a rock, and you can start bondoing... should be simple enough from there! hope this helps some people out!

[stretch240sx]

hey just an idea from finishing furniture (which might work for your dust problem)

after sanding your "last" coat, put a thin last coat on, should fill in the bubbles and make the dust "disaprear"... just a thought, hope it works

[ayjay]

hmmm, ya know i thought of doing that but never did :P thanks for the tip, i'm gonna try it on my test piece and see how it goes!

argh.... too damn cold to do any fibreglassin, need to add like a capful of catalyst for 2 oz of resin to make it harden in 5 hours :pface in the summer i'd only need like 10 drops...

[Simmsled]

Hey ayjay... I think it would be cool if one of us started a fiberglass thread. I know that there are lots of members that would love to do their own fiberglass. Since you have great d.i.y. experience with it, you could list stuff you need to buy, good techniques, and anything worthwhile. A good fiberglass thread would be sweet. I can imagine having a bunch of the NICO Car Audio guys rollin up to a meet/show with sweet fiberglass systems. That would be killer!

[ayjay]

goood idea simm! well it's 2:45am here, and i'm runnin off an all-nighter, and i got a couple more exams in the next few days, and a tuition walk out tomorrow, and then gettin hammered/ripped on thurs... so i guess i could start it on FRIDAY? :pface

ya fibreglass enclosure's are the ****... but i would have to drive a LONG way to go to any of your guys' meets... you could always just print out pics of my stuff and just lay them on the ground in an empty parking spot WOW I'M TIRED....

[deej-79]

Hey ayjay... I think it would be cool if one of us started a fiberglass thread. I know that there are lots of members that would love to do their own fiberglass. Since you have great d.i.y. experience with it, you could list stuff you need to buy, good techniques, and anything worthwhile. A good fiberglass thread would be sweet. I can imagine having a bunch of the NICO Car Audio guys rollin up to a meet/show with sweet fiberglass systems. That would be killer!

Yes please!

Tank you ver much.

[Rex]

I think there's a thread by ?QXMike? where he did a pretty extensive fiberglass amp rack/sub enclosure for his QX4. maybe he'd have some pics and "steps/process" to contribute.

[Simmsled]

Im gonna go BUMP the thread and see if we can get some action.

[ayjay]

got my attention simm... nothin significant happenin at the moment.

today i sucessfully sanded one of the pieces that i wrapped in carbon fiber & vinyled some more pieces for my amp rack... you know it's a good day when you have a combination of resin, bondo, expanding foam & contact cement stuck on your fingers :pface gonna start fiberglassin SOOON!

[ayjay]

pics of the amprack coming together....

this is a pic of one of the amp rack panels that has been covered in carbon fiber has about 3 layers of resin on it... i just sanded it so you can't see the weaves very well...

after using the buffing compound, it looks all beautiful and shiny...

vinyled almost all the pieces i needed to vinyl today, this is the base for the amp rack...

this is most of the amp rack, the covers fit over those ugly panels which the rear seats attach to, but i just put them in the pic to give an idea of what it will look like... there is still a top piece which needs to fit on, and i'm gonna try and make that tomorrow...

then once that's done, i can start building the box, cause it basically fits flush with the amp rack...

[ayjay]

sorry, it's kinda boring stuff right now, but it's still progress!! i'll keep posting pics of new stuff i make...

[MECPInstaller]

not sure if somebody said anything about vinyl but make sure you get good automotive vinyl like the stuff at http://www.selectproducts.com It isn't cheap but will stretch quite abit. a good adhesive i like applying it with a siphon gun don't know if you have a compressor available or not, and the most vital part i think for vinyl a good heatgun don't heat the vinyl too hot if it melts your going to have to scrap the piece put your hand behind the vinyl and when the back gets hot to the touch and the vynal is rubbery your good to stretch have fun with creases

[ayjay]

thanks for the tip man... but i don't have an air compressor i just use pro-bond, wait 10 minutes and then stick the vinyl on... if need be i use a hair dryer set on the high heat setting to stretch it :pface i re-vinyled both of my door panels, and my last big honkin MDF box the same way and it seems to work just fine... i get my automotive vinyl from some fabric store and it stretches pretty good with little heat...

[ayjay]

alright!! started GLASSIN!! and i'm just ****in RIPPED! so anyways, got a couple layers down for the base... used over 1L of resin in the process, lucklily i got 8 more liters of it...

taped down a layer of plastic as a last line of defence with a towel over the fuel pump to give it a little bit of breathing room once the mold is complete...

next i put down a layer of tinfoil because it holds its shape nicely and makes for a good glassin surface...

I then proceeded to fiberglass in strips about 4" wide and a foot in length, and just lathered on the resin, each peace completely soaked before applying the next one...

this is the end result of the night, which you can't really see but it's all glassed within the boundaries that i made with green tape... any bigger and it wouldn't match up with my amp rack and would screw the hole project over...

NEXT STEP: adding another couple layers of fiberglass to the base, and then making/installing the supports...

[MECPInstaller]

man i just posted a huge thread on fiberglassing and a step by step on spare tire well boxes damn should have got it up sooner:) your doing alot of stuff to that car quick keep up the work. my problem is i can build everythign but now i have no cash to buy the subs wiring amps new components and more importantly the cd player

[ayjay]

ya haha i hear ya man... i got all my supplies for a christmas present that is why i can afford to do it all right now... the sad thing is i can't afford an amp for my sub i'll see how long i can keep my buddies U-Dimension amp for and maybe run my system off that for a while once i'm done...

hey does anyone know how to use Win-ISD? When i enter that i'm going to use 2 round 4" ports, it gives me a vent length of 20".... now is that 20" for each port? or 20" total, meanin 10" per port???

[MECPInstaller]

i think it means total between the 2 so yeah 10" each

[ayjay]

cool i hope so... with a 3 cu.ft box tuned to 30hz, it gives me a vent mach of 0.05 which is pretty damn good... apparently anything above 0.16 and you'll get a whistle sound out of your ports.

[MECPInstaller]

or a huffing sound

[ayjay]

ok i thought about my setup for a while tonight and i really want to be able to compete and to be able to listen to music with my sub hitting all the frequencies below what you'd normally tune your box for for competitions... but in order to win competitions you need to tune higher, 50hz or so, which really sucks for music.

so a swappable port would be the logical thing to do, cept it is very hard to make one look nice... that's is why i'm going with standard 4" round ports, but i think i still might be able to adjust their tune... i came up with the idea of being able to swap the length of the pipes attached to the 4" ports, attaching shorter ones for competitions and longer pipes for street driving... in WinISD for a 30HZ tune in a 4ft box i need 7.5" of length for each port (2), and for a 50HZ tune they only need to be 2" long... have any of you guys ever tried swapping ports like this? or know of any better way of doing it?

i am gonna be runnin slightly over 2000W RMS into this 15 (DD9015), you think i will need to be able to adjust the tune?

[Simmsled]

It depends on how much low frequency extention you are willing to comprimise for SPL. You know... the RED pill or the BLUE pill.