project fiberglass enclosure and amp rack

[jriggs]

well only of my buddies finally talked me into helping him (building for him) a nice fiberglass enclosure to tuck into the back of his 03 Tiburon. he blew his stock itty bitty sub and with a little convincing and running into a great deal here on TR he picked up a pair of jl audio 10w0's and a jl audio amp in amazing shape.
Enough of that, well after about an hour of sitting around and thinking we started working on the box, i didn't think to pull out my digital till we had already glassed the box so i'll start there with the pictures

http://thumb12.webshots.net/t/59/559/1/85/61/2071185610068977372VCQTWB_th.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2071185610068977372VCQTWB)
http://thumb12.webshots.net/t/53/753/2/45/52/2843245520068977372HvljUV_th.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2843245520068977372HvljUV)

as you can tell the resin dried bumpy as hell, ugg.... reason one why even though it's a friends box i should have picked up all the 'right' materials

but none the less we test fitted it to make sure everything stayed tight and it was going to fit and have the right 'look'
http://thumb12.webshots.net/t/57/757/7/38/57/2834738570068977372hTiPUm_th.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2834738570068977372hTiPUm)
http://thumb12.webshots.net/t/57/457/2/56/89/2953256890068977372oVAfkr_th.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2953256890068977372oVAfkr)

after letting that dry i took a sander to it to smooth it out, didn't get any pictures of that but i did kill a shitty sander and said screw it after 15 min of hand sanding and decided it was time for bondo.

now what i like to use for 'bondo-ing' is stuff that i get from the auto body shop at the auction i work for on and off, its easy to work with easy to smooth to a nice finish so there is not 30000 hours of sanding to make it right.... reason two why even though it's a friends box i should have picked up all the 'right' materials and saved a ton of time

and here are the pics of that fiasco and also another reason why you don't show someone how to do it then go and watch tv while they work the bondo


dsc09473 pictures from friends & fun photos on webshots (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2912119300068977372ieaTPV)
think 5th grade science project volcano..... all i could think is this sucks a ton why didn't i do it myself.....

so sanding started and i said to myself o hell this sucks... alright this is how you block sand, just like regular sanding but use a piece of wood so you can put some more pressure on it....

me sanding
http://thumb12.webshots.net/t/53/553/7/12/30/2185712300068977372JjgLNn_th.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2185712300068977372JjgLNn)

then Ben (the guy the box is for) thought he'd be a smart ass and bust out a sanding wheel for a power drill... i almost smacked him for not pulling it out earlier
http://thumb12.webshots.net/t/59/659/2/5/67/2477205670068977372InwWLO_th.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2477205670068977372InwWLO)

greatest thing about this pic is its about 3 minutes after he started using the sanding pad and about 30 seconds before it separated and was toasted forcing him to do it the long way
http://thumb12.webshots.net/t/59/459/0/39/22/2814039220068977372bFjVyC_th.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2814039220068977372bFjVyC)

when all else fails and your getting tired you and find a sweat shop and hire one of the workers... jk its one of our friends Jonneson giving a hand in exchange for some beers
http://thumb12.webshots.net/t/53/653/2/91/76/2031291760068977372waNDxG_th.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2031291760068977372waNDxG)

heres a great one of Jonneson working so fast you can't see his hands
http://thumb12.webshots.net/t/53/753/8/59/66/2423859660068977372oKtrdW_th.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2423859660068977372oKtrdW)

now i know this would go about 10 thousand times faster with the right tools, but those are at the shop i didn't want to go to Tampa to get the tools so sweat equity got the job done. I'll post pictures marrow of the how it looks now we took it down all the way to 1000 grit paper its now smooth as glass and about to go to the paint shop to be sprayed in some black with blue mica flakes that Ben wants. I'm probably going to just build the amp rack for the car at the shop after i make a template from his car, just to save time and get everything done in a couple of hours instead of the better part of a day and night

know i know everyone on here is an expert on how to do this so of course this isn't the best way to do it, but it does the job. the box is solid as a rock and about a cube of air space which is just what the 1ow0's ordered :D. i'll post update pics as i take them and let yall know how it sounds marrow afternoon when we finish running the power threw his car.

[Notladstyle]

I love a good fiberglass project but it doesn't really look like it fits the form of the trunk.

Nice finishing though, that turned out really nice.

[93ex]

The pictures and story dont say, so I have no way to know for sure but.......


Did you layer on matte and resin? or just resin over the fleece and then bondo?

[jriggs]

I love a good fiberglass project but it doesn't really look like it fits the form of the trunk.

Nice finishing though, that turned out really nice.

yeah i agree, but it's the way he wanted it to be. i think once its sprayed and has the red neon's mounted up behind the box it'll look better, and how its formed but not formed to the trunk will give it the 'look' that he wanted

The pictures and story dont say, so I have no way to know for sure but.......


Did you layer on matte and resin? or just resin over the fleece and then bondo?

its fleece on the out side and glass on the inside, i didn't take pictures of that either. i wanted to try something a little different for adding strength since the out side already looked like shit but the inside was smooth enough to easily lay fiberglass without any problems, i'm not really sure if thats the 'approved way', but i can put my 240lbs standing on the box and it holds strong (but i'm not going to dare do it again, i'm brave and cocky but one time to prove a point to Ben was enough with my luck the 2nd time i'd go right threw it) i'm pretty sure a 10w0 isn't going to put it threw more stress than that...

[93ex]

its fleece on the out side and glass on the inside, i didn't take pictures of that either. i wanted to try something a little different for adding strength since the out side already looked like shit but the inside was smooth enough to easily lay fiberglass without any problems, i'm not really sure if thats the 'approved way', but i can put my 240lbs standing on the box and it holds strong (but i'm not going to dare do it again, i'm brave and cocky but one time to prove a point to Ben was enough with my luck the 2nd time i'd go right threw it) i'm pretty sure a 10w0 isn't going to put it threw more stress than that...

Okay, I was really hoping you did, but left that step out, 'cause I didnt want to be the one to break it to you lol

[integralsgreen]

a good way to save layering matt layer after layer is to cut strips of flease and fiberglass a sort of rib cage on the inside the box. it adds alot of strength to the box and saves alot of time and material