fiberglassing 101.

here is the stock panel. i will be using this panel to make a rough mold from that will later become the back to a flowing subwoofer enclosure.
here i am putting on aluminum foil and masking tape on the panels and any part of the car i dont want resin to get to. also it comes out with the mold and is ripped of revealing a perfect mild of the panel.
here i am using duct tape to go over the contours of the car and make for a flatter surface than the cars metal skin.
the backing covered in duct tape and contoured with the back panels for a nice shape.
more shots of the mold.
1st layer of fiberglass. i used the cloth to make a better outer mold of the shape.
more pics
more fiberglassing
more fibreglassing
this is the second layer of fiberglass. i used the thicker glass matte for this cause of its stronger properties when dry. this will also adhere to the already applied and still semi wet fiberglass cloth better. its also alot thicker and hard to work with.
the backs 2nd coat.
the side panels
another side panel shot to show you the cut line and matte.
beer. this will be what you use to pass the time between the 1-2 hour curing time. chug chug.
here is the mold out of the car with the tape peeled off the back.
another shot of it
the excess glassing was trimmed and the mold was trimmed to fit the shape of the rear panels.
another shot. you can see some of the foil and tape didnt want to come off, doesnt matter cause youll never see that side in the car.

now alot happened between these pictures. i had made some wooden rings to hold the subs in out of particle board. i then suspended them inside the mold with some wooden dowels and hot glue. i then draped a large piece of cloth over the whole thing. i hot glued the cloth to the rings first, then stretched them to the outer parts of the mold and hot glued it in place. this will be the front of the mold. stretching the fabric gives it that flowing look. i then applied resin directly to that. it then dried giving me a solid surface to apply more fiberglasse matte to. i applied another 2 coats of matte. i gave it a good sanding to even it out a little, then applied some bondo, and sanded that. thats were these pics are.

i then took more bondo and applied it, when it dired in 10 minutes(cali heat does that) i sanded it and did more. i could only work with little at a time, so while one part was drying id be sanding the other. i used a belt sander with the sanding belt hanging half off the belt so the belt would blend in to the curves of the box while sanding. i used about 3 gallons of bondo. after it was all sanded good, i applied about 4 cans of high build primer and another 2 cans of normal primer. the high build stuff got rid fo most imperfections(grooves from sander, holes, and scratches) and the regular primer just sealed all that in. i then test fitted it once again and decided to take some pics of it in the car.

the subs are "entry level" audiobahn AW1251T 12's. the amp is going to be a Audiobahn HC4075 and the small speakers are rockford fosgate 3.5's that sound amazing.

i will be painting it a stage1 black that i used on my tbird. the shop gave me a quart of touch up so hell why not use it, free paint basically. i will add more clear coat to that to make it super glossy. the subs will have some of those neon blue sub rings to really set off the chrome flames with the black. besides the amp has build in blue lighting so itll match really good.

i will try to finish the whole shibbang tomorrow but i still have lots to do, i have to finish the seat belt slits, i have to strengthen the side top panels cause they buckled when i test fitted it and cracked a little, i still have to drill holes, and cut a little out of the sides where the converti struts come out about 2mm for a little more clearence.

well its 2 weeks later. i painted it black and it looked strange with the grey car. so i painted it the same grey as the interior and it looked sweet, but the paint i used didnt adhere too well to the box, so it started peeling after a few days. so i sanded the paint off and put some charcoal grey vinyl over it.

and night shots

and im spent. the box is done, people love it, i now have people walk by and ask who made it and how much, when i tell them "me and about 600 for the whole thing" they want one too. time to take some orders.

alrighty, after having it in for a week or two, the bass still sounds great. as for the vinyl, well, i think have to be redone. it came out from the subwoofer edges and it totally is coming off of one side. no big deal. at 20 bucks for the vinyl and yet another first time job itll just look that much better this next time.

"things are only 'finished' to those with no imagination to expand"~me.

ok well got sick of the vinyl, so decided to redo the finish and do it right. sanded off all the crap bondo with the right tool, a DA sander, applied a whole new coat of body filler and went to work. the DA sander makes quick work of high mounts and smooths down everything in its path. what it did in 10 seconds took me a day when i first started the project.

here it is with the first coat of black paint

alright her it is after the second coat and speakers/amp installed.

i only had this enclosure in the car for about a week. the sound quality was just not good enough for what i was expecting, so i took a sledge hammer to it and sent it on its way.