SSplaytoy Posted August 23, 2005 Report Share Posted August 23, 2005 What you need: Ratchet with 18 mm socket Scissors Washers(amount depends on how high you raise your seat) Lots of 2" paintbrushes Razor blade Acetone for clean up Laytex gloves unless you dont mind getting sticky 5+ yds. 3/4 ounce fiberglass mat 3+ gallons of fiberglass resin with MEK(hardener) Sheet of 3/4" MDF Liquid Nails 1 lb. box of 1 1/2" wood screws. 60, 100, 400, 1000 Grit sandpaper Evercoat Rage Extreme body filler Evercoat Ever glaze Applicators Filler Primer Circular Saw Jigsaw or Router Orbital or belt sander Amount of Resin and Mat depends on size of box. You want at least 5 layers as the floor. More is required if you plan on having the fiberglass appearance on the box. First I must say I dont have that many pics as fiberglass is messy. Anyway, here is basically how to make a sub box making a mold of your floor to give you more airspace and keeping your backseat. I don't have the measurements as boxes will differ sepending on air requirements, but all will be done basically the same. Too little or too much space will make a system sound like sh!t. First, I raised the seat and put washers under it to get a bit more space. Take off the four bolts holding down the seat of and the one in the back with the y cable to raise the seat up and put the desired amount of washers under it. You can do this step with the seat in or out. I recommend keeping it in so you can build your frame and do test fits. Pull the carpet back and cut out the matting to where the front of your box is going to sit. Next, you can lay duct tape first then lay aluminum foil to the floor as a means to pull your box out with the fiberglass floor. Or you can use aviation tape as I did. Do it close together. You don't want resin on your floor Build your frame ( front wall, sides, and a back strip) to the size you want. Use Liquid Nails in between the wood for a better seal. COUNTERSINK THE SCREWS!!! Drilling pilot holes also keeps the wood from splitting.I used 3/4" MDF and recommend that size. You could build the top now or whenever you please. Lay the frame in your truck with the floor covered with the duct tape aluminum foil method or aviation tape. Rip small pieces of fiberglass mat to have them ready. You can use latex gloves if you want now so you don't get sticky. Pour resin into a container(Ziploc will do) and appropriate amount of MEK depending on amount of resin. Mix well. The more hardener you put the hotter and faster it will get. With the paintbrush, brush a section of floor with resin and lay pieces of mat on top. Brush more resin on top working out bubbles. Do it to the whole floor and partially up the frame. At least 3 layers. The thicker the better. You don't have to go crazy with 100 layers. 7 is plenty. 3 is good to pull the frame out. Your truck will smell this way for a while though. so get over it. I dont have pics of this part because I didnt use gloves and didnt want my camera to be sticky forever. Pull the frame out. You can peel of the stuff from the bottom of your box now. If you are going to put more than one sub. Make a partition and fiberglass it into the box. Build the top and screw it in. You can cover the box in vinyl or whatever you please. I chose to fiberglass it. Repeat the fiberglass process over the box. Sand it with coarse grit with the sander you have. Using the filler of choice. I just used Evercoat. Cover the box and sand it smooth going up in grit for smoothness. Use the finishing putty for fine pinholes. You can prime in between to spot lumpy areas in which case you sand. You can either paint it yourself or have it done professionally. As of now I need to fix my camera so this concludes the how to for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fox_forma Posted August 24, 2005 Report Share Posted August 24, 2005 Very cool stuff. Got a few questions though... How long do you have to let it sit before you can pull it up off the floor? Should it be completely hardened before you do it? Instead of the Mat couldnt you use some type of fleece and just strecth it over the sides and staple it so you dont have to keep laying the MAT down? How stable is the seat now with all them washers piled on there? Ever hear of flipping your seat brackets instead of washers? I recall someone stating you can get about an inch just by that? Cost? Sorry for all the questions but i'm just curious if you had any extra input on them. Good thread man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaotik1 Posted August 24, 2005 Report Share Posted August 24, 2005 You can use fleece, but the hardner soaks in faster to the resin cloth. Atleast thats what I have found. The more hardener you use the fast it drys but, if you use to much then the process will be spoiled. When I made my box I used speaker cloth, to get my form, then I did 3 layers of resin cloth. This made is simple to get my form, and I did not raise my seat at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSplaytoy Posted August 24, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2005 Very cool stuff. Got a few questions though... How long do you have to let it sit before you can pull it up off the floor? Should it be completely hardened before you do it? Instead of the Mat couldnt you use some type of fleece and just strecth it over the sides and staple it so you dont have to keep laying the MAT down? How stable is the seat now with all them washers piled on there? Ever hear of flipping your seat brackets instead of washers? I recall someone stating you can get about an inch just by that? Cost? Sorry for all the questions but i'm just curious if you had any extra input on them. Good thread man <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ask away with the ???'s because I knew I left some stuff out. You could use fleece and stretch it out but I used mat to get the exact contour of my floor. The seat is still stable because the bolt still goes through the holes tight and I haven't heard of flipping the seat brackets. Cost= 4 gallons resin=40 10yards mat=20 paintbrushes=5 acetone=2 wood=18 filler=17 finishing putty=8 applicators=2 primer=3 sandpaper=6 plus taxes=125$ or so. I would get the resin and mat from a marine supply store too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fox_forma Posted August 24, 2005 Report Share Posted August 24, 2005 good stuff On another forum people gave me crap when i said to use spacers to raise the seat saying its not stable and it will rock back n forth. Everyone spent like $40 to have brackets made so I was curious if it was holding up for ya. Apparently it works just fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPEEDCRAVIN Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 Did you cut the carpet to meet the box or did you ayve enough space to fold it back down under the box after assembly? JOSH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSplaytoy Posted September 27, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2005 I only cut out the insulation under the carpet to gain a half inch more space. The box goes on top of the carpet. You would just fold it back when fiberglassing the floor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fox_forma Posted December 10, 2005 Report Share Posted December 10, 2005 its been a little so i thought i would bring this back up. I have mostly constructed my box for my 2 12's but for the life of me I cant seem to get it to sit right because of how the back of the floor is on the sides of the center hump piece, almost like the carpet is forcing it to not sit right. I still have to fiberglass the bottom but i want it to at least sit right first before doing it. I havent take out the insulation under the carpet yet either, think that is my problem, it seems in the corners of the hump in the rear its not allowing the box to sit correctly, would removing the insulation let it sit better or do i need to cut away at the wood more? Did you have any problems with that part when you were installing at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSplaytoy Posted December 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2005 its been a little so i thought i would bring this back up. I have mostly constructed my box for my 2 12's but for the life of me I cant seem to get it to sit right because of how the back of the floor is on the sides of the center hump piece, almost like the carpet is forcing it to not sit right. I still have to fiberglass the bottom but i want it to at least sit right first before doing it. I havent take out the insulation under the carpet yet either, think that is my problem, it seems in the corners of the hump in the rear its not allowing the box to sit correctly, would removing the insulation let it sit better or do i need to cut away at the wood more? Did you have any problems with that part when you were installing at all? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I didn't have any problems at any point. If the wood frame doesn't sit perfect it is alright. Just cut more. When you put down the tape to do the fiberglass floor, take a mix of fiberglass resin and sawdust to fill in the gaps and then lay the mat and glass down. The box should be heavy to sit fine. The only problem with the insulation might be that the fiberglass floor has the humps in it from the sheet metal floor and the insulation won't allow the box to sit perfectly flush when you're done. I took it out because you gain a 1/2 inch of space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fox_forma Posted December 11, 2005 Report Share Posted December 11, 2005 i think i got it figured out but its dark now so its gonna have to wait till wed when i dont have work. The divider for the chambers i think were causing the problems not letting it sit correctly so i cut them down but dont have time to really mess with it now. I also wanted to ask ya but forgot, how did you run the wires from the subs? What kind of connector did you use for the box or didnt you? And also did you mount the wood for the speakers inside of the foundation of the box or did you put it on top and screw down then fiberglass over? Thanx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSplaytoy Posted December 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2005 i think i got it figured out but its dark now so its gonna have to wait till wed when i dont have work. The divider for the chambers i think were causing the problems not letting it sit correctly so i cut them down but dont have time to really mess with it now. I also wanted to ask ya but forgot, how did you run the wires from the subs? What kind of connector did you use for the box or didnt you? And also did you mount the wood for the speakers inside of the foundation of the box or did you put it on top and screw down then fiberglass over? Thanx <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I made the fiberglass floor first, then put in the partition. To run wires to the subs is easy. Drill a hole in the back of the box big enough to run the speaker wire through into the box. Put some silicone or liquid nails around the hole after the speaker wire is in and that's it. The subs are mounted directly on top of the box and aren't countersunk. I didn't want to take away too much leg room by making the box bigger to make them do that. When you have the box with the fiberglass floor and the wood frame with the top cut for your subs, take them out and do a layer or two of fiberglass over the whole box.(except the holes you cut for the subs) You can go over the subholes a little and cut excess glass off with a dremel. And get some pics up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
04CHASE Posted December 11, 2005 Report Share Posted December 11, 2005 how much was your mounting depth? i want to know if can get some 12w6v2's in there(7.6 ) mounting depth~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSplaytoy Posted December 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2005 how much was your mounting depth? i want to know if can get some 12w6v2's in there(7.6 ) mounting depth~ <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I think it was like 8 or 10 I will measure tomorrow for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSplaytoy Posted December 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2005 Yea, my box has about a 10" height from floor to top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fox_forma Posted December 13, 2005 Report Share Posted December 13, 2005 do i have to pull the seat out to get the carpet up completely so i can glass floor for the box? Just trying to make sure i am prepared for wed hopefully. Only thing i am also concerned about is the weather, its pretty cold now, will that really effect the stages of the fiberglass curing much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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