Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for you ruining your car.

I had originally planned to make one post after I was finished, but decided doing it as I go in diary format would be easier on my fingers ;p

Goals:

- Keep spare.
- Keep as much cargo area as possible.
- Make it pseudo-stealth. Obviously aftermarket but as OEM looking as possible.
- Make 12" sub box removable to maximize flexibility.

8/28/2006



Decide to mount sub in back passenger corner. Back driver corner will have fiber amp rack. Wiped down area with moist cloth.



Material:

- 1 gallon cheap resin
- Fiberglass chop mat
- Fiberglass weave mat
- Brush/container you don't mind throwing away

I picked up the resin and fiber from westmarine.com. They're not special, they just happen to be 10 minutes from me. You'll find similar products at any boating shop.

And yea, I know those masks are for particulates and not vapors. I put it on to make the woman feel better. In reality, get a good respirator or don't bother. I did feel high for a few hours after I finished though. Wee.



Masked off area. This is arguably the most important step. If the resin gets on your carpet, kiss it goodbye.

Take.

Your.

Time.

Normally I would have used tape first and covered it with tin foil to catch any spots I missed. However, I found that the vinyl protectant I applied weeks ago left the tape with nothing to stick to... so, I reversed it. It's better to have foil on top, as it's easier to get off the glass. But, that's life. After I was satisfied with the masking, I threw down an old blanket to cover the rest of the area I'd be working in. Resin/fiber drips and sticks to everything. Beware.

Cut the matting into 3x8" strips to make manipulation easier. Mix resin with hardener according to instructions, start to place strips, and paint the resin on. No pic ;p



Arrange the glass over an area larger than you plan on using. You can always cut away later, but putting on is a pain.



Another angle. Let it dry overnight.


More tomorrow!

 

Oh this is cool! I can't wait to see the final product.

 

ive also found that you can take paste wax and wax the tape after you mask the area to help release it from the glass after it sets. this is the route i was planning to take in mine but im to lazy to get started :/

 

Can somebody explain to me what fiberglass is?
it appears to be like a glue type substance that has glass or somekinda fiber entwined into it and when its dry it hardenes and keeps the shape it was applied in, is that correct?

 

yes u are almost correct. it is actually a woven dry fiber that is very flexible (and itchy if it gets on ur skin). You then mix a reisin together and u put the strips of fiberglass into the reisin and position it where u want. When it hardens, its a very stiff and sturdy piece (of course many layers of it, not just one). It is a fast and simple way to make body parts for cars (body kits, wings, hoods, etc) and also for custom enclosures.

I was also going to build a custom sub enclosure b/c i have done numerous builds, specially in my old civic, but i didnt want to do the same for my fit. I just went with a powered audiobahn tube. Good work on the glasswork tho i wanna see ur finished results.

Oh btw i am working on a grill to fit the USDM fit's, also made from fiberglass. is there anybody out there that can mass produce them once i build the protoype? i always wondered about this.

 

This is the route I thought of going but I am way too lazy right now, and too cheap to pay an audio place to do it.

 

Can't wait for the updates!!

 

i worked on alot of these fiberglass sub box, i just bought an blue sport Fit as well. Don't over do on the 12" sub because it will require alot of cubic room of which you certainly don't have. I will work on a carbon fiber one for the back passenger side but it will be 10" with 2.5" ported.
Use as much space for wood as you possibly can because no matter how thich your glass are, they're won't sound as nice.
Good luck on the project mate, this will be a very cool updates for your Fit

 

^^ yeah, I chose 12 because I have a 12" punch laying around. Its optimum @ 1.25 ft3 sealed, so I think I can build it out enough to eek by. If it sounds crappy, I'll start over with a pair of shallow 10s. How hard is it to work with carbon btw? It's expensive and I don't have access to a vaccuum so I've stayed away.


8/30/2006


Not a very exciting day ;p




Took the piece out, removed the masking and did a test fit. Some tape left over that will be sanded out at the end. The glass will be transparent and brittle at this point (unless you put multiple layers on at the start), so be careful.



Applied two layers of heavy weave + two layers of chop to smooth it out. Let it dry overnight and test for strength tomorrow.

 

And then It rotted there on the side of the house. The End.

 

Hah. I've been lazy with posting.

Have about 3 more work sessions worth of pictures though. Coming soon.

 

All these DIYers are in the middle section of the country.. i guess there is nothing else to do but learn this stuff huh hahah

jk

 

thought i could give ya a tip, use those spray can that they use to spray under the car (underliner) spray on the inside of the fiberglass. Spray one more coat inside again after you finish the box. This will improve the sound dramatically.
good luck mate

 

No Updates??!!

 

Sorry for the delays. I'm getting married in 4 weeks so life is crazy ;p

I've got more pictures, but I'm jumping from side project to side project, so I'll just lump the relevant ones together.



- Cut the back mold to shape using a grinder.
- Trace outline on mdf to get contour of back right
- Cut two pieces of for bottom and side
- Dry fit to get an idea of what it's going to look like



- Nail/glue mdf together
- Cut a strip of fleece and staple it to the edges to be glasses. The fleece will act as a coinduit between the fiber and the mdf



- Mix a batch of resin
- Saturated fleece and laid a couple piece of chop mat down
- Carefully started laying glass along the seams, readjusting back piece to align with bottom as it fell off
- Once it was tacky, I laid down several more layers of glass to match the thickness of the original piece, alternating on both the inside of the box as well as the outside, filling in all gaps and holes to make one solid uniform shape


I had a pic from the front, but it was crappy. Suspense is good. ;x

More soon.

 

- Measured the inside radius of the speaker, and drew a circle. I call this a poor man's compass (yes, that's a twist handle for a venetian blind).



- Once the inside was cut out, I placed the speaker in to check for fitment and traced the outside ring.



- Positioned the ring using dowels and hotglue.



- Took yellowblankets tip and picked up a can of underliner spray. Now if it sounds like crap I have someone to blame. HAH!



- Wrapped the box with cheap fleece from my local fabric shop. You need to be meticulous at this point because this largely dictates what the final shape of the box will be. Stapled to all mdf and used 3m adhesive spray to attach to the fiber.



- Did a test fit. Decent. There are some points at the rear that will have to be ground down a bit to sit perfectly flush, but it's close.



- Mixed a few batches of resin, and applied it to the fleece... allowing it to soak all the way through.

 

please do not tell me your leaving it like that!

 

No man he'll paint it once it's done.

 

lol, when that fabric harden, he would have to lay down some fiberglass layer for support and then sand, bondo, sand. I suppose if he want it to be stealth he would wrap a black cloth over it.
btw, i'm not too fond of the shape, it look crooked or maybe because of the camera angle. It need some contour shape.
It's good work reguardless =]

 

Sorry about the delay. Life is hectic.

It's almost done... I'm waiting for the carpeting to come in. I figure I'll just post the final few steps once it's final instead of jumping back and forth.

The shape was a little weird initially, but I smoothed it out pretty well with the glass/bondo. Speaking of which, it's been so long since I've done one of these and I forgot how much I hate sanding ;p

Final update by the end of the week!