Ok , i talked to rez a long time ago when he had the thought about putting a stealth sub box on the pass side where the spare tire goes. I liked the idea of the drivers side one but thats the only storage i have in my car so i wanted to keep it and i want to use a 12 inch sub and i dont really like my setup now where its in the well . So i talked with him more , well actually i keep buggin him and he says he wants to lay off it until sometime next year like spring but , and heres the but if me and two others are willing to put a 20 dollar non refundable deposit down he will start working on it in november . heres what he wrote to me Specs subject to change blah, blah, blah I've looked at this area a little before, so I do have some idea of what can be accomplished. I'm thinking 1-1.5 cu.ft. Up to a 12" sub, 6-7" mounting depth. 100% fiberglass, spring terminal, flat black finish. Price between $220 and $280 depending on amount of fiberglass required. Spare tire will need to be removed obviously. now i just need two other to commit to the stealh box to get it built , this way i can have my 12 inch sub and the amp on the drivers side hidden somewhere and no one will ever know i have a sub and ill have my well back again . I think this shoud become a sticky since im tring to get this item made and its something cool and i think everyone interested in the audio should see this . thanks guys , jeff.

I am also going to be making my own box for the spare tire well this winter but I dont understand why Rez's box has to be made 100% out of fiberglass. Whats wrong with MDF here? That what I am using. I personally dont like the idea of a huge box made soley with fiberglass and then throwing in a pounding subwoofer to it on top of the day to day vibrations of the road and stuff.

The reason why it's 100% fiberglass is because of its odd shape (no flat walls). Just to make sure that you're on the same page, the box 18inchboyds is talking about will replace a piece of plastic trim in your hatch. It’s a great idea if you want to maintain a stock appearance (and trunk space).

I'll throw $20 down if I'm happy with the way it looks. I need some kind of visual as to what it will look like before I do it, though.

I'm willing to put $20 down if we get some more details on what the finished product will look like. I'll be using a 10".

looks like we got 3 . i really want this box to get rid of the box i got now.

Rez, have you taken any measurements inside the sopare tire well yet to see if a box can be built with enough air space to accomodate a Kicker 12" L5 solobaric sub? I really dont want to use a 10" sub so I hope a ported box canbe made for the L5.

ttt

Hey guys,

The last time I made an attempt at this area was with the spare tire still in. It was supposed to fill the cavity in the spare, but it turned out to be pretty much impossible. With the spare out there's obviously a lot more room.

The reason for 100% fiberglass is to get as much airspace as possible in the space. Fiberglass is also a lot more weather resistant than MDF. Since our hatches like to leak, it's nice to have an enclosure that won't swell up and get water damage.

The design I have in mind would go behind the factory panel, not replace it. The reason for this is the difficulty in matching the texture of the factory panels, not to mention the additional material and shipping costs.

The idea behind getting people to throw in $20 down was to make sure there is definite interest. I don't want to spend 2 months of off-time figuring out a cool design and it turns out nobody wants to shell out over $200 for it.

Let me know if you guys have any other questions or suggestions!

deffy make it without the spare in there, i cant run a spare anyways so i dont have one. Id like to to be able to hold a 12 inch sub , well it really has to a 10 inch isnt enough unless you wanna spend a ton of money on one. But i really wanna get one made and im ready to send 20 your way .

Have u thought about how all the air moved by the sub is gonna escape from behind that panel? I know there's a vent in that piece, but a decent 12" sub wouldn't have any problem moving enough air to overwhelm that opening. That will lead to quite a bit of vibration and noise from the panel, not to mention reduced bass output from the sub.

U could drill holes in the panel (or better yet, a fiberglass replica of the panel) and cover it w/ color-matching grill cloth. U could even cover some of the other hatch panels w/ grill cloth just to maintain a consistent look.

My thought was sort of on the lines of putting a sub in the trunk of a car. You don't have to cut a hole in the rear deck to get good bass. There's usually so much leakage that it doesn't matter. I think the way the panel fits with two sides on carpet, and the vents, and the opening behind the panel that basically circulates through the entire car, it should be ok.

Vibration will be an issue especially at the top of the panel where it clips to the side of the hatch. Vibration damping would be on the owner though.

I could offer a countoured, grille cloth covered grille that could be attached to the factory trim panel and the owner could cut an opening in the factory panel. That way people who want to keep their ride stock could go without, and people who are more concerned with getting the most possible sound from their sub could order the cover and modify the trim panel.

How low in the well would the top of the box sit? Would there be enough room to mount amps in there too with the sub box?

If the box is designed to hold a 12" or smaller sub, that will mean a face of about 13". I'd want the entire face to be above the shelf in the well, so probably not. There may be enough room to have an amp mounted beside the sub, toward the front of the car. I'll look into that and see if there's enough space.

if you are going for an all stealth look you may want to mount the amp in the oposide fender, behind the glovebox. i have seen a prety trick install like that, and it was real easy to do (i have a tiny kenwood 45W amp in there)

here is a picture of the car that gave me the idea

A trunk is a much bigger space... the relative cone/airspace ratio would be more like putting 4 15s in a standard trunk! And the cone will be much closer to the panel than subs in the trunk usually are. The panel is made out of plastic, not foam like the back seat, so it will rattle more.

I recently built a box for a 12" sub to fit in my home entertainment center. I'm running it w/ a 70WRMS amp in a bigger space that is made up of stronger material and it still took me a lot of effort, time, and reinforcment material to quiet all the rattles.

I'm not saying it CAN'T work, I'm just saying that u should think about these issues and be prepared to deal w/ them... I'd hate to see u build this and then find out that u've got this problem to fix before it's usable.

I talked to a few local car audio shops here in the area and all of them said that making a box for a single 12" sub to fit in the spare tire well is NOT going to work.They all said the said thing, not enough room to make it sound right. I asked one shop about the required room for a 12" solobaric sub in a ported box and he said I would never be able to make a properly tuned ported box to fit in that area. He said I would have no choice but to go sealed and that I would not get the sound I was looking for. This news has dampened my spirits of building my own now. The shops all said that there is no way that someone can build a ported enclosure for a sub and have it sound correct unless it is tuned while it is being built or something. Can someone explain this to me. I know it not that simple but these guys are making it sound like building a space shuttle or something. All I want is one simple 12" sub in their to thump when I need it.

Stop complaining about rattle. Whos car here doesnt rattle like a 18+year old car.

Its your responsiblity to get rid of rattles, not the person building the box. He is just offering to make a fiberglass box that will fit in the side panel of the car, thats it. He isnt saying its going to sound like the bext box, he isnt saying its wont rattle. Hes just offering to do what others cant or claim isnt possible.

Like I said before, vibration will be an issue with the panel. I think it could be fixed with some stretegic placement of damping material. As far as being impossible, I don't think so. There are 12" subs that sound great in anything from a 1 to 1.5 cu.ft. sealed enclosure. Making a ported box for that area however may be a problem. Ported boxes are usually larger and the port tuning would be affected by the close proximity of the trim panel. I'm almost tempted to make a sealed one for myself and test it out just to prove that it can be done....almost.

I'd love a box like this, but currently wouldn't have $0.50 to put up. So I'll just keep an eye on this thread and hope it gets made so when I can afford one in a few months or so it'll be all ready. :-) Keep up the good work Rezn8r

I am going to start work on my own sealed box for the spare tire well to fit a 12" sub. Im hoping to get a solobaric L5 in there somehow. I will find out if there is enough surface area to mount one as I build the box. if not then I will have to settle for a round sub and if thats the case, then I need to search for a sub that will work with my 600 watts kick amp. I will post pics as soon as I get something cooked up.

I will be working on my box tomorrow but today I took a look at what I have to work with and it looks like the bracket that holds the spare tire and jack will have to go. Removing it will allow for a little bit more room to make a box. I am still deciding weather I should make it out of MDF or entirely out of fiberglass. Oviously, the MDF will be cheaper and take less time but I think by using fiberglass, I will get a slightly bigger enclosure. Will it matter, I have no idea.
My main concern right now is fitting the actual sub in the box. I really want to buy the 12" Kicker solobaric L5 but I dont know if I can even fit a sqaure sub on a big enough surface spot. I have the Kicker KX600.1 amp so that is why I was leading towards the L5 sub since it is matched perfectly for the wattage. Kickers round subs cant handle the 600 RMS wattage and I dont want to blow a sub out. So, my decision on a sub will be determined once I get a mocked up box made out of cardboard so I can see what I have to work with. The way its looking is for the sub to be facing toward the vent area on the plastic cover. I just hope that I have enough mounting depth to put it there. We will see tomorrow, hopefully

I did a little messing around today with carboard boxes and I have come to the conclusion that there is no way possible that a 12" sub will fit in the proper size box inside the spare tire well. I made a few different shaped boxes but there is no way that they will fit in the space after they are assembled. There is just to many little areas that get in the way. I even cut out the bracket that holds the spare tire and jack and there still isnt enough airspace. It looks big when you look inside but once you start subtracting the thickness of the building materials the area clsoes in fast. a lot of 12" subs have at least a 7" mounting depth and that is about the max I could with my box designs. I ended up making a box that will house a 10" sgaure solobaric L7 and hopefuly that sub will be good instead of the 12" I wanted. I will post pics of the box once it is completed. it has about 1 cubic foot of airspace.

what if it was made out of glass , then wont it have more airspace, and rez seems to think it will fit . otherwise im gonna need a real good 10 to sound like my 12

with fiberglass you should have more then enough space for a 12.

I mean you have the complete well where the tire use to sit. and if needed all the way up the arch and to the seatbelt mechanism.(91-92)

Im sure you could get a little bit more airspace in the box if it was made entirely out of glass but like I said earlier, it will be time consuming and money consuming. The biggest problem areas in this space are the area where the bumper bolts to the car and the huge lip of steel that the wheel well is welded to. the top area where the hatch weatherstripping goes also created problems for getting a box inside there. I ended up taking a BFH to the steel lip and it gave me a little bit more depth with the box I made. If you make a box out of MDF, you will need to create a lot of angles to utilize all the air pockets in their. I wasnt about to create this box that looked like it came from another planet or something. Plus you will never be able to use all the airspace in their and still be able to get a completed box in and out of it.
my box I am making will have about 1 cubic foot or air space or just under 1 cubic foot. I plan on using a Kicker solobaric and I will most likely make 2 front panels for it, one for a 10 and one for a 12 and see how both sound. Thats only if a shop will allow me to swap out a woofer that they have on display to use in my box but as it stands now, it looks like I will end up scratching the 12 and buying a 10" L7 square sub.

oh and my only other choice of subs (round ones) where the JL series and the mounting depth of those was ridicluouly deep. anyway, I will keep you all posted.

why not have him make you a fiberglass box that will fit down in the bottom of the well, and then fabricate some sort of cover for it so you can still use the top 2/3 of the well? still be plenty of space for your bottle, or whatever you want to keep the well for. probably sound a lot better too. enough space for a good 12.

There's nothing wrong with a 10" as long as you get a good 10". I've been using 10" subs for years. Now if you already have a 12" you like, then buy another sub would be costly.

If you do a search, I think someone put in a 12" round Solobaric in the spare well in an MDF box. So it is do-able with MDF.

Im not saying it cant be done. What Iam saying is that it cant be done with the proper airpsace required for any good 12" sud unless you use glass. as far as making a box for the bottom of the well area, I have thought about it but I do not want ANY of my amps and sub showing at all when the hatch is open. If I am going to go through the trouble of making a cover to cover the huge box I make for th well area then I might as well just use the time to make a box to fit in the spare tire well. both require a little bit of time to make it look good.

Plus a cop would look dumbfounded when he pulls me over for loud music and I prove to him that I dont have any loud stuff in the car when I open my hatch

on a side note, if this box I am making doesnt go through like I want it too then I will have no choice but to make a box for a single sub that fits in the bottom of the well area.

there are a few subs that work well in small enclosures. the old round kicker solobarics are probably some of the best for small boxes, they can work even in a half cubic foot, but prefer about 3/4 of a ft^3. my 12's work well down to about 1 ft^3. can't think of any others off the top of my head but i know they're out there.

i hope rez can do it .

There's a little difference in our construction techniques. BottledZr28 is making a one-off box for his car. I would be making hopefully at least 5 or 10 boxes. So I would be maximizing the volume and then making a mold of the shape and re-creating it again with only fiberglass. That way material thickness is only 1/4"-3/8" all the way around.

I understand about the shape issue because I ran into that with the driver side stealth box design. You can either go sideways, or down, not both, or else the box will never be able to get in and out of the space.

Way back in the day DJSexay made a pass side spare tire box that used some of the side behind the panel, and the bottom area of the space, but his enclosure was a 2-piece design that could be bolted together from inside the box to get a good seal. That may be an option too.

Not trying to harrass you or anything, but what do you consider good? There are some very good 12"s designed for small airspace. Now if you have your heart set on a square kicker with 1.5cf, then thats another story. But to say its not possible to get the correct airspace with any good 12" sub, thats just not true.

Maybe I worded that a little wrong. by good, I mean any mid to high quality sub that doesnt cost a million dollars. Oviously, if we are inquiring about this homemade box and going out on a limb to create it at home then more then likely it means we have some sort of budget with our cars. if your rich and money meant nothing then you wouoldnt even be bothered with some strangers homemade box for a sub that you payed over $1,000 for. youd be having a box made from some audio store fo somehting. I dont want this to create a pissing match between subs now so please lets not turn it into one. No name brands are being mentioned here.

When using 3/4" MDF to construct a box, you loose a lot of air space just from the material being used and looks can be decieving when you look in the spare tire well with nothing in it. it looked decieving to me until I actually put a make shift box in there and quickly realized that that space closes in fast. I even took the bracket out that holds the jack and all too. I looked around at a few different subs that the majority of people here use( for obvious reasons) and found that most of them have at least a 6 1/2" mounting depth. I used that measurement and then added an extra 1 1/2" for the MDF. Plus I added a few more inched since I didnt want my sub mounted right up against the back of the box. So I was looking at about 10" of needed depth and that I where I started. Then I needed at least 16" of total height to the box to mount the 12" sub. The 16" was fine but it started way at the bottom of the hole ( where the qaurter panel clses in and where I no longer had my 10" of depth. I also needed at least 16" in width to. That wasnt an easy task.This is where I started realizing that it wasnt that easy to just throw a box together and put it in there. There is time involved and if you want at the least, 1 cubic fot of air space then glassing looks like the best way to go. It will let the builder use more of the nooks and cranys in the space. I am still working on mine and who knows, my small box and a sub I choose, may love each other and work great together. Stay tuned.

look for an old kicker solobaric 12 on ebay, the round ones, like i said. those work great down to like half a ft^3. hit pretty hard too.

ya but can they handle at least 600 watts of RMS power? if so then I wil look around and if I have enough materialleft over then maybe I wil build a few boxes, one to hold a round woofer and one to hold a square one.

I see where your coming from. Putting a constraint 10" or more mounting depth will reduce your options. You said you added 1.5" to the mounting depth of the sub. Since the sub is top mounted, you only have to add .75" (the top layer doesnt count since the sub sits on top). Then you can add whatever you want for extra. Sometimes you can remove the rubber magnet cover and gain some space.

The round solobarics with the "K" on the dust cap will handle 600 watt RMS fine. Same with the old JL W6 subs.

rez... if it did not require perminent modifications to the car (like hacking the spare tire mount) i would buy one of these, provided the total cost is less then 250$ i want to keep the appearence of stock with my GTA. i also allready have a 12, i have been sitting on it for 2.5 years.... no room in the bird.

sorry to tell you dude but removing the spare tire mount is not hacking a car up if your goal is to add an aftermarket part. That is just a small modification that you must make to accomodate a prperly design speaker box with enough airpsace for a good 12" sub.. I HIGHLY doubt you can get a stealth box in the passenger side with 1 cubic foot of space and be able to keep the spare tire mount AND install the box after is it made. There is no way. Now I am sure someone is going to chime in and say thats a lie blah blah blah I seen it done blah blah blah. Not with the majority of todays mid to high end subs. it just aint gonna happen. Most of the subs that are even worth buying have at least a 6 1/2" mounting depth. Go measure how much space you have from the spare tire mount to the side fot he well and then subtract at least 1" for building materials. Sorry to sound so negitive but Im just speaking from experiance here. I am 90% done with my box design so I know what I have to work with. Go buy a $50 Walmart sub with a 10 oz magnet and a 4" mounting depth and then ya, you can keep your mount.

Bucket sub not cuttin it for you anymore?

bucketsub was ok in the base bird... i have a GTA now. it's time to show some class. besides i have a perfectly good 150W RMS pioneer IMPP "freeair" series sub that has been in my closet since i got a firebird. it's a "freeair" but it sounds damn nice in a box. i am thinking of modifing a sparetire fender cover plate as a baffle board of sorts. allready got one from a junkyard i can use.... i'll hack it to bits and see whats up.

BOTTLEDZr28- i did not mean to call your work "hacked up". sorry if i gave offense. i am sure your work is top notch. i just am unwilling to perminantly modify my car to that extent for an audio system.

the fender pannel is replaceable so i have no reservations about hacking that up. i would like to maintain a stealth look however.... i'll let you all know what i figure out.

REZ- i know you have not designed your box yet, but do you think your design would require the removal of the spare tire mount or not?

I'll have to take another look at it. I can't recall exactly how big the mount is or how much space it takes up.

i seem to recal it not being that big... but who knows

i seem to recall i have cash and i want one asap , whats your info so i can send you a money order for 20 bucks and get the ball rollin , im sure the others are ready to spend some cash and get the ball rollin too.

To be honest, I'm going to retract my previous statement because I've decided to just have my friend build me a trunk box that will mount flush with the hump in the back. Thanks anyway.

You had me going till I read that...

Heck for that price I can get a top quality Q-Logic that I know looks great AND matches my carpet.

I wouldn't say Q-logic is exactly top quality. I can't say form experiance, but I've heard they're not up to par.

Edit: forgot the word "not"

yeah thats 3/8ths of the way to a set of headers...

on the other hand.. the headers will makle the car sound great, but the same, the sub box can play all kinds of noise...

If you understood the amount of time that goes into making something like this, you'd understand that Rez's price is very good. You can't compare a plastic Q-Logic box to a hand made fiberglass box.