I've wanted to upgrade my substage, hide my amps, and generally revamp/clean up my install for a while but I haven't had the time/money. More time than money. It sucks being a full time student while working 35ish hours a week.

I've been accumulating various parts for the stereo upgrade over the past month and I was initially planning on waiting for warm weather before I began my install but I recently blew my trans and it's not that cold anymore, so...

Current stereo:
Alpine CDA-9833
MB Quart QSD-216 comps
Two 10” alpine Type-E’s
NINe.2x
Infinity reference amp doing ~340 x 1 @ 2 ohms for the subs

Equipment getting upgraded:
NINe.1
10a.22’s

Install related things getting changed:
- New fiberglass box to replace the ****ty MDF one I rushed for the Type-E’s.
- Neater wiring (it’s currently just shoved under the carpet and not hidden at all by the amps)
- Complete car deadening. Expanding foam in all the hollow spots, Raam mat, V3, and V4 everywhere.
- Installing amps into back seat

Other things not stereo related:
- 8 point roll cage
- New black carpet
- Auto to manual swap, the reason why I have so much downtime with the car to begin with

My goal is to make at least some progress every day, even if it is minor, between classes and work. I will be posting lots of pictures, have no fear

The goods:


4 gallons v3, one full roll of Raam Mat that I've had sitting around for over a year, two 10a.22s, 4 rolls of masking tape, and two rolls of aluminum foil.


Mmm, magnent.


Another shot of the subs.


Believe me when I say these boxes are heavy.


The lighter of the two mats I will be attempting to use.


Heavy enough? Yes, that is a quarter

Stuff already in car:


Nine.1 on left and NINe.2x on right. You can see my crossovers on the extreme right.

Stuff on the way/to be ordered in the next week:
- 50-70 sq ft V4. Haven't thought this one out yet
- Roll cage
- Black carpet
- Trans
- Resin. Debating to get 5 gallons from uscomposits ($120 + shipping for the good stuff) or just getting a gallon or two of bondy style from wallmart ($20 pre gallon?). Any opinions here? How good is the green can bondo stuff to work with?
- Brushes. I discovered yesterday that the dollar store has 3 packs for well, a dollar.
- Gloves. Pretty sure these can be had at the dollar store as well.
- MDF
- Air filter/respirator

Tomorrow: masking for the box and stripping of the interior if I wake up early enough before work

 

Holy Fiberglass! How much did all tha fiberglass run you? I bet it'll be strong when finished. Sounds like you have a pretty good idea of what you have to do and how to do it. Be sure to post pics often and keep us updated.

What roll cage are you going with?

 

I'm thinking competition engineering but I’m not 100% decided yet. My goal is to post new pictures at a daily rate. Hopefully I will be able to do that time/weather permitting.

 

Update. Nothing major or even that exciting but there's about 2.5 hours worth of work here


$1 if you eat something off the floor. No idea where the leaves came from but I know where all the wire insulation came from (if you can make it out in the pic on the floor). I'm innocent, I swear


Clean. First time every vacuuming any part of this car in the year and a half I’ve owned it. I always figured that I wanted to replace the carpet (black) so why bother.


Materials. I ended up having to get another roll of masking tape from my stash inside in the first post.


Many boxes died to give us this information.


I want the box to be removable, which meant cardboard.


Not really losing a lot of airspace but I would guess that there's atleast .1 or .2 cubes back there. Anyone know the reason for the random dimple in the bottom of the trim piece?

 

(said I had too many images so I split the post in half. They're all remote hosted anyway so it shouldn't impact the site's bandwith)


More cardboard. I discovered that the masking tape wouldn't stick to the plastic trim but it was doing fine with the cardboard and carpet so I stuck cardboard over the plastic wherever I could (see far left).


Tape tape tape.


... and I'm spent.


This is how far that roll got. Not bad for one roll of 2” masking tape if you ask me.


Second roll almost done but it did finish the job... for now


Shot of results + crappy black ms paint line to give you an idea of where the box is going to end. It looks/feels like I will have a decent amount of volume to play with. I’m hoping for 3-3.5 cubes.

I've still got another layer of masking to do. I’m going to go over everything with aluminum foil. Also, when it actually comes time for me to start glassing I’m going to completely cover the rear bumper cover/tail lights. Don’t want to risk dripping any resin. I’ve also got to pull the amps and crossovers.
To do:
Buy router, circle cutting jig, and MDF
Start backseat amp box
-or-
Buy resin from walmart as a start
Start glassing

I’m probably not going to be able to get anything updated again till Monday because I’m working all of tomorrow again

 

Looking good!! I swear I'm not the only one who is interested in your project, so keep up the good work!

 

i love watching these build ups like this im definatly keeping my eye on this thread every day! cant wait to see it done.

 

 

Really nice! I'd go with USComposites, personally. You already have alot invested, might as well get enough resin to do a good job. I like the cardboard idea making it removeable. I want to do something similar, but i will still want it bolted down to deter thieves.

 

Sorry guys but I've got nothing tonight. I just got home from work (midnight now) and I slept until work, so yeah. Nothing got done I would do something tonight but I've got class at 8 in the morning and it's no fun fighting to stay awake during it.

I'm pretty sure that I have tomorrow off and even if I don't I know that I have Tuesday and I'm pretty sure Wednesday off as well.

Short term goals: aluminum foil, 3 layers of wax, pam, buying resin from walmart for the inital layer while I wait for the rest to get here from us composites.

Thanks all for the interest/support

Edit:
Who said it wasn't getting bolted down?

 

here's and Idea: instead of bolting it down it might be possible to get those locking hood pins that you need a key to get open and use it to keep the box in. It would definately give it a unique look and bolts are easier to remove just in case

 

Looking good man!

I've found that PVA, wax, and other similar mold releases don't prevent the aluminum foil from sticking to the product. Cooking spray helps, but if you use too much of it you'll hate life while you're trying to lay the fiberglass and everything sticks to the brush instead of the foil.

I've found that a light coating of cooking spray works best, then when you remove the product, you'll just have to brush the foil off with a firm bristle-brush.

 

excellent, i'm about a day or two ahead of you, in a similar fiberglass box build, but it's been stagnant for a few months, due to the fact that building me 350 is more important to me... I better finish this soon though...

you got gobs of laquer thinner / acetone? it's good to clean up anything, and thin your resin. I bought a gallon from canadian tire for like $12, the square can with the round pour hole sucks though.

You're doing a much more professional looking job then mine, that's for sure...

the bulge in the back piece, I figured was for a spare tire, (seems like the right size), then the idea was abandoned by gm, and they never fixed the panel...? (or t-top storage bulge?)

I bought a gallon of polyester resin from an auto parts store, $43, since the shipping from US composites is brutal for me, and if I need to buy more, I can just go over and pick up more, rather then mail ordering it. (or having mismatching resins...)

Side question: with the box height as it is, what does anything think my chances are of fitting an S15L7 in there? I think it'll be tight...

I found backseat amps to not work in the case of my large amp(s), and you may find the same soon. I was fully restoring my car, so it was easy for me to drop the gas tank at once point, then just drill and mount the amps with tamper proof pin in head hex sheet metal screws. Then cut the screw tips off so they don't puncture the gas tank. (I wanted to use studs, but tamper proof nuts are harder to find in a small size...)

 

Good work. I hear ya on the not-enough-time thing. Building the MDF box took four days because I could only spare a couple hours each day. When its all done, its great.
Gummie, I'll definetly be using this as a guide when i decide to do a fiberglass box

 

If you don’t feel like reading the convo scroll down to the pictures

The bolts will go through the bottom of the box through the well to the outside of the car. They will be a good deal sturdier than hood pins and I plan on tack welding the nuts/bolts together once the box is 100% done.

Good advice and saves me an hour or two of waxing a bunch of aluminum foil. I will apply Pam tomorrow and attempt the first layer if all goes according to plan.

I bought my amps with the back seat in mind. I also converted from split rear to a solid rear with this install in mind. Everything will fit (amps + crossovers). I’m not going to worry about using special hardware to mount the amps because it will be a major pita to get them out of the rear seat with the cage in the car. I will be using a variety of things to secure the subs though.

Thanks for the kind words. I’ve been doing it in two hour installments as well but I will probably start investing a bit more time per day fairly soon.

Nuff chatter, on with the pictures


Where did all the amps go?


Weather for the next 10 days. A little too cold to actually get any glasswork done in the unheated barn. Never fear, I have a solution.


Test probe


Test probe in position


The idea


The idea... season 2's premier

 

(continued again)


Guess the premier sucked


The critics agree, massive redness. Lost all power in the barn.


The idea... season 3. Much success. The test probed reached 90 degrees with the outside air hovering around 50.


Bah. Foiled again.


It looks like some funky 60's car of the future, doesn't it?


The goods I purchased today. I will be ordering 5 gallons form US composites tomorrow. I just got itchy so I had to get some of the bondo stuff. I'm going to try to get at least the first layer down tomorrow after class.

 

I didn't think 3 1500W heaters would work.... I tried the same thing, kept popping breakers... Then I bought a propane heater, as it was -30*C outside, and I absolutely had to fix an intake manifold leak. But don't throw gas soaked rags OVER a propane heater, into the garbage. That's about when I decided it wasn't worth it....ahem...

aside from being a PITA to work in the cold, i'm pretty sure fiberglass will cure in the cold, it's exothermic (gives off heat) as it cures, and it cures chemically, rather then drying.
bah, 46*F = 7*C, not pleasant, but with all the protection you'll be needing to stay safe from the fiberglass, you'll be warm



ps fiberglass in your skin sucks. You'll itch for days. I haven't found a way to be completely safe from the crap, enjoy!

 

that looks great and those captions had me LMAO

 

It's funny, the barn has it's own breaker box with several 15/20 amp circuits in it but it only has a 20 amp line running to it from the house Through trial and error I discovered that I could run two of the heaters on high without popping anything if I had them on two different breakers in the barn.

I got some glass laid this morning. First time every for actually doing it so it was a defiant learning experience.


Pretty self explanatory. Pam's juice will be used to keep things slick.


Note the two stacks of cut up mat. I didn't use much of the smaller stuff because I found out that the larger stuff conformed well to corners/curves.

At this point I mixed up 5 separate batches of resin and went to town. No pictures because it's kinda hard to take them while working against the clock to use up all the resin before it hardens.


Fiberglass progress shot


Uneven progress. This is a pretty big area to try to cover I recently discovered.


The better side


The better side again


The casualties. This should give you an idea of why some of glass pictures had some red in them: some of the plastic cups decided to melt.

Bondo gives pretty vague mixing instructions so I was guessing with the hardener. I could have counted drops per ounce (8) but that would have been a pretty boring/tedious process. The first batch had too much hardener in it and was a bit on the large side (8 oz of resin) so it ended up congealing 1/2 way through just as the cup decided to melt through. Thankfully I got it out before the bottom fell completely off. The other batches were pretty uneventful. One other cup melted through and one batch also congealed too early.

Also, glassing the large vertical (well, angled) walls in front and in back is a major PITA. The glass can’t stick to the walls because of the pam so it just kinda flops down if you go too high. The reason why the right side is so much higher than the left side is because I started that side first, then went to the left side, then came back to the right side after the base had had a chance to cure. Most of the right side is also ~2 layers, which is why the left side looks thinner in the pictures.

I’m going to let the resin cure to see what the outcome is. If it cures decently I might just run out and buy up the rest of walmart’s resin and get some more done while I wait for the US composites stuff to get here.

 

This update is actually a few days old (this thread lives in two diffrent forums). Sorry about the lack of in between pictures but there really wasn't much you guys missed. Just layers of glass, some 40 oz, and then more layers.


The aluminum foil stayed intact but it did get pulled out somewhat. No stickage at all and the hardest part about getting out was figuring out where to grab it.


Top shot.


Side shot showing off the curves.


More direct view of the back. This was the hardest part of the box because I was building on a negative incline.


More direct view of the front.

Obviously, not enough resin was used for the initial layer. I blame it on this being my first ever glass project and underestimating the thickness of the mat and how much resin it needed. I figured that I was going a little thin because the first layer didn’t harden very well (I wonder why ) so the additional layers are a lot wetter. Now that it’s out of the car I will probably coat the outside in a layer of resin.


Empty hatch! Time to rip out entire the interior to prep for the cage & deadening (and new black carpet ) while I finish up the box in the barn.


This is where I plan on adding MDF bracing. The two main braces will look like dividers from the top but they will be notched at the top to allow the subs to fit and to make the box one large chamber. This is the easiest way to save on lots of glass and should add a bunch of strength to the box. Flexage comes from where the various walls meet one another. Surprisingly, each of the walls is pretty sturdy by its self.

Note: 40 oz = resin hog but if you apply 40 oz and then immediately put mat over the top of it the mat will stick really well and get nicely saturated on the back from all the extra resin in the 40 oz.

Short term:
- add resin to outside of box
- do one massive layer of 40 oz then one massive layer of mat. Massive meaning larger pieces, which are actually easier to work with and the final product will lay flatter
- glass in MDF bracing, MDF blocks on bottom of box for bolt holes, and MDF plug on side of box for wire terminals.
- cut MDF rings somewhere during above step
- more glassing/reinforcing
- mount rings, fleece, reinforce top
- slight bondo action on top and then carpet to match the rest of the interior

---

What's gotten done since this update: not a whole lot (worked all weekend). I cut out some air pockets the other night and layed down 2 sets (4 total layers) of 40 oz and mat on the large frontal wall. I plan on doing the same to the rest of the box before I move on to bracing. This will put the majority of the box at 5-7 layers before bracing.

 

Looking good!!

 

1. Double up the red cups, and as soon as you're done, put them on a surface with some scrap paper under them, because even doubled up, they'll probably collapse and let the resin goo get all over your stairs and you'll step in it every f'ing day for a month until it's finally warm enough for it to harden up... or something.

2. 1/8 to 3/16 ounce of MEKP per each big red cup of resin works well. If you don't have a tiny measuring cup to measure out 1/8 ounces, buy a cheap set of measuring spoons at the grocery store and use 3/4 teaspoon.

 

I'm counting drops right now. I'm becoming a pro because I've already gone through about 30 of those little red cups. I work in 4 oz increments in terms of hardener. That requires about 40-45 drops of hardener. It’s just barely starting to congeal as I reach the bottom of the cup. With the 4 oz batches I’m not meting through cups anymore but I do keep the ones that are empty on a piece of cardboard so they won’t get stuck to the barn floor.

 

I don't have anywhere near the patience to count out that many drops. It's way easier to pour 1/8" into a full cup. I've found that I can easily get through the whole cup before anything starts to harden.

 

I'm enjoying this thread. Keep up the good work.

 

why not use metal cans?? like old soup cans or something...here i have to clean out them for recycling anyhow so thats what i use for fiberglassing....and yah you can re resin the outside of the box and also put a layer or two on the outside to make it fit alittle more snug less sloping around and stuff plus its easy to use one big piece of mat and mix up a big batch of resin and apply it quick if you have your box out and got it upside down on a bench you can walk all the way around.
Are you ganna spray any rubberized undercoating inside the box after your done...i did cause i like how it goes on thick and its pretty cheap and nice to apply and helps the deading of sound a bit.

oh and a tip for others doing this yah your matting is going to fall in sometimes on you with your 1st layer of resin thats why instead of pam i used spray glue to make the mat stick to the tin foil.......and i didnt care that the foil didnt come off the box... i just sraped it off with a wire brush and it came of easy or you could just glass over it.
I also taped the matting to the cardoard or tinfoil at the top where i asnt glassing as to help it from floping in before it hardened.

 

It's probably totally too late for this, so for people who find this thread in the future, searchign..
In High power rocketry, we "get" to use fiberglass alot, and the resin/hardener of choice generally seems to be West Systems. Apart from the fact that it truly is a "system," it comes in ralatively big wuantities, for not too expensive costs. The great thing is, they sell a pump system, so it's one pump of the hardener, one pump of the resis, mix and go. Quite good stuff too. Also, the resin is, of course, universal. You just buy the various cans of speed of hardener you want, throuw a "mini- pump" on it, and enjo.. They even sell the fillers designed for their epoxy. I like the micro-balloons for adding stregth.

Anyway, I bring this up because you commented about the "drops of hardener," and I was just envisioning how annoying that would be.

They could have a better site, but it gets the point acorss. I use the "Group B size of epoxy."

http://www.westsystem.com/

 

My family doesn't eat at home much. I'm at school/work pretty much all the time (35 hours a week + full time college) and my mom is usually involved with her job. As a result we have no soup cans That would defiantly be a better solution though. I thought about it but realized I had no source for the cans, especially in the quantity I would need. I've already gone though about 40 of the plastic cups.

The outside of the box has already been resined; I just haven’t posted pictures of it. I’m working in pretty big sheets inside the box (about 1 foot by 1.5 feet) but I’m leaving the outside alone. I’ve got a ton of extra mat that I’m not going to use because I plan on going liquid inside the car. I plan on deadening the outside of the box with the mat. I figure it will be easier to apply it to the outside and it will help cut down rubbing on the plastic trim better than more layers of glass.

Great info. I was planning on buying 5 gallons from US Composites but I decided not to when I realized that I could get through with bondo brand resin available locally in smaller quantities. I’ve only got about $60 in resin so far and I don’t think I will need to buy any more. I really like the idea of a pump system; it would make the mixing process a lot more precise and a ton faster/easier.

BIG UPDATE COMING TOMORROW. Keep an eye out

 

Epoxy resin is a whole different type of resin than the Polyurethane resin that we're using. Epoxy has its advantages in that it's more flexible, which is great for some applications, but not necessary for the type of rigid stuff we're doing. Epoxy is more expensive, and it's also very unforgiving if you screw up the mix ratio. I've also found that it will never cure in cool humid conditions.

 

I didn't realize the link was for epoxy resin. Guess who never clicked it

A pump type system would be pretty cool for poly resin though. I'm off to home depot for wood. We will see how much gets done today.

 

Awesome! How about I pay you some good coin and you drive up to MA and make a box for me (like, seriously... PM me if interested haha)

I can't wait for new pix!

 

This thread is sweet! The pictures are great! Keep up the good work!

 

The epoxy I'v used is no where near flexible, but maybe that's where the term "more" comes in..
I didn't know about the difference between the polyueathane, though, interesting.. That said, I'm interested what difference it would make.. All the glassing I have ever done looks identicle to that in the pictures, is extremely strong (mach plus flights baby... ) and isn't flexible.
That said, I'll just assume you're right about the popolyeurathane, but I bet with heavy enough cloth, the regular epoxy would work just peachy. But I might be missing something here.

That said, it sure may be more expensive..

So, I honestly am curioius, what's the difference in terms of application needs, specifically this?

 

Ive used the 2 part apoxy resin for makeing sweet looking wood panels for my old sport truck......
I had white face autometer bowtie guages in it and when i made my dash plate out of some wood...i stained it a nice cherry mohgany(sp?) color and then mixed up the clear apoxy and poured it over the wood laying flat and it gave a nice 1/8 think or more supper gloss coating over it that totaly brightend up the color of the wood and made it look 3 dementional. And around the edges it was kinda beveled in looking because it kinda drips off the sides....... I dont know if any of you know what i mean but alot of ppl make placks with this stuff and clocks and such with burning wood and stuff...know what i mean...i find they look kinda *******ish sometimes.....but over a nice dark colored wood this resin stuff is cool for cars.

 

I'm flattered but there's way too much time and work involved. I've been chipping away at this for about two hours a night for the two weeks.


Today turned out to be a great demonstration of Murphy’s law. 3 trips to home depot were made (one for wood, one for a second carbide bit for the router after it broke, one for a new router after we killed the first one), the main hoop for the cage ended up being too wide, Dan and I had all kinds of mental issues with cutting the rings, etc. A lot of things got started today and a few things got closer to completion.


Nekked car. Perfect floor and underbody despite being 18. With the v3 going on the inside and the por15 going on the outside hopefully it will stay like this for a while.


This is the idea I have for my amps/crossovers. They're going to be mounted like this inside the seat. They will be visible but you won't notice them unless you're looking for them with the seat folded up.


Nekked seat


Dremmel for the win! ... that's pretty much as far as this project got today. I will be building a frame with MDF to support everything and then I will stick a 1/4" thick sheet of wood on the back to mount the amps to. This is probably going to be one of the last things I do because I'm going to have to wire everything before I can put the seat together.


Random empty air space. There are two of these, one on either side of the car. They literally extend from the hatch all the way to the door. If you were to seal them off you could probably make a decent enclosure for 8" drivers mounted in the sail panels.


Expanding foam. I'm somewhat surprised that this stuff doesn't expand more as it cures. The after picture, if I took one, would look exactly the same as this picture, which was taken about 30 seconds after emptying the bottle.

 

The ghetto circle jig (yes that's a router poking through). It worked very well after we figured out how to measure I might add. This is a piece of the larger piece of wood that will be used as the back piece for the back seat amp rack thing (I was amused as I wrote this sentence).


Were you aware that they sold earplugs in dental floss containers?


Ring #1. Yes, we cut two. I was just too lazy to take two pictures.


MDF dust from cutting the rings. The pile was a good 4" high.


One of the two braces for the box. It was tagged by Dan and yours truly.


Braces getting installed.


What kind of install would this be if it didn't involve gobs of liquid nails to make things sturdy?


Not related to the stereo in anyway shape or forum but they showed up on my door yesterday The flywheel is currently at the local machine shop getting resurfaced. It's the only used piece of hardware going into the swap. Even the trans is brand new.


Spec stage 3 clutch. This should be lots of fun once installed.

 

Excellent work and nice looking clutch .
I've never worked with fiberglass, so this is a noob question. Instead of going glob wild with liquid nails, couldn't you just put four (two on each side) 1 1/4 inch drywall screws into the side of the fiberglass securing the MDF braces? In my experiences, I've always opted for screws or nails over glue. But like I said, I've never worked with fiber glass so I may be talking .

 

Very nice work this far. I want to do something similar in my car soon.


FWIW the dimple in the bottom trim piece is for your regular wheel, when the spare is on the car. If you look closely, the carpet on the fuel tank *hump* has a little flap, where you feed the spare tire hook into place & then thru the wheel. Thread on the wing nut & the wheel is secured in place until you get it repaired

 

That flywheel looks outstanding!

Back to Poly vs. Epoxy resin.

You're not likely to notice epoxy's "flexibility" unless you're dealing with much thinner applications than sub enclosures. None of this stuff is flexible when it's 1/4" thick.

But, if you were making thin pieces, say interior trim pieces, you'd want to use the Epoxy resin because it's just flexible enough that if you had to tweak it to install it or something, you wouldn't break it. With poly resin, it'll crack if you try to bend it.

But, when you're doing things that are supposed to be rigid and thick, the epoxy won't be an advantage, and it's picky mixing properties combined with the extra cost make it less desirable.

 

Pardon the rust on the newly resurfaced area. I was carrying it around and got it everywhere.

 

beauty of a build man. just learned a new trick i thought i'd share. FIBERGLASS BUBBLES ARE THE SH&T!!! I got them from a fiberglass supply store here locally, Ft pierce actually. Lots of boatyards and boatbuilders in the area. It's a powder that mixes into resin, thickening it up, and makes it easy to sand. The key word is EASY.. Its like sanding styrofoam. Granted it is to be used on a topcoat and i wouldn't bounce a bowling ball off of it afterwards but it works great. I mixed a batch to about the consistency of pancake batter and just poured it on and kinda sloshed it around with a brush. Even after it starts to pop you can get it where you want it and it'll hang up to like 1/4 inch thick. I did my kick panels in my car in between waiting for coats to dry on my box, all together i'd say it took 3 hours to do them completely and paint them. I didn't have to bondo, duraglass, or glaze them. I'll post pics in a new thread in the next few days.

 

That's where you put your tire after you swap out with your spare.

I like to see the kind of preparation work you're doing beforehand. Really makes things smooth (even though you said you've had to make several trips to the hardware store in between ).

 

Prep work for the win. I was afraid of the resin soaking through to the carpet making the box impossible to remove.


I plan on carpeting the top of the box. With any luck I won't even need to do any bodywork type stuff to it but if I do I will probably end up using bondo and sand it before it dries.

The car currently isn't home; it's at a shop where I used to work awaiting a time slot for the lift to open up so I can get the trans in. The new pedals are already mounted and I literally have everything I could possibility need for the trans swap including the bolts.

Here's a quick list of things I need to do as soon as I get the car home:
- decide what I'm doing with the cage. I either need to get a new main hoop or rebend the one I have now to make it fit. Or just not install it at all but I really want a cage. I just don’t want to deal with this hassle. Odds are I will end up with a cage one way or another
- deaden the car once the cage is sorted out. I can't weld in the cage with the floor deadened.
- new black carpet/interior trim reinstall. Again, it doesn’t make sense to do this with the other things not done.
- trim box, mounting of rings, building of top, carpeting of box. Can’t trim the box till I get it back in the well with all the trim in place.
- finish back seat amp rack. This is the only thing that can be done at any time and I will start working on it again when I have some more free time.

It’s a pretty daunting list

Oh well, it will all get done sooner or later.

 

Minor update: trans swap is done. The only things left to do is bolt the brake booster back to the firewall (took it off so I could change the angle the master was sitting at) and calibrate the speedo.

I've finally had enough leisure time to start listening to music on my computer again and all I can say is man do I miss my car. By no means do I have a bad seat of headphones (or soundcard) but wow do I miss my MB Quart comps, especially the tweeters. Those things really sing, it’s impossible to describe


Pioneer HDJ-1000. Only complaint is that they are not the most comfortable thing I’ve ever worn. I will probably end up buying Sennheiser’s HD650 at some point in the future but I can’t afford it currently.

Even though I don't anticipate getting my interior back together any time soon I am now even more motivated to try to get my back seat amp rack together so I can have music again. I'm setting a goal to have it done within a week as I'm not sure when I will be able to steal a table saw.

 

i still have no idea what im going to do with my amps. after spending so long building the box, i dont want to screw the amps down to it, nor do i really want them under the rear glass.

im leaving the seat behind the driver out, noone sits there anyway. i have split rear seats. gonna try and figure out some sort of amp rack there but i can't figure anything out. i could put the diamond in the back of one of the seats but the crossfire is way too big.

sorry for the off topic, i just woke up for work, 2 hours of sleep i only got by way of a sleeping pill, so im a little out of it.

 

.
Why carpet a fiberglass box? Can't you just sand it and paint it?

Or did I miss that the top of the box is going to be wood

 

I actually converted over from split rear seats to a 1 piece thing specifically so I would have room for my crossovers inside the seats. I could have pulled off the amps in the split rear but the crossovers wouldn't have had homes.

It will blend with the interior a lot better not to mention that it will cut down dramatically on time invested (sanding) as well as cost ($200+ to paint a sub box in automotive paint? Psh. I still need new carpet). That and I'm really not going for a flashy install. It obviously won’t be stock but hopefully it will look like it belongs there. Fear not, the top defiantly won’t be wood

My car is starting to sport a complete black interior. The black plastic trim is all carpeted on the lower half (see pictures earlier in the thread) and my kicks are also carpeted (do a search for Jim’s kick panels as I’m too lazy to link to it again). I figured that I would build a box to match the kicks and the rest of the interior instead of trying to make it stick out like a sore thumb.

The carpet and completely black coned subs will be somewhat stealth looking. A casual look into the hatch will reveal a black interior. Granted, a closer look and you will be able to see the amps peeking out of the back seat and you will see the box in the well but it won’t be all that noticeable.

Edit: trans is in car and the car is on the road. I will take a picture of the shifter + the hole I had to cut for it tomorrow when it's bright out.

 

I think that box will look good carpeted. Then again, I'm from that "subtle but different" camp. I don't like flashy painted crap.

 

Dont' paint it. Gelcoat it! Working great for me. Just pour, wetsand, and polish. Fills in alot of imperfections just by how thick it is.

 

Psh. Carpet = about 10 minutes with bondo (if that) and you're good to go for carpet.

I expect to get some work done on the amp rack done monday, if not tuesday. Pictures will follow.