fiberglass sub enclosure pictures

Hey guys, I thought I would post my fiberglass subwoofer enclosure pictures to help others that may be looking into doing this.

This is for a JL 10W6v2 powered by a JL 500/1v2 amplifier in a 1999 Honda Civic EX. After I am done with the box, I will make an amp rack right beside it



The car's factory floor will definitely not work for a heavy box and you will need something to bolt the enclosure to so a substantial floor will need to be made. I made this out of 3/4 inch MDF and fitted it to the car's floor. This will

need to be bolted to the car's floor:




In case you have a flat, you will want to make a hinged door so the spare can be easily accessed



This is a picture of the base. I am using this to mark a parallel line with the back of the trunk, then marking that line with tape. This is so the base will be square so when I make the amp rack, ill be able to get it to match with this

enclosure.



Im using the sheet of wood in the back of the car so I can mark where I need to trim it to fit





You have to make sure to mask off the part of the car so the resin doesn't get on the carpet. Once resin gets on it, it will be impossible to get off






Here is a picture of my starting to glass the pieces of wood together as well as making the mold of the trunk





This is the box when i pulled it out of the car:


Next you need to start trimming the box so that the internal volume can be to specs. this can be estimated by using peanuts and positioning a cardboard wall where you want to cut.


Next you will need to make a brace/side for the open side on the left







Next is mounting the subwoofer ring. I made a recessed sub ring with a router table that I built:






Since there is a logo at the bottom of the sub, and i want it to look square, i needed to make sure the holes ill bolt the sub to are perfectly aligned. I used the T nuts that I know are square and glued some dowels to the two bottom ones.

Then I propped the ring up on a few pieces of wood as I mount the ring to the box.





I will use sturdy pieces of wood but I will support the sub with pieces of dowel rods then use an angle ruler to make sure its square with the box:







I bought some polar fleece on sale and stretched it over the mounted sub ring:




After this is stretched, i put fiberglass resin over it and let it harden over night.

Since I dont want to do too much body work on the outside of the sub box, I will reinforce the box with fiberglass and
resin on the inside of the box. to make sure I get the glass where its supposed to go, I look through the rear of the
box (the speaker wire terminal cut out):




This is it so far, I will post updates soon

For those areas of the inside that I couldnt look through the wire terminal hole to see, I used a mirror. It was a pain but it worked:


Now that all of the inside fiberglassing is done, I needed to start sanding on the outside to clean up the edges. On the straight parts I used some sand paper. On the curves I used a Dremmel took with a sanding bit on it:




This is the speaker wire terminals attached to the box sealed up:


This is out of sequence but here is a shot of the hinged door:
3

This is the picture of some "tracks" i had to make to slide the box's bolts into place. The box was too high to reach back where I needed it to so I made slits into the carpet and the floor board I put in the trunk so I can drop it down and slide it back. The box is on top of the carpet so it won't be seen:



This is the box bolted down inside. I used some mini angle brackets so I can use them as support for when I lay fiberglass over the bolt to hold it in place. I know the glass will not stick to the metal but it will hold it in place and seal the area around the bolt so no air leaks out:


This picture is the glass laid over one bolt. Again, the glass wont stick but when the glass is hardened, it acts like a permanent wrench to the bolt holding it in place as well as sealing the hole:




More pictures to come...

Like the pics!~ Barely any airspace for the sub.. huh? Love the T-nuts idea... keep em commin!



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This is what I do for FUN!

ianarian wrote:

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Like the pics!~ Barely any airspace for the sub.. huh? Love the T-nuts idea... keep em commin!

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Thanks. They would be better but my regular camera crapped out so iv been taking them with my phone.

It does look like little space for the sub but its actually within .05 square feet of the sealed enslosure specs for a JL 10W6v2. I measured with packing peanuts...but its basically the exact size JL says to make a sealed enclosure.

I just glassed the other bolt in place. Im hoping to install the sub tomorrow to see how it sounds....then im off to making the amp rack right next to it in the trunk

.05 ft cubed i meant

Wow how late did you have to stay up to smelt and hand-forge the router from iron you mined in the bowels of the earth?   JK!

Now that's a hella project. Very nice.

Would you mind posting a comprehensive parts list and labor estimate when this is completed to give folks some reference material?

(binding post, wood screws, MDF board sheet, fiber glass, resin, caulking, #100 sand paper, plastic sheet, polar fleece, rubber kitchen gloves)

Maybe throw in the tools you used other than a dremmel, sander and socket set? (router\drill bits, box cutter, tape and square)

THANKS

Thanks!I will try to get a list together. The router table is actually a bench-top router table based on the one here:

https://www.jeffgreefwoodworking.com/pnc/ShopProj/benchrout/index.html

Instead of using that type of top, i just glued two 3/4" MEF sheets together...works just as good (works great)


I decided to put an amp rack beside the subwoofer. I just started on that here. Its basically the same start as making the subwoofer enclosure. I never built an amp rack before so this will be a simple one, but it will look good:

I've had this project rolling around in my head and wasnt aware of your last post, I just searched the forums for "fiberglass" to find the thread again.

How has the project progressed, you seem to work fairly quickly, is it completed?

For the final pic set, would you also post your processes for cable harnesess and how you routed everything?

Did you have cooling considerations in mind when designing the rack for this project?

I worked in a Data Center for (insert large software company here) and wrote build guides on properly running cables in server racks and labeling everything.

Having a standards guide with pics and the rationale behind the work helps the DIY crowd.

THX

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I know just enough to be dangerous. VERY dangerous.

looks good so far, in for the finished project.

what did you use for resin amd mat  (brand)

i always wanted to make a fiberglass box, but havent got the guts to start one. this one is nice

audiopete wrote:

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what did you use for resin amd mat  (brand)

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I got the stuff all from USComposites.com. I used the thickest mat they had (for me its easier to work with, especially when I wet-out all of the mat pieces with resin before i put it on the project.

I believe the specific resin i got from them was B-440 Premium Polyester Layup Resin. I got this because 1.) it takes longer to gel up compared to other resins and 2.) it doenst have sanding wax like in store-bought brands (bondo, elmers...etc). if you want sanding wax, you can buy it in a separate bottle to add.