First Time with Fiberglass Santa Fe

Figured I would throw this up for the pro's opinions. It was my first time playing with FG. After 3 months of research and design, I finally jumped in and started a full redesign on my sub boxes. I've been taking most of the lessons learned here and on mp3car.com.

The ride is a 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe, not your typical show ride, but that's why I did it up, that and I got a fantastic deal on it as my wingman was the salesperson. Here is what I started with. The gaping hole was from the previous boxes I had made, the subs stuck too far back so they cut out some of the moulding. Not a big deal, they asked me prior to doing it anyway.

Did all the taping and layed down my first layer of glass. The first time, it was -10 degrees (I'm in Canada), and I didn't know that the glass wouldn't cure that cold. So the pics are actually from the second attempt. I only did 2 layers of glass to get the shape first.

[IMG]https://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a376/spawn12336/Fibreglass/Fibreglass009.jpg[/IMG]

I built the top and bottoms from MDF and attached them to the mould with shortstrand bondo glass. The original boxes had an issue with being sealed properly, so even though it's more work, I am taking extra steps to make sure that all seams are perfectly sealed.

On each side of the the cargo area are 2 little storage areas that are going to be used as the slot-b to the boxes tab-a. I filled them with expanding foam to stabilize them even more.

The floor and top were made with 1/2" MDF as they were going to be glassed over anyway, but the panel behind the seat is made of 3/4" mdf. Screwed, glued, and glassed in at the seams.

Again, I am working in an un-heated garage, so my best helpers are 2 small space heaters to help with the curing.

This was the structural base complete. It's 2 seperate sealed boxes, and a trim piece will be covering the join between the 2.

After 5 layers of glass on each piece, the speaker rings and support structure went in, with a test fit of the new subs. Most of the framing is either just for support of the rings and a few of the pieces that look randomly placed are there to give me place to staple the fabric down and shape the curves (freaking geometry)

Here the are fleeced and one side has resin, these pics suck as they were from my phone. I was supposed to be laying on 5 layers of glass today, but thanks to this freaking storm, I won't be driving 50 km out to the boondocks to work on it, until maybe later.

Before the questions get asked, The expected interior volume is 1.6 Cubic feet including the displacement of the speakers. The 6.5" speakers are isolated from the sub volume with FG compartments. What look like holes in the fleece are where it was stapled to the extra supports to shape the curves deeper, and will be filled and flattened out.

Looks frickin awesome. i miss my santafe

This is definitely the ichiest I have ever been. Saturday was the first sanding day. I smoothed down the irregularities, and made the flat parts nice and smooth. I also glassed in the chambers for the 6.5" speakers. All of the structural supports that were used during fleecing were removed as they aren't needed anymore for strength, the glass handles that now. Sunday was supposed to be the first layer of bondo, followed by the milkshake layer. I am now using Evercoat Plus 1 filler and shortstrand. According to Evercoat it is their replaccement for Rage Gold in Canada. This stuff blows Bondo out of the water in workability, and smells nowhere near as strong.

Here is what I left with tonight.

All the airspace I'll need for the new subs

inside the box behind the small chambers.

So much for Bondo Sunday. Freaking Daylight Savings Time, got there technically an hour late. Sanded off the excess of the small chambers and pulled out the plastic cups. Tried to mount one of the subs using the T-nuts, let's just say an hour wasted, T-nuts in the garbage. I realized that before I could bondo, I had to test fit everything again. So out with the current system, and in with the new. I also came to the conclusion that I needed to build the trim panel and do some taping before all of the bondo.

The Trim panel itself took over 2 hours of trial and error to get it right and finally finished, well the frame of it anyway, I still have to bondo it as well. I also fabbed up the shelf for the cap that will be in between the 2 boxes. So all in all, no bondo, but still alot of progress. Don't worry about the scratched to doodiee floor, it will have a new trim panel for itself soon.

You can see the outline of the special bits that are going to be added and wired up....

I should be at a few of the northeast NOPI shows in the states, and of course the Nationals in Atlanta. I was hoping to be ready for the ATCO show, but it's not looking promising.

And what in hades is VNB?