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In Reply to: Hey DC... posted by Keith F on March 27, 2000 at 20:41:06:
DC 911 Stereo Upgrade – Part 2 – Custom Fiberglass Subwoofer Enclosure
Although this subwoofer enclosure is being made for a Porsche 911, the techniques used can be applied towards the building of a sub enclosure for any vehicle. I choose to build an enclosure that would fit in the footwell behind the passenger’s seat…this being just about the only space available for a subwoofer.
Materials (Sub01) – You will need a resin, hardener, brushes, fiberglass mat, scissors and a cup to mix the resin in. I also recommend rubber gloves because if you get the fiberglass on your skin, it will itch like hell.
The first step is the mold…I use heavy duty tin foil. Lay it in the proposed location and press it down into place so that it molds to the floor (Sub02). Apply several layers so that it will hold it’s shape during the fiber-glassing process.
Cut the fiberglass mat into pieces so that it is easier to work with. Pretend that you are making a puzzle and try to cut the pieces so that they will fit into the tin foil mold with some overlap (Sub03).
Pour the resin into a cup (Sub04) and add an appropriate amount of hardener (Sub05). If you add too much hardener, it will set up too quickly…if you don’t add enough, it will take forever to dry.
Using a brush, apply the resin to the tin foil mold. You want to thoroughly wet the area that you are working on (Sub06). Next, start placing the cut pieces of fiberglass mat into the resin in the mold. Make sure that the mat is applied only to resin-coated areas of the mold (Sub07). After applying each piece, dab it with the resin soaked brush taking care to impregnate the mat. Be careful not to get air bubbles under the mat. If you do, it might help to use smaller pieces of mat. Work quickly but carefully as the resin will soon begin to heat up and harden. After applying a complete first coat, it should look like this (Sub08).
Apply additional coats until you have a uniform thickness of about 3/8”. When the desired thickness has been achieved it will look something like this (Sub09). In this picture, you will note that I also cleaned up the enclosure by trimming the edges with a small jigsaw. This also serves to create a flat edge so that I may attach the top surfaces (MDF) that I will mount the subwoofer to. Once the edges have been cut flat, it is easy to mark and cut the face pieces (Sub10).
The face pieces were simply fiberglassed into place using 3 coats of mat and resin. Once completed, the enclosure can be sanded to remove rough edges and is ready to be carpeted (Sub11).
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