Help with custom car enclosure

[Xyberz]

Just purchased a brand new Audiopulse Revo 10 sub and looking to make a custom enclosure for it in my 06 Durango in the back.

Hopefully looking for the stealth install if possible by mounting it to the left hand side all the way in the back behind the third row seat while maintaining some storage area if possible.

I'd like to mount in in the quarter panel and make a fiberglass reinforced enclosure.

Anyone have any tips, pictures, ideas, comments, or anything useful to help contribute?

[FE3T]

http://www.gadrivers.net/~dwicker/fiberglass.html

[Cal Weldon]

Moved to car audio.

[tsmith1315]

Some odds and ends:

Fiberglass:
-Mat doesn’t lay around curves very well, but builds bulk well.
-Heavy woven roving yields great strength, but the weave will show through. Best for flat surfaces, or use tow for reinforcement.
-Light to medium cloths are most common and most generally useful.

For relatively flat unseen surfaces, I prefer a layer or two of roving covered by a few layers of mat.

Resins:
Polyester resin is cheaper, but not as strong as epoxy. Epoxy layers can bond more completely than polyester when partially cured. Either can produce desirable results. I like the smell of polyester better, but that’s quirky. If using polyester, get laminating resin. Finishing resin contains wax that rises to the surface during cure.

In general, I like epoxy better because you can choose different cure times depending on the size of the project, the extent of non-uniform area, etc.

Either way, use small batches. Larger batches will cure faster and generate more heat. Cure is exothermic -lay it on too thick, and it’ll be smoking.

*** Epoxy/skin contact is known for causing severe reactions in some people. We’re talking hospital admission reactions. Sometimes it doesn’t happen until you’ve done it a few times. Use nitrile gloves to be safe. Do a quick search for info, or I can elaborate a little.


Laying-up:

-If you want to lay-up around a plug, you can use a Styrofoam mold. Cover the Styrofoam thoroughly with duct tape or equivalent, sealing all seams well. When the project has cured, use acetone to dissolve the plug out of the piece.

-Cut the cloth first, as it’s hard to handle scissors with sticky, fuzzy fingers.

-Pace yourself when putting down cloth and resin. Put down one layer or so, and let it firm up a little before going to the next layer.

-If you’re going to be sanding the finished product, add some food coloring to each layer, alternating in contrasting colors. That way when sanding, you’ll be able to tell if you’re getting too deep.

-The green cure stage is where the resin is firm, but still a little sticky and still flexible. It’s easy to trim the laminate with a sharp razor knife at this point. This is MUCH easier than trimming the brittle stuff after a full cure.

-Additional layers on top of green cure epoxy will still form a complete bond with existing resin for a stronger product. If it goes past this stage, wait until fully cured and sand thoroughly for a stronger bond.

-Be completely prepared for clean-up before mixing any resin. It can be a serious mess if you’re not a little anal retentive. I’ve done small projects cleanly on the kitchen table with good preparation. Of course, I was single then… Which reminds me, good ventilation is an absolute necessity.

[dudio_me]

hey, i make custom enclosures for people daily, i run a classic car mod/chop shop,
if you need any detailed help, as in how to make your enclosure to a perfect standard etc send me a message and i will go through it with you in great detail, it is dead easy, i use a post and tight method to make my base before laying up over or under the resin'd tights. the posts are any little bits of wood i can use to hold a ring the size and shape of the speaker in mid air before pulling tights or lycra material over where i want my faces.

scott