DYI Fiberglass Project

[UrDoneSRH]

This is my attempt at doing a DIY for a fiberglass project. I can help direct you and show you what to do as far as the fiberglassing goes... but you.. yes YOU! must design it. Make it your own, make it look sick, and most importantly... make it right! I'm not gonna include all the technical mathmatical side of building a box, this is sposed to be about fiberglassing. Maybe I will do a DIY on how to figure out the airspace for your box, how to design ported boxes, etc... but for now thats just too much work! It took me 3 years to pass algebra and I barely understand how to do the math myseld.

First your gonna need somethings, mainly materials, most of the tools needed are wood working and painting tools.


- 1 Sheet of 3/4 MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) Can be found at home depot, lowes, etc...

- Fiberglass Resin, I would recommend getting a good amount of it so you dont have to go back later and buy more, plus its cheaper when you buy bigger quantities. It can be found at most autoparts and hardware stores, I usually go to pep boys or autozone.

- MEKP (Methyl Ethyl Ketone Peroxide) Its in small clear bottles, looks like water almost. Measured by drops, mix ratios usually go about 1-2% MEKP to the Resin. Hotter weather causes quicker curing, cold weather the opposite. Siphon filled MEKP containers work best for consistancy over drop counting becuase you can measure the amounts. Properly mixed resin should have a working time of 15-25 minutes. You will know when it is curing, it gets HOT. I will go into more details when we get there..

- Latex gloves! I cant stress this enough, this stuff sucks to get all over yourself, watch out for resin dripping on arm hairs, leg hairs, etc... ever waxed?

- 1" and 2" Brushes... get the CHEAPO stuff, you want disposable brushes, these are 1, maybe 2 time usage. GET A LOT OF THEM! I bought around 30 brushes for my project and I used all but about 10, your results may vary.

- Drop clothes, plastic sheets to cover the floor, you dont want resin sticking to your floor, it sucks to get up sometimes, just by the plastic mat, its cheap and disposable and makes cleanup a hell of a lot easier since you can just throw everything on the mat and bag it up.

- Drywall screws for building your wooden portion of the box

- Jigsaw

- Reversable cordless drill

- Table Saw (preferred, dont cut your fingers off!) or a Sabre Saw if you cant get ahold of a table saw

- Paper, Pencils, Pens or Markers

- Painters Tape, I bought 1" and 3", I use it to tape down the plastic mat, tape up templates to make identical sides, to tape to the car when your doing in trunk fiberglassing

- Tape Measure

- T Square, L Square

- Fiberglass Mat

- Fleece, Any local fabric stores carry it, buy it by the yard, guesstimate how much your going to need, I just bought the whole roll since I'm doing a big project, they will measure it out by the length you want for you at the store

- Air compressors make this a lot easier project

- Air Nail/Staple Gun (or a reg staple gun if thats all you got)

- Plastic Cups, do not use wax lined paper cups or styrofoam they will melt when the resin heats up

- Plenty of beer to have a good time too


Now that I've gotten the materials (that I could remember I might update some more once I'm done) out of the way lets get to the fun part... actually building this sucker!

[UrDoneSRH]

STEP 1 - Strip the area of the vehicle that you intend on working on.


STEP 2 - Draw out your plans, it makes everything a lot easier when you sit down and plan everything out your going to do, step by step. Know what your going to do before you do it! Keep in mind that your creating the shape, whatever your structural shape is, is the shape the resin will take, keep in mind it will sag a lil bit to give it that rounded shape. If you want cool lookin wierd shapes, figure out how to make them and frame them.

Your imagination is the limit.



STEP 3 - Grab a pencil and paper and get crackin on your design, make sure the equipment your going to put in fits before you do anything.


STEP 4 - After you have your plans drawn out and know what you want, start measuring things out. Figure out how much space you have to work with.



STEP 5 - Get your MDF out and start measuring out what your going to need to build your design, always remember, MEASURE TWICE CUT ONCE. Now I will go into a side note on why we use MDF.

MDF is the least porous of materials available. Its dense, dense means less air gets through, less air getting through means a better seal, better seal, means better box, better box, better bass, you get the drift. I coat the inside of my box with resin after silicon/liquid nails in the corners just to make it that much more sealed.

STEP 6 - Cut out your wood, get the peices together to be assembled. Put wood glue on the edges before you put the boards together, air nail the peices together so they stay together easier while your screwing them. Screw about 4-5" from the corners and about every 3-4" in between.

[UrDoneSRH]

STEP 7 - Once your box is assembled, you will need to either cut the holes for your subs or build your speaker rings and speaker ring standoffs (standoffs are supports for the ring while fiberglassing that will be removed when your finished unless you think you need the support)



STEP 8 - Now this is the part I was talking about putting resin on the inside of the box after you silicon or liqiud nail the corners of your box




First off get your gloves, have your brushes ready and a mixing stick. Your going to get out your cup for mixing, pour it about 1/2 way full (since its prolly your first time mixing, you dont wanna waste it, coating the inside of the box is good mixing practice also). Then you will put in your mekp drops, make sure you have a mixing stick (I use left over scraps cut into about 1/2-1" by 3-5" mdf peices). Below I have listed mixing proportions out of my installing study guide from school. Now mix away, a good 30sec-1min of mixing should be fine. Now get your brush and start spreading it on. This is your first time so expect to screw up somewhere, dont get down, just keep on keepin on. You will know youve mixed it to hot (too much MEKP) or too light (takes a long time to dry) after youve covered the inside of your box. If it hasnt dried in 15-20 minutes, you can either wait it out, continue working on other portions of the project or you can do what I do and mix up another hotter batch and spread it on your weak batch, this will help it cure quicker.

[UrDoneSRH]

STEP 9 - It's good to have a extra set of hands for this step. Lay your fleece over your box, have your assistant hold the fleece tight across the shape you want. Bust out your staple gun and start stapling. You want to keep the staples close together so it will hold the shape better. Start at the corners and work your way around. If you start in the center, you run the risk of having slack when you make it to the end, which is just crap your gonna have to sand out later, so if you wanna do the extra work thats on you.





Hopefully you get the basic idea behind stretching the fleece from the pictures, its very simple to do.

MIXING RATIOS: Ounces/Drops

4/32
6/48
8/64
10/80

Now do I actually count out 64 drops everytime I mix resin, HELL NO. I've learned to eyeball it, but when I started, I learned the drop method, I can squirt out the exact right amount by eye/feel now.



STEP 10 - Finally we are glassing. Get your fiberglass gear back out. Now remember, before you mix, do anything, make sure your not flingin this crap all over the place, especially on yourself, it SUCKS to pull your arm hairs out. Wear clothes you do not care about, I have ruined many many many many many many many pairs of dickies pants, and cool shirts, shoes while doing fiberglass work.

Now remember before you how mixed your resin... if you mixed to hot, do a few less drops, if you mixed to light, put a few more... its trial and error, fiberglass is all about experience, so you cant get good at it if youve never screwed up and done the wrong thing.

DONT GET DISCOURAGED EVER!

Now I think we are ready to start doing the fun stuff!!!

Step 11 - Now that your mentally prepared and know hopefully enough to get you through I will lay it all down for you.

This is not painting, do not brush the resin on. Dab, dab dab dab dab dab. I can not stress this enough, only brush stroke to spread resin if youve poured out too much (dont pour it until your comfortable working with it).

Mix your resin, dab your brush in the cup, scrap off excess resin on the side of the cup, and pour a tiny bit on the fleece from your cup. Now BLOT, DAB, BLOT DAB, SPREAD, BLOT DAB, DIP IN CUP, you get the idea. Now do that until the fleece turns to a brown color, the darker the better.

DO NOT FIBERGLASS BETWEEN YOUR SPEAKER RINGS YOU WILL JUST HAVE TO CUT THE STUFF OUT, DONT MAKE THINGS HARD ON YOURSELF! you'll see what I mean below

Try to not mix your resin too hot, you want to have time to work on this since its probably your first time. Also mixing hot promotes cracking and warping while curing and usage, so keep that in mind. You will know the resin is done when it starts to gum up. It will become unworkable very quick once it starts to cure.

Notice the darker areas in the 2nd picture, that is what you want it to look like, the darker the better

In these last 2 pictures you will see my friend cutting out the unused fleece in the middle



STEP 12 - Now that youve put your first layer of fiberglass on. Get some fiberglass mat. Shred or cut (cutting is cleaner but shredding meshes better because the edges will bind to the other peices better). Now repeat what you did with the fleece and resin with the fiberglass mat. Only now, instead of just blotting it on, spread some resin (painter style) onto the work area, lay the fiberglass mat over it, work the mat from one side to the other to prevent air bubbles, they are the enemy. Blot the mat until its completely soaked in resin, now lay the next peice and continue.


<< See the stand inside on the right hole? Take that out once your box is solid.






Now thats about all the pictures I've got, I dont have any of my 2nd layer of fiberglass, or how I've filled in the gap between the middle of the subs for the capacitor. I will upload those when I have a chance.

I hope I could be helpful for anyone who wanted to do this that never knew how, or anyone who now wants to try cuz of this thread. I couldnt do this a year ago. Just try, do a practice run to learn how before you undertake a project like I have. Its a lot of hard work and planning, but its TOTALLY worth it!

I'm going to refine this DYI in the next few days, add more pictures and some more detailed instructions.

[Boost_Lee]

interesting

[GunRunner]

lets get some paint on that and finish the install..looks good so far..

[Mike]

yea i wana see a finished pic! hah im excited to see how it turns out

[1loudaccord]

wouldnt it make more sence to fiberglass the whole box rather then just the front cause what are you gonna do to make the back look as good as the face of the subs,

sorry for bitching but maybe once the final pics r done it will make sence but from how i see it now it seems like your in for alot of sanding and figureing out what to do with the back and front

[maroonaccord2.2]

wouldnt it make more sence to fiberglass the whole box rather then just the front cause what are you gonna do to make the back look as good as the face of the subs

The box had to be solid, and having a wood base/back is best for his application. When those subs hit, it can flex the encloure. The more glass there is, the more of a chance it'll flex and then response is sacrificed. I think the progress looks damn good..... that shit takes practice, I know.

[1loudaccord]

i understand why the backing is on there but what im saying is its gonna have a wood finish on the back and a fiberglass front? that would sorta look silly imo, im sayin why not extend the fiberglass around the back and sides so it all has the same shiny finish

[UrDoneSRH]

ok i guess i shouldve included EXACTLY what my plans are lol. i kinda left you guys with just what ive done instead of what its gonna be.. i was tryin to just help people learn to do this cuz its so easy.

basically im going to remake most of the paneling in my car. around the opening of the trunk, when you lay down the back seat. is all going to be new paneling, wrapped probably in vinyl, possibly painted depending on how i feel about sanding. ive been talking with a guy on here that lives about an hour away from me that paints about painting boxes i build for myself or others.

anyways, what my plans are, is after the new paneling in the front, i will build a trim peice for in front of the box, since it sits right behind my rear strut bar, im going to showcase the bar. i might wrap the box in carpet, havents decided yet. for the sides of the box im going to build trim peices also.. it is going to be closed off and clean, the focus will be on the strut bar and the top of the box with the fiberglass.

behind the box is going to sit a beauty panel, the capacitor, that will sit in the middle of the subs, will have the power and ground run out the back through the V shape i put in it. the beauty panel will have black carpet on it. on the back side of alllllll of that stuff will be the trunk portion. the part im working on now is meant to only be seen from the inside. the back end will start from the beauty panel. on the right side of the trunk facing the left will be 2, isobarik 12" type-r alpines in a ported enclosure. the top of it will be fiberglassed also. on the left side of the trunk on the left side will be my amp rack facing the right side of the trunk, the amps will probably be flush mounted. or have some really cool shaping around them and be slightly raised stepping downward. there will be a false floor so i will still have access to my spare, which i plan on buying another stock 92 ex rim, powder coating the same as my others (my coworkers friend does it for 45 bucks per rim, paint prep included). i want the stock rim back there to showcase the false floor, i might put plexi glass over the tire.

there will be trim paneling above the isobarik subs and the amp rack painted a glossy black and im going to put either stickers, or have some one airbrush/paint on the logo/name for the shop im going to start in a few years.

thats about all i can think of right now, im pretty buzzed.

this projecy may take awhile to get done because funds are short, materials are EXPENSIVE and all the equipment im going to be putting in is gonna run me about a grand. this project is gonna run me about 1500-2000 when its done, materials and equipment. im sooooo glad i dont have to pay labor!

lemme know what you guys think of my plans, any input good or bad helps the end product. it needs to look good to other people other than me otherwise it looses its purpose. i want people to be like WOW! how the hell did he do that?!

peace

PS
thanks for all the postive feedback, it makes me feel a lot better about my work. ill post up some pics of customer vehicles ive done. just so you guys know ive worked on celeb vehicles doing custom work. richie sambouragh of bon jovi's ferrari 360 spider. jose (drummer from incubus') f150 truck. lots of custom boxes. a full trunk in a 72 impala. and a full back end of a 03 denali (which my former boss FUCKED UP!)

[turboaccordlx]

diy

[UrDoneSRH]

ya i noticed that... but ive been drunk and/or tired everytime ive looked at this so... ya ill edit it later. thanks for the heads up

[Maple50175]

Sweet

[UrDoneSRH]

thanks