How'd they do that?? Fiberglass enclosure project. Step by step

[bhppy101]

Ever look online or in a car magazine and wonder how they made those fancy schmancie fiberglass boxes? WellI am tackling a new late night project. This will probably take a few days of posting so I decided to take pictures of the progress and show everyone the process of making a fiberglass subwoofer enclosure.

Many moons ago.... I used to compete in those boom boom shows and national IASCA competitions with my jetta and golf.....So since I am older and wiser....lol....(so I might think) I decided to take the plunge and start glassing again! The beetle got me back in the mood!!


So stay tuned and feel free to ask questions as we go along.

First pic is of my box that I slapped together when I first got my buggy. What you see is a Rockford Fosgate 400 watt mono amp pushing an Audiobahn dual voice coil 12" sub. It sounds great but takes up way too much space. Please excuse the mess....its sand from my wetsuit!:




This shot is of some materials that I got at my local Home Depot.: Pictured below is a gallon of fiberglass resin ($31.99), chopped fiberglass matt ($5.99), masking tape, and a whole bunch of cheap brushes($6.49 for 15 grushes).

[bhppy101]

OK....here we go.....First step is to decide where you will be mounting your equipment and get an idea of how it will be facing. In my case... I decided to mount my sub on the passengers side facing toward the drivers side.

Now.....mask the area that you plan on glassing. You will be using a lot of tape so be prepared. This step ensures that you don't get any resin on the interior of the car.

[bhppy101]

Once everything is masked of well.....mix your resin and hardner(comes with the resin) according to the instructions. The more hardner (catalyst) that you use.....the faster the resin sets.

Paint the area with a coat on mixed resin using your cheap brushes. Now start placing your fiberglass matt on top of the resin you just painted on. I cut 3-4" wide strips of the matt before I started. As you are laying the matt down....keep brushing on coats of resin so that the matt is totally saturated. You should see no white spots on the matt if you are doing this correctly. After I completely cover the area with matt and resin.....I take the brush and start pushing the mat down in a poking fashon so the you can see no air bubbles. Air bubbles = weak structure.

[bhppy101]

after a about 30 minutes to an hour.....you can lay a second coat of resin and chopped mat. Make sure that you use at least 2 layers or more to the structure so that it remains nice and stiff. This will keep the shape of the panels.

This fiberglass panel will be the making of the back of the subwooer enclosure.

[bhppy101]

Third layer of chopped matt and resin before I pull the mould off of the panel. As you can see....it's a messy job......but someone's got to do it!

[Mr.Yellow]

Dude I totaly love you as a new org member. you have great information and you totaly emprace the new beetle spirit

[bhppy101]

Originally Posted by MY1STNB

Dude I totaly love you as a new org member. you have great information and you totaly emprace the new beetle spirit

Thanks!! I'm glad to be part of this org...It has given me so many great ideas.......and I get to see some awsome V-dubs as well

[bhppy101]

well....I got up at the buttcrack of dawn and pulled the mould off of the panel.

when you are prying the mould off.....work slowly peeling the tape back from the edges.....work all the way around little by little until the mould just pops right out.

Heres what it looks like right out of the Beetle

[bhppy101]

now remove most of the tape off the back....don't worry if you cant get it all....not a big deal.



Well it's off to work....Stay tuned....the fun has only just begun! I know that it doesnt look like much now....but I think you'll be surprized when you see what it looks like in the end

[GINA]

I'm very excited to see how this will turn out! Thanks for all the great how-to's recently, and nice pics to boot!

[FineExampl]

I'm Soooooo interested in this thread. I'm gonna subscribe.

[nagal]

Some one read my mind!! Hey stay out of that area

I have been wanting to make some fiberglass enclosure but had no idea where to start. Now I do

[iScott]

This would be a fitting place to put my upcoming Type-S. Mmmmm

[bhppy101]

Ok....I'm Back...

Now you need to go find some MDF (medium density fiberboard) at Home Depot or your local lumber yard. Try not to use regular particle board because they tend to fall apart easily. If you cant find any MDF...you can use some kind of plywood if you like.

Cut two identical round pieces with a jigsaw or a router with a circle cutting jig. I chose to use a router because it makes perfect circles....but a jigsaw will be just fine.

Make sure that the diameter is at least 3/4" larger than the diameter of your subwoofer.

If you want to just use one circle....you can....but I am using 2 pieces so that when I mount my sub it will sit flush with the box.

[bhppy101]

The top rings inside cutout will be the same diameter as the subwoofer.



I got lucky and it was a perfect fit!

[bhppy101]

Just to give you a better picture of the result that we are trying to acheive....the two rings will be glued to each and the bottom ring will be the ring that the sub is mounted to.

I stacked the two on top of each other....now I have to cut another hole just big enough to mount the sub into

[bhppy101]

Glue your 2 rings together and clamp or nail them down...I chose to nail them.



Now go back to the buggy and position your fiberglass piece and your ring so that you can get an idea on how to trim your fiberglass back.



Use a permanent marker to trace where you want to trim the fiberglass back. I use a dremel with a cutoff disk to cut it....it makes it very easy and accurate.

Now lay some more masking tape down just on the corner edge because we are going to do a little more glassing.

[bhppy101]

Take some more MDF and create a bottom for your enclosure.



Once you get the general shape that you want....we have to join these two pieces together with more fiberglass and chopped mat. I layed down 2 layers along the edge to join the 2. Once this dries (about 20 minutes) I will lay one more layer to make a strong bond between the 2 pieces.

[bhppy101]

I hope you guys dont mind this looooooooong thread!

[iScott]

Originally Posted by bhppy101

I hope you guys dont mind this looooooooong thread!

Not at all, dude. I'm enjoying the hell out of it. Great work.