Question about Fiberglass enclosure fabrication

Hey everyone.

I've never built a fiberglass enclosure. Getting ready to start an install for my son's 2013 Ford Focus HB for his birthday. Going to flip the spare tire and do a FG enclosure inside the spare tire for an SI BM MK IV sub or an Alpine type R shallow 12 (have both), depending on how much space we can end up with.

I've been reading tutorials and watching videos on FG techniques. The one thing that I am unsure of is the best way to attach the MDF top of the enclosure to the FG lower portion.

I've seen guys wrap the fiberglass up and over the top of the MDF, but it looked terrible.

I can see that part of the problem might be that the fiberglass shape might not be a flat planar surface to mate up well to the MDF. If it isn't flat, what is the best way to join the two? Construction adhesive?

I've seen other fiberglass jobs where they mated the main enclosure to the mdf panel by stapling some material to both and fiberglassing together.


I did a quick sketchup drawing to show what I am planning. Any advice from the experts is greatly appreciated.

Attachment 5514

Cut a hole in wood, lay wood on spare, glass over top of wood into spare.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...d/100_1534.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...d/100_1536.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...d/100_1538.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...d/100_1540.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...d/100_1565.jpg

Of course, that all depends on if you can kill a little space for the riser.....

you could also use construction adhesive to glue it in place. Any hardware store will have it, it is thick so you won't need that absolute flat mating surface and is damn strong.

Thanks guys. Chad, I haven't gotten detailed dimensions yet, but I think we might have an inch or two for the riser. Doing it your way makes perfect sense if there is room for it. It is also good to know that construction adhesive will work as well.

The raiser will actually add a significant amount of airspace thus lowering f3 and giving a tad bit of efficiency edge.

Yeah that's the box I first thought of reading the Op post.. Beat me to it Chad.
The most kickassness spare tire enclosure I've seen yet. Definitely looks like the way to do it.
What Chad's not showing is how he vented that thing, tuned to 30hz or something if memory serves correctly. Pretty damn cool!
Makes me want to glass something now I've finally gotten over my fear that resin would eat me like the blob or kill me or something scary, but I've run all out of projects. :pout:

LOL. I went a couple of years without touching car audio except for the system I put in the Arctic Cat Wildcat Trail and now I am in the middle of two systems at once.

I found Chad's build on MSS. Cool way to add the port on the outside of the enclosure! Itching for my son and I to start taking some measurements and finalizing the plan. I think we are going to put the components and amp/processor in first and then use a wedge enclosure that I was going to use in the GMC that doesn't fit to test both subs in the car and see which one he likes. Then we can build the enclosure.

Here's how I did mine. Essentially glassed in the bottom, then built up MDF sides, which absorbs resin really well. Lay up a few layers of glass mat coming up the sides of the MDF.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps5w3pafha.jpg

Then I just made a panel for the top and put some butyl rope down between the false floor and the risers and screwed it down.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...psdfcfgfkz.jpg

Finished product:

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps8j3bgmqo.jpg


It was a long weekend, but oh my GOD the improvement over this:

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps99ecb3f6.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chad

Cut a hole in wood, lay wood on spare, glass over top of wood into spare.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...d/100_1534.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...d/100_1536.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...d/100_1538.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...d/100_1540.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...d/100_1565.jpg

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Chad when you did this badboy it looks like you used some kind of cloth, knytex etc.. Dunno. But did you do that all up in one lay-up? Just curious. I'm inclined from my extremely limited experience to say no, but thought I'd ask for learning sake.

Julian from the Trailer Park Boys was here :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tRidiot

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps8j3bgmqo.jpg

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His glass does not have ridges like that.

and he drinks rum n cokes, not bourbon neat.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by slade1274

and he drinks rum n cokes, not bourbon neat.

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Scotch. Balvenie Doublewood, to be specific. ;)

I don't know anything about the TPB, though, so that joke was unfortunately lost on me. :/

I didn't mean to hijack the thread. Julian on TPB always has a drink in his hand, it's kind of a running gag.

https://cdn.vidyard.com/thumbnails/3...uxZji8yeQQ.jpg

Decided to use the alpine swr-t12 that wouldnt fit in the wife's build on this car instead. It wants more space than I can get in the wheel so I am going with a stacked fab enclosure that wraps around the spare. Starting build tonight.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

The plan....http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...2fd1a7964f.jpg

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

Progress

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...16d9d6976a.jpg

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Babs

Chad when you did this badboy it looks like you used some kind of cloth, knytex etc.. Dunno. But did you do that all up in one lay-up? Just curious. I'm inclined from my extremely limited experience to say no, but thought I'd ask for learning sake.

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Layed fabric first then right on top of that matting I cut up so I could easily lay it in. I let that dry so I could pull it from the wheel and then built it up with matting.