Bought the Civic Hatch lease out, so rebooting the install thread

[geolemon]

This isn't where I was planning to install the actuator, but I needed a bit more initial tilt than I had, to have torque to open this. This is "full open" for this 6" actuator. It's about 2" 'less open' than I originally planned, but actually, it's good.

It actually also gives me the ability to add a spring strut where I was originally going to tuck the actuator, although the same physics apply, so we'll see.

Not to mention the weight of three amps. So I'll probably need one.

Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk

[Jscoyne2]

So ive only skimmed through the last half or so of this thread but man. You are making this. So difficult for yourself.

Just. Do it. In. Fiberglass. You can have thinner walls. Exact curves to match the car which maximizes airspace as well as stops flexing because any side touching a wall is reinforced automatically.

I saw something about you wanting to try two different size subs or some such? You could build an enclosure for each one really quickly.

Glass the back side. Make a baffle for the size. Wrap in fabric. Glass it. Done.

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk

[Jscoyne2]

Also. Im extremely concerned about you having enough airspace for those massive subs.

As I've been building my hatch. I've been considering how i would have gone about it in a more stealthy approach.

I've been looking at the corner panels. The areas directly left and right of the rear seats. My car has MASSIVE empty areas on each side. I was thinking about putting subs in there but from some reading, subs in the middle of a car aren't super effective.

However, i could have easily fit all of my amps/dsp/wiring in those areas if i utilized both sides. Possibly even without modifying the oem plastic. The ultimate in stealth.

As for subs. That'd leave me my entire back hatch. I could have used the traditional box or do a fiberglass sub enclosure in the back right/corner of the car (which i did), or take out all the foam/back tire and create a flat small bit wide enclosure.

I did the small wide enclosure in my dads old mustang and I got around 2cuft that way and used shallow mount subs to keep the box height from being intrusive.

Some custom carpet and foam ontop and you have an entirely custom, super hidden. Good sounding car.

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk

[geolemon]

I appreciate the detailed response, but please realize of those points have been covered in detail in this thread... Including that I would have fired my shops old fabricators for taking an approach like this back in those days.

If I even added ONE inch (maybe two) of extra protrusion I would have turned this into an easy install - including sub clearance for the upper chamber of the enclosure. Those are inches I don't need to compromise, though. I'm not a fan of "compromise".

Note this install is heavily reliant on fiberglass - we just aren't there yet. The upper rack will be the only part of this WITHOUT fiberglass. Since its got an overhang, a fleece stretch is needed to start the structure, just for the top chamber.

The original plan was for an upper/lower split, which would have created more surface for amps to be mounted to - but even with extreme bracing I am never a fan of mounting amps directly on a sub enclosure. The side by side arrangement not only isolates vibrations, but affords another 'convertible' trick that will be a surprise later...

"Easy" isn't ever the design goal for my personal cars. It's an opportunity to explore what's possible - which IMO you should never do with customer cars. So this type of install inherently differs from what we'd have done in the old install bays.

The 1.5 - 1.6 cu.ft (after displacement) are plenty for either the 12W7 and 12 GTi (or any of my XBL subs)- I was actually anticipating less, which is a reason for the large sub amp.

That said - I'd also have a little faster progress if I had more than an hour or two every couple days - but I can live with that.

[geolemon]

Ok, my buddy finally brought back my router and template table. Now I can do more than structural framework. Yeah!

It's been holding up my fiberglassing as well, I always want to make sure everything test fits up before I do any 'glassing. I want to get these rings re-made. Reminiscent of the 90s or not, it's just not possible to make perfect circles by jigsaw.

And I don't have too much structure in that area yet, so I'm also going to need to be careful with my mix ratio, not get too aggressive. I need it to stay flat.

Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk

[geolemon]

Back in the basement shop (aka "a terrible place to use a router" - at least before I added the dust collection)...
The old school Jasper jig for cutting the circles.

I flush mounted it into this little table saw wing mount I built years ago. It's a hollow chamber with a dust collection port at the bottom, hook it up to the dust collector and it sucks all the sawdust.

When I added the roundovers, note this little detail - I skipped where the grille is tight to the edge. I think it will look cleaner.

Also - I'm combining two 1/2" rings for a total height of 1", which is a bit taller than the 3/4" that I jigsaw cut.

As you can see, even though I'm pretty good with a jigsaw, it's for sure better to cut perfect circles with a router.

[Chris12]

I love my Jasper Circle jig. It undoubtedly makes cleaner circles vs. using a jigsaw

[Notloudenuf]

I made my own circle jig but I really wish I had a jasper.

[geolemon]

That one in the basement on my small table saw I usually use just for circles, because my DIY dust chamber makes it hard to swap bits.

My Husky table I love for template work. It's cheap,it's plastic, and being light means you have to be a little creative so it doesn't slide...
But on the positive side it's large, reasonably flat, the T-tracks give it versatility. Best of all it folds down to nothing, I keep it in my garage loft.

I've tried to make my own from a tool stand before, used Formica for the top - but then it's still hard to adjust the router unless you buy a couple hundred dollar "real" router mount sight-unseen (though in the old shop with the trust fund owner, we went big with nice vacuum cabinets and even installed linear actuators on the mounts to raise and lower the routers, just because we could). Those don't fold up so they take up space when not in use.

For $99 this is good for a garage setup, for doing template work. I even built a fence for making trim for the house. I don't mind adjusting it from below. It's not bad at all.

I try to do routering on days when it's not raining, so I can pull it out of the garage. Same with the big table saw, it's on a rolling tool stand... I like to keep my garage clean.

Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk

[geolemon]

So I thought I was done listening. I really fell in love with the Bohlender Graebner Neo3 PDRs - I can't convey the nearly massless detail to you, it's fantastic. Tons of overlap with the domes so I could put that Xover point wherever.

But - they do start to roll off about 15khz, and that keeps weighing on me. I didn't miss any "sparkle" or "air" when I was listening, but I don't want to compromise, and that keeps eating at me.

So I pulled these out.

I've kept these Focal TN52 tweeters for a decade because they are simply my favorites. The other pair are TN45 which are nice also and slightly smaller ... if nothing else fun to compare, but the TN52 are my non-beryllium favorites.
Both pair are new, from my old days selling Focal. So should be fine to consider for use here:

So I guess I have some more listening to do, starting with the Neo3s again...