I've had my trunk broken into twice and my custom box, sub and amps stolen once, so I decided to make a box that would be hidden under the floor. I'll just keep a can on fix-a-flat and my AAA card handy for trips around town and throw the donut spare in the trunk for longer trips.

here is the progress so far:

First layer (I did 2 in the trunk and then pulled it out)


2 more layers done


My lovely basement makeshift 'workshop'


Trimmed with the speaker ring in:


The shelf for the amps & power block



Next step is stretching some t-shirt material over the top and epoxying that. I'll keep this updated.

I'm curious as to your design decision to have the speaker ring stick up above the floor level of the trunk. Was there not enough volume to mount it flush with the floor?

Are you planning on a raised floor to make the whole thing flat?

It looks higher than it is and the box sits down a little bit in the well. I think it sticks up about 3/4" Unfortunately the depth of the speaker made this a necessity.

Shouldn't be too hard to conceal that under the carpet, no need for a full false floor.

Weird. I'm doing mine right now, but mine is going onto the side of my trunk. Subaru Outback Wagon, though. I'm done with my 6 layers and now have to incorporate it into an MDF part I made up for the outside. What are the chances that we'd both be doing glass at the same time! I don't see a lot of other posts on here about fiberglassing!

You should not have admitted that. Now you must start a thread and post pictures.

Yes, bring us pictures! More install pr0n.

I would love to do, or rather buy something like that for my wrx wagon.

Cushman could have bought one of these. Perhaps someone makes one for the wrx wagon.

Ah. Nevermind then.

Any tips from those learnings would be most appreciated as I'm going to be doing the same thing later this year.

couple updates. I screwed it up the other day and had to do the inner frame over. I made it even better, so that the speaker was flush with the top of the box.

Keep in mind that this is going to be carpeted and out of view. This is not a pretty box...



Covered in t-shirt material. Yes I know it's 2 pieces, it had to be that way and I'm not worried about it.




Expoxified:




Its all dry so now I can do a layer of glass mat today and carpet in the afternoon and finish this crap up!

ok, another quick update. I put down a layer of fiberglass mat just now. First I spray adhesived it down and then coated in epoxy. Here is a pic, although it doesn't look a hell of a lot different than the above from yesterday:

DONE!

Here are some pix from just before installing it yesterday. I don't have any pix of it all wired up in the car, but you get the idea.



Here it is after I put another layer of glass down


Fits perfectly!




All carpeted and everything fits great.






In the wheel well, it is secured with the bolt that holds down the spare tire




I accidentally left those pliers in there and had to take the sub out to get them! Oops.





So, I need redo some of the wiring to make it all look pretty, but as of right now, it is installed and the trunk carpet goes right over it. It lays flat and you can't even tell that anything is in the trunk. Phew...it only took a damn month.

That is totally sweet!

Well done, Dude!

In this day, my hat's off to anyone else who makes their own kit from scratch, whatever the endeavor!

Cheers

Wow, that's something else! Stealth mode is the best!

What about the volume (space) of the box? Did you have to "tune" the box to the speaker, using the correct size empty space to make it sound good? That seems like a really difficult task.

thanks for the comments guys!

I'll try and take a couple shots of it complete in the trunk.

As far as 'tuning' it, the volume is about the same as the box I had before, 1.3cf, give or take. I was just hoping for the best as far as the shape was concerned and I think it sounds fine. It's a bit boomy but I think I can fix that with some different EQ settings. I haven't really messed with that too much yet.

Awesome. I just had my JL amps replaced yesterday and reinstalled in my WRX after they were stolen a few months ago. I REALLY want to do this in my spare tire well. If I had a garage I'd have done it years ago. Guess I'll have to find someone local who can lend me the space for a bit.

So, what was the total cost of materials?

-loren

Wow. Epoxy ain't cheap. More than I'd thought. Hrmm... dang I wish someone would just pump them out, I'd pay $200 for it I guess.

yeah, if you're only willing to pay $200 for it, then it's certainly not worth your time, unless you really enjoy the fabrication process. It takes quite a bit of time, especially if you want to make it look all pretty (not like mine!)

I'm sure you could search a bit and find a better deal on epoxy, I just went down to the local auto parts store and picked it up. Maybe some marine supply places would be cheaper.

Then there is the whole, living in an apartment thing. If you don't have your own driveway or garage, doing this at an apartment is not the easiest thing. I'm fortunate at my building that I have parking behind the building and no one goes into the boiler room in the basement, so I was able to to most of the project there. I don't know if you've ever worked with fiberglass/epoxy, but the stuff is really potent smelling. I made the mistake of doing a couple layers in the basement and you could smell it very well in my apartment on the 3rd floor. I did the rest outside.

Here is a link for someone doing this on a wagon: http://ydant.com/subwoofer_construction/

Here (attached, unless I can figure out how to put the image into the post itself now that the "Instant UBB Code" is broken) is the subwoofer installation that SWMBO has in her Legacy Outback. The industrial look is a necessity -- she hauls around heavy stuff (50-60 pounds) that slides and bangs around back there. This is a working car, not some showpiece.


Edit: image added -wfaulk

tanstaafl.