I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my WRX

Posted by: ithoughti

I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my WRX - 09/05/2006 15:02

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.

Posted by: JBjorgen

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 09/05/2006 17:06

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?

Posted by: ithoughti

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 09/05/2006 18:35

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.

Posted by: cushman

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 09/05/2006 23:30

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!

Posted by: JBjorgen

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 10/05/2006 10:24

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

Posted by: Mach

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 10/05/2006 11:04

Yes, bring us pictures! More install pr0n.

Posted by: sein

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 10/05/2006 13:42

Quote:
Yes, bring us pictures! More install pr0n.

We all love it. Nice home made custom ICE is great fun to look at.

Posted by: cushman

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 10/05/2006 14:34

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

Ok, I'll post some in progress pics now, and a full writeup later.

I've taken a bunch of pictures throughout the process, but I'm not quite finished yet.

Posted by: eliceo

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 10/05/2006 18:20

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

Posted by: JBjorgen

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 11/05/2006 11:33

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

Posted by: cushman

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 11/05/2006 11:57

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

2005 - Up

I have a 2000.

Posted by: JBjorgen

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 11/05/2006 12:56

Ah. Nevermind then.

Posted by: cushman

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 11/05/2006 13:43

Quote:
Ah. Nevermind then.

It would have been nice if they had it for my model year! I don't mind making my own, especially since the materials for mine cost about $50 and their box is over $400. I like the experience of making my own, I'm learning a lot.

It helps that one of the VPs of JL Audio drives a 2005 Subaru Wagon. I suspect that he was one of the driving forces for getting that model sub box produced, along with the JL Cleansweep.

Posted by: Mach

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 11/05/2006 14:12

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

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 11/05/2006 14:58

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

2005 - Up

I have a 2000.

Have you seen this? I've had it bookmarked for years and it looks like he isn't selling them anymore..

Posted by: mlord

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 11/05/2006 19:09

Quote:
Cushman could have bought one of these

And what would be the fun in that?

Cheers

Posted by: ithoughti

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 13/05/2006 15:22

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!

Posted by: ithoughti

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 13/05/2006 18:50

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:

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 18/05/2006 00:17

Quote:
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:

It's too bad you can't find a way to create these on a little assembly line. You'd sell a ton to the Impreza owners.

Posted by: ithoughti

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 20/05/2006 20:53

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.

Posted by: sein

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 20/05/2006 21:02

That is totally sweet!

Posted by: mlord

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 20/05/2006 23:02

Well done, Dude!

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

Cheers

Posted by: FireFox31

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 24/05/2006 00:46

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.

Posted by: ithoughti

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 24/05/2006 17:34

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.

Posted by: loren

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 24/05/2006 20:18

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

Posted by: ithoughti

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 24/05/2006 21:41

Quote:
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

Hey man...the wagon is a bit easier I think, AND you get to keep your spare in the trunk!

Cost of materials...hmmm...

Fiberglass: 8sf packages @ $5 each * 8 = $40
Epoxy: 1gallon @ $33 each * 3 = $100

GOOD Respirator: $25

Misc supplies:
Tape: $5
Paintbrushes (about 10 really cheap ones): $5
Mixing buckets (10): $10
Latex gloves: $5
MDF: $10
Hot glue gun and glue sticks (el cheapo one) $10
Dowels: $3
Carpeting: $10

Misc supplies = $60 (+or- $5)

TOTAL: $225 give or take (wow, did I add that right? sheesh!

)

Other supplies that I needed and had on hand:

Small hand saw
Dremmel muliti tool and cutting disks
Sandpaper
Goggles
Spray-on adhesive
Scissors
Drill and bits
Some felt like material

and probably some other misc stuff I can't remember

Posted by: loren

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 24/05/2006 22:07

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.

Posted by: ithoughti

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 25/05/2006 11:22

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.

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 27/05/2006 13:48

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

Posted by: tanstaafl.

Re: I've been making a fiberglass sub box for the spare tirewell in my - 29/05/2006 16:44

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.