Just thought I would post up the build pics of my lastest project to get some good bass in the MINI without taking up much space. I looked at what we normally **rry and every time I would look at something to go to one side or on the floor of the boot it always ate up space that we used. I then figured out that we almost never stack tall objects in the boot and most of the time it is short pieces or something that gets laid down.

So the result is the following pics.

Please notice it is not complete as yet, I will post up the finished pics next week when I hopefully complete it. This will be housing two RE Audio RE8 8" dual voice coil subs.

 

Look forward to your results. Can you elaborate on your process?

 

I kinda worry about whether thats gonna rattle. . .

it looks like really nice work though

 

looks like: stiffen rear shelf, frame out the shape, stretch fleece for nice countours, soak with resin, reinforce with glass. typical process for doing a custom box.

I have to say....I'm intrigued. Hadn't thought of this location.

 

finally, someone with skills can do the custom box i always wanted~!!! no one ever understand me or even want to hear me talk about my dream sub box location~!

is the box suspended? or is it tall enough to be support inside the trunk? more infos please! and i'm f****** loving the idea and the box! keep us updated!

 

Sorry, I'm used to posting this stuff up on a fiberglassing forum where the process is understood.

Basic process for this was;

Tape off the rear parcel shelf
Make a mold of it with fiberglass and resin
Build it up till it is strong enough to not flex
Trim and cut the negative mold till it is the same shape

Tape off the underside of the negative mold
Make a positive mold with more fiberglass and resin
Build it up until it is stiff enough that you can stand on it without it flexing

Make mounting rings for subs and them trim rings to go around them
Glue and brad nail said ring together
Make mounting stand-offs to get the rings to the proper height
Made brace to go between rings

Strech and glue fabric to rings and down to sides of mold
Coat fabric with resin
Then and fiberglass and resin to fabric until it is as strong and molded piece

Final continuation will be to then sand until relatively smooth
Coat with body filler
Sand
Fill pin holes
Sand
Sand
Sand until to desired smoothness for either covering in fabric or painting

 

The box is suspended exactly like the parcel shelf by the two flat spots on either side.

I will be putting foam in between the enclosure and rear plastic panels to limit vibration, as well as the rear wiper motor cover.

When it is done and tested I will see about making copies, but it has been a long process getting this done.

 

Great work Greg. I love the location. Looks like it will turn out very well. Thanks for sharing.

 

damn that's going to be so incredible! I wish I had the ability to make that.

 

Any more progress on this? Looks awsome so far!

Are you going to be painting the sub enclosure (high gloss?), or using carpet?

 

I'm confused....where does the rear wiper moter cover fit into all this? I see you've made a mold of it but...?

 

Actually i'm going to try to do both. Pepper white paint on the top half to match the car and black carpet on the bottom to prevent scratches and such.

The wiper motor cover protrudes into the top of the storage area. If you look at the parcel shelf it is actually bumped up to clear the cover so the enclosure had to have a recess built in to it to clear the cover.

 

Please keep us posted on the progress.

What subs are you going to be running?

What volume do suspect will be available to the drivers?

 

Looks like a nice setup. I don't really need much extra space so I went with the traditional box in the boot. The fabricators reverse mounted the subs so they could build a smaller sealed box which helped with the space. That way I could fit two 12" DVC Directed Audio subwoofers and two PG amps with plenty of room to lay down the back seats.

 

I'll be running a pair of RE Audio 8" subs. Airspace is a major .65 cu. ft. for both subs after subtracting for speaker displacement. Good thing the REs are speced for .3-.35 cu. ft. per sub. I had to look long and hard for a speaker that would work in that small of an airspace.

 

I agree, very nice. I hadn't even thought of this spot either.

Copies would be good, keep us appraised

Will you need some sort of seperator in the box, or if you drive the two drivers off one channel do you not need to?

 

That is sweet! I cannot wait to see the final result.

 

There are FG fab shops that can take a nice mold from this and do layups very inexpensively, though you may have to spend some upfront on reusable molds.

 

I just asked for a quote for something like this over here in the UK. I was told £500-£1000!

I think it looks like an awesome solutions if its removable and sounds good. I would still be able to fit all my camping gear and a couple of mountain bikes in the back with this in place.

 

No divider in the box, since I'm using a mono bridged amp both speakers will be seeing the same signal. This will also net me about a 3dB gain by not dividing. You do give up a little tightness on the bass using a shared chamber, but hey it's a pair of 8"s, not like they are a loose speaker to start with.

I should actually have this done by sometime next week as I had a 4 hour sanding marathon yesterday getting everything smooth.

I'v got most of the materials to make a mold of this, which I plan to do if it comes out nice. Sort of why it's taking so long as I want to have the surface perfect.

That actually sounds about right for a custom one off piece. I've got probably 30-40 hours of work in to this along with $120 in materials. If you figure 40 hours at $50/hr for labor your looking at $2000 plus materials which falls in right between the £500-£1000 quote you got. If I can make a good copy of it I'll make them available for sale.

 

I would be interested if you were able to make something like this and ship it to the UK for a reasonable price and safely.

I am guessing once it has the subs in it would be easily removable if the wires had connectors on?

 

Soon as I get done I'll beable to see how much copies would be. Biggest thing would be the shipping charges for overseas, mainly because of size, weight won't be too much as it is fiberglass.

And yes it is being designed to be removable. I occasionally like to auto-x and weight of any type is bad.

 

So are there any updates to how your box finished?
Pics Pics Pics
I really want to see it installed.

 

No updates at present. Still working on a copy of my Accord box that I'm being paid for so this is still on hold right now.

I'll update as soon as I get some time to work on it.

 

Sounds good...can't wait:impatient