I've seen many fiberglass subwoofer guides that show how to make a custom fiberglass sub box. None of these guides have really explained how exactly to do it. Either they don't have enough pictures or do not explain it correctly. In this guide I am going to give you the In's and Out's of Making a custom fiberglass subwoofer box. I have decided to make a sub box for my Honda Prelude. I am going to be installing a JL Audio W3V3 with a 500 watt Alpine Amplifier.Custom Fiberglass Subwoofer Box:Materials:1 Gallon of Fiberglass Resin (find at Auto Zone, Advanced Auto Parts, Etc)Cheap Paint Brushes (probably about 10; you will throw away after each use)Rubber Gloves for fiberglassingFiberglass mat (about 6-8 packages depending on the size of your box)MDF Wood 1/2?2 Dowel Rods2 Rolls of Masking TapeAluminum FoilCheap Mixing Cups1-2 sq yards of fleece (hobby lobby)Fiberglass Sub Box:Ok, time to start making a fiberglass sub box! The first step to making the box is drawing out some plans on what you want and how to you want to do it. When fiberglassing, you can't really fix your mistakes because when fiberglass resin is dry, its DRY.We wanted to make a simple box that would save space, and look oem to the prelude. We started by laying masking tape down so no fiberglass resin gets on the carpet, because if it does, its ruined. Also, make sure to tape extra space then your actually going to use just to be safe.We did about 2-3 layers of tape and then also added some aluminum foil as a layer, as to not get any glass on the carpet. When you think that you have enough tape and there is no possible way that anymore fiberglass could get through to the carpet; do another layer.The next step after you have tapped everything is to start fiberglassing. Before you mix your fiberglass with your hardener, you should cut strips out of your fiberglass mat. I usually make strips about 7-9 inches wide. When you are ready, what you need to do is mix your fiberglass with your hardener in the mixing cup. The hardener will have how much fiberglass resin to hardener mix to make. Make sure you prepare before you start fiberglassing because it dries somewhat quick. Paint a layer of fiberglass resin onto the tape without any mat. After you've painted a layer put fiberglass mat down and paint another layer over fiberglass after that. Wait about 10 minutes and then do another layer before it dries completely.Now, wait at least an hour and let the fiberglass resin completely dry. When its dry, you can take the mold out and tear off all the tape and aluminum foil. Put it back in your trunk and draw out where you want to cut off. Make sure you go slowly and don't take all of it off at once.Now you need to cut out a MDF ring for your subwoofer to screw into. Some prefer to make a flush ring with a router but I like the one ring way better. I am using a 10 inch jl audio w3 so I cut out a 10 inch ring and used the specs from the box to make a ring the right size.Then we pulled out our newly trimmed fiberglass box and put another layer of fiberglass mat on it. Generally you want to do about 5-6 layers of fiberglass. Some say you should be able to stand on your box without it breaking. Another good fiberglassing tip is to remove as many air bubbles as possible. This will make the mold a lot stronger because there's no air pockets. You do this by jabbing the fiberglass rather than actually trying to paint it.Ok, enough playing around; back to fiberglassing! Next we put on a last layer of fiberglass mat and resin. After this has totally dried (about 3 hours) we started sanding and cutting to get the shape we wanted with our custom fiberglass sub box.Once your back mold looks good to you its time to set your MDF ring up how to want your sub to be. Hold your ring up where you think you would like it. Cut some dowel rods to size and position your ring how you want it. We used superglue and epoxy to keep the dowel rods and the MDF ring in place. Its important that your ring is very strong and sturdy because we are going to stretch fleece over it.Make sure that when your ring is in place every angle looks good and even to you. When you stretch the fiberglass and start painting resin on it, there's no turning back.Now is the fun part. This is where your fiberglass subwoofer box starts to come together. Grab your fleece and stretch it over your mold you have made. Be sure to stretch it as tight as possible so there are no folds or loose parts. The fleece should be touching every edge of the back of the fiberglass mold.Use a staple gun to secure the fleece to the subwoofer fiberglass mold. Staple the staples in the side of the fiberglass box so you don't fiberglass over them and have them be stuck forever.Once you think its done look it over again from all side and make sure it looks how you want it to look because once the fiberglass resin is on, its that shape forever.When everything looks good to go, its time to start glassing. Mix a good amount of fiberglass (about 12 oz) and paint the fiberglass over the fleece. Paint it on thick, and make sure to go all the way to the edge so you mold the two pieces (front and back) together. There's no need to paint the whole ring because we are going to cut it out anyway. Do fiberglass the fleece to the MDF ring.Once its dry (took about an hour because we used a lot of glass) you can cut off the access fleece from the edge of the mold and around the ring. At this time you should be able to pull the dowel rods out of the box and the ring should stay where it is. Once you've trimmed off the bulk excess of the fleece, throw the box in your car and see how it looks. Looks pretty good here!Not to mess up the outer shape of our fiberglass sub box, we need to add the rest of our fiberglass layers to the inside of the box. Add about 2-3 layers of fiberglass mat to the inside of the mold. Make sure to fiberglass in between where the two molds came together.Once you finish the inside of the box get out the sander and the jig saw and cut off all the excess crap around your fiberglass box. We are going to use carpet on our box, so we do not need to sand the actually fiberglass mold. Instead we just sand all the corners and edges so it fits snug into the trunk of the Honda Prelude.For aesthetics and some extra strength (since JL subwoofers are so loud) we added two more layers of the carbon fiber style fiberglass mat. This will ensure strength and reliability.After this step, you are done! Just pop your subwoofer in there and make a tiny hole for your speaker wire. If you are too add carpet, you can do the same as you did with the fleece and stretch it around your mold. If you are wanting to paint your custom fiberglass subwoofer box, you will need to get some bondo and a lot of sand paper to smooth out the fiberglass sub mold.
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