Bravox CS-603CF Kickpanels

[Impious 1,476]

So, build logs aren't really my thing. For one, my fabrication skills are easily bested by a monkey on narcotics. Second, I simply don't have the patience to stop and take pictures when I'm in the middle of doing something. But, a couple people have asked so......here it is. My attempt at building kickpanels to house the CS603CF comp set.

Thank you to audiolife for lending his ears while playing with the aiming, and GrampaDon for lending a hand at wrapping the kicks.

Onward to the pictures I suppose. First pictures are of the basic molds for the kickpanels. My vehicle happens to have an opening in each kickpanel location that vents into the fender area, so I fashioned a hole into the molds for both kickpanels so that the midbass will see an infinite baffle alignment. The molds also have kind of an odd shape at the top because they were originally trimmed to fit around my horns. Wish I hadn't done that now that I'm not using the horns as I could have used a little extra height to work with...but I was not going to make new molds, so I rolled with it.

The speaker baffles, which look a little like Mickey Mouse. Plunge router with circle jig FTMFW. First time I've countersunk with it (the midrange & tweeter baffles)....turned out pretty well IMO.

The comp set in their soon-to-be home.

Kickpanels in the kicks showing the aiming. I spent several hours spread over several weekend afternoons working on aiming. I felt this positioning did the best. I think the aiming might be a smidge different now as I originally didn't have quite enough clearance for the rear of the midbass with my initial aiming, and I can't remember when I took these pictures. But the aiming is pretty much the same, regardless.

And the kickpanels how they currently sit. I trimmed the shape some compared to the above pictures. It's starting to get a bit chilly up here, so I've been using a heat lamp and antique heater (that I'm honestly surprised works, and hasn't caught fire yet) to aid the curing process. The passenger side kick (right) has 2 layers of 'glass and the drivers side has 1 layer. I'd planned to put another layer on the passenger side tonight but got home from work late. The temperature is dropping the next couple days, not sure if I'll get anymore 'glass laid down again until Friday/Saturday. But my goal right now is to atleast get them functional this weekend. Bondo/sanding/finishing them off may end up waiting until spring depending on how the weather goes. If they start playing music before winter.....that's good enough for me.

And just for shits and giggles.....my ("son's") snake that I bought a few weeks ago He named it Joe Cool......

[Duran 387]

Nice! I like the progress!

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

Your glassing skills are better then mine. Mounting rings look good too!

[Randal Johnson 544]

looks Awesome bro !!! Wish I could hear this ride !!!

[sefugi 166]

Your fabrication skills may be easily bested by a monkey on narcotics, but not this time. I can only hope that on my next project my kicks progress as well as yours. Very Nice!!

[P-Dizzle 1]

Nice work.

[jalat 0]

what car is it going into... looks like an olds?

[Shogen 325]

really nice work man...

[Impious 1,476]

Thanks for the kind words

I must say, I was a little worried about how the shaping would turn out with having the three speaker rings and oddly shaped mold to contend with. But with G'Don's help wrapping them, they really turned out pretty smooth. The couple trouble areas we did have smoothed out well with the layers.

[Shogen 325]

also cuz I look at pictures first then I might read the captions... I thought you got a snake in your car or work area and it was rubbing in with your kick panels... lulz!!!!!!!!

[Sir-Lancelot 216]

It's that cold in the hollow depth of hell these days? lol

Really nice start man. Are you still running them passive? You may have said, but i cant remember.

Thanks for the pics.

[audiolife 14]

Sweeet I have carpet if you wish to go that route would be pretty easy to color match.

[AirLFTN 7]

Looks great so far: )

[edouble101 314]

Those are not kick panels they are 2 cubic foot enclosures! Nice setup. Anxious to see the final product.

[j-roadtatts 1,129]

Very nice work fitting all them drivers down by your feet!! I can't wait to see the finished product.

[manrossdamn 57]

Nice fiber glassing

Teach me !

[Impious 1,476]

what car is it going into... looks like an olds?

Yup, it's an Oldsmobile.

Really nice start man. Are you still running them passive? You may have said, but i cant remember.

They'll be ran passive through the winter because I'm lazy and don't want to run more speaker wire

Nice fiber glassing

Teach me !

You don't want to learn the art of fiberglassing from me

[emh9009 199]

good thing its an auto. i would still be scared to kick a speaker, knowing how much i move my feet while driving haha

pics of them wrapped? look pretty darn good, man. look forward to the rest of the build.

[cobra93 47]

Looking good Impious!

You've got allot going on in the kicks.

That had to require allot of patience to aim all 6 speakers.

[Impious 1,476]

Wasn't as cold as I'd feared....got the 2nd layer on the driver's side. No pics today.....since it looks exactly the same, just a little thicker

Probably throw 1 more layer on the larger areas Thu or Fri for a little extra strength then call it good!

[GrampaDon 0]

Three layers is plenty.

Its the shaping part that will take the longest. Enjoy

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

[Impious 1,476]

Almost there

Got them trimmed down and the mounting holes opened up and sanded down. I haven't started working on finishing off the appearance yet.....that's a next spring goal. Right now my aim is just to get them in the vehicle and playing before winter. Supposed to be 60* tomorrow, hopefully it will stay light and warm enough I can get them finished off and installed this week. Still need to add some treatments to the interior of the kickpanel, drill mounting holes, run speaker wire and then wire everything up. So I've got a few more hours of work before they start singing.......

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

:dancing:

[Mark LaFountain 1,054]

Those look sick! Nice work.