Making kick panels

[edouble101 314]

Awesome. I can't wait to see your pillars.

I take it that you can run the I4 full range? If so you should be able to use a high xover point

Are you building covers for the underside of you dash? Even if it its cardboard it will help.

I started the pillars before I had the foam, so im not sure how they'll turn out yet. may redo them with foam.

I have the l4s crossed at 350hz right now.

My car has a flat panel under the dash, its thin wood wrapped in a soft material, so I guess the Volvo is cutting me some slack.

Very cool there lucky guy

Anxious to see apillar pics and your thoughts on how these drivers are blending together.

[ssh 924]

Awesome. I can't wait to see your pillars.

I take it that you can run the I4 full range? If so you should be able to use a high xover point

Are you building covers for the underside of you dash? Even if it its cardboard it will help.

I started the pillars before I had the foam, so im not sure how they'll turn out yet. may redo them with foam.

I have the l4s crossed at 350hz right now.

My car has a flat panel under the dash, its thin wood wrapped in a soft material, so I guess the Volvo is cutting me some slack.

Very cool there lucky guy

Anxious to see apillar pics and your thoughts on how these drivers are blending together.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to try some different crossover points, but so far, the most I listen, the more I like.

[ssh 924]

I used rivnuts to mount them, they don't budge. Best $16 I ever spent.

[Shogen 325]

Holy F!

[edouble101 314]

Did you carve the inside of the pods out?

[Kanaworm$ 292]

Very nice!

[Duran 387]

I may steal your idea. My main deterrent in using kick panels is kicking the drivers, it would be easy to countersink them and make them look really good that way.

Great work.

[ssh 924]

Did you carve the inside of the pods out?

I did a little bit, but I'm mainly going to drill holes out the back to vent them. I know the l4s "come alive" in ib, so it should sound even better once that's done.

[ssh 924]

I may steal your idea. My main deterrent in using kick panels is kicking the drivers, it would be easy to countersink them and make them look really good that way.

Great work.

Yeah and as you can see, I still made mine sorta big, and wasn't needed. The passenger is pretty well out of the way, the driver could have been trimmed and sanded down more, but it works for me.

I'd definitely do a final coat of resin and cab-o-sil. Sand first so the panels are already smooth, then cab-o-sil layer. I haven't sanded the cabosil layer yet, I know it's going to be a lot harder, but it'll stand up to more abuse, and be less prone to scratch.

I was looking at rivnut kits online, anywhere from $60 to a few hundred, Julian mentioned a cheapo one from harbor freight, it worked perfectly.

If you don't already, I would highly suggest using 3/4 oz chopped mat. For the longest time I was using the regular chopped mat you'd find at home depot, lowes, auto store, and I just assumed for the most part that it wasn't too thick.

If you ever go from the regular stuff at the store to 3/4 oz, you will literally laugh, and think: "Oh wow, this shit is really easy now." It's super easy to conform, and even though it requires more layers, they're still super easy to lay on without air bubbles and losing shape.

Have fun.

[Duran 387]

I work part time making composite aerospace parts, I've got that part handled

[ssh 924]

Sweet.

[ssh 924]

I'm starting to reach that "burnt out" / let's rush point. So I threw the pillars and tweeters in for now, but I think I'll end up hacking these to shit or finding some more at a junkyard, and using foam to redo them.

The setup sounded very good in the 2way l4 and exodus, and should improve once the kicks are vented, but with the tweets... It's even better.

I tried the tweets crossed at 3khz, then bumped it up to 6khz, sound just keeps getting better. I don't think the L4s are quite off-axis enough for any beaming issue, at least none that I can readily hear.

Tweets are being powered by the ms8, running out of headroom, but depending on the final xo point, I may not need to "amp" them.

Happy guy right here.

[ssh 924]

Primerd:

Painted with oem volvo paint. I barely had enough to cover the kicks.

Installed:

I may end up making some trim rings around the lip, haven't decided yet.

A-pillars are still outside sitting on the table, waiting for some love.

Edited February 27, 2012 by stefanhinote