Pete's install log

[Bigpete123 1]

ha ha, I just noticed that I wrote the "B" word in my post and it was automatically changed to "female dog"! Ha ha, that's hilarious!

[///M5 2,833]

Looking great man. You are making me feel like switching the install on the M to IB.

[Bigpete123 1]

Looking great man.  You are making me feel like switching the install on the M to IB.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks man. Although my coupe is somewhat rare, it's not as rare or as collectable as an M5. I wouldn't recommend hacking your car apart like I did! lol it might hurt the resale value and would make it completely unappealing to a potential collector!

My car is only worth about $4k (it's in fantastic shape, but oh well). So I decided to take the risk.

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

damn it is really coming along nicely!!

love those hinge covers, I should have made you make me a pair, but I don't think I am doing to do much more hacking to mine for a long time,

keep the pictures coming!

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

side note: we just picked up another MB driver on here

[Bigpete123 1]

yeah, those hinge covers were actually kind of a PITA. I thought I got them right the first time, but then I tried to fit the deck back over them and realized they were a little too tall. So I whipped out the belt sander and took off a good amount of material on one of the top corners. I also needed to cut holes in the rear deck (the interior trim peice) to get them to fit. Those holes will be covered by the fiberglass rear speaker enclosures. Now they just barely fit, and it takes a bit of finagling (sp?) to get the deck back on since the glue made them slightly taller.

Then there was the problem of properly sealing them. I could only get to two of the four sides of the things easily. So it took me a long time to put caulk on the end of a stick and surgically lay a bead of it along the sides. Since visibility is essentially zero, I'll never no if I got it completely right.

Oh well, nobody's perfect- I can only do my best . I have at least mostly sealed the trunk up, since the doors and the trunk make the sub jump when I shut them. Actually, my doors and trunk are a bit harder to close now. So these are good signs, like I said!

It's really rewarding to feel like I'm actually getting somewhere. I have probably spent 75% of the total project hours getting to this point, but there are very few visible sign of my work. But now it's getting rewarding!

Edited July 5, 2006 by Bigpete123

[Tirefryr 1,742]

It's coming along great Pete!

[Bigpete123 1]

Hey guys, quick question. How many layers of fiberglass should I put on before I pull the molds out of the car? These are for my rear speakers in the rear dash. I know that warping is an issue, and I also don't want to have them crack when I try to pop them out.

I have done 1 layer, and will do another one tomorrow. the question is just whether I need to put more down before I try and remove them. Note that they will be sitting in my shop for like 2 weeks before I have time to work on them again... so that might factor into the whole warping discussion. thanks! Pics soon.

[Tirefryr 1,742]

It really will depend on the thickess of the material you are using and the number of curves. Long, flat panels will suck. Generally, I won't pull anything out unless I absolutely have to. Learned that the hard way. If you want to pull it out just so it doesn't stink up that car, that should be a problem. As long and the thermal process is complete, it will not warp anymore. Once you get back to working on it, simply put it back in place and glass away again.

[Bigpete123 1]

Cool, thanks man. There are a number of curves in it, so I'm not too worried about that. I guess there are a few flat areas, but nothing too big. I might have enough time to put two more layers on after work tomorrow... I'm not sure. I plan on building every thing else out of .25" MDF, so once I finish the molds, I won't be using any more FG on them. So maybe I'll just do all of the fiberglass work while they're still in the car...

How many layers would you recommend for these? I'm only putting a 4" speaker and a tweeter in each enclosure, so I can't imagine I'd need to do any more than 3 layers, right?

And what do you guys think about poly fill? I've heard of people using it in kicks, but how do you know how much air space your mids need?

Thanks for your help.

[Eldorado 0]

3-4 should be good.

as long as its not structural you shouldnt have a problem

[Bigpete123 1]

Perfect. Does anybody have opinions on Poly fill?

[///M5 2,833]

I'd do at least 4, I mean fudge you are already doing it make sure it is enough. Of course, I put about 14 layers in my sub enclosure but I might not be the one whose info you want to follow since overbuilding is my nature. As for the polyfill, fudge it just put some sort of porous open cell structure behind the driver and you will be more than fine. Ensolite works well.....

[Bigpete123 1]

ha ha, I love how this forum automatically alters explatives... ha ha

btw, did you really do 14 layers, or are you exaggerating?

And in terms of pourous stuff within the enclosure, if it's sealed, does it really matter? I guess since most car audio speakers aren't designed to have enclosures, it's best to simulate that by creating as much airspace as possible, right?

Is there a way for me to calculate the optimal airspace for a mid range speaker? Or does it not matter at all?

[Eldorado 0]

fiberglass insulation> polyfill

[Bigpete123 1]

oh schnap. Looks like we lost most of this thread. I don't have time to recreate this thread, so those of you who've been with me, here's the latest progress.

I got all of the bondo and sanding done. Next week, I'll trim out the hole with my router (maybe do a little more sanding/bondo in those areas if necessary), set up the cables in the doors, and god willing, do the upholstery. I'm considering taking my vinyl and enclosures to an upholstery shop just cuz I really want them to turn out right...

Pics...

[ramos 2]

Damn those pods look familiar Looking good man , keep it up .

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

Damn those pods look familiar Looking good man , keep it up .

[Godsmack 361]

Bondo kids............crazy bondo kids.

J

[Bigpete123 1]

Thanks guys. They are looking more bulky than I wanted them to, but for my first big FG project I'm pretty happy with them. The more I think about it, the more I think I should just spend the cash and take them to an upholstery shop. I already have the vinyl, it would just be labor.

And I just had to use this emoticon because it is hilarious:

[///M5 2,833]

Those are going to be nice!

[bdawson72 0]

looking good

[Bigpete123 1]

sorry guys, no real updates for you this week. I had one of those disapointing weekends at the shop. My goal was to get the uphostery done on my door pods...

I tried my best but it started to come out horribly. Lots of wrinkles, etc etc. I was working on my parents' kitchen table and started getting really frustrated. One thing led to another, threw a temper tantrum like a 5 year old. After yelling some obscenities in front of my mother, I decided to take them to an upholstery shop to have the work done by a professional.

It's worth the cash to me because I've worked really hard on these enclosures and I'd hate to have them look like arse.

So I ran a few wires hear and there and started working on my tweeter pods. So no new pics to share with you guys. See ya

[Bigpete123 1]

aight, I dropped the pods off at the uphostery shop today. I'm not gonna tell you guys how much they're charging me! lol Worth it to me, but not cheap!!

I guess I should be working right now, but I'm gonna add the pictures back that used to be in this thread before the side crashed. I'll try to put them in order. You guys know more about car audio than I do, so you should be able to fill in the blanks.

My fancy schematic drawn up in MS paint:

Front speakers are Focal Polyglass 3-ways, bi-amped (tweets on their own channel). Rears are the matching Focal 4"/tweet combo. Amp is a 500/5, sub is an Infinity Kappa Perfect 10vq via infinite baffle. Amp for sub and front speakers is the JL Audio 500/5, and the rear fill is lightly powered by JL Audio e2150. Head unit is a Nakamichi CD-400, which looks at home in my 1990 Mercedes 300ce. I think that covers the basics.

The hole I cut in the rear deck. eek! Sealing the rear deck was a bish cuz I have headrests that run on actuators so that they flop down. I gave up on that and just disconnected the vacuum system to make them stay in the up position. Sorry, I have no trunk pics. It's not done yet anyway.

Previous rear-deck setup:

Rebuilding the med kit cover so that it doesn't rattle, working on rear speaker enclosures since I had to seal up the holes:

Notice the covers I made to seal the trunk hinges (upper left of pic):

[Bigpete123 1]

created the baffles out of MDF to give them a more factory look: