Help on fiberglass

[juggla341]

Im looking to start making/learning to make items for my truck with fiberglass. I was wondering on what is the easiest way to make a mold of for instance a kick panel i want to put in on one of my doors. Also on where i can get most of the materials including the fiberglass equipment, any help will be well appreciated, and will post pics of my advancements in the car.

[Josh]

There are hundreds of tutorials on fiberglassing out there. Just do search. If you order online uscomposites.com has everything you need for 'glassing.

[juggla341]

well my main problem is that im not sure how to build the best mold. For example i have a ford escape and i like the kicks that polk did in there escape and want to build ones like those. And was wondering how those were made?

[bknauss]

http://web.njit.edu/~cas1383/proj/main/

[neomagus00]

very cool site... did you do all that?

[juggla341]

here for instance on this door panel did they cut out the original piece of the door or just insert over top?This is what im trying to do.

[bknauss]

Originally posted by neomagus00
very cool site... did you do all that?

Wish I could claim it... *sigh*. Its from a guy that goes by "zx3chris" on a lot of forums. I have some more fiberglassing links, but they all pretty much go through the same stuff as that site.

[bknauss]

Originally posted by juggla341
here for instance on this door panel did they cut out the original piece of the door or just insert over top?This is what im trying to do.

This might help answer some questions: http://www.jlaudio.com/tutorials/mera/MERA_2003.pdf

[swerve]

thx for the links, i've been wondering about this myself

[juggla341]

that jl link is very good, but i dont want to make a whole replacement panel, i only want to make a small piece like in the pic, would i just cut the piece out of my door then, and also does the mdf board stay in, or do i just use the fiberglass piece?

[neomagus00]

the mdf stays in as a mounting ring for the speakers

you could cut the piece out of the door, but it would probably be real tough to get everything solid and vibration-free.

i like the light accent on that door photo though, that's kinda cool

[juggla341]

so pretty much just take out the back piece of mdf and put over top the door panel?

[neomagus00]

did you read this site? i'm not sure i understand your question, but if you read the first 2 tutorials it should answer it.

at least in my car, the door is separated into several panels; i would just remove one panel and fiberglass the thing over, with the pods in place. i wouldn't do it as a first project, though, i'd practice with a couple shapes first - starting with something real simple, like a sheet w/ a mounting ring, then working up in difficulty from there.

[juggla341]

what i meant was behind that picture with the fiberglass and 2 speakers is a one piece contruction for that panel. I wasnt sure if they built that piece and put over it or cut the shape of the fiberglass piece out and then insert the finished product

[LittleCar_w/12s]

Well, if you have plain old regular cardboard & vinyl door covers your best bet will be as follows, and will give you a nice clean and tight look.

1. Make the enclosure/pod whatever
2. make a FLAT back on it, with a few thick areas at the edges that you will drill screw pilot holes into.. make sure they're thick enough that the screw does not penetrate the enclosure.
3. Make the hole for your wire and put the wire in the box (give yourself 10ft at least for routing to amps and stuff later if it is hard-wired), or cut in and attatch wire-cup. , seal this inside the box
4. drill the pilot holes in the pod through a sheet of wax paper, which will make the holes as well as a template for the door panel, and also cut around the wire or cup in the paper.
5. cut the wax paper to the shape of the pod, keeping the holes aligned
6. put the wax paper onto the door panel where you will want the pod, then drill through the panel where the holes are in the wax paper. Also drill the wire hole, or a hole slightly larger than a wire cup.
7. then use fine-thread screws (to avoid them loosening due to sound vibs.) and attach the pod to the door panel very snugly.
   -- Use good judgement on these screws, you don't want to crack the pod, and you may need a thin flat-washer to make it snug the panel to it.
8. You will need to cut a hole in the metal of the door for the wire to pass from the box or the cup.
9. After it is tightly mounted to the panel, reattatch the panel to the door, first feeding the wire(s) through the door and rubber grommet to the body.

[LittleCar_w/12s]

In the above, I asumed the back of the enclosure was fiberglass... you could easily use 1/2" MDF for the back as well, and would work just fine too.
-Jerry

[juggla341]

would it be better to cut a section out of the existing door panel or just put over top?

[Josh]

Here's the lowdown:
We cut out everything under that panel except a couple of inches to have something for the MDF to screw into.

I cut a piece of 3/4 inch MDF close to the shape of the door.

I cut all the holes out that I needed.

I taped up the door panel and screwed the MDF to the door through the plastic.

I built up to the door with Duraglass so that the panel would fit perfect to the door. I did this with the door on the car so it would look right when I put it back on the car.

After that I sanded all the filler down with 40 grit on a block.

Prime, paint!

By the way, a kickpanel is the panel that connects in front of the door sill panels. It's not a generic term for speaker pods. Just FYI!!:D

Here's another pic using the same template.

[bknauss]

Oh yea, here's an article from Thom that goes over some more fiberglassing tips.
http://www.polkaudio.com/downloads/newspaper/issue5.pdf