[JPWEraser]

Alright folks, I finally got my DP in and installed it last night... man what a difference. The low range had a little more kick and the boost between shifts is there nearly instantly now. The Helix Catted DP looks incredible and fit like it was completely stock. For now, I still have the stock catback on while I wait on my HKS Carbon-Ti to get here. On to the pics!



Installed - (still waiting on heat shield too )


I'm also working on a fiberglass box - just started on it today. The materials weren't as inexpensive as I could have hoped, but I had to get EVERYTHING since I had never done this or any fab project before. Here are a few shots of my old box, which is working just fine but just too big, out of the car. This thing probably weighs 120lbs with the sub and amp on it!




And now, for the first few steps of the fiberglass project. I taped off the area after everything was cleaned and vacuumed. Lesson number 1 - buy wider tape... This took me nearly 2 hours to get it all taped up properly with no gaps or holes. Again... buy wider tape!



Now, I put a layer of resin down and let it set for a few minutes untill tacky while I mixed up some more resin for the 1st glass layer. The first layer wasn't hard to apply, but I did make sure that I had everything well covered and ended up using probably 32oz. or so of resin to get it to the correct consistency. At the moment, I am letting this dry and set up so I can remove it from the car and work on it in more convenient positions.




I will post more as I go along so stay posted if you're looking to do this yourself - maybe you can learn from some of the dumb things I know I'll do and it will make your project that much smoother!

**Update**

So I let the 1st glass layer dry well and went out to dinner. When I got back, I applied a 2nd glass layer and put a heat lamp on it to help it dry a bit quicker.



After that was good and solid, I popped the mold out of the trunk. This was actually quite easy - I didn't expect it to be that way! Here is a pic of the 2 layers done sitting on a drop cloth... with my stamp of approval of course!



Next, I went to take the tape off of the back of the mold which proved to be a pain... big pain. Lesson number 2 - wax paper as Dre said, or... again... WIDER TAPE! I took as much as I realistically could off and decided to roll a solid roller over the rest to flatten it as much as possible, and painted a glaze of resin over it, problem solved even though it came out lookin' ugly! Here's a pic just after I put the resin on with the heat lamp on it.



So I'm at a stopping point for the night now. Tomorrow I will need to get more mat, paint brushes, some dowel rods, and make my mdf ring for the sub. I'll snap a pic of the W7 tomorrow just to show the uninformed folks just how massive it is. I plan on using a router to make a cradle for the magnet to rest on the bottom of the enclosure to take some stress off of the ring and surrounding glass and also will help provide a little more structural rigidity. Once again, any more suggestions are MORE than welcome for the folks that have done this before. I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with my result thus far being my first attempt at any fab work with fiberglass.

**Update** Rather than making this incredibly long post even longer, I will start another below.

See post #34 for part 2.

See post #37 for part 3.

See post #39 for part 4.

See post #44 for part 5.

[Audiomotive Gruppe]

Originally Posted by JPWEraser

Alright folks, I finally got my DP in and installed it last night... man what a difference. The low range had a little more kick and the boost between shifts is there nearly instantly now. The Helix Catted DP looks incredible and fit like it was completely stock. For now, I still have the stock catback on while I wait on my HKS Carbon-Ti to get here. On to the pics!



Installed - (still waiting on heat shield too )


I'm also working on a fiberglass box - just started on it today. The materials weren't as inexpensive as I could have hoped, but I had to get EVERYTHING since I had never done this or any fab project before. Here are a few shots of my old box, which is working just fine but just too big, out of the car. This thing probably weighs 120lbs with the sub and amp on it!




And now, for the first few steps of the fiberglass project. I taped off the area after everything was cleaned and vacuumed. Lesson number 1 - buy wider tape... This took me nearly 2 hours to get it all taped up properly with no gaps or holes. Again... buy wider tape!



Now, I put a layer of resin down and let it set for a few minutes untill tacky while I mixed up some more resin for the 1st glass layer. The first layer wasn't hard to apply, but I did make sure that I had everything well covered and ended up using probably 32oz. or so of resin to get it to the correct consistency. At the moment, I am letting this dry and set up so I can remove it from the car and work on it in more convenient positions.




I will post more as I go along so stay posted if you're looking to do this yourself - maybe you can learn from some of the dumb things I know I'll do and it will make your project that much smoother!

Good job so far on the sub project. One recommendation, I think you should glass a little higher on the 2 sides to give your self some room b/c you will need to trim to a nice workable shape. Better to have excess than not enough. Also I hope you put down some type of wax on top of the tape to make it easier to pop that mold out. Good luck can't wait to see the finished product. Just hope it doesn't take you as long as it took me.

Dre

[NJSTi05]

wow, i was thinkin of doin the same thing, but puttin 2 10" subs on each side, but towards the back of the trunk..and putting the amps in the center. and havin the fiberglass pieces match the color of the car. im definitly goin to keep checking back on the progress on this page! good luck! how much was that Helix D/P, cause i was thinking of doin a complete Helix CBE, w/ D/P.

[JPWEraser]

Originally Posted by NJSTi05

wow, i was thinkin of doin the same thing, but puttin 2 10" subs on each side, but towards the back of the trunk..and putting the amps in the center. and havin the fiberglass pieces match the color of the car. im definitly goin to keep checking back on the progress on this page! good luck! how much was that Helix D/P, cause i was thinking of doin a complete Helix CBE, w/ D/P.

Talk to Noah at Caliente Automotive (board name Caliente Auto). Noah has been a tremendous help throughout my purchase by being more than willing to keep me informed and provide a huge amount of personalized service. I would also venture to say that he will more than likely have the best price you can find on the d/p - I will let you guys work that out. As far as I know, the Helix catback is a top knotch unit as far as fitment and quality, but was a bit overbearing and loud to me. I elected to go with the HKS Carbon-Ti which is a *little* more subdued and will tie in quite nicely with the Varis CF Heat Shield I have on order. Let me know if you had any questions about the box and I will try to answer them. It's been an absolute blast so far really. Something new for me and I just up and decided to do it this morning. The materials were much more expensive than I thought they would be, but for a project like this - I think it's worth every penny; especially when you can say you did it all on your own!

PS - Bump for the update in progress on post #31!

[JPWEraser]

Part 2 -

So, I get up this morning and go grab more supplies. I needed more hardener, mat, brushes (I let the resin dry in the ones I had ), and a dowel rod to mount the ring with. First thing I do is mix up some resin and glass a 3rd layer, nothing new here really; just wrinse, lather, and repeat. Put the heat lamp on it to promote quicker dry time.



And the 4th layer.



Now, when the 4th layer was drying, I decided it was time to get some of the wood work out of the way. I started with the MDF rings for the sub. I used a piece of MDF from a previous project that came out lop-sided because my square... well, wasn't square! Luckily, the good folks at JL decided to package their W7's with a ring already that mounded to a flat board of MDF for safe shipping. I took the JL ring and just simply traced it twice.



I used a Zip saw and eyeballed the cuts since it didn't really matter how ugly it was at this point so long as I had the correct inner diameter and enough wood on either side of where the screw would be going. Once I had those ripped out, I took some Elmer's wood glue and put a bead around one of the rings.




From here, all you really need to do is clamp the crap out of them or stack some weight on top of them just to make sure they firmly adhere to one another. I chose the clamp method.



After that was good and dry, I used the ring supplied by JL as an overlay and just clamped all 3 together and predrilled mounting holes for my sub.



While that was being done, the 3rd and 4th layers had sufficient time to dry. I test fitted the enclosure and decided it was a good time to see exactly where the trunk arm would land once the trunk was closed so I didn't waste a whole lot of materials glassing unnecessary surface area on something I was just going to cut off anyways. I never thought I would personally see any benefit in Subaru's glow-in-the-dark trunk release on the inside(without kids, anyway) untill now. I shut myself in there completely and snapped a pic to make sure I account for EVERY piece that I need to leave room for on the trunk arm.




While I was in there(with the trunk semi-open this time) I took a Sharpie and marked my cutoff line for the trunk arm.

Now that my MDF ring is dry, I test fit it to the W7 and temporarily mount it with 4 screws only. Everything looks good with the ring. I may end up doing some sanding on the front edge of it to ensure a smoother surface when I get to glassing the front of the box. Here is a shot of the W7 with the ring mounted. Note the size and apparent weight of the thing - it's absolutely massive.



Upon further invistigation, I decided that it would be a good idea to come up with a support of some kind to help take some of the weight off of the ring and front glass. I came up with a small piece of 2x4 cut to about 6". I transfered the contour of the W7's magnet to this piece and used my Zip saw to cut away the extra. This way, the magnet will have something to rest on besides just the basin of the box and reduce overall stress on the front of the box. Once that was all done, I test mounted the sub with the rings on, found a super sexy angle for the sub to point and marked off where the block lay.

On comes the 5th layer of glass. This time, I put some resin down on the dried surface of the 4th layer and put my block into place and glassed around it as well as overlaying some of the bottom edges of the block so it would stay nice and put untill I get the W7 mounted. In this shot, you can also see the line I made showing the cutoff point for the trunk arm.



Well folks, that's about all I could get done today. I will probably work on it tomorrow but.. yet again, I need more supplies . I need more resin and more mat for sure to do the front of the box. I anticipate getting a total of 7-9 layers of glass done on this part of the enclosure, mounting the ring, and forming the front of the enclosure by stretching the piece of fleece I purchased at Wal-Mart for $3 and painting on some resin. Stay tuned and I hope this helps someone!

[Wazazell]

care to comment on your cost to date?? it's looking really good!! do you have anything in mind to keep the magnet from vibrating on the wood block?? maybe stick on some mole skin or rubber?

[JPWEraser]

Part 3 -

So I get up this morning feeling refreshed... kinda, and decide to go knock out as much as I could today(I got started right at 11am). First thing's first though. Late last night I got all excited and decided I would play around with angles on how to aim the W7 in the enclosure and see which ones would work while allowing the trunk arm to function completely. I came up with an awesome looking angle that points the W7 more towards the cabin. I know it will decrease overall volume, but as long as it sounds good, I can always make it louder; I'm only using a 500w amp right now!




This morning was nothing special - just more wrinse, lather, repeat stuff. So I glassed the 7th and 8th layers.

7th.


And the 8th. I also marked off where exactly I would be trimming back to.


So, all 8 layers are dry, the thing is as solid as a rock... literally. I got to cutting it with a dye grinder wheel and that alone took nearly 2 hours with few breaks. In some spots, the enclosure was nearly 1/2" thick! I finally get it all trimmed and semi sanded and move on to mount the MDF ring in the predetermined spot I found last night. I used 3/4" hardwood dowel rod and hot glue to hold the ring in place. I also decided to use some resin to help seal them in strong and keep them in the same place.



Once that was all dried up, I draped my dark blue fleece over and began to mold it in a super-sexy fashion, showing off some curves and cool accents. I ran into some problems, though. One of the dowel rods came loose so I had to get that fixed, and I couldn't get a uniform piece of fleece to fit my likings without having some areas that would need to be redone with other pieces since the original piece crinkled a little or did not cover well enough. So I started the long process of laying some fleece and soaking some pivotal points with resin to hold it in place and keep the form I wanted. I had to use several pieces to get it the way I wanted it, but in the end, it looked great. In this shot you see the form completed and soaked in resin waiting to dry. You can also see where I had to patch a few areas and use masking tape to manipulate/hold it in place.



Once that was all dry and felt solid, I did a test fit in the trunk just to make sure that I still liked the angle and how it was going to look when everything was said and done. Needless to say, I loved it!



I took the box back out and layed the 1st layer of glass on the outside of the newly formed front baffle. I put a lot of glass on this layer just to ensure a good seal on the places where I had a seam still.



By this time, its 2am... I'm absolutely beat. I am very proud of the progress I made today. Everything tomorrow will go rather quickly seeing how actually laying the glass is the easiest part! I will update more tomorrow or Sunday depending on how I feel. Stay tuned for more infoz!

[JPWEraser]

Originally Posted by Wazazell

care to comment on your cost to date?? it's looking really good!! do you have anything in mind to keep the magnet from vibrating on the wood block?? maybe stick on some mole skin or rubber?

Thanks for the compliment! I can't give an exact number now since I'm so friggin' tired but I will try to compile that for you this weekend. The magnet is wrapped in rubber already, but I plan on sticking the soft side of some velcro to the wooden support bridge to further make the W7's fit more luxurious.

[JPWEraser]

Part 4 -

Man, let me tell ya... I'm tired! I roll out of bed at like noon today and at least 5 bones popped and my legs told me to sit back down. Anyhow, I work myself back up and get to working on the box again. I pull it out of the garage and check it over. The first layer of glass looked alright, but there were some air bubbles since I did it at about 1:30am after having worked on the thing for like 13 hours! I decided to redo parts of that layer by taking my air sanding tool to the crappy areas. The next steps are the same 'ole thing, glass a layer, let that get tacky, lay more glass, resin over glass, and let sit for 30-45 mins in the sun to dry. I put a total of 7 layers on the front.





After the 7 front layers had a few hours to completely harden, I began sanding. Wow, what a job! I had a great tool for it and it still took me a good 90 minutes of solid work to get it the way I wanted it. The sanded product looks very nice and the only thing left were dimples and crevices that I will fill later.



Now comes the tedious part. After everything was sanded and cleaned off, I test fit the W7 once again to make sure everything was good. Unfortunately, it wasn't. The sub wouldn't sit down on the ring properly. It made me borderline angry since I was tired and anxious to get this thing done, but it was a pretty easy problem to fix. Just like everything else in this project, though, it was time consuming. Trim a little here, sand some there, smooth this out over here, etc, etc.



Once that was all finished, I mixed up some Bondo to use to fill in the cracks and dimples of the enclosure that I wanted to be smooth. I have a cool finish in mind and it will take more time to do, but I believe that if I do it right, it will look extremely good. Here is a shot of the enclosure pretty much done with everything fitted up well and the first layer of Bondo on.



Well, that's it for today's update even though it seems short to me. All this took me about 10 hours

[nandanrp]

Originally Posted by JPWEraser

I never thought I would personally see any benefit in Subaru's glow-in-the-dark trunk release on the inside(without kids, anyway) untill now. I shut myself in there completely and snapped a pic to make sure I account for EVERY piece that I need to leave room for on the trunk arm.

LOL

Nice job man, and very well documented I might add...fun read

[Impresive-G]

lol looks like a fat terd. but nice job cant wait til its finish

[mr_sandman]

Definately...it's like a good movie; i can't wait to see how it ends!!

[JPWEraser]

Originally Posted by Impresive-G

lol looks like a fat terd. but nice job cant wait til its finish

Congratulations on winning the no-talent poster award. You're just jealous because you're afraid of fiberglass!

[JPWEraser]

Part 5 -

Rather small update this time. I got the Bondo done and sanded, then reapplied, and sanded again. I decided that it was just too much work to get it sanded for the initial finish I had in mind. Gloss black would look cool but... after sanding on Bondo for 2 hours and still not even being close to as smooth as it would need to be, I decided to just carpet the thing. Here is a close up shot of the velcro that I used to cushion the magnet some.



And a shot of the box from far out to show the overall shape with the sanded Bondo.



After that, it was back to reality for me - back to work! I hooked it up last night and listened to it some. First impressions - I lost a little low end but it retained if not gained all of the sound quality I had before. I can tune my amp around the Q of the new enclosure and mess with my center frequency to regain some of my low end. I will take more pics when I get the amp rack made (mdf board with carpet covering it) and the box covered.

[JPWEraser]

Got some goodies over the past few days. First off is the Cusco heat shield I got from Noah at Caliente(I can't say it enough - he rocks!).




I was about to put it on but realized I would need to take the intercooler off so I decided to wait untill I got my StaticX wrap so I could do both at the same time. Got the wrap today and sewed it up. It was perplexing at first, but I just took the wire and sewed a line on either long side of the wrap thru both pieces provided - simple enough. But, can I get it on?!?



I also got my Rally Armor red logo flaps today finally after being on the waiting list for almost a month. I have to admit, these things are huge! Lots of hardware and some nice quality flaps.



I will probably wait untill Saturday night or even Sunday untill I try and put all this on since it's been nasty and rainy out the past few days. Don't worry, though, I can't let a car part sit uninstalled for too long. Next will be my HKS Carbon-Ti. It should be here next Wednesday... I can hardly wait!

I made an amp rack for my new sub layout but it is uncarpeted as is my sub enclosure. Once my carpet comes in and I get it on, I will post pics of all that so you can see how it turned out. I retuned my amp some and the new enclosure sounds surprisingly good. I was expecting to lose some bottom end for sure with the smaller internal volume, but the W7 still kicks out just like it did in the huge box I had it in before. Thanks for looking!