Fiberglass enclosure / Stereo system

[bugnuts]

Been busting my ass on my ICE setup in my liftback since friday, I started my project with a totally new idea..I have fabricated a sealed fiberglass enclosure that is actually formed inside of the spare tire itself and not just the well were the tire goes, This allows for me to have the spare and a stealth system in the rear storage area, The only loss from doing this is the two small storage bins on each side of the tire and this is not much of a loss anyways. Well here is what I did: first I built a frame around the tire comprised of 1/2" mdf board, Then I covered the tire in aluminum duct tape (This was a mistake and I will get to that later), I needed .70 cubic feet for my sub so I set up everthing with the tape and filled it with styrofoam popcorn (this was a pre-measured amount) the sizing was perfect and I probably could have got .75 cubic feet from it if I tryed, I then started laying in 1.5oz fiberglass matt with the resin (chopped sections about 8" square) and some strips also, I ran the matt up the insides of the mdf frame but not over the top (this is because I mounted a top piece with the 10" sub in it) after two to three layers had set I attempted to remove the fiberglass from the mold (the tire), This is where everthing went bad! It seems that the resin had leaked a bit through the tape and was between the tape and tire, I ended up having to brake the plastic hold down for the tire and remove the fiberglass box and tire together (yeh I felt like a moron!) Well after about an hour of prying the two apart it finally popped out in the form of a perfect cast, I then placed about two more layers of matt and resin down to end up with a thickness of about 3/8", I built some platforms off the side of the box to mount the 3 sony amps and eletronic crossover (ebay,rummage sales, and freebies), I ran everything off of the stock head unit with a line output converter and replaced the front crapass speakers with some clearance sale $20 kenwood 6 1/2" three ways, and the rear crapass speakers with sony 6x9 three ways (which I already had setting around), By the way if you decide to put some 6x9's in the rear side panel of a Yaris LB be prepared to chop some metal..Cause they don't fit! All together I spent about $50 on supplies and about $120 on equipment, This is the budget buster system. Although it is not completely finished I wired everthing up and it sounds amazing! I am not at all new to car stereo systems (about 20 years now) and this is the first time that I have used the stock head unit, And I have to admit that it is not bad at all plus I still mostly have retained my stock appearance and that is the best part, The only thing that gives up the stock appearance is the 6x9's in the rear side panels and I am planning to place them behind the plastic panel with a custom flush fitting grill...but later. Probably the worse part of the whole install was trying to run the main power wire from the engine bay to the rear, I achieved this by using the small rubber grommet that the hood release runs through, I was able to fish the wire along side the innner fender driver side and bring it right up near the battery. I have posted some pics although it is not finished, I still need to mount the amps cover the eclosure with box carpet, mount a grill over the sub and cut the cover that goes over everything (it will be 1/4" mdf cover in carpet also). When everything is finished the hatch area will look stock and function just as before the mod but will only have the 10" grill in the middle + I can lift the whole thing out and get access to my spare if needed.

[twixt]

nice, now do that again and sell it to me.

[tiksman]

I would like to know how it sounds looks good even better when finished!

[07WYarisRS]

will the OE cover still sit down over top for a stealth look?

[bugnuts]

The OE plastic cover had to go, It is being replaced with a carpeted version of itself (with the exception of a 10" grill protruding through the center) the plastic cover relies on the side boxes for support and those also got ditched, I could still throw the original Yaris matt on top for storage purposes, but of course it would muffle the sound. Don't be afraid to try this.. although it is very time consuming and messy, You got to be careful with wet fiberglass everwhere.

[twixt]

how much resin and mat did you use for this?

[bugnuts]

I purchased 2 yards of 1.5oz mat and 1 gallon of resin, I used almost all of the mat and about 3/4 gallon of resin the mold ended up about 3/8" thick. I have recently finished the install of everything, The box and side amp racks are carpeted and mounted and I have everything wired and running (i will be posting pics soon), The only thing left is the cover that goes over everything. The system sounds unbelievable! I was very astonished with the quality of sound being generated from the stock head unit, Most everyone on this forum that does anything to there sound systems replace the stock HU first which is understandable, but if you set up a system with the proper equipment you can still use it. The only thing that i would have done different again would be to use a release agent and different tape to form the mold. I have a total of 240 watts running to 5 speakers: 2 - 6 1/2" 3-ways in the front @ 20 watts to each, 2 - 6x9" 3-ways in the rear side panels @ 50 watts each, and 1 - 10" sub in the rear @ 100 watts mono,and everything running through an electronic crossover (I know this is an oldschool setup), but there is enough clean power running to ring my head and very little distortion at all, plus I have not noticed any significant drain in power while running with lights at night.

[twixt]

so, you used high level inputs than? did you use a processor or plug em straight into the amp? Im highly interesting in doing this by next weekend (waiting on B-Quiet to arrive) i wanna remove the tire all together and keep the bins and lid so i assume ill have to use 3 yards. You even wonder what would happen if you sealed the components?

[bugnuts]

I did use a Line Output Converter, This one to be exact: American International Line Output Converter # SLC400CL, It works great so far, The converter is four channel and I did run everything through a crossover, then to the amps (this can be avoided with one 4-channel amp that has a sub channel and crossovers built in, but it's just not as much fun!) My box has exactly .70 ft3 of air space and is completely sealed, this is the specs for this sub (some 10" subs require a bit more), I am still using the privacy cover that hinges near the rear window also and it does not effect the sound much, But i am sure if you plan to use the thick plastic OE cover over a sub it would muffle the hell out of it, low frequencies from subs need to have space in front as in the rear to operate correctly, even though the wave is not directional. I would suggest venting the wave from the speaker out into the cabin space somehow. If you plan to remove the tire and use the lower well for the entire space, make sure you don't get too much air space or the sub will cancel out on various frequencies, just check the specs on the sub and use a similar method of measuring the air space as i did.

[twixt]

the sub i want is a polk 10 or 12... not sure yet but it is in the range of .88. i could just run the lid open and close it when i want. car get broken into a lot around here so im going full stealth.... whatya gonna do.

[BMGYaris]

Where did you get those clearance kenwoods? anymore left?

[bugnuts]

Got the kenwoods at a local tennessee only store electronicexpress (electronicexpress.com) It is a in store deal only, I had to go to three different stores to find them, You have to call the stores to check on availability. Here is the link: http://www.electronicexpress.com/product?prod_id=7355
Really a good sounding speaker.

[bugnuts]

Here are the almost finished pics of the enclosure, still lacking the cover (waiting on parts)

Update:
Added the cover for everything, Made this from 1/4" mdf board covered with carpet, and used snap together speaker grill guides to hold it in place, This worked like a charm. The grill in the center is mounted to the speaker (not the original plan) But it provides protection to the speaker when the cover is off, I am still considering covering the grill with some speaker grill material.

[Chris07LB]

Nice work.

Here's a few things I did for one of our show trucks. Not sure yet the direction Im taking with the Yaris.

[bugnuts]

That looks pretty nice! I am just a humble low budget weekend warrior though.

[ChinoCharles]

Chris, that is amazing... nice solobarics. =)

How hard was it to chop that Xbox? I have a spare one sitting in my closet... you've got me thinking about hacking it apart now.

[johnnyfive]

if you can take a computer apart, you can easily take the x-box apart, he probably just got a longer IDE cable for the discdrive

[Chris07LB]

Originally Posted by ChinoCharles

Chris, that is amazing... nice solobarics. =)

How hard was it to chop that Xbox? I have a spare one sitting in my closet... you've got me thinking about hacking it apart now.

Bit of a PITA from where I had the board mounted, but nothing too bad. Just had to extend and protect everything.