1994 Corvette First Build

[dan45hk 10+ year member]

This is my first build and first time working with fiberglass. I posted this along with some mechanical stuff I was doing to the car on corvetteforum if you are interested in the non-audio stuff. Any suggestions on improving what I'm doing please let me know I have the time to change things up.

Here is a list of what was added, I'll update this thread as more gets finished. If you want to see any specific pics or info I can post them. Some of the pics are dark, sorry about that, my camera doesn't work too well in the garage.

Sound Dampening:

Second Skin Luxury Liner Pro

Heat Wave Pro

RAAMat BXT

Ensolite (Adhesive either 3M 90 or RAAMaudio/Second Skin spray)

Dynamat Xtreme

Audio:

AVIC Z1 head unit

Rainbow Germanium 6.5 components up front and rear

JL 12W7 Subwoofer in fiberglass enclosure

JL 1000/v2 Amp

Zapco Reference 1000.4 Amp

Click to read more...

 

[dan45hk 10+ year member]

Carpet removed

Dynamat Installed

I doubled up the acoustic vibration dampening mat (BXT or Dynamat Xtreme) on the floorboards and the hatch area

 

[dan45hk 10+ year member]

Adding RAAMat and Ensolite to the doors

Don't forget to open up the drain holes

Ensolite over the aluminum door skin that holds the door handle

 

[dan45hk 10+ year member]

Luxury Liner Pro in hatch area, Heat Wave Pro over wheel wells

Luxury liner pro over floor board and behind passenger seat

Ensolite over everything in hatch area, luxury liner pro over wheel wells

Heat Wave Pro

 

[dan45hk 10+ year member]

Ensolite

 

[dan45hk 10+ year member]

Big 3 wire waiting to be installed. These connect the battery positive to alternator output, ground to battery negative, and engine to chassis.

1/0 Kicker Hyperflex Power and Ground Wire for Amps installed on passenger side right under the heater core box.

The grommets (Stinger brand) were reversed in these pics the wires are now up close to the firewall away from the headers.

Routing the power wires on the passenger side keeps them from having to be crossed over the transmission tunnel and allows them to slide in through the factory hole behind the passenger seat that leads to the storage compartment.

Grommets flipped

 

[dan45hk 10+ year member]

Amps and Sub Box (fiberglassed). Underneath the blue painters tape is aluminum foil to help prevent any resin to seep through.

After putting the tape on I sprayed over it with PVA (poly vinyl alcohol) to help make the fiberglass come off easier but its not necessary.

More to come...

 

[dan45hk 10+ year member]

Here is an example of how I put the Ensolite on the trim panels

Its hard to see but its glued on the back

JL 12W7

Rainbow Germanium Components

Fiberglass (mat and weave)

Bondo for fiberglass (Rage Extreme (finishing) and Rage Gold (filling/blending))

Sub ring waiting to go in

 

[dan45hk 10+ year member]

Here's a better pic showing the Ensolite on the tunnel and the Luxury Liner Pro on the floorboard

I'm doing the glass work right now, not much to see but this is what I've got so far.

 

[dan45hk 10+ year member]

Here's the panel for the amps I redid to make it flush with the amps, I think it looks much better.

Finished with the weave, next comes the ring and fleece

 

[dan45hk 10+ year member]

Just got back in town and I removed the box and cut it roughly with an angle grinder so I can see where to mount the ring. I'll probably have to add 2-3 more layers of glass on the inside, it should be about 1/2 inch thick for a sub getting this much power.

 

[dan45hk 10+ year member]

Test fit

Ring hot glued in

 

[dan45hk 10+ year member]

Fleece done, it's hot glued on with the high strength slow set hot glue... more fiber-glassing coming up.

After painting the fleece with resin I added a few layers of fiberglass as you normally would. I'm going to add 3-4 more layers of glass today then comes sanding, coating the top with rage gold, sand then rage extreme and more sanding.

But first I cut this hole to get access to the joints where the sides meet the top to strengthen it further by adding glass there. The angle of the cut is around 45 degrees to get more surface area for the glass to bond to when I build it back up.

 

[dan45hk 10+ year member]

To do this I tore up the mat to make "kitty hair" is what I think they call it. They make a special blend of polymer into fluffy beads that you mix with resin to make a peanut butter consistency like paste to do stuff like this . I have it but don't feel like driving over to the storage unit to get it, it would make this step a lot faster but I'm in no hurry as you can tell lol.

I finished strengthening the joints, after that I partially glassed in a few sheets under the hole I cut out, then when it dries I'll have plenty of surface area for a bond just as strong as before it was cut.

 

[Jdizzle 10+ year member]

looks good so far keep it up