8th gen Civic Kick Panels, A Million Pics!! -Nexations Creations!

[Nexson 10+ year member]

Hey Guys,

Here is a set of midranges with tweeters pods into a 8th gen Civic Coupe. I made these over the past month and I have compiled all the updates through other post (on other forums) and combined them into one thread for CarAudio.

ENJOY!!

I started with the midranges. Although the rings will cover this area, I still wanted it all one color just because!

I got a set of rings from epicenterdesigns, they were PERFECT! Thanks Jon. I filled them a bit to fit how I wanted them.

Here I was mounting the ring in the best position according to space. the driver's side kick panel is very tight. There is a small area to work within the panel, so the positioning had to be precise. Owner wanted speakers facing dome light.

Click to read more...

 

[Nexson 10+ year member]

Here is the tweeter pod. I had to make a custom set to fit the tweeters. I only had one tweeter cup to work with, so I decided to just make my own. I use PVC for this and cut it bigger to size. A few passes with the filler and I got it perfect. I am good with tedious items as this is. The tweeter will get wrapped in two layers of electrical tape for a slight pressure fit, then 2 dabs of hot glue from the back will secure it.

 

[Nexson 10+ year member]

Speaker and Tweeter Pod Placement

Fleece stretched here. Not the prettiest, but I could not stretch to the edges because the dead pedal sits against the fit panel, so far side of the panel needs to remain intact. I obviously cannot wrap to the oppose side because of the hood release. Getting the perfect wrapping job does not bother me as I know it is easy to fix up.

Some B440 Polyester Resin

Here is where I sanded down the fleece and feathered in the edges with duraglass so that I could lay down the glass. I prefer to lay down the glass on the formed structure for more support. As you can see the rough edges that were CA glued with the fleece, easily turn into a nice smooth transaction in this step,

 

[Nexson 10+ year member]

So here is where I put down some special epoxy around the brittle edges. Since I do not want to get the fiberglass to close to my perfect edges within my tweeter pod, I use the epoxy as a structural bond between the PVC and fleece, then I can glass over that, but not so close to the edge.

Some 1.5 oz mat

a little duraglass, still a lot of smoothing to do, but it is quickly taking shape.

I put down some Rage Extreme where it needed it. It is now time for primer. I am going to use some slicksand on this panel to fill in all the defects. I have to pick some up though.

 

[Nexson 10+ year member]

I primered the pod with slicksand, which is a very thick primer. I got it to run in many areas to build up the thickness. Once that was all sanded down I hit it up with some rattle can hi build primer. From here I will tweak out the little defects still around with spot putty. Not much longer now!

 

[Nexson 10+ year member]

Still Progressing through getting the surface defect free. I worked on the hood release opening. That area is tight for sanding but with have sanding in tight spots for a major of my fiberglassing life, it is no biggie. Some other areas were smoothed out as well. It is about 92% there with primer and almost ready for paint. Just some filling here and there, sand down and reprime and should be good to go!

Then I have to make the other one!

 

[Nexson 10+ year member]

So I got some work done today. On the first pod, I am just filling in small sanding scratches, which takes about 4-6 phases of filling,sanding and primering. Once, I get to this stage in the project, I am happy anyways!

 

I was able to get some work on the 2nd kick panel. I copied and cut out the exact shape as cut on the opposite kick. I will use this as reference to match up the tweeter and speaker identically to the original kick.

 

[Nexson 10+ year member]

I got started on the opposite kick panel. With this kickpanel, I am able to stretch the fleece to the opposite end of the panel itself. With the driver's side, I had to allow for the dead pedal to be installed without interference.

 

These are the pictures thus far, I am not a fan of how it looks in this stage, but the adhesion between the fiberglass and plastic is fantastic and that is all I care about at this point. I am going to sand it all down now and clean it up!

 

Here's some pictures.

 

[Nexson 10+ year member]

So I went threw a couple sanding wheels on the dremel and got this thing shaped just the way I want. Usually when feathering the fleece into the plastic, you get the fabric very brittle, this is not a problem because I have a solution. Obviously this panel is going to get a couple layers of glass, but before that, I use an epoxy that gets beneath the fleece and makes a solid bond between the brittle fabric and the panel itself. This allows for a solid foundation for the glass to lay. I went around with the epoxy in all the weak areas . When working with small parts like this, and the parts being plastic, you have to obviously make accommodations. Next I will glass, then fill and sand.

I sanded down the epoxy that dried overnight. With this epoxy, it is a good idea to just let it dry completely instead of sanding it to find out it is still a bit "gou-E" at the bottom, which pretty much goes with all epoxies. At any rate, I fiberglassed with B440 and 1.5oz. This one is shaping up quickly!

 

[Nexson 10+ year member]

I got the first layer of duraglass on and sanded down. I am currently filling in the deep crevices in the filler, then off to slick sand!

A little eye candy for you all =)

 

[Nexson 10+ year member]

So I am making progress on the passenger side kick. With all the fiberglassing and sanding, the tweeter opening needed to be slightly tweak. With the help of a little filler, the tweeter opening is back to perfect again. So a little primer and a little spot putty and this kick is almost ready for paint!

 

[Nexson 10+ year member]

Here's how they looked once they were finished =)

 

[James Bang 5,000+ posts]

are they just going to vent into the carpet?

 

[Bfat567 10+ year member]

Some kick a$$ work man.

 

[modskwod 10+ year member]

Damn nice work son.