Kick Panel

[96civ 10+ year member]

Alright I'm considering fiberglassing a kick panel for my civic. I'm going to try to mimic the one like this: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-gfJJlS2FmVD/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=182850&I=044K600544 , but this will be my first fiberglassing project so I don't know if it will be too difficult for me to do without having any experience in it. Basically, what I need to know are these three things:

1) How much will the fiberglass resin and supplies cost?

2) How hard will it be to tape out a design for it to match with the rest of the interior/tape out a design like that at all?

3) Should I just buy the product in the link instead of attempting to custom-build my own?

I'm not very lazy and will be dedicated to doing it, so any tips will be helpful.

Click to read more...

 

[azbass 5,000+ posts]

id just buy theos and beef em up. that way you know they will fit and look good.

but building then is allways better.

 

[imaspaceguy90 10+ year member]

Skeptical is selling some ithink

 

[phantom240 5,000+ posts]

those would be no good in a car with manual ****** IMO... too big and would get in the way and get dirty and stuff.

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

those would be no good in a car with manual ****** IMO... too big and would get in the way and get dirty and stuff.

Kicks in a manual are no fun period. I'm dealing with that right now in my tracker. getting the aiming right and still leaving clearance for the clutch and a foot too operate it ( I wear 15's //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif ) can be a pain. I'm getting there slowly but surely.

As for the questions

1. I spent $50 on materials for mine.

mat

cloth

fleece

resin and catalyst

couple rolls of masking tape

brushes

body filler

duraglass

2. Not too hard really. The shape you see is formed when you stretch the fleece over your baffle and the edges of your relief mold of the kick area. You need to tape the entire area the remotely has a possibility of getting resin on it. Once you get away from the immediate area of resin application where your only worried about splashes and such. You can tape down plastic sheeting or something to protect everything. Then you make your relief mold of the kick area. I do things back wards from some. I get a general idea of baffle positioning by temp mounting them to the molds with just a dab or two of hot glue. That way I have plenty of room to position the baffles in weird funky angles if need be. Then mark and trim up the molds to the shape I want. Make sure my aiming is still on, add more support for the baffle, then stretch em' with fleece. Not too hard really.

3. If you want, I enjoy making stuff myself. And this isn't that hard of a project. It's a pretty good way too get started on the glassing road //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[skeptikal Premium Member]

Kicks in a manual are no fun period. I'm dealing with that right now in my tracker. getting the aiming right and still leaving clearance for the clutch and a foot too operate it ( I wear 15's //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif ) can be a pain. I'm getting there slowly but surely.
As for the questions

1. I spent $50 on materials for mine.

mat

cloth

fleece

resin and catalyst

couple rolls of masking tape

brushes

body filler

duraglass

2. Not too hard really. The shape you see is formed when you stretch the fleece over your baffle and the edges of your relief mold of the kick area. You need to tape the entire area the remotely has a possibility of getting resin on it. Once you get away from the immediate area of resin application where your only worried about splashes and such. You can tape down plastic sheeting or something to protect everything. Then you make your relief mold of the kick area. I do things back wards from some. I get a general idea of baffle positioning by temp mounting them to the molds with just a dab or two of hot glue. That way I have plenty of room to position the baffles in weird funky angles if need be. Then mark and trim up the molds to the shape I want. Make sure my aiming is still on, add more support for the baffle, then stretch em' with fleece. Not too hard really.

3. If you want, I enjoy making stuff myself. And this isn't that hard of a project. It's a pretty good way too get started on the glassing road //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Mine costed about 100$ total but I still have a bunch of resin, matte, cloth, and bondo left over. It really isnt all that hard as long as you take your time on it. Don't cut corners just to get it done faster because it will turn out like sh*t.

Don't let teh sanding get to you because there will be alot of it, fiberglass is 90% sanding.

 

[96civ 10+ year member]

I've decided that I'm going to attempt to custom build my own kick panels. I don't have a manual transmission, so the kicks shouldn't bother me too much on that term. When mounting the 6.5" and tweeter... how should I aim each one in order to get a balanced sound stage? What type of MDF/wood/baffle should I use for such speakers?

 

[azbass 5,000+ posts]

you could pop your old kicks out and build off them, just prop, the speaker rings on the kick, then wrap it. etc.

 

[dak0ta_g33k 10+ year member]

i thought i'd lose a lot of footspace with the prefab qlogic kicks. nyet, i just lost use of the parking brake.

 

[blue93corsica 10+ year member]

I've decided that I'm going to attempt to custom build my own kick panels. I don't have a manual transmission, so the kicks shouldn't bother me too much on that term. When mounting the 6.5" and tweeter... how should I aim each one in order to get a balanced sound stage? What type of MDF/wood/baffle should I use for such speakers?

aim them by either pointing them at the dome light, oppisite side window, oppisite side headresat, stuff like that, put the tweets in either the sail panel or a-pillar, and for making the baffle for the 6.5" 1/2" mdf will do fine

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

I've decided that I'm going to attempt to custom build my own kick panels. I don't have a manual transmission, so the kicks shouldn't bother me too much on that term. When mounting the 6.5" and tweeter... how should I aim each one in order to get a balanced sound stage? What type of MDF/wood/baffle should I use for such speakers?

I was showed a way to aim kicks several years ago, that get's ya perty d@mn close from the start. It requires two people, some tape, and a ruler or measuring tape. Sit in your drivers seat exactly where you would normally sit too drive. seat back position and everything the way you would drive normally ( critical ). Now have the person look at the entrance of your year from outside the drivers side. Have them mark this exact entrance on the window with the tape. Now go adjust your passenger seat like even with the drivers seat and mark the same spot on the glass using the other ear this time. Got one mark on each window now. From each spot measure 5" forward and 1.5" down. Mark this spot with another piece of tape. This is the spot you want to aim your mids at. So aim the passenger mid at the forward down spot on the drivers window, and vice versa. Once you get them aimed stuff some kitchen towels or something behind the mid to simulate an enclosure. Then listen, you may need to wire the passenger mid out of phase if you notice it drawing the sound stage too the right. Should get you in the ball park at least. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[96civ 10+ year member]

Alright sweet... one more question to add to the previous ones... since my ECU is located inside the stock-right kickpanel, how do I lay the painter's tape/masking tape in order to make the mold, do I have to place tape on the ECU, wires, etc..? Also what would you recommend to make both kick panels nearly identical to each other since one will cover the ECU and the other won't?

 

[azbass 5,000+ posts]

I was showed a way to aim kicks several years ago, that get's ya perty d@mn close from the start. It requires two people, some tape, and a ruler or measuring tape. Sit in your drivers seat exactly where you would normally sit too drive. seat back position and everything the way you would drive normally ( critical ). Now have the person look at the entrance of your year from outside the drivers side. Have them mark this exact entrance on the window with the tape. Now go adjust your passenger seat like even with the drivers seat and mark the same spot on the glass using the other ear this time. Got one mark on each window now. From each spot measure 5" forward and 1.5" down. Mark this spot with another piece of tape. This is the spot you want to aim your mids at. So aim the passenger mid at the forward down spot on the drivers window, and vice versa. Once you get them aimed stuff some kitchen towels or something behind the mid to simulate an enclosure. Then listen, you may need to wire the passenger mid out of phase if you notice it drawing the sound stage too the right. Should get you in the ball park at least. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

2 people??

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

Alright sweet... one more question to add to the previous ones... since my ECU is located inside the stock-right kickpanel, how do I lay the painter's tape/masking tape in order to make the mold, do I have to place tape on the ECU, wires, etc..? Also what would you recommend to make both kick panels nearly identical to each other since one will cover the ECU and the other won't?

If you can wait a couple days I'll show you some pics of the route I'm taking. I have a dead pedal bracket on the drivers side to deal with, and a ecu on the passenger side. I'm building off the factory kicks. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

2 people??

Yeah, you need to sit in the car and get your seat positioned correctly for you. While the other carefully looks though the wndow at the opening to your ear. They need to mark this spot precisely. Once they do that on both windows. You can do the rest by yourself. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif