Pics! 2015 wrx fiberglass enclosure progress

[The Camry]

Began the cutting process today, most of it is pretty thick, but I do see some areas to work on

how many layers of mat did you use?

 

[emu1342]

Honestly... I don't even know. This is my first time working with fiberglass, so I didn't exactly put a whole layer on, then resin. I'm sure most of it is 4+ layers but obviously I missed some spots.

 

[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

[quote name='The Camry']Eh. Mosfets to heatsink. Heat sink on top(which then becomes bottom) heat has to flow on and around the board. Not good.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]

No, really it is fine.
@LosIsATool; and @keep_hope_alive; both have their amps mounted upside down under their rear deck iirc.

There isn't an issue with it.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

my amp is inverted, but also has internal fan cooling and stand-offs to allow airflow above the bottom. no issues thermally, and we hit 100 deg here in the summer. worse case, if your amp doesn't have internal cooling, you can add a few small fans to cool off the heat sink.

in an amp, everything is in such proximity, it doesn't matter what orientation you have. if an amp needs fans, it needs them regardless of orientation (unless it's poorly designed thermal management). also consider most amps have a removable bottom plate that has nothing on it - everything is mounted to the top and heat sink.

 

[emu1342]

So Iv ran into a problem. The drivers side enclosure was cut too short. Is there any way to fix this?

Drivers side:

Passenger:

I'm thinking that maybe when I put the ring, I can makeshift some kind of solution... Maybe I should re-glass that area?

I know... I'm an idiot.

 

[The Camry]

yup, reglass it.

 

[emu1342]

yup, reglass it.

The glass is so thick in that area though. Do I just place it over and make it thicker? I don't really have any grinding tools thin it out.

Will the resin have a strong enough bond?

 

[The Camry]

The glass is so thick in that area though. Do I just place it over and make it thicker? I don't really have any grinding tools thin it out. Will the resin have a strong enough bond?

It bonded with itself before didnt it?

you could could try glassing just the part you need and then taking your initial large piece and your small piece and putting one or two layers between them.

or just add more glass to your enclosure and fill in weird spots with body filler. Most of it will be inside the enclosure anyway so weird humps will make no difference.

depending on the resin you used. some companies mix wax into their resin so it dries a different way and you have to sand it a little to get it to bond again.

 

[emu1342]

It bonded with itself before didnt it?
you could could try glassing just the part you need and then taking your initial large piece and your small piece and putting one or two layers between them.

or just add more glass to your enclosure and fill in weird spots with body filler. Most of it will be inside the enclosure anyway so weird humps will make no difference.

depending on the resin you used. some companies mix wax into their resin so it dries a different way and you have to sand it a little to get it to bond again.

Yeah I guess it did, that was when it was all wet though. Like I mentioned, I don't know much about this stuff, so it's all a learning experience for me.

I'll probably try etching the edge of the enclosure so the resin can adhere to that surface better. Then put the enclosure back into the car, tape up the areas I need to add in, then put some heavy layers of glass. I'm trying to salvage as much airspace as possible since my initial testing didn't hold the full 1.5 cu ft of packing peanuts. Probably closer to 1.3

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Mines been good for a year. They do get warm meaning the heat sinks working. Black car, black amps, Florida summer. All good.

 

[The Camry]

Yeah I guess it did, that was when it was all wet though. Like I mentioned, I don't know much about this stuff, so it's all a learning experience for me.
I'll probably try etching the edge of the enclosure so the resin can adhere to that surface better. Then put the enclosure back into the car, tape up the areas I need to add in, then put some heavy layers of glass. I'm trying to salvage as much airspace as possible since my initial testing didn't hold the full 1.5 cu ft of packing peanuts. Probably closer to 1.3

Its all in the fun of learning how to do it. Once its done and fabric is over it. Your gonna be like, that was such a *****, but so so good.

And you learned your lesson. Measure twice. Cut once

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

I agree with adding the piece you need then combining. You can cut some lines into the main piece to help adhesion of the two.

Rich V.

 

[emu1342]

Progress! So Iv gotten as close as I'm able to with matching the enclosures. There's less than a quarter inch between the 2.

I glued down the speaker rings pretty symmetrically.

Hopefully by this weekend, I can get my front piece down and glassed up! Really happy with the progress so far.

One small issue is like to point out would be when I resined on the ring, a good amount of it dropped and hardened at the bottom of my enclosure, causing me to loose a bit of airspace in my already tight build. Any of you think it's worth fixing? If so, how?

It's that blob in the middle of the picture.

 

[350zspl 10+ year member]

if your amps are small you can mount one under each front seat

what is the black box , that your old one coming out

 

[emu1342]

Yes. The black box is the old enclosure. I'm not exactly sure if the amps are small enough for that, definitely worth a shot.

On a side note, I have a question about fitting the polyester sheet. My enclosure goes above the speaker ring. Should I fit the ring a way so it's at least flush? Is this worth the trouble? Currently it would have to dip down, creating an odd curve?