Honda Prelude Fiberglass Subwoofer Box

I've seen many fiberglass subwoofer guides that show how to make a custom fiberglass sub box. None of these guides have really explained how exactly to do it. Either they don't have enough pictures or do not explain it correctly. In this guide I am going to give you the In's and Out's of Making a custom fiberglass subwoofer box. I have decided to make a sub box for my Honda Prelude. I am going to be installing a JL Audio W3V3 with a 500 watt Alpine Amplifier.China Fiberglass Tape Manufacturers

Custom Fiberglass Subwoofer Box:

Materials:

1 Gallon of Fiberglass Resin (find at Auto Zone, Advanced Auto Parts, Etc)

Cheap Paint Brushes (probably about 10; you will throw away after each use)

Rubber Gloves for fiberglassing

Fiberglass mat (about 6-8 packages depending on the size of your box)

MDF Wood 1/2?

2 Dowel Rods

2 Rolls of Masking Tape

Aluminum Foil

Cheap Mixing Cups

1-2 sq yards of fleece (hobby lobby)

Fiberglass Sub Box:

Ok, time to start making a fiberglass sub box! The first step to making the box is drawing out some plans on what you want and how to you want to do it. When fiberglassing, you can't reallyChina Oven sealing rope company fix your mistakes because when fiberglass resin is dry, its DRY.

We wanted to make a simple box that would save space, and look oem to the prelude. We started by laying masking tape down so no fiberglass resin gets on the carpet, because if it does, its ruined. Also, make sure to tape extra space then your actually going to use just to be safe.

We did about 2-3 layers of tape and then also added some aluminum foil as a layer, as to not get any glass on the carpet. When you think that you have enough tape and there is no possible way that anymore fiberglass could get through to the carpet; do another layer.

The next step after you have tapped everything is to start fiberglassing. Before you mix your fiberglass with your hardener, you should cut strips out of your fiberglass mat. I usually make strips about 7-9 inches wide. When you are ready, what you need to do is mix your fiberglass with your hardener in the mixing cup. The hardener will have how much fiberglass resin to hardener mix to make. Make sure you prepare before you start fiberglassing because it dries somewhat quick. Paint a layer of fiberglass resin onto the tape without any mat. After you've painted a layer put fiberglass mat down and paint another layer over fiberglass after that. Wait about 10 minutes and then do another layer before it dries completely.

Now, wait at least an hour and let the fiberglass resin completely dry. When its dry, you can take the mold out and tear off all the tape and aluminum foil. Put it back in your trunk and draw out where you want to cut off. Make sure you go slowly and don't take all of it off at once.

Now you need to cut out a MDF ring for your subwoofer to screw into. Some prefer to make a flush ring with a router but I like the one ring way better. I am using a 10 inch jl audio w3 so I cut out a 10 inch ring and used the specs from the box to make a ring the right size.

Then we pulled out our newly trimmed fiberglass box and put another layer of fiberglass mat on it. Generally you want to do about 5-6 layers of fiberglass. Some say you should be able to stand on your box without it breaking. Another good fiberglassing tip is to remove as many air bubbles as possible. This will make the mold a lot stronger because there's no air pockets. You do this by jabbing the fiberglass rather than actually trying to paint it.

Ok, enough playing around; back to fiberglassing! Next we put on a last layer of fiberglass mat and resin. After this has totally dried (about 3 hours) we started sanding and cutting to get the shape we wanted with our custom fiberglass sub box.

Once your back mold looks good to you its time to set your MDF ring up how to want your sub to be. Hold your ring up where you think you would like it. Cut some dowel rods to size and position your ring how you want it. We used superglue and epoxy to keep the dowel rods and the MDF ring in place. Its important that your ring is very strong and sturdy because we are going to stretch fleece over it.