Custom Sub Enclosure - Lots of Pics

**Silver** · 03-26-2013, 11:09 PM

When i bought my 3000gti already had 2 MTX 12's and a box from my Jimmy. Well 4 years down the road i got more and more sick of seeing this huge box in my back hatch and no room at all in my hatch for anything other than 2 skateboards. (Ive been skating for 18 years now and its fun to do when my buddy comes back from the army.) SO i decided to build a box for my subs using some ideas from Ictponder/Isaac. This is my progress towards a box that doesnt take up all my hatch and actually fits in the rear of my 3S.

Before:
The first day i got my car.

Progress:

I took the idea to have the back of the box follow the natural curve of the rear seats.

This was the basic idea of the box but then i found that the rear seats could not go up once the subs were mounted. I then cut the front faceplate down so the box sat lower. I also shaved the top plate on the sides so that it too would fit lower in the car.

After shaving the plates to the right size i made the bottom of the box, put the subs in and checked the depth from the subs and the rear seats. i have about a 1/2-3/4 inch clearance which is good enough for me lol.

Once the sides were made (which was a major pain in my a** I took it all apart and wood glued each piece. I couldn't do this before because of the way the box sat it was easier to assemble in the car as it was.

Now came the fun part ... -_- I got on the phone with Steve/2fnloud who has some major audio background and told him that although im a perfectionist there were still some tiny gaps that i was concerned about. I did fill some of the gaps with a wood glue/saw dust mixture but i wanted to make sure that it would be airtight and still hold together. Steve gave me the idea to resin and fiberglass the joints and gaps to seal and solidify the box.

Well this was my first time fiber glassing... but i think i did a pretty decent job. And for the heck of it i resined most of the joints on the outside to be even more sure it was sealed.

Now to just sand... sand... sand... mount the subs and terminals and carpet this beast.

**IPD** · 03-27-2013, 08:19 AM

subbed, pun intended.

**2fnloud** · 03-27-2013, 08:20 AM

don't worry about sanding the inside, from what I am seeing there isn't much sanding to be done on the outside.

**Silver** · 03-28-2013, 10:26 PM

Well i finished the main part of the box last night, Cutting holes for the posts and drilling the holes for the subs themselves. I also sanded the extra resin off of the outside of the box and fixed where the sides of the actual box protrude the front of it. Ill be mounting a facia (face-cha) to the front of the box to fill in where the angles are when i carpet it.

Dont mind the ghetto wiring i was in a hurry to test it out. It was getting pretty late and cold lol.

Originally Posted by SUTHNR

That seems like a very little box for a pair of 12's. I wonder if a rear-facing port would help you get more bass out of the setup...? I have a pair of tens in mine in a similar sized box and have a rear-facing port and can get ridiculous bass from it, though mine does nuzzle up against the hatch when closed and creates a band-pass-like configuration.

EricB

You know i was worried about how small the box was compared to my original box. It was probably about twice the size of this box. Interestingly that box was not ported so i decided not to port this one. To be completely honest this box hits alot sharper than my original box and is VERY noticible. It might not be as deep as the original box but its almost such a small difference i honestly cant be sure. Its still loud enough to rattle my rear view mirror off the holder on the windshield.

Originally Posted by 2fnloud

don't worry about sanding the inside, from what I am seeing there isn't much sanding to be done on the outside.

For sanding the inside all i did really was sand all of the loose fibers out of the box. It just seemed like a good idea.

**SUTHNR** · 03-27-2013, 02:16 PM

That seems like a very little box for a pair of 12's. I wonder if a rear-facing port would help you get more bass out of the setup...? I have a pair of tens in mine in a similar sized box and have a rear-facing port and can get ridiculous bass from it, though mine does nuzzle up against the hatch when closed and creates a band-pass-like configuration.

EricB

**spaceace60** · 04-03-2014, 12:31 AM

its small most 12's require atleast 1cubic ft and most people don't realize that a $40 sub in the right box will sound better than an $800 in the wrong box! size is VERY critical! I've got almost whole trunk under the top as box but bc our cars trunk is so shallow had to make it up in side to side/front to back space! got alpine type x now( soo much better than the R series subs!)