That said, I did mask up the footwells before we began!!
some of you might remember this thread:
http://www.mx5nutz.c...showtopic=52722
obviously the challenge was to get it in losing as little legroom as possible, not exactly easy with a 10" sub that requires a 10 Litre box! I went up to mullets place yesterday morning and we got started. wont go into a hugely long write up, am pretty sure the pictures speak volumes.
start by masking up the footwell (I should say by this points, we had removed the protection plate over the ECU and ABS computer, as well as the foam underlay under the carpet to gain an extra 2-3" of depth)
next, after a bit of head scractching, pondering and template experimentation, a few of the mdf box panels templated and cut to rough size and hot glued in place. mark applying some bridging compound to strengthen the edges, then fiberglass and matting to begin the back wall moulded structure of the box:
the shape looks a tad weird at this point, but we took it up behind the glove box to get the box volume needed and slightly away from the transmission tunnel so it could be taken in and out easily. At this point, the bottom of the box was around 4 inches into the footwell from the point the footwell starts angling upwards to rest heels on.
The most important part of the job - tea!
more mdf - the top panel working its way under the heating duct:
that was bonded in, bridging compound applied and then wait for the resin to harden. next - box out of the car to see what needed to be done.
looking pretty raw at this point! Likely that it may have had some air leaks too! sooooo...
a few layers of matting, resin and the occasional amount of swearing went into the box at this point wihich resulted in this:
inside getting there now!
At this point I didnt pick up the camera for a bit so jumping forward slightly, we get here:
box face cut and tacked into position with sub mounting ring recessed in, in order to flush mount the sub to the face of the box. point which becomes more important later I should mention we had also measured the box depth and volume so we could cut back on the amount of room it would take in the footwell. the bottom lip had nearly 3" removed and was sitting virtually at the point the footwell starts to angle up meaning we gained a lot of of footspace back again.
test fitted:
In order to get the sub recessed with the space being so tight, it meant cutting the mounting ring into the edges of the box:
that obviously needed sorting out to seal it. so we did. also did so;me more filling and sanding on the outside of the box for strength/appearnace/sealing
test fit again with sub in place and glovebox support bar in. you can see the sub JUST sits under the bar as it needs to
final test fit with the glovebox in:
now obviously this is very open to prying eyes. my original idea was to trim the box in acoustic cloth, but mark had a better idea.
mask up the footwell again:
Where did the box go???
some more filler round the edges:
and while that was going on, we also gave the box some guide coat in black:
Mark suggested that I consider a neutrik connector for the box. a good idea really given that the chances are for long journeys the box will be removed if i have a passenger for their comfort. much better than sodding banana plugs and way more reliable. neutrik female connector in place:
back to the fiberglass guru's magic, sub grill mounted into box trim cover and filler moulded, grill bonded from the rear face and fillers around the edges on the front face:
test fitting the cover:
cover back on the workbench sanded down and ready for acoustic carpet trim. (I should mention that both of us agreed not to make the fiberglass perfect as with carpet it doesnt really show up. had this been vinyl or paint obviously would have filled/sanded more than above but there was anough shape there to make it work perfectly with carpet.)
sub box finally fitted with internal wiring and connectors done and filled to ensure no air leakage. sub screwed into place, box in and glovebox back in.
and finally, all done with the trim panel on. at a glance with the window closed, you would be VERY hard pressed to even notice anything there!
I cant begin to describe how happy I am with the final product!!! There is a little bit of loss to legroom but for what its acheived and just how much mark managed to salvage back by being clever with the way the box was deisgned and built, the compromise really is minimal - around 2" at the bottom of the footwell and maybe 4 to 6" at the top.
bit gutted I dnt currently have an amp to power it, but that is next on the list of purchases.
Once again big thanks to mullet for building this thing for me!! complete guru when it comes to this stuff!!!
