hehe PG/Boston 90' Camry

waynehead · Post by **waynehead** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 10:28 am

Well Im sitting here drawing unemployment, girlfriend is in jail, and the nice weather breaks

Time to put some 6x9's in the doors of my camry. I started yesterday in a friends yard and took a few pics. I brought everything but my camera back home to finish today because he has college finals today so pics are limited for today's progress. But another can of bondo is needed to finish so there will be plenty of documentation. Probably not the most orthodox approach but I think you guys will enjoy the project anyway. Its just an old work car with 4" speakers in the dash. The guy before me took the baffles out to fit a bigger 4" speaker, so the dash had speakers hanging by wires. Let me tell you the soundstage was great

. I decided to do somethin bout it. Pics coming soon

waynehead · Post by **waynehead** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 7:55 pm

A couple pics of progress

Unorthodox maybe, effective I think so.

waynehead · Post by **waynehead** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 7:57 pm

All critisism will be taken gratiously. This is my first attempt at bondo, but I think it is going to turn out pretty... TITS

Post by **ttocs** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 8:33 pm

my only concern would be if you prepped the plastic for the glass? It doesn't look like you scuffed it or drilled holes in it?

The foam has been used by the best for some time. In shops they like to buy it un bulk, and mix it by the gallon. Another easy way to make a shape is to get the green floral foam from a craft and hobby shop. It is the green blocks that the use at the bottom of flower arrangements to hold the flowers in place. It is cheap, cuts and sands super easy and can be easily knocked out when you are done. I built the curved part of the subwoofer grill with it on my truck.

In the first picture, the shiney black curved part of the grill.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3237206

waynehead · Post by **waynehead** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 8:50 pm

I was actually planning on fastening the whole thing to the door. I figure I will add a couple bolts and washers to it before the final coat. Not sure what the weather is doing tommorow but if I am permitted I will try to finish. Anyone ever used body filler? Thinking I could get a better finish with a coat of that. I also wonder what steps I should take to baffle the speaker. I have some rubberized undercoating that is used for under wheel wells and stuff that I was going to spray on the back of the door panel. I am also using armaflex around the edges of the panel to seal to the door. I am cutting a hole in the door slightly bigger to allow the speaker to use the door as an enclosure. Should any more steps be taken to make a proper baffle. Thanks for every opinion and critisism. I am out of my element on this project.

Post by **ttocs** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 9:07 pm

F the fasteners mang. Drill some holes in the plastic area directly around where the glass will meet the plastic. You can use some CA glue to hold the glass on temporarily or even some tape and then flip the door panel over. Pour some resin in the holes you drilled(it is important to mask EVERYTHING under that you do not want covered) and you can do a single layer of mat and resin. The glass will bond around the plastic and make a secure hold.

bondo time.... First use either a dremel, or sander of some type and knock down all the high points in the glass. It doesn't have to be pretty, you can just use some 60 gritt paper and take off all of the high points. Rather then bondo I prefer rage gold, or diyna delite as it sands easier. Get some spreading spatulas that are normally right next to these in the store. U like to tape a piece of foil to piece of wood or even a old magazine to mix it on. You will need to tape it down flat as you will be pushing and pulling it all around to mix the hardener and if it is not secure you will loose time trying to tape it down after it is activated. Take some painters tape and make a smooth coating across the spatula that you are going to use and cover it from top to bottom, leaving only a small area of the tip exposed. This way when you are done you can peel off the tape, break off the little bit on the end and it is ready for the 2nd round. It would also be wise to but a box of rubber gloves, preferably unpowdered if you can find them. Be sure to mask off any surrounding areas around or under the area you are covering as it is so much easier to peel tape then to sand bondo(you will learn trust me). A couple mins of prep can save you hours repair.

After the first coat again go an knock down the high points. You will still probably have some points that are too low that will require one more round of filling. Your low points or dimples will start off maybe a couple of inches across, and hopefully get smaller after each round. Once they are the size of pencil erasers then you can start till fill the small dimples with glazing putty(in a tube right next to the rest of this crap). This sands much much easier but will crack if you put your thumb nail into it too hard so try to keep it thin.

waynehead · Post by **waynehead** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 9:18 pm

Sweet. Thanks for all the helpful tips. This is definetly a learning experience for me. Which is why I am doing it on this car. I prefer to do everything myself so I attempt first times on stuff that doesnt matter. The only reason I even think about painting the door panels when Im done is just to see how well it turns out with a finish. If you seen my amps and eq wired up you might cringe. No wires match, the power and ground blocks have no covers.. lol ... I know its dangerous. I have extra fuses which I am sorry to say I have had to use. The amps arent even measured center with the box. just eyeballed it. Totl functionallity over cosmetic. Just practice for the big game coming up with my xenons

Post by **ttocs** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 9:58 pm

we all started somewhere. My first system was certainly not pretty.

waynehead · Post by **waynehead** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 10:03 pm

Isnt my first system, I have been stubborn in the past to use factory locations for speakers. Really sucked with my old supra. But I have had things turn out ok with a few. This is the first door build tho. i usually atleast make a clean install even if it is just a sub and single amp. This car is an exception. I will eventually tidy everything up. Right now Im worried about my front stage. I have had music coming from behind me for a couple weeks now and I almost would rather have silence. Hopefully the doors turn out well. Thanks again

Post by **ttocs** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 10:27 pm

well come to think of it, it was long after that first system before I felt like I had something that was worth showing.

Post by **stipud** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 6:40 am

Did you fiberglass straight down the sides of your wood there, or did you hollow out the foam a bit to increase the airspace? Ideally you shouldn't make the enclosure too small, as that will limit your bottom end, and mud up the midbass.

waynehead · Post by **waynehead** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:22 am

No there is foam under the whole thing and I cut most of it out. I suppose I could see how the speaker performs in that enclosure. I was goign to leave the rest of the foam for sturdiness and use the door as a baffle butif the speaker works well with that space I suppose I can give it a shot. Would adding some polyfill be good because I just inherited a couch that i dont care about and the whole thing has been redone with that shit. I could pack it full

I suppose a test is in order.

waynehead · Post by **waynehead** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:33 am

ttocs wrote:well come to think of it, it was long after that first system before I felt like I had something that was worth showing.

I heard that. I never used to be worried as much about sq. Like my first car was pretty clean but it wasnt anything to be proud of, but I was then. I had those pioneer wizzer cone 6.5's and 6x9's that my dad got me. Yeah they were running off of stock power. I then had a line level converter to an alpine v12 amp that power a single w310. but I was 16 and loving it. Ive had many a vehicle with many a sub system but I wasnt worried about amplifying my highs up until a couple years ago.

everybody grows up sooner or later

oldskoolmseriesfan · Post by **oldskoolmseriesfan** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 2:26 pm

waynehead wrote:No there is foam under the whole thing and I cut most of it out. I suppose I could see how the speaker performs in that enclosure. I was goign to leave the rest of the foam for sturdiness and use the door as a baffle butif the speaker works well with that space I suppose I can give it a shot. Would adding some polyfill be good because I just inherited a couch that i dont care about and the whole thing has been redone with that shit. I could pack it full I suppose a test is in order.

Dont put too much in, you don't want it packed tight. Correct me if Im wrong,I believe I got this info from one of Tom Nousaine's articles in Car Stereo Review, 1.5 lbs per cubic foot of space, if you pack it too tight, you defeat the purpose.
Someone please correct me if Im wrong,its been a long time since i read this.

waynehead · Post by **waynehead** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 4:41 pm

Being that they are 6x9's I assumed they would want alot of space. They are rated down to 35hz, If they have decent transient response down low I am going to try to cross them around 50 or 60. I am hoping that will keep the whole stage up front. Right now I am running a sapphire 12

and Im not sure it will keep up so I am dealing with a friend on a brand new boston g3 12. It likes a cubic foot versus the 3.8 I have the sapphire in lol. I hope it all comes together. I didnt enclose the speakers and move them around in different places and use different angles like I wanted to but I got them as far forward and down in the door as I could. It will definetly be better that what i have now

waynehead · Post by **waynehead** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 8:48 am

A few more pics of progress. I gave it a break for a couple days. They are starting to come around. Probably going to need a couple more coats. and I am considering filling in the bottom all the way across to make a cleaner line. Right now they are hung in the car for a sound test. I will be finishing shortly.

Post by **ttocs** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 2:57 pm

you are getting close to the glazing point now. isn't sanding fun!?