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95riosnake

The Chronicles of 95riosnake's OCD Machine

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Dan..... I just got done reading the first post with all the updates...... I'm speechless, again. The detail in this car continunes to blow my mind. If I ever win the lotto, you're moving to VA and we are going to open up a badass shop. LOL.

Seriously, you're car is beyond levels that people think are possible. Keep setting the bar higher!

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Thanks Brian, glad you guys like it! I can't afford to build some fire-breathing 1000hp twin turbo-type car so I try to step up the details to make the car as impressive as I can with the budget I have to work with. With a wife sharing the bank account these days, my purchases fall under even closer scrutiny than they used to lol. Good thing we weren't sharing an account when I did the 347 or the HRE's!! ;)

I've been meaning to get my act together and start a build thread for years now, but the thought of trying to organize it all was pretty discouraging lol. I'll keep adding earlier build stages as I get a chance, but the older the stages get, the harder it is to find the pictures and remember the specifics of everything.

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loving the fiberglass work so far, definitely one of the messiest and smelliest things I've worked with.

also the amount of work you show on the first page is unreal, cant beat good attention to detail.

Edited by OnyxCobra
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So here is the weekend's progress on the sub enclosure. After sanding the inside and finding some air pockets, those areas were a bit thin for my liking, so I wanted to add a bit more thickness. I ordered a yard of 4mm thick Coremat to add a thick layer quickly. Coremat is a perforated, shredded polyester material that will give you the effect of adding 4 layers of glass much quicker. So here's the process of that:

First I had to start cutting the mat to fit inside the enclosure by making pie cuts to fit it nicely. A bit of 3M spray adhesive on the inside of the enclosure and on the back side of the core mat kept it in place. After getting a flap trimmed, I simply sprayed a light mist of adhesive on the back of the coremat and on the enclosure interior, waited a second and pressed it down to form it. This part took a little while to get it all fitting nicely.

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Trimming done

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Next came another layer of fiberglass cloth to lay over the core mat.

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Then I mixed up three 24oz batches of resin and saturated the core mat and the fiberglass cloth. Then a final additional layer of cloth was laid down and another batch of resin over that. After about 3/4 gallon of resin I ended up with this, and left it at the shop at work for a couple days to save my house from the smell of the resin while it cured ;)

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Fast forward to today, I took a trip to work to pick it up and bring it home. Then it was time to mark it for trimming to get rid of the flange around the top edge that isn't needed.

Here's the highly sophisticated marking tool I came up with :eagerness:

I just slowly slid this around to mark the cut line, only the most high tech tools in my garage, lol.

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Then out came the cut off wheel and I made a tiny bit of dust cutting this off

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The finished lower tub of the enclosure

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This thing is SOLID now, the wall thickness is about 5/16" or so, and it is hard as a rock. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Next step will be dividing the interior in half to reduce the volume to what I need for my sub, then adding the top panel of 3/4" MDF. The tub is 5-3/4" tall, and with the 3/4" MDF top the total height will hit 6-1/2", which is the exact depth of the tire well. My sub's mounting depth is 6-11/16" so I'll just have to add a thin ring of MDF where the sub mounts to space it up and get a little space undrneath it. It'll still be very low to the floor and close to flush so I think I'll be happy with the finished product.

Anyway, I'll be back next week with more updates and hopefully a ton more progress! :salute:

Now this is right up my alley Dan. I really enjoy fiberglassing enclosures :) Looking good so far buddy, although I can't say that I would have used the Coremat.

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Going to read the first page now. Good work with the coremat, didn't know if you would actually be able to get any, that's why I didn't mention it before haha!

We have a supplier for composite meterials at work, so I placed an order through my company and just threw some cash to my manager. A yard of it was only like $12 or something I believe, so I figured I'd go ahead and add it. I just wanted to make sure this thing was nice and sturdy. I also have a tendency to build stuff way stronger than necessary lol.

Now this is right up my alley Dan. I really enjoy fiberglassing enclosures :) Looking good so far buddy, although I can't say that I would have used the Coremat.

The coremat was probably a little overkill but there were a couple areas of the enclosure that were a bit more flexible than I wanted.

And glad you like it! Trust me I've eyed up your setup many times for inspiration!

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We have a supplier for composite meterials at work, so I placed an order through my company and just threw some cash to my manager. A yard of it was only like $12 or something I believe, so I figured I'd go ahead and add it. I just wanted to make sure this thing was nice and sturdy. I also have a tendency to build stuff way stronger than necessary lol.

The coremat was probably a little overkill but there were a couple areas of the enclosure that were a bit more flexible than I wanted.

And glad you like it! Trust me I've eyed up your setup many times for inspiration!

Which car? Lol.

What are your plans for the top plate?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

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The white 95, love the system in that car!

3/4 MDF, liquid nails around the top edge of the fiberglass tub, then a few screws down into the vertical divider panel I'll be adding inside to reduce the volume. Then I'm going to add a second layer of MDF as a ring around the sub to give it a flush mount appearance. The trunk's false floor will cover most of the spare tire enclosure except the second layer of MDF that makes a ring around the sub.

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The white 95, love the system in that car!

3/4 MDF, liquid nails around the top edge of the fiberglass tub, then a few screws down into the vertical divider panel I'll be adding inside to reduce the volume. Then I'm going to add a second layer of MDF as a ring around the sub to give it a flush mount appearance. The trunk's false floor will cover most of the spare tire enclosure except the second layer of MDF that makes a ring around the sub.

Thanks Dan. I'm excited to see the end product ;-)

Here's the simple box I built in my LS

1364263019509.jpg

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

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Dan, you are doing some a seriously good job on this.... go figure ;)

Patiently waiting for more updates.

Thanks man, like I said before I haven't done much fiberglass work where I molded it against something...usually I am fiberglassing things together, so this is new territory for me. I'm just taking it one step at a time and so far I'm really happy with the results :thumbsup:

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Thanks Dan. I'm excited to see the end product ;-)

Here's the simple box I built in my LS

1364263019509.jpg

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

If you don't mind elaborating on how you did this, that would be awesome! I might be interested in doing something like this soon to get my stupid looking box out of my trunk.

As for Dan...jesus dude, I don't even know where to start. This build literally makes me want to rip my car apart and redo everything. All of the little details like the half-round tubing you welded to your bumper support, and the bracket you made for the power steering cooler is sick as well. Well done man, you have a gift.

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As for Dan...jesus dude, I don't even know where to start. This build literally makes me want to rip my car apart and redo everything. All of the little details like the half-round tubing you welded to your bumper support, and the bracket you made for the power steering cooler is sick as well.

I appreciate it man! And don't rip your car apart, it's far too nice!

Well done man, you have a gift.

A gift...or a curse? lol

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I called first dips damnit! ;)

He already lives closer to you! If I still lived in the DC area, I might have made a trip up. The 18+ hours from Tampa would be pretty brutal in my Jalopy.

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Holy Hell, the attention to detail you have put into this car is remarkable. I will say this, if I come to Carlisle for any reason it will be to see your car.

Oh and found this. Pretty sure it's yours.

http://www.unitedstangs.com/forums/showthread.php?42606-ATI-Procharger-AFTER-Custom-Metal-Polishing-Services

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The white 95, love the system in that car!

3/4 MDF, liquid nails around the top edge of the fiberglass tub, then a few screws down into the vertical divider panel I'll be adding inside to reduce the volume. Then I'm going to add a second layer of MDF as a ring around the sub to give it a flush mount appearance. The trunk's false floor will cover most of the spare tire enclosure except the second layer of MDF that makes a ring around the sub.

aaahhh, ok. yea dude i was wondering what ya were doing to this next, lol. the lip will grab the mdf. hell yea, smart planning dude!!
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Holy Hell, the attention to detail you have put into this car is remarkable. I will say this, if I come to Carlisle for any reason it will be to see your car.

Oh and found this. Pretty sure it's yours.

http://www.unitedstangs.com/forums/showthread.php?42606-ATI-Procharger-AFTER-Custom-Metal-Polishing-Services

Thanks man! I won't be at Carlisle this year, Mustang Week is going to be my big car show trip for the year. Might be at Carlisle next year though.

And yep that's my blower! The only thing I didn't like was that they took off the Procharger logo that was under the pulley. Probably something they couldn't avoid though.

Nice dan thats gonna be sweet when its done. Might have to give me some tips on that stuff as I think I may need to fab all new trunk panels after the tubs are done

I think you could use the stock panels to fill from the taillights to the tubs (cutting them at the rear edge of the tubs) then mold some panels to cover your tubs. Fiberglass the stock panels together with the ones you make for the tubs and then have them covered with carpet or leather. It would be a little bit of work but it could come out super nice for sure. Using half of the stock panels will save you a lot of work too.

Edited by 95riosnake
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Update time!

Spent a couple very dusty, messy days in the garage... but made a lot of progress!

Friday morning I ran out to Lowe's and was reminded why a hatchback is the next best thing to a truck :rockon: , brought home a 4x8 sheet each of 3/4" and 1/2" MDF

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Side note, my new trunk side panels came in and they're in great shape. I'll come back to trimming those to fit nice and tight around the shock tower brace brackets later.

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Quick test fit in the trunk to make sure the tub sits all the way down in... good to go!

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Laid the tub face down on the piece of 3/4" MDF and traced the outline, then cut it out.

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Made a cardboard template for the center divider to reduce the enclosure volume to a bit less than 1 cubic foot, takes a bit of trial and error but this is pretty much the only way to make it happen.

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Sanded the interior to give the Liquid Nails something to adhere to

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Cut a divider from 3/4" MDF, mocked up in place and everything looked good

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Laid down a nice thick bead of Liquid Nails, better to have a lot than not enough.

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Divider in place, then let it sit over night to cure.

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This morning I started by marking and cutting the hole for the speaker terminal cup (after a wild goose chase around town for almost an hour trying to find one, ended up finding out there actually is a Radio Shack near me, which is cool because I always thought there were none :thumb: )

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Looking good

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Sat the top back on and marked out the hole for the sub cutout, it may look off center but this location actually locates it right in the center of the trunk. The spare tire well in our cars is off center in the trunk to the driver's side.

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Now I had been basing my needed depth for my sub off the numbers I found online from Boston because I hadn't yet taken it out of the old box. No idea where they got the dimension of it being 6-11/16" deep, it's a lot deeper sub than that for sure... (it's been a couple years since I put it in the old box so I forgot how big the magnet is on this bastard)

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So my idea was to space it up with a piece of 3/4" MDF, cut to the shape drawn out here:

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Buuuut, even after the 3/4" spacer, the magnet was still hitting the bottom of the tub, so I cut an additional layer of 1/2"

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Screwed the spacer layers together and mocked it in place, good to go!

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Before I attached the top, I took a minute to install the terminal cup. It had just been sitting in the cutout. Sanded the back of the cup's flange, then applied a bit of liquid nails inside the cut out, then screws to tighten it in place...then a bit more liquid nails around the edge from the inside. No leaks to worry about from here, lol.

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Time to attach the top panel, once again a nice thick bead of Liquid nails was run around the edge and on the center divider.

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Laid the panel on top and used countersunk screws to attach the top panel to the divider, this also serves to draw the top panel down tight against the edges of the tub.

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Added a layer of Bondo Hair over the countersunk screw holes and all the way around the edge where the top panel meets the tub. This is just further reinforcement, even though the Liquid Nails alone is probably plenty. Also, I sealed all the internal edges of the subwoofer side of the interior with caulking, unfortunately I couldn't really get a picture of that.

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Sanded down the top while I allowed the sides a bit more time to cure (it was a bit thicker on the sides so it wasn't ready for sanding yet), then screwed the spacers in place, once again with countersunk screws. The stock trunk carpet makes a great sanding pad FYI haha :thumb:

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Sides sanded smooth and the screw holes on the spacers were also filled and sanded smooth.

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Finally it was time to lay down a textured coating on the bottom and sides of the tub.

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Sprayed it with Rust-Oleum Truck Bed Coating. This stuff is pretty nice, it dries with a rough texture which looks great. The bottom of the tub isn't 100% smooth as you can see, but I think it looks pretty good considering nobody will EVER see it, lol. It's only this smooth because I can't leave well enough alone, lol. This is how it sits for now, gonna let this cure really well for a few days then get back on this next week. The next step will be carpeting the top panel and the spacers. It wasn't totally dry in this pic yet, it ended up getting more textured and less glossy so it looks even better

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Some of you may remember I said I would be doing all the dusty/messy work in our shop at work to keep it out of my garage, but I wanted to just get shit done today rather than having to pack up supplies, drive them to work, get all the lights and such turned on, etc. So I decided to make it happen in the garage. Well, the consequences of breaking that commitment became painfully apparent when I looked at the rest of the garage...

oops...

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After 3 hours of hosing down the garage, squee-geeing the water out, washing the cobra, sweeping, shop-vac'ing, and wiping down every tool and item that was covered in dust...not to mention a wife returning home from shopping to a complete mess of a garage (lol), I finally had everything cleaned up and can sleep tonight knowing the cobra is sparkling and pretty again. I will not be sanding shit in this garage again, lesson learned! Next time I'll just take the time to pack stuff up and take it to work like I said I would, lol.

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Hope you guys enjoy! I wish I would have had enough time to cut out the trunk floor panels from the 1/2" MDF this weekend, but I'm still pretty happy with the progress I made. I have some family stuff to do tomorrow for Easter so I won't have a chance to work on the car till next Friday.

Edited by 95riosnake
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I kinda liked the dust... ghost cobra.

Haha I know, I didn't realize how much dust I was making then at on point I took a step back from focusing on sanding and was like "Oh damnit, what have I done..." lol

I'm loving watching this come together. excellent work to say the least, I wouldn't even have thought of filling in the screw holes.

Thanks man! I always was really bad about documenting my projects in the past, my excuse was always that I didn't have a nice camera to do so with. Now that I have a nice Canon SLR I don't have any excuse. It's also kind of nice wrapping up each weekend's work on the car by going through the pics and recapping it all.

Call dibs on the box if you ever sell ;)

Damn you are doing an amazing job on this project. Still :bowdown: :notworthy:

Appreciate it! I used to be really into car audio in highchool, and while I have mostly outgrown the need for MASSIVE bass, I have always wanted to make a nice clean setup for the cobra. I used to have two 12's and a 10 in the back of my old S10 Blazer, and another 8" in a custom center console, that thing was insane when you had it cranked up lol. Obviously a single 10 isn't nearly as earth-shaking, but now that I'm older these days I'm not looking for ridiculous bass, lol. This Boston G510 is no slouch though, it's a serious little sub. :thumb:

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I have no audio knowledge compared to that but from BlownByYou's help I have a $2,500 setup waiting to be purchased whenever I can afford that nonsense.

He helped me out with some questions I had when I ditched the whole Mach 460 setup a few years back, he really knows his stuff. I guarantee you that when you get around to it, you'll be very happy with everything he recommended.

And I also looked for another hour or so for those stock CD players for you, no luck. I am starting to think they may have hit the landfill, although I can't imagine I would have done that.

There's a local guy selling the 460 radio and CD player as a set for $50, if you want me to get you his contact info, shoot me a PM :thumb:

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I'm still trying to convince him to fly out here to install all of it if I buy it all, haha. He never responds. I'ma have to get the baby powder at a smack someone.

Thanks for checking but I'll just hold off until I order a dual din headunit :D

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i had a totally different thing in my head here, lol. i thought you were attaching an entire trunk floor to the sub enclosure. like making a trunk floor from the mdf and attaching the tub to that. lol, nvmn...this is def professional in quality though homie!! great fn job dude!!!

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Excellent work, though I would expect nothing less lol. I thought you were going to be stuck at "the sub was too deep" so I was about to type "just cut out a couple spacers for it" and well, you beat me to it haha. Looks really awesome man.

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Coming together flawless dan! holy crap that dust got errrywhereeee! it looked like you could still see the dust floating around in the air when you snapped the picture haha is all of your fab skills self taught or do you have any levels of skill from a shop or class?

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Self taught-ish. I grew up with a dad that could seemingly do anything under the sun, so I spent my entire childhood right next to him soaking up knowledge...a lot of my friends were riding bikes or playing video games, but I was building houses/sheds/garages then working on cars with my dad, loving every minute of it. It still amazes me how he always knows exactly how to do things, and he doesn't use computers so the thought to "google it" never crosses his mind.

I've taken a couple welding classes, but other than that no formal education in fabrication. I work at an industrial design firm where we make prototypes of about anything you could imagine also. I was their metal fabrication prototyper for a year before moving into being a senior designer. During that time though, I honed skills other than metal fab by doing the occasional wood working or fiberglass project when there weren't many metal builds in the line.

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Here's a couple pics of my old man, I have an incredible amount of respect for him. First of him doing what he does best (building a car trailer from scratch "Because nobody makes one nice enough for what I want"), then a couple from my wedding.

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Edited by 95riosnake
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