70 Camaro - Boise, Idaho

[Goosesdad]

Here is the speaker pod done. Drywall mud.


A quick coat of primer to seal up the drywall mud.


Then 3 coats of wax....don't get wax anywhere that you want fiberglass to stick....in my case the thin areas in front and back of the pod. That is where the pod gets anchored to the door panel. The a coat of PVA mold release, that is the green tint.

[Goosesdad]

Same idea here as before with the rear section, when laminating sharp angles and doing it vertically, mix up a hot batch of resin, brush it on and let it tack up a bit before laying down the fiberglass cloth. It just helps anchor the glass down while you are wetting it out with a normal mix of resin. That only works with "cloth", doesn't really work with "mat". Cloth is your friend when doing funky shapes and sharp angles, mat won't lay down right in those cases. Though you do need at least 2 layers of cloth if you want it to be rigid.


Wetted out. Good tip.... Remember this process is totally back@sswards for how you would normally do fiberglass in a mold. But if you ever do it like this, it will mean that you are going to sand/smooth the 'glass. So...get some "surfacing wax" and mix it into the resin. The wax will rise to the surface and create a layer that allows the resin to cure better/harder for sanding. I know that probably doesn't make a lot of sense but it works great. In this case, I didn't mix it in the resin for laminating but then mixed it into a final batch that I just brushed on the already laminated part, sorta heavy, you can see the runs. Doesn't matter as this will be rock hard and will get sanded off.


Another good tip....make an acetone station for Al pans for cleaning brushes and rollers. I have a dirty pan and then a final rinse pan. When done, just pour it in an old container and take the hazardous waste depo at your local landfill.

[Goosesdad]

The rough-in of the 'glass done, door panel removed and the foam/mud removed.

Still have lots of clean-up to do.

[Goosesdad]

Top is a piece of plastic that was cut with a CNC router, using it for 2 purposes: To provide a perfectly round reveal for the speaker grill and to provide a flat surface for the speaker grill to latch to.

Bottom is the wood platform for the arm rest. The 4/4 hardwood is used for a sturdy mounting surface for the arm rest so it stays stout if someone uses it as brace getting in and out of the car.


Plastic ring epoxied into place.

[Goosesdad]

Start of the arm rest. Florist foam, rounded with a 1/2" router bit, glued down to the wood.


Front half of the arm rest.


First of 3 layers of fiberglass cloth.

[Goosesdad]

Fitment mostly done.

[Goosesdad]

A bit more progress on the arm rest. Beginning of closing off the end and the back with glass. Also removed the foam where the arm rest goes over the door pull. Lots more to come.

This is the end, ready to be capped with 'glass.


Just a scrap piece of wood, masked....then a wet layer of 1 1/2 oz of mat.


Flipped over and set down on the arm rest


Resin completed cured


Scrap of wood popped off.


Sanded smooth and the foam removed in the area of the door pull.

[Ricochet]

Good lord - this thing just keep getting to whole other level! And being garage built by YOU makes it that much better! Major Props!!

[Goosesdad]

Originally Posted by Ricochet

Good lord - this thing just keep getting to whole other level! And being garage built by YOU makes it that much better! Major Props!!

Thank you Brent. Means a lot!!

[Goosesdad]

Prep'n to close off the back of the arm rest. Also fixing a little error, if you look in the left corner you will see the glass pulled away from the foam when I laminated it, just the spring tension in the cloth. You can see it raised up that corner and is a high spot. If I just sanded it flat, it would go through to the foam, so opened up the foam a bit...more to come, see below. That masking tape has release wax on it.

Wetted out a layer of 1 1/2oz mat and rolled the air bubbles out. Also I cut some small pieces of glass and put them into the opening in the foam, upper left. This will provide some glass to back that high area up so when I sand it flat there will be glass backing it up and no-harm/no-foul.

Set the arm rest on it and weighted it down to press it into the wet glass.

Resin cured and popped off the bench/tape.

First trim and ready for the next step.