Trunk full of fiberglass!!??!?!?!??

OK, we've all seen those show cars where there entire truunk is a fiberglass mold with subs mounded in there. what im wondering is how do they fit it in there? do they lay the glass and paint inside of the car or somthing? Its hard enought getting a box into your trunk, how in the heck do you get a full fiberglass mold in there?

What kind of boxes do you use that are hard to fit?

Im just saying...like a 2 12" sub box was a bitch to get in my trunk because it barley fit into the opening. ...i dunno..?!?!? ..i just wana know how they do that fiberglass! lol

depends...

What car are you in? What car are you talking about. I know some are molded into the car...

I have an accord, but it doesnt matter what car. Iv seen whole trucks of molded fiberglass in a bunch of cars. I just want to know how they fit it in the trunk when the trunk opening is smaller than the trunk.

They dont "fit it in there." most of the time the enclosure is built, placed in the vehicle, then molded over with fiberglass.

So they paint the fiberglass while its in the car?

well, yes if the fiberglass is painted. painting fiberglass isnt the best way to color it. there is often a final coad or resin called the gel coat that has gel color adetives to color the fiberglass. or, as in surfboards, if the mold was made of foam the foam can be painted and the color will show through. Fiberglass is most often painted when it is used as body on a vehicle with other body parts made of metal. this is only because you will never get a gel coat to look like or be the same color as a coat of paint. go look at a new colored fiberglass boat. you more then likely wont find any paint.

thanks that is what i was looking for! So i take it they just paint this jell stuff on with a brush?

well, um. Its kind of hard to explain with out explaining the whole Glassing Process. here is a crash course.
After a mold has been made Fiber Glass is layed over it. Fiberglass is basically a weav of very fine glass strands. once the glass has been streched and fited around the object you are glassing (usually a polyurathane foam for best penetration, MDF can be glased directly because it soaks up so much of w/e you put on it) you mix up a resin, different resins callfor different ammounts of polyurathane or epoxy resin and hardener. a small amount is poured on or brushedo n little by little at a time. it is a tedious process that takesa while and your woking agianst the clock before the resin in the bucket begines to harden. you sort of "paint" it on. then you use a squegie to smooth it all out. you let it cure under a UV light (or in the sun) untill it becomes hard bust still slightly tacky, another layre of glass is layed. different weights in different orders all determine the properties of the fiberglass along with the type of resin used. after 3-10 layres (as many as 20 can be used if the fiberglass will be the actual enclosure for extra stiffnes) of glass and resin have been layed you have a resin mixture poured on with out laying more glass cloth. it is spreat out very thin. it drie quite tacky. then a layre of high hardener content is poured and it dries very hard. it is all sanded down and smoothed out then another layre of high hardener content is added. only this time color gel is added to the resin mixture. as the mixture cures it will be very hazey but colored. you give it one last good sand iwth a high grit paper then fill in any holes than another good sanding untill it is all smooth as a babys ass then you buff the glass with a polisher. makes it end up looking likeThis (http://hot-neon.com/pics/enclosure/trunk18.jpg). the foam you see in all the seams is sealing it.
sorry for any spelling/grammar errors.

Edit:
I Figured out how to post pics...i think... http://hot-neon.com/pics/enclosure/trunk18.jpg :ylsuper:

my box was made into the floor. the sides were made first, then the bottom was filled in with glass, then the frame was made for the top and covered with glass. if i decided to go with paint, we would have had to sand it real fine and then cover it with filler (bondo) before priming and painting.

Thats awsome! I had no idea thats how you do it. I always thought that fiberglass was always painted. So this color that you mix with the resin...does it have a special name or somthing?? i gada get ahold of some of this stuff!

gel coat is a paint,,not a gel,,it hardens with MEKP the same stuff that poly resin is hardened with,,it USED to be the best paint for boats,,but it is very hard to sand after painting because it "orange peels" so bad,,they use other paints that use slower hardeners now,,like Awl-Grip,,dries slower but is harder then gel-coat,,when you fiberglass a speaker box,,the easiest way is to build it from wood first then glass over,, but if you want one built inside of a small area you can make the mold from either strofoam,,or small rigid sreening first,,then brush screening with resin,,apply o a layer of glass,,resin up,,take a ROLLER to push out all air pockets,,then move over to layer next to last one,,if you want thicker,,you can drop back (before fist kicks off) and add another layer,,ive done 7 layers of glass in one sitting,,then you need to fill in with filler because you WILL have pinholes and un-eveness,,but never think you can color your foam then glass over and see it,,,resin is NOT clear,,not even close

oh,,and P.S,,fiberglass takes paint as good if not better then wood or metal

wow, this thread is like 3 years old

my box was made into the floor. the sides were made first, then the bottom was filled in with glass, then the frame was made for the top and covered with glass. if i decided to go with paint, we would have had to sand it real fine and then cover it with filler (bondo) before priming and painting.

i remember this post...