SeRiousZX2
04-25-2008, 01:24 PM
Custom Sail Panel Tweeter Pod How-To
This is a very fast way to make a set of custom sail panel tweeter pods. These take no longer than a full day, with 23 hours of that day for drying. Take what you learn here and apply it to all sorts of different vehicles.
Yes, there are dozens of different ways to make these and I have used several methods. Some take longer than others. This is just a very raw, do it at home, beginner method. I will post more advanced methods as time goes by.
First you need to gather the material that you will be using in this project. Here is a general list that is needed to complete this project. Most of these items can be found at the Dollar Store:
·(1) Plastic Drop Cloth for speedy clean up: $2.00
·(2) Disposable paint brushes (NOT the sponge type): $.50 each
·(1) Disposable gloves: $1.00
·(1) Fiberglass Resin Kit (hardener, bucket, matting included): $8.00
·(1) Yard of fleece material (color does not matter): $2.00
·(1) Assortment pack of sandpaper: $5.00
·(1) Tube of Bondo Spot Putty: $2.00
·(1) Can of High Build Sandable Primer: $4.00
·(1) Can of spray adhesive: $5.00
·(1) Scissors: $1.00
·(1) Bottle of cleaner/degreaser: $4.00
·(1) Roll of paper towels: $1.00
·(1) Roll of aluminum foil: $1.00
·(1) Roll of painter’s tape: $1.50
·(1) Piece of paper
·(1) Sharpie Marker
·(2) Tubes of Super Glue Gel: $2.00
Some extra tools that are good to have that will make the process faster and easier are:
·Dremel
·Cutoff wheels for Dremel
·Sanding drums for Dremel (60 grit #440 or #408 and 120 grit #444 or #432)
·High-Speed Cutters (#115 and #199)
·Razor Blade
·Old clothes
Heres a pic of some of the material that will be needed. Instead of buying the mat and resin separate, Wal Mart sells a kit that has everything in it for around $8.00.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/Supplies.jpg
Once you gather all your material, its time to get started. The first thing you need to do is go out to the car with the Sharpie, paper, and scissors. Look and see how much bigger you want your sail panel. Cut out a large triangle from the paper. Now hold it against the sail panel location and start trimming it until you get the size you want. Now take it and the actual sail panel with you back to your work area.
Next you will want to trace that cut out onto the weaved fiberglass matting. Like in this picture.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70353.jpg
Now if you noticed, I have 2 pieces of the mat cut out. You will only need to trace the design onto one. I also went ahead and wrapped a small flat piece if wood in aluminum foil.
Next, you will want to take the Super Glue and cover the area of the sail panel that is to be seen. NOT the section that hides behind the door panel. Then place it face down onto the mat that had the pattern drawn pressing firmly. Make sure it doesn’t glue to anything else. Then lay it to the side face up.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70355.jpg
If you noticed, I had messed up on my angle so I corrected it.
NOTE: From here on out, PLEASE make sure you are in a well-vented area! Fiberglass resin fumes can be very dangerous. Hint: Raise the door in the garage before you start.
Next, go ahead and mix up a small batch of resin and hardener as directed on box. Make sure you have everything you need in front of you. Grab the other piece of mat without the pattern on it and lat it on the foil. Grab your brush and begin to cover it with the resin.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70359.jpg
Next, quickly grab the super glued sail panel/mat. While holding it, apply resin on the mat side where it was glued and then place it on top of the freshly resined mat. Now, go back over it applying more resin. I make sure the resin actually covers the lip of the sail panel too.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70360.jpg
Now let that dry for several hours.
Once it is dry, pull it up from the foil. The foil will peel off of it very easily. If you notice in this picture I also decided to change the size of my sail panel.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70365.jpg
Next, grab your Dremel and cut-off wheel and begin to cut it out. Should end up with something similar to this.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70366.jpg
Once that is done, grab you tweeter cup, Sharpie, and new sail panel and head back to the car. Go ahead put it back on (with the door panel installed too) to make sure that it doesn’t hit anything and fits ok. Next, while its in, start deciding how you want the angle tweeter cup to sit. Once you got it, mark it with the Sharpie and head back to the work area.
Now you grab the Super Glue again and glue the tweeter angle cup to the new sail panel.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70367.jpg
Next you need to go ahead and drill a small hole where the speaker wire will run through. Now get your tweeter and top cup and assemble the pod running the speaker wire through the pre-drilled hole. Now grab the painter’s tape and cover the actually tweeter. I used a razor blade to trace around it. I also take the Super Glue and permanently attach the two tweeter pods together.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70368.jpg
Now its time to get your spray adhesive, fleece, and scissors. Go ahead and cut out a piece of fleece that about 1’ x 1’. Should be big enough. This is the spray adhesive that I used for this project. It is cheaper than the 3M and worked just as well.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70369.jpg
Now spray the entire thing EXCEPT the front of the tweeter (where the painters tape is). Now I know that some will get sprayed on it. Just don’t purposely spray it. Also be sure to spray the back of the piece for the fabric to grab to. Work slowly around it pulling out all or as many as possible wrinkles. If you can’t get rid of all of them, don’t fret. Just get them as small as possible. They can be filled with body filler later. You should end up with a piece similar to this.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70370.jpg
I also went a head and removed the section of fleece over the tweeter. This is not necessary. Just make sure you don’t cover it in resin or you will have a headache.
Next, go ahead and mix up a batch of resin and hardner and apply it to the fleece.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70371.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70372.jpg
Let this dry for a good day (24 hrs). Once its dry, pull out your Dremel and tools because its time to get dirty.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70373.jpg
You will be able to tell where you need and what you need to cut off and trim. I trimmed mine to where my tweeter was still able to move in the cup. That isn’t necessary especially since you worked out the angle back in the beginning. Once that’s good and cleaned up its time for the rest. I highly recommend using a Dremel for this part. Sanding by hand sucks and takes a lot longer. Start of with the 60 grit sanding drums and sand the entire cubby. The idea here is to start off working with the 60 grit course drums and finish with the finer 120 grit ones. You will want to use a slow speed and keep a very light pressure for a more effective sanding. For those doing it by hand, keep working your way down to the finer sandpaper.
If you notice, while you’re sanding, there are sanding lines or grooves in the fiberglass. Its ok. You don’t have to keep sanding until those are gone. Once you have it to a point where it’s somewhat smooth, use the cleaner/degreaser and clean it.
Now take the High Build spray primer and spray 2 coats onto it. Let it dry for about 30-45 minutes. Once that is done you will notice that the primer got rid of some of the light scratches. Here is the time to mix up a small amount of EverCoat (Bondo) Body Filler and fill in any creases/folds. You can also use it to cover the entire pod instead of the spot putty. If this is what you had to do, let it dry and then proceed to the sanding.
If you didn’t have major creases/folds, you will need the Bondo spot putty. Knead it as directed and apply it to the entire fiberglassed area. Applying slight pressure and a thin coat. You will need to let this dry for about an hour. I usually place it in the sun to speed up the process.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70374.jpg
After the first spot putty layer is dry, take a 220 grit sand paper and begin to smooth it out. Don’t be afraid to use slight pressure. What the spot putty did was fill in any pinholes and deep scratches. Once you think that you have it smooth, clean it again using the cleaner/degreaser. Now spray another 2 coats of the High build primer. Once it is dry examine it for any other scratches, ridges, unsmoothed areas, pinholes, ect. If you find any, use the spot putty to fill the scratches and pinholes and a 400-grit sandpaper to smooth out the ridges and such. Repeat this process until completely smooth.
From here, I would go ahead and add 2-3 more coats of primer, let dry, and then sand with a 600-800 grit sandpaper. It should be ready for paint.
(Sorry for these next few crappy pics – I have better ones coming)
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70352.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70351.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70350.jpg
Once you reach this point, I would go ahead and test fit it into the car and make sure you don’t need to trim or sand any more areas down.
If everything fits just right, then clean it, paint it, and enjoy!!!!!!!!
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/TweeterInstalled.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/TweeterInstalled1.jpg
This is a very fast way to make a set of custom sail panel tweeter pods. These take no longer than a full day, with 23 hours of that day for drying. Take what you learn here and apply it to all sorts of different vehicles.
Yes, there are dozens of different ways to make these and I have used several methods. Some take longer than others. This is just a very raw, do it at home, beginner method. I will post more advanced methods as time goes by.
First you need to gather the material that you will be using in this project. Here is a general list that is needed to complete this project. Most of these items can be found at the Dollar Store:
·(1) Plastic Drop Cloth for speedy clean up: $2.00
·(2) Disposable paint brushes (NOT the sponge type): $.50 each
·(1) Disposable gloves: $1.00
·(1) Fiberglass Resin Kit (hardener, bucket, matting included): $8.00
·(1) Yard of fleece material (color does not matter): $2.00
·(1) Assortment pack of sandpaper: $5.00
·(1) Tube of Bondo Spot Putty: $2.00
·(1) Can of High Build Sandable Primer: $4.00
·(1) Can of spray adhesive: $5.00
·(1) Scissors: $1.00
·(1) Bottle of cleaner/degreaser: $4.00
·(1) Roll of paper towels: $1.00
·(1) Roll of aluminum foil: $1.00
·(1) Roll of painter’s tape: $1.50
·(1) Piece of paper
·(1) Sharpie Marker
·(2) Tubes of Super Glue Gel: $2.00
Some extra tools that are good to have that will make the process faster and easier are:
·Dremel
·Cutoff wheels for Dremel
·Sanding drums for Dremel (60 grit #440 or #408 and 120 grit #444 or #432)
·High-Speed Cutters (#115 and #199)
·Razor Blade
·Old clothes
Heres a pic of some of the material that will be needed. Instead of buying the mat and resin separate, Wal Mart sells a kit that has everything in it for around $8.00.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/Supplies.jpg
Once you gather all your material, its time to get started. The first thing you need to do is go out to the car with the Sharpie, paper, and scissors. Look and see how much bigger you want your sail panel. Cut out a large triangle from the paper. Now hold it against the sail panel location and start trimming it until you get the size you want. Now take it and the actual sail panel with you back to your work area.
Next you will want to trace that cut out onto the weaved fiberglass matting. Like in this picture.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70353.jpg
Now if you noticed, I have 2 pieces of the mat cut out. You will only need to trace the design onto one. I also went ahead and wrapped a small flat piece if wood in aluminum foil.
Next, you will want to take the Super Glue and cover the area of the sail panel that is to be seen. NOT the section that hides behind the door panel. Then place it face down onto the mat that had the pattern drawn pressing firmly. Make sure it doesn’t glue to anything else. Then lay it to the side face up.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70355.jpg
If you noticed, I had messed up on my angle so I corrected it.
NOTE: From here on out, PLEASE make sure you are in a well-vented area! Fiberglass resin fumes can be very dangerous. Hint: Raise the door in the garage before you start.
Next, go ahead and mix up a small batch of resin and hardener as directed on box. Make sure you have everything you need in front of you. Grab the other piece of mat without the pattern on it and lat it on the foil. Grab your brush and begin to cover it with the resin.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70359.jpg
Next, quickly grab the super glued sail panel/mat. While holding it, apply resin on the mat side where it was glued and then place it on top of the freshly resined mat. Now, go back over it applying more resin. I make sure the resin actually covers the lip of the sail panel too.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70360.jpg
Now let that dry for several hours.
Once it is dry, pull it up from the foil. The foil will peel off of it very easily. If you notice in this picture I also decided to change the size of my sail panel.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70365.jpg
Next, grab your Dremel and cut-off wheel and begin to cut it out. Should end up with something similar to this.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70366.jpg
Once that is done, grab you tweeter cup, Sharpie, and new sail panel and head back to the car. Go ahead put it back on (with the door panel installed too) to make sure that it doesn’t hit anything and fits ok. Next, while its in, start deciding how you want the angle tweeter cup to sit. Once you got it, mark it with the Sharpie and head back to the work area.
Now you grab the Super Glue again and glue the tweeter angle cup to the new sail panel.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70367.jpg
Next you need to go ahead and drill a small hole where the speaker wire will run through. Now get your tweeter and top cup and assemble the pod running the speaker wire through the pre-drilled hole. Now grab the painter’s tape and cover the actually tweeter. I used a razor blade to trace around it. I also take the Super Glue and permanently attach the two tweeter pods together.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70368.jpg
Now its time to get your spray adhesive, fleece, and scissors. Go ahead and cut out a piece of fleece that about 1’ x 1’. Should be big enough. This is the spray adhesive that I used for this project. It is cheaper than the 3M and worked just as well.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70369.jpg
Now spray the entire thing EXCEPT the front of the tweeter (where the painters tape is). Now I know that some will get sprayed on it. Just don’t purposely spray it. Also be sure to spray the back of the piece for the fabric to grab to. Work slowly around it pulling out all or as many as possible wrinkles. If you can’t get rid of all of them, don’t fret. Just get them as small as possible. They can be filled with body filler later. You should end up with a piece similar to this.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70370.jpg
I also went a head and removed the section of fleece over the tweeter. This is not necessary. Just make sure you don’t cover it in resin or you will have a headache.
Next, go ahead and mix up a batch of resin and hardner and apply it to the fleece.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70371.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70372.jpg
Let this dry for a good day (24 hrs). Once its dry, pull out your Dremel and tools because its time to get dirty.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70373.jpg
You will be able to tell where you need and what you need to cut off and trim. I trimmed mine to where my tweeter was still able to move in the cup. That isn’t necessary especially since you worked out the angle back in the beginning. Once that’s good and cleaned up its time for the rest. I highly recommend using a Dremel for this part. Sanding by hand sucks and takes a lot longer. Start of with the 60 grit sanding drums and sand the entire cubby. The idea here is to start off working with the 60 grit course drums and finish with the finer 120 grit ones. You will want to use a slow speed and keep a very light pressure for a more effective sanding. For those doing it by hand, keep working your way down to the finer sandpaper.
If you notice, while you’re sanding, there are sanding lines or grooves in the fiberglass. Its ok. You don’t have to keep sanding until those are gone. Once you have it to a point where it’s somewhat smooth, use the cleaner/degreaser and clean it.
Now take the High Build spray primer and spray 2 coats onto it. Let it dry for about 30-45 minutes. Once that is done you will notice that the primer got rid of some of the light scratches. Here is the time to mix up a small amount of EverCoat (Bondo) Body Filler and fill in any creases/folds. You can also use it to cover the entire pod instead of the spot putty. If this is what you had to do, let it dry and then proceed to the sanding.
If you didn’t have major creases/folds, you will need the Bondo spot putty. Knead it as directed and apply it to the entire fiberglassed area. Applying slight pressure and a thin coat. You will need to let this dry for about an hour. I usually place it in the sun to speed up the process.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70374.jpg
After the first spot putty layer is dry, take a 220 grit sand paper and begin to smooth it out. Don’t be afraid to use slight pressure. What the spot putty did was fill in any pinholes and deep scratches. Once you think that you have it smooth, clean it again using the cleaner/degreaser. Now spray another 2 coats of the High build primer. Once it is dry examine it for any other scratches, ridges, unsmoothed areas, pinholes, ect. If you find any, use the spot putty to fill the scratches and pinholes and a 400-grit sandpaper to smooth out the ridges and such. Repeat this process until completely smooth.
From here, I would go ahead and add 2-3 more coats of primer, let dry, and then sand with a 600-800 grit sandpaper. It should be ready for paint.
(Sorry for these next few crappy pics – I have better ones coming)
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70352.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70351.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/STA70350.jpg
Once you reach this point, I would go ahead and test fit it into the car and make sure you don’t need to trim or sand any more areas down.
If everything fits just right, then clean it, paint it, and enjoy!!!!!!!!
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/TweeterInstalled.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a248/SeRiousZX2/TweeterInstalled1.jpg