[Hulla the Hulla]

Sooo, I promised myself that when I got this car it'd be a keeper (for a while at least). Best car I've owned to date and still very happy a year on.

Anyway, to the point. The base stereo as we all know is shit so 1st job was to install a Gladen / Mosconi set up. This is a significant step up from base and for most people would have been enough....most people

The Gladen set up can produce pretty much all the bass that most people would want, short of the really low stuff but for most situations is more than adequate. It certainly is loud enough and with the DSP amp, can be tweaked to make it sound really good / clear.

However, I wanted more bass. I've had boxes in the boot before in previous cars but now I have a family (and all the crap that goes with that), didn't have the space to lose. I've seen fibreglass enclosures in saloons and coupes but not many, if any in the touring. I had no luck finding one online so, being handy thought I'd have a go myself, bought a fibreglass kit and got busy reading the 100's of guides on youtube.

First off I made a mock up from cardboard of the front of the enclosure to get a feel for how big it was. No point in making this to find that it's tiny and no sub would work properly. This was real finger in the air stuff but it looked just about big enough if I extended it out a little and used rings to protect and bring the sub out to create more space.

Once happy, I then lined the chosen area with masking tape



A single layer of chopped strand went in to make the back of the enclosure giving this


Strengthened and layered up with more fibreglass


This is where I should have followed usual methods and positioned the ring, added fleece, resined, added more fibreglass etc but for some reason known only to me, and possibly because I wanted the front profile to follow the contours of the boot, I started making an MDF front panel. WHAT. A. FAFF. !




I then added more fibreglass to the insides to cover the holes, sealed it properly, filled with P38, sanded, more P38, sanded etc until smooth and the profile I wanted. Once finished there was no flex at all, I mean, it was S O L I D !!

Cut a hole in the back/side and fitted a bind post, did the wires for the sub, a JL 10W3V3, filled it with wadding to help acoustics etc etc.

Lastly covered it (not my best work) with grey carpet. I am thinking of ripping it off and doing it again but for now it'll do. It also needs dyeing to a darker shade to match better but leaves this.....


As I said, I wanted to keep as much space in the boot and I think I've succeeded


I've not needed to fix it, it's held in very tightly itself and the luggage mounting point holds it in place as well. You can remove it but it needs a really good shove. Also, the boot floor which used to flip up, clearly won't anymore but can be wriggled sideways and up to access underneath so I'm happy enough with that. Most importantly to me, nothing has been cut, drilled etc so I can return the car to standard very easily without having to buy replacement bits.

Soundwise - it's running off an XD600/1 at 2ohms and my god, it goes VERY loud but with virtually zero distortion. It still needs tweaking, not convinced I have the gains and crossover set perfectly yet. Thankfully I ran a remote to the front so I can adjust the volume. I also did that old trick of reversing the polarity of the speaker wires going to the sub to get them to integrate better with the front speakers.

I think I may book some time with someone who's more experienced to get it set up perfectly, but for now I'm a very happy chappy

[JJ0063]

Thumbs up from me, wish I had the patience to do this.

My problem is any job I start, I want to finish the same day!

[Hulla the Hulla]

thanks !

I'd love to say this was all done in a day

it wasn't

[kukjan]

Mine(around 35 liters) with Ground zero nuclear 12"
need new amp

[essex_lad]

Nice job, bet that sounds great in an e91.

[old grey steve]

Well I'm no audo guru trust me I've upgraded mine Nav Professional with a decent JL amp MQ Quart stuff and a brand of decent under seat sub that highly recommended but I've forgotton the name and it sounds really good but lacks the low down punch so this is something I'm looking into very well down on the DIY side commendable

[Hulla the Hulla]

Thanks Steve. I've played with a lot of the settings since doing this and have to say I'm really pleased. Added to the fact that it takes up virtually no room in the boot, it's exactly what I was after.