# Mercedes Midbass Enclosures



## kustomkaraudio (Jun 20, 2009)

So I never did a build log for Gary's car ( Me being lazy ). I told myself to try and be better. So here are some pictures of the most recent addition. Some of you guys that go to the GTG down south saw the enclosures in this state-









If I remember correctly they about 9.5 liters ( Gary filled them with water ) They are 100% fiberglass, with a 1/4" aluminum rings inside for speaker mounting reinforcement. 

Getting started-
















Taped,foiled, ready for glass-






















So once that's all done we have the back of the enclosure -








Here's the ring's ( actually made for a prior project ) and the aluminum rings-








Onto the shaping of the " front part of the enclosure-















I'm at the 10 picture limit, to be continued...


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## kustomkaraudio (Jun 20, 2009)

More Pictures-

























Ready for foam-









Now shaping-















These parts got foiled over and glassed 









We cured, it's removed and we have this-








The 2 sides can now be bonded together, I used 3M panel bond ( the black stuff that's oozing out is the panel bond )








So that's the enclosures in a nut shell. I will post some pictures of the door panel portion if people are interested. Thanks!!


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## FLYONWALL9 (Nov 8, 2009)

NICE WORK!!!


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## Bluenote (Aug 29, 2008)

Nice! Are those the new Carbon Supremos? or the Elate LE's? I can't tell cuz they are so similar haha.


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## kustomkaraudio (Jun 20, 2009)

FLYONWALL9 said:


> NICE WORK!!!


Thanks!!


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## kustomkaraudio (Jun 20, 2009)

Bluenote said:


> Nice! Are those the new Carbon Supremos? or the Elate LE's? I can't tell cuz they are so similar haha.


Those are his LE woofers. He does have the new Elate woofers we are going to try out.


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## Datsubishi (Jan 9, 2012)

Nice skeleton and foam mold technique. How is that 3M panel bond goo to work with? Have u used it in other situations too?


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## kustomkaraudio (Jun 20, 2009)

Datsubishi said:


> Nice skeleton and foam mold technique. How is that 3M panel bond goo to work with? Have u used it in other situations too?


I was fortunate enough awhile back to chat with a 3M rep, we talked for bit . He told me " if your not sure what the substrate is ' or are worried about anything , use panel bond " he stated its best for gluing anything to anything. 
It's the stuff the GM would use the bond glass/SMC/plastic panels to metal substructure. 

That being said I was bonding fiberglass to fiberglass , so I could have used panel bond , SMC panel adhesive , etc. , etc....... 

The 3M panel bond is easy to work with.
Upsides
Great bonding/ adhesion etc......
Long open time ( up to 90 min )
Downsides
24 hours to full cure ( unless heated ) 
Long cure time ( can't be in a hurry ) 
You need a gun to dispense it ( about 50.00 + ) 
You use a " mixing " tip each application ( average about 1.50 ) each. 

I love the stuff. 3m ( or dura mix etc ) make a bunch of different products, all have applications, trick is picking the BEST product to use in your application.


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## Datsubishi (Jan 9, 2012)

I'm gonna get me some panel bond. I'm guessing at my local industrial plastics supplier? Should come in handy for gluing anything to anything.


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## kustomkaraudio (Jun 20, 2009)

Datsubishi said:


> I'm gonna get me some panel bond. I'm guessing at my local industrial plastics supplier? Should come in handy for gluing anything to anything.


Yeah maybe , I buy it at my store that sells auto body supplies , also where get my filler, primer , sandpaper , etc.....


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## speakerpimp (Feb 15, 2012)

Super awesome doors!


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## IBcivic (Jan 6, 2009)

Wow, nice job! Thanx for sharing your techniques with us


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## robolop (Mar 10, 2008)

I like this.


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

I got blasted in another thread for suggesting using foam and foil...guys said they could do the same with fleece. You and I know that isn't the case.


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

thehatedguy said:


> I got blasted in another thread for suggesting using foam and foil...guys said they could do the same with fleece. You and I know that isn't the case.


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## jorona1 (Dec 6, 2008)

Very nice! Can't wait to see the rest...


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## kustomkaraudio (Jun 20, 2009)

thehatedguy said:


> I got blasted in another thread for suggesting using foam and foil...guys said they could do the same with fleece. You and I know that isn't the case.


Yeah, I agree 100%. There are some shapes and curves you just can't get with fleece.


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## Wesayso (Jul 20, 2010)

Beautifull! No inner braces needed?


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## ross.cottrill (Aug 27, 2011)

WOW,looks absolutely amazing..i now have enough instruction to think i may know what im going to do!thanx alot for taking the time and posting up man..
-ross-


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## kustomkaraudio (Jun 20, 2009)

ross.cottrill said:


> WOW,looks absolutely amazing..i now have enough instruction to think i may know what im going to do!thanx alot for taking the time and posting up man..
> -ross-


No problem! Glad to share.


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

The finished product looks factory.


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## garysummers (Oct 25, 2010)

These are the finished doors that Scott built. He fabricated the outer door panel and covered with Mercedes vinyl to match the factory color and texture.
The door panel is separated from the enclosure by 3/8 inch to reduce the vibration felt on the outer panel. The doors are solid as a rock!! I am now running the Morel Supremo woofers.


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## Niebur3 (Jul 11, 2008)

Those look great!!!


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## shawnk (Jan 11, 2010)

Niebur3 said:


> Those look great!!!


Yeah they do!! I love the fit and finish.. NICE!


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## kustomkaraudio (Jun 20, 2009)

shawnk said:


> Yeah they do!! I love the fit and finish.. NICE!


Thanks! , I appreciate the compliments, makes all the blood,sweat, and tears worth it.


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## Niebur3 (Jul 11, 2008)

^^^you must bleed car audio


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## robolop (Mar 10, 2008)

garysummers said:


> These are the finished doors that Scott built. He fabricated the outer door panel and covered with Mercedes vinyl to match the factory color and texture.
> The door panel is separated from the enclosure by 3/8 inch to reduce the vibration felt on the outer panel. The doors are solid as a rock!! I am now running the Morel Supremo woofers.


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## estione (Jul 24, 2009)

Just beautiful


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## oilman (Feb 21, 2012)

Start to finish one of the best door jobs I've seen. Wow!


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## garysummers (Oct 25, 2010)

Found a few more photos of the midbass enclosure build by Scott at Kustom Kar. Not in perfect chronological order but you get the idea. I already posted the finished photo.


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## Patrick Bateman (Sep 11, 2006)

That's probably the best door enclosure I've ever seen. WOW.


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## colled96 (Feb 2, 2010)

WOOOOWWWWW!!!!! Very nice work.


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## FLYONWALL9 (Nov 8, 2009)

I cant blow them up but the small thumbs look something like the ones
I built in my log for my Porsche


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## pimpmyboat (Jul 26, 2011)

Wow very nice, so much better than "volcano" style enclosures!


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## eddieg (Dec 20, 2009)

simply outstanding fiberglass work! 

I'm speechless.


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## kustomkaraudio (Jun 20, 2009)

eddieg said:


> simply outstanding fiberglass work!
> 
> I'm speechless.


Thanks !! and thanks to everyone else for the compliments


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## Militarymisfit (Feb 8, 2014)

Awesome job man. Those things are amazing.


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## ecbmxer (Dec 1, 2010)

Those are the best door enclosures I've seen! Did you guys consider porting them at all during the design stage?


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## bigaudiofanatic (Mar 1, 2009)

Wow that is amazing work!


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## kustomkaraudio (Jun 20, 2009)

ecbmxer said:


> Those are the best door enclosures I've seen! Did you guys consider porting them at all during the design stage?


NO, we went with what Morel recommended. I can't remember exactly , but I want to say 8 or 9 liters and we ended up somewhere around 7.5 to 8 liters. 

We filled a 1 liter coke bottle up with water and just kept adding water till they were full.


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## eddieg (Dec 20, 2009)

I had my Elate SW6s mounted in a seald enclosured I've built on my Corolla 96 doors (way way back ago) and the enclosures were about 6 litter.

The recommendation for sealed was any where from 5 to 8 litter as much as I recall and as well if you really wanted to go low then up to 12 litter, don't recall any ported enclosure recommendations for the elate - but it really was a long time ago. 

The Elate low end was impressive but they were missing the punch in them in compare to other brands though I believe what I was really missing was POWER, a good electrical system and a healthy amp - the Elate's are suckers for power! 

I've heard once the hybrid ovation woofers in seald enclosures on a bridged Nakamichi amp and I swear that car had balls!


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

yeah man. this looks awesome.


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## 1fishman (Dec 22, 2012)

Wow, these are awesome!!!
Worth a bump for anyone who missed these doors in the past. Glad garysummers linked this thread


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## palldat (Feb 6, 2011)

And they sound awesome.


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## Guy (Feb 16, 2006)

I missed this the first time around, so thanks for the repost. I have been contemplating a door enclosure and the mdf-frame/foam form is a great idea.


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## audio+civic (Apr 16, 2009)

I know the hybrid audio speakers like a vented enclosure or "vented to the outside world". What would be the best method using an enclosure like this.


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## ben54b (May 30, 2014)

Lovely work. Thanks for showing another technique with the spine. How did you integrate the door trim to the pod, also how have you attached the pods to the doors. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## kustomkaraudio (Jun 20, 2009)

Wow. Thanks for the compliments









This picture shows the enclosure attached to the door with a layer of 1/8" foam and then foiled over. I then then used Plastilene ( basically molding clay, available from Tap Plastics ) to work the contours from the enclosure to the door panel. You can see some of the enclosure attachment points across the bottom of the picture.









This picture shows the Plastilene foiled over, waxed and ready for fiberglass. 

Hope this explains it a bit more. There were many, many steps involved with the process.

Thanks,
Scott


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## carbos (Jan 4, 2014)

超级真棒门！


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## carbos (Jan 4, 2014)

NICE WORK!


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## chasinbass (Jul 23, 2014)

Freakin Awesome !


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## oabeieo (Feb 22, 2015)

first I've seen this. Wow! Sick


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## Jscoyne2 (Oct 29, 2014)

kustomkaraudio said:


> No problem! Glad to share.


When you built the skeleton for the foam to fit into. Howd you go about figuring out how to shape each wooden piece? 

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk


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## kustomkaraudio (Jun 20, 2009)

Jscoyne2 said:


> When you built the skeleton for the foam to fit into. Howd you go about figuring out how to shape each wooden piece?
> 
> Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk


I guess the most basic answer would be what I wanted the "finished" shape to look like, as the ribs were the foundation for the finished shape.


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## lucas569 (Apr 17, 2007)

old thread got bumped but holy moly those are sweet!


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## Jscoyne2 (Oct 29, 2014)

kustomkaraudio said:


> More Pictures-
> 
> View attachment 40621
> 
> ...


What kind of expanding foam was used here? Any links?


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## LBaudio (Jan 9, 2009)

probably Poly-uretane 2 part foam


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## SHAGGS (Apr 24, 2011)

Urethane Foam , Expanding Marine Polyurethane Foam


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## Jscoyne2 (Oct 29, 2014)

SHAGGS said:


> Urethane Foam , Expanding Marine Polyurethane Foam


What kind and how much do you think would be necessary? Im assuming the 2lb density is the one id want because id be cutting away at it to make a form anyway and idk how much cuft id be needing. any guesses?


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## SHAGGS (Apr 24, 2011)

Jscoyne2 said:


> What kind and how much do you think would be necessary? Im assuming the 2lb density is the one id want because id be cutting away at it to make a form anyway and idk how much cuft id be needing. any guesses?


If you're shooting for >1cft per side, you might be able to get away with the 4lb kit (approx. 2cft) but you won't have any room for error or redo's.
The 16lb kit will yield 8cft, and allow for expansion beyond the desired shape, to allow for final sculpting, and give you enough to scrap you 1st attempt, should it not go swimmingly.

And yes, the 2lb density.


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## Shane (Oct 8, 2009)

Is there a picture of the final install? Does the door card just mount on top of this?


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## Jscoyne2 (Oct 29, 2014)

Shane said:


> Is there a picture of the final install? Does the door card just mount on top of this?


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