Hey guys, im doing a full fiberglass enclosure for a buddy of mine in his 2004 Mustang GT. I'm using his tire well as a section of the enclosure and having the subs pointing up and at an angle towards the trunk lid.
He has a pair of 12" Infinity Kappa Perfect 12d VC subs.
My question is, do any of your guys have a way to figure out the cuFt of the tire well? He's not totally sure on whether he wants to go ported or not but either way, im going to need to figure out a method to design this enclosure to where it has the correct ^ft.
Any ideas?
-Jason
Replies (7)
curtis73 on 12/4/2004 03:25:43
Sure. Take a vessel of a known volume and fill it with something. I like to use a gallon milk jug, but if you want to get more specific you can use something more exact like some kitchen measuring devices.
You can use darn near anything. Sand is pretty easy to clean up and pretty accurate as long as you don't pack it in the vessel or the enclosure. Water works very well as it not only tells you volume but it identifies leaks. Don't use fine-grain solids like flour or dirt. They are too easily compacted and won't be accurate in the transition between vessel and enclosure.
P0werLifter on 12/4/2004 03:54:37
Hmm...sounds good, ill just fiberglass the tirewell, then remove the shell and fill it in with the sand or whatever to see the cuft of it, then add more height /width of needed.
Any other ideas?
swez on 12/4/2004 09:18:48
You can probably get a pretty close approximation by using a "cylinder" area calculator. All you need is depth, thickeness and diameter of the vessel and extrapolate the "area" of that space.
Here's a calculator that may help:
http://www.the12volt.com/caraudio/boxcalcs.asp
Just scroll down the page to the "Volume Calculator - Tube/Cylinder Enclosures" section and plug in your numbers. It will do the calculations for you. Once you know the area, then you can determine what is needed next for sub(s) he wants to install.
I ran a quick set of numbers...
Dia = 16"
Depth = 10"
Thickeness = 0.5"
Net result = 0.92 cf ( that's enough for one sturdy 12" sub)
If you have less space than mentioned, have to build a chamber above the well to increase area to accomodate a larger sub or a pair. Just design an enclosure that fits the sub(s) you intend to use and add the well area as part of the enclosure.
NOTE: Since most tire wells are not true cylinders, you will actually have a bit more airspace available in the well. (maybe +10%)
Finally, if you need a very accurate area measurment, Curtis gave an excellent suggestion. Determine how many gallons of water will fit into that well. Then convert gallons to liters. A gallon jug of water, milk etc., is a good measuring tool.
1 gallon of liquid = 3.79 liters
1 ft^3 - 28.32 liters
28.32/3.79 = 7.47 gallons = 1 ft^3
Hope that helps,
Swez
PS if you use water, just use a wet/dry shop vac to extract the water from tire well. If there are leaks, use duct tape to plug them for accurate measurments of water used.
P0werLifter on 12/4/2004 14:01:16
Alright cool sounds good, thanks guys. Should look pretty sweet when its finished. Not exactly going to be a cheap design for him though GRIN. Fiberglass gets on the expensive side. Thanks again GRIN
LC1 on 12/8/2004 21:39:27
P0werLifter,
I know this is an old post, but there is a much easier, less messy way to check the approx cu-ft of the tire well. Find some packing foam, the little styrofoam popcorn kinda stuff. Then find a cardboard box and calculate its volume. Then get a garbage bag and fill it with the same amount of styrofoam that fits in the box and this way you can mold it to the exact shape of the tire well and get an approximate voulme measurment.
Lets say the box is 1cuft and you fill the bag with one and half boxes full of foam then you know the tire well is approx 1.5cuft
You probably already starting this project but I noticed this post and thought I'd give you my idea just in case.
Talk to you later,
Jay
swez on 12/8/2004 23:37:19
Yep, that should work as well. Foam packing peanuts are light weight, easy to load and we can measure volume equivelents to an accurate degree with no mess. May not be as accurate as water or sand, but close enough for this project.
Good suggestion,
Swez
P0werLifter on 12/9/2004 03:23:57
Cool thanks for the suggestion Jay. As a matter of fact i havnt started the project yet. Im still waiting for him to get the money / materials/ components. (Im charging for materials and labor but not near as much as a shop would. Wanna start getting my name out there to pick up some side-jobs. This is going to be for a guy at work i know).
All of these are good suggestions, Thanks again guys.
-Jason
He has a pair of 12" Infinity Kappa Perfect 12d VC subs.
My question is, do any of your guys have a way to figure out the cuFt of the tire well? He's not totally sure on whether he wants to go ported or not but either way, im going to need to figure out a method to design this enclosure to where it has the correct ^ft.
Any ideas?
-Jason
Replies (7)
curtis73 on 12/4/2004 03:25:43
Sure. Take a vessel of a known volume and fill it with something. I like to use a gallon milk jug, but if you want to get more specific you can use something more exact like some kitchen measuring devices.
You can use darn near anything. Sand is pretty easy to clean up and pretty accurate as long as you don't pack it in the vessel or the enclosure. Water works very well as it not only tells you volume but it identifies leaks. Don't use fine-grain solids like flour or dirt. They are too easily compacted and won't be accurate in the transition between vessel and enclosure.
P0werLifter on 12/4/2004 03:54:37
Hmm...sounds good, ill just fiberglass the tirewell, then remove the shell and fill it in with the sand or whatever to see the cuft of it, then add more height /width of needed.
Any other ideas?
swez on 12/4/2004 09:18:48
You can probably get a pretty close approximation by using a "cylinder" area calculator. All you need is depth, thickeness and diameter of the vessel and extrapolate the "area" of that space.
Here's a calculator that may help:
http://www.the12volt.com/caraudio/boxcalcs.asp
Just scroll down the page to the "Volume Calculator - Tube/Cylinder Enclosures" section and plug in your numbers. It will do the calculations for you. Once you know the area, then you can determine what is needed next for sub(s) he wants to install.
I ran a quick set of numbers...
Dia = 16"
Depth = 10"
Thickeness = 0.5"
Net result = 0.92 cf ( that's enough for one sturdy 12" sub)
If you have less space than mentioned, have to build a chamber above the well to increase area to accomodate a larger sub or a pair. Just design an enclosure that fits the sub(s) you intend to use and add the well area as part of the enclosure.
NOTE: Since most tire wells are not true cylinders, you will actually have a bit more airspace available in the well. (maybe +10%)
Finally, if you need a very accurate area measurment, Curtis gave an excellent suggestion. Determine how many gallons of water will fit into that well. Then convert gallons to liters. A gallon jug of water, milk etc., is a good measuring tool.
1 gallon of liquid = 3.79 liters
1 ft^3 - 28.32 liters
28.32/3.79 = 7.47 gallons = 1 ft^3
Hope that helps,
Swez
PS if you use water, just use a wet/dry shop vac to extract the water from tire well. If there are leaks, use duct tape to plug them for accurate measurments of water used.
P0werLifter on 12/4/2004 14:01:16
Alright cool sounds good, thanks guys. Should look pretty sweet when its finished. Not exactly going to be a cheap design for him though GRIN. Fiberglass gets on the expensive side. Thanks again GRIN
LC1 on 12/8/2004 21:39:27
P0werLifter,
I know this is an old post, but there is a much easier, less messy way to check the approx cu-ft of the tire well. Find some packing foam, the little styrofoam popcorn kinda stuff. Then find a cardboard box and calculate its volume. Then get a garbage bag and fill it with the same amount of styrofoam that fits in the box and this way you can mold it to the exact shape of the tire well and get an approximate voulme measurment.
Lets say the box is 1cuft and you fill the bag with one and half boxes full of foam then you know the tire well is approx 1.5cuft
You probably already starting this project but I noticed this post and thought I'd give you my idea just in case.
Talk to you later,
Jay
swez on 12/8/2004 23:37:19
Yep, that should work as well. Foam packing peanuts are light weight, easy to load and we can measure volume equivelents to an accurate degree with no mess. May not be as accurate as water or sand, but close enough for this project.
Good suggestion,
Swez
P0werLifter on 12/9/2004 03:23:57
Cool thanks for the suggestion Jay. As a matter of fact i havnt started the project yet. Im still waiting for him to get the money / materials/ components. (Im charging for materials and labor but not near as much as a shop would. Wanna start getting my name out there to pick up some side-jobs. This is going to be for a guy at work i know).
All of these are good suggestions, Thanks again guys.
-Jason
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