10" sub in spare tire!

rtcpenguin · 03-24-2010, 06:41 PM

Mecha, how does your sub sound in the ~.3 cubic ft enclosure? I had a fiberglass box that was roughly ~.7 cubic ft in another car and the roll off was terrible with a 12" MB Quart sub (i.e. it would try to hit low bass notes and was just silent). There was literally a night and day difference between the sub in a 1.1' box and the .7.

mecha1000 · 03-27-2010, 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rtcpenguin

Mecha, how does your sub sound in the ~.3 cubic ft enclosure? I had a fiberglass box that was roughly ~.7 cubic ft in another car and the roll off was terrible with a 12" MB Quart sub (i.e. it would try to hit low bass notes and was just silent). There was literally a night and day difference between the sub in a 1.1' box and the .7.

The sub sounded excellent. More than enough bass for the car. I no longer own my Z, i sold it and i bought an IS-F (needed a 4-seater).

The box and cover are now for sale $75 for both. The speaker is for sale on ebay for $70. PM is interested. Pickup only on the cover.

Sorry for the late reply.

mecha1000 · 05-23-2010, 06:34 PM

Still for sale. $25 pickup only.

Chimaera · 04-03-2011, 08:15 PM

Hi Everyone,

Sorry to tag onto an almost 1-year old thread, but thought it would be better to keep this information together rather than starting another.

I was inspired by the several examples that members have shared and wanted to contribute another example for those who might want to take a stab at making their own stealth sub box that fits inside of the spare tire. I have a '10 base+sport so I believe the spare is a little larger inside to clear the brakes vs the non-sports.

I used the Pioneer TS-SW251 10", 4ohm shallow mount sub and a Rockford Fosgate Punch 500-1bd. The sub is speced at needing 0.35ft^3 to 0.70ft^3 for a sealed box enclosure. Based on the inner diameter of the MDF pieces I used I was expecting 0.46ft^3. Going by how many packing peanuts I could get in the enclosure at the end I probably only ended up getting 0.42ft^3. I am not sure that I could do much better than this as I feel like I really sculpted the rings to take up every bit of free space. The rings are only about 1/2" to 5/8" wide - outside diameter minus inside diameter - (I think people like to use 3/4" thick MDF for square boxes) but being circular and braced against the metal of the spare rim I decided to take a chance. I used 6x 3/4" thick rings and 1/2" thick pieces for the top and bottom. All these pieces were glued and screwed together. I also threw in some polyfil on the inside to help the enclosure act a little bigger.

The top of the speaker is just a little taller than the styrofoam spacer that goes around the spare. Once you put the plastic shelf/sheet thing and the trunk carpet over the sub you can't tell it is there from the outside looking in. I may come back and try to protect the speaker some more, but I feel like it will be fine with light stuff in the back like groceries, which is all that ever goes in the truck these days.

The speaker still needs to break in, but the sub seems to put out a decent amount of bass. It won't win any SPL awards or wake the neighbours from a block away, but it fills out the car and the stereo well enough. I got the bass boost control knob and mounted it where the heated seat switches are on the touring models. This lets me increase the gain on the bass easily when I want more for a particular song.

Thanks for taking a look. Enjoy the pictures.

RockStarKick · 04-03-2011, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chimaera

Hi Everyone,

Sorry to tag onto an almost 1-year old thread, but thought it would be better to keep this information together rather than starting another.

I was inspired by the several examples that members have shared and wanted to contribute another example for those who might want to take a stab at making their own stealth sub box that fits inside of the spare tire. I have a '10 base+sport so I believe the spare is a little larger inside to clear the brakes vs the non-sports.

I used the Pioneer TS-SW251 10", 4ohm shallow mount sub and a Rockford Fosgate Punch 500-1bd. The sub is speced at needing 0.35ft^3 to 0.70ft^3 for a sealed box enclosure. Based on the inner diameter of the MDF pieces I used I was expecting 0.46ft^3. Going by how many packing peanuts I could get in the enclosure at the end I probably only ended up getting 0.42ft^3. I am not sure that I could do much better than this as I feel like I really sculpted the rings to take up every bit of free space. The rings are only about 1/2" to 5/8" wide - outside diameter minus inside diameter - (I think people like to use 3/4" thick MDF for square boxes) but being circular and braced against the metal of the spare rim I decided to take a chance. I used 6x 3/4" thick rings and 1/2" thick pieces for the top and bottom. All these pieces were glued and screwed together. I also threw in some polyfil on the inside to help the enclosure act a little bigger.

The top of the speaker is just a little taller than the styrofoam spacer that goes around the spare. Once you put the plastic shelf/sheet thing and the trunk carpet over the sub you can't tell it is there from the outside looking in. I may come back and try to protect the speaker some more, but I feel like it will be fine with light stuff in the back like groceries, which is all that ever goes in the truck these days.

The speaker still needs to break in, but the sub seems to put out a decent amount of bass. It won't win any SPL awards or wake the neighbours from a block away, but it fills out the car and the stereo well enough. I got the bass boost control knob and mounted it where the heated seat switches are on the touring models. This lets me increase the gain on the bass easily when I want more for a particular song.

Thanks for taking a look. Enjoy the pictures.

Good Job,, !!!!! Looks great !!!

hdskull · 05-20-2011, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chimaera

Hi Everyone,

Sorry to tag onto an almost 1-year old thread, but thought it would be better to keep this information together rather than starting another.

I was inspired by the several examples that members have shared and wanted to contribute another example for those who might want to take a stab at making their own stealth sub box that fits inside of the spare tire. I have a '10 base+sport so I believe the spare is a little larger inside to clear the brakes vs the non-sports.

I used the Pioneer TS-SW251 10", 4ohm shallow mount sub and a Rockford Fosgate Punch 500-1bd. The sub is speced at needing 0.35ft^3 to 0.70ft^3 for a sealed box enclosure. Based on the inner diameter of the MDF pieces I used I was expecting 0.46ft^3. Going by how many packing peanuts I could get in the enclosure at the end I probably only ended up getting 0.42ft^3. I am not sure that I could do much better than this as I feel like I really sculpted the rings to take up every bit of free space. The rings are only about 1/2" to 5/8" wide - outside diameter minus inside diameter - (I think people like to use 3/4" thick MDF for square boxes) but being circular and braced against the metal of the spare rim I decided to take a chance. I used 6x 3/4" thick rings and 1/2" thick pieces for the top and bottom. All these pieces were glued and screwed together. I also threw in some polyfil on the inside to help the enclosure act a little bigger.

The top of the speaker is just a little taller than the styrofoam spacer that goes around the spare. Once you put the plastic shelf/sheet thing and the trunk carpet over the sub you can't tell it is there from the outside looking in. I may come back and try to protect the speaker some more, but I feel like it will be fine with light stuff in the back like groceries, which is all that ever goes in the truck these days.

The speaker still needs to break in, but the sub seems to put out a decent amount of bass. It won't win any SPL awards or wake the neighbours from a block away, but it fills out the car and the stereo well enough. I got the bass boost control knob and mounted it where the heated seat switches are on the touring models. This lets me increase the gain on the bass easily when I want more for a particular song.

Thanks for taking a look. Enjoy the pictures.

Looks awesome, did this fit on top of the spare tire? How much did you say the material (w/o sub) cost you? How long did it take? If you put, let's say a case of water on top would it damage the speaker? Thanks

Chimaera · 05-24-2011, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hdskull

Looks awesome, did this fit on top of the spare tire? How much did you say the material (w/o sub) cost you? How long did it take? If you put, let's say a case of water on top would it damage the speaker? Thanks

Hi hdskull,

It fit in/on the spare tire. It essentially takes up the space inside the rim and sticks up above the tire the height of the styrofoam shelf.

3/4" MDF is $32 (used most of the 4'x8' sheet after a couple mess ups)
1/2" MDF was left over, but $25 for a full sheet (only need half a sheet)
Black paint was left over, ~$3 for a can of spray paint
Liquid nails is $2.50
Screws ~$2
Polyfill ~$5

I have a router table that made it pretty easy once I made a circle cutting jig (just a piece of wood with a dowel in it that I would spin a square piece of the MDF on to make a circle). I cut out a circle to the correct outer diameter, offset the jig by the thickness I wanted the ring, and then cut out the centre of the ring. Cutting the pieces probably took 4-5 hours, with all the setup and redoing a couple of rings I messed up. Letting the glue dry and paint dry took several days. Took me over a week because I just worked at it a little each day.

The Pioneer speaker is pretty tough. It's not like it has a deep cloth cone or anything - it actually has a hard plastic plate on the top, plus there is a raised ring around the speaker. I put groceries on it all the time and don't feel like it is getting damages.

Good luck if you make your own.

03-24-2010, 06:41 PM	#1 (permalink)
rtcpenguin Base Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: fairfax, va Posts: 40 Drives: 2009 red 370z Sport Rep Power: 16	Mecha, how does your sub sound in the ~.3 cubic ft enclosure? I had a fiberglass box that was roughly ~.7 cubic ft in another car and the roll off was terrible with a 12" MB Quart sub (i.e. it would try to hit low bass notes and was just silent). There was literally a night and day difference between the sub in a 1.1' box and the .7. __________________ Home made fiberglass subwoofer in spare, Pioneer HU + nav, upgradred trunk lift springs. Last edited by rtcpenguin; 03-24-2010 at 07:04 PM.

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05-23-2010, 06:34 PM	#3 (permalink)
mecha1000 Base Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Mount Royal, NJ Posts: 16 Drives: 370Z, Silver, 09 6MT Rep Power: 16	Still for sale. $25 pickup only.