1973 FJ40 Custom speaker box build

[cronic]

Ok guys, here is a sub enclosure I have been working on for the last week. This is for my 1973 Toyota FJ40 Landcruiser. Several months ago I decided to remove the stock gas tank from underneath the passenger seat and relocate it to the rear of the vehicle underneath the body between the frame rails. This left a great location for a sub enclosure. My design goals were to make a stealth enclosure that replicates the look of the factory gas tank. I have always run single 12” subs, but in order to facilitate the depth of a 12” I had to form the bottom of the enclosure with fiberglass to gain an extra 3” so it would fit and give me the 1.25 cubic feet I wanted. This was done by the normal methods of masking the area and laying the mat and resin to mold to the floor pan. Once this was done I could start the woodwork out of ¾” MDF and join the fiberglass to the upper wooden panels. The box was glued with Titebond III and 1 5/8” decking screws. After everything was together I sealed the wood with 3 coats of sanding sealer and then applied the automotive primer. This is where I am right now. Next to do is to apply the base coat clear coat paint and mount it in permanently. After that, time for the hidden amp rack, rear speaker enclosures, tons of damplifier, and custom console. Here are pictures of the process. Thanks for looking.

Solidworks drawing 1

Solidworks drawing 2

Inside shot 1

Inside shot 2

Subwoofer recess

Box after sealer applied

Box after 4 coats primer

12” Rockford Fosgate HX2 “old azz sub”

Box with sub installed

Box temporarily placed in vehicle to show placement

UPDATE!!!

Well I finally got around to finishing the speaker box, door pods, and rear doors. I painted them today so here are some pics.

 

[sivart7208]

thats siiick man, i might end up doing something of the same idea when i finally get my cruiser, although i was thinking of putting 2 6x9's in boxes in the back

 

[bandy rooster]

wow, thats actually really really nice...

good job man... i'm use to seeing the usual half-ass super ghetto setups and thats actually decent

 

[FineWynsFJ40]

Way to use a proper CAD software and model it!! That sub will blast any rust you have left off your truck!! Awesome job!

Brian

 

[youmustbecrazy]

thats really nice!

 

[stephen]

clever job. cool idea. tnx for sharing

 

[cronic]

Thanks for the kind words guys. I will post more pictures when I finish painting it.

 

[CruisinMT]

theres nothing wrong with ghetto

 

[pbgbottle]

Nice gotta love that MDF .always comes out nice .

 

[ToyLet503]

Nice work...doesn't look like the first time you have done this. It really looks good

 

[pantheas18_hj47]

nice job mate and great idea - suttle custom yet not looking out of place, thumbs up.

 

[77TLCFJ40]

Nice work!

 

[rusty_tlc]

Looks great.


What is that going to do the the passengers butt?

 

[CruisinMT]

your wife or gf will love to ride in your rig

 

[rusty_tlc]

your wife or gf will love to ride in your rig

Kinda what I was thinking.

 

[xjnation]

hOW DO YOU THINK THE ACOUSTICS ARE GOING TO SOUND?? (oops) Being that clost to the front I would think it will kind of sound sloppy. The lower the frequency, the farther away you need to be to properly hear it because of wave size. Not picking on you, just wondering. The build looks sic by the way. Great job.

 

[slickrock]

What year doors are you using on your 73? My origional doors need an upgrade and yours look like a good option since I want to turn mine into half doors.

 

[cronic]

The doors and top are from a 1978.
As for the sound, it sounds great. The whole idea is to get the sound stage forward. By having the sub forward it helps out the depth of the sound stage tremendously. Lots of people try to accomplish this by running large mid bass speakers in the front doors and rolling them off into the sub stage range. This is done in this system but the sub is located in the front as well. I love the sound and the fact that it takes up no room whatsoever in the rear.

 

[cronic]

I finally got around to a little paint work. See first post for updates.

 

[Spud]

hOW DO YOU THINK THE ACOUSTICS ARE GOING TO SOUND?? (oops) Being that clost to the front I would think it will kind of sound sloppy. The lower the frequency, the farther away you need to be to properly hear it because of wave size. Not picking on you, just wondering. The build looks sic by the way. Great job.

Yeah, I am worried for you too.

Work looks freakin' awesome though.

My 2 cents is, if you are not happy with the bass the way it is, try reconfigure so that the sub is mounted inside the box but facing down and then mount the box so that it has spacers underneath that allow airflow and an inch or two of space. The soundwaves will point to the floor and resonate throughout the vehicle instead up up into the seat and through the people.

Worked awesome for me that way when mounting my sub box in the trunk of a caddy I had...Also it was a design of a top notch pro installer friend of mine, he was head of a crew at stereo place.