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Speaker Kickpanels...take two of these and call me in the morning!

jakeslim

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Napa, CA
I've been making a set of kickpanels(speaker) for my 69 k5 and posting at the other truck site. Here is the link if interested.
Click here to see

I started making my new speaker kickpanels as
mentioned on other post here in past. I bought one panel board at hardware store for about $5.00. Also bought a gallon of fiberglass resin for about $30, but you could get buy with a much smaller amount:crazy:

1) Pic shows the panel cut, with raised "o" for speak, angled with various post length.
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Old T-shirt does the job..ruined with work on truck:lol:
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2) In first pic, the "O" is already glued to t-shirt. Now to glue the shirt to frame of kickpanel. Buy a cheap $4.99 glue gun at HF..easy and cheap.
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Starting the glueing process. Work around, making sure it is smooth and tight(:lol::rolleyes: )Glue points at a time, not with a constant bead, that way you can adjust and take your time.
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All done with Glue! Notice that I brought done the section that will have the vent lever secured to it so that there is no interference. You can see the glue line that makes this happen.
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Each day this week, I'll be adding to post as I progress. Goal is to finish for a Saturday installation!
 
2nd Part

3) (the next pics are of the drivers side. I set the speaker lower to allow room for ebrake, vent lever and highbeam switch. )
Now, for a coat of resin. Based on my readings, i need one coat of pure resin, then two coats of resin with fiberglass mat cloth. This is just with the first coat of resin.
f173d13c.jpg

Notice the crease on back side of enclosure. This is the slack t-shirt that I folded and set. Its hard now and nothing a little bondo won't cover, and its on the back side out of sight!
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Notice that I resined all the way over the ring to ensure good seal. I did this based on posted directions that I've read
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MORE TO COME TOMORROW
 
Ok, Tuesday evening process. This took me about 20 minutes to do, both passenger and driver side.

This is the passenger side. I gave it a first coat of resin only.
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Next is the driver side. This is the second coat and I used small pieces(4" by 6" or so) of fiberglass mat cloth. I just laid it down where I wanted it and with a paintbrush, thoroughly covered with resin until cloth was completely wet.
f170925c.jpg


This pic is with both driver and passenger kick panels. The angles are the same, but the driver side is set lower to accomodate the ebrake. The driver side now has the two coats, one resin(let dry) then resin and fiberglass mat. The passenger side has one coat of resin and is wet.
f1709212.jpg


Tomorrow night, I'll throw a third coat on the driver side, and a second on the
passenger side. I should be ready to cover by Friday with material of choice. I have not decided on carpet or black vinyl.....:blah:
 
Ok, as mentioned..i put the first mat/resin coat on the passenger side, and a second mat/resin coat on the drivers side. With the fibermat, the enclosure is VERY strong and solid.
So I set out in sun and dried pretty quick, at least enough to test fit:)

Driver side with the soon to be speaker
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Now, in the truck, pedal and vent lever clear nicely:ww:
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A different perpective with my shoes:lol:
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Passenger side with speaker(test fit)
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In truck...why is you head turned sideways?:lol:
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One thing, they are not fully set in place, so nevermind the if they look off on edges, I just placed them easy for now. I am going to install them with some silicone glue once ready

Tomorrow, final coats in early morning,sun, cloth/cover late in day
 
they'd be tore up real quick in my truck,,not a big fan of that setup, but looks like you did a pretty good job at it :wink1:
 
4xcrazy said:
they'd be tore up real quick in my truck,,not a big fan of that setup, but looks like you did a pretty good job at it :wink1:

there strong enough to stand on once complete...well not the speakers :haha:
 
If you want to make some 2nd gen ones , I can send ya some kick panels :wink1:

You may have a way to make a few bucks , and I betcha they would be stronger than store bought ones :D
 
I was always worried about clutch to speaker clearance with those(though ebrake still looks like a pain) doesn't look bad at all though.
 
The ebrake clears easily with foot angled just bit. Clutch is not a factor at all. The driver side is set lower to ensure clearance.
 
T-Shirt? I had no idea you could even do that. Your project is giving me some ideas of my own. Looks good.
 
y5mgisi said:
Did you just paint the resin on over the shirt??

Yes, the first coat of resin is just resin(no cloth fibermat) painted with a cheap paint brush over the t-shirt. The t-shirt soaks it up and becomes one with it once it dries. The second and third coat use the cloth fibermat, just cut into small sguares or rectangles..super easy. First time doing this..no problems. I just bought some black carpet to glue over, once i sand it smoother(just a bit).
 
Dude, that is pretty damn cool. As Chevy Chase said in Caddyshack: "See your future, be your future, may...may...MAKE your future.

Great work.
 
Well I’m going to jump on the wagon, and make a pair. Great winter project, they look sweeeeeaaat. :bow:
 
stretching vinyl over this style of speaker enclosure makes for a cleaner final covering that carpet. Or bondo them up 'til they baby butt smooth and paint 'em to match your rig.
 
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