Mark's Car Stuff
Another one of my friends into car stereos is Mark MacIntosh. His dad owns a towing and repair shop in Trenton Ontario, so he has always been around cars and stereos. Mark was getting started when I was, so we learned together through trial and error. One day, Mark got a lot of money together and we headed off to our at-the-time favourite stereo shop, Kawartha T.V. and Stereo in Belleville Ontario. Mark got a good Pioneer head unit, Pioneer amp and Pioneer 3-way 6x9's. This setup was ok, but he had to
add more, so a pair of 4" Pioneer coax's were added. This sounded better, but it would cut out easy. Now Mark bought my old Blade amp and pushed it all with that amp. This sounded a lot better, so it was time for another improvement. Subs. He got a pair of Pioneer 12's off some guy he knew, and it was time for me to do a box for him. The hatch of the Mustang was fairly large but it was really shallow. I did a box out of 3/4" MDF and had the subs sitting on the top of 1/4" Lexan glass. This way you could see inside the box and see the circular peice of mirror with a huge Pioneer logo sandblasted in it. Included with the box was a seperate enclosure for the 2 6x9's,
ported against the back of the seat. This box formed around the curves of the trunk to try to get more air space without sacraficing too much trunk space. Once the box was constructed itself, it was time to add the finishing covering. Instead of carpet or vinyl, I chose to paint it. Three layers of primer to get it good and soaked in, 6 layers of gloss black paint and 4 coats of gloss coat later, the finished product looked pretty darn good. The costs were small and I only charged Mark my costs plus a little more for my time.
As the year rolled on, so did the vehicles in Marks life. Soon, he got a 1984 Pontiac Fiero from his dad as a present. So naturally, the stereo had to be upgraded. An amp and the good old Pioneer bass cannon was added on. Unfortunately, due to a slight electrical malfunction (grounding out by accident) the new stereo was haulted and Mark sold both cars and got a loan for a bright purple 199? Geo Storm (if you say its pink, he will get a little bit mad). This car rocks. Fast, sporty, fuel efficient and a real chick magnet. In the summer, Mark had to upgrade, naturally. The Pioneer CD player went in first and then right to the low end. Mark sold the Pioneer's to our friend Roy French and went right for the big daddies. 2 12" Cerwin-freakin-Vega Strokers. Wow. Just to look at these things is an honour. Of course, I now had to do a NEW box. OH YEA. We wanted a more natrual and a whole hell of a lot bigger box. So I started with a sheet of 8'x4'x3/4" MDF,
wood glue, silicon and about a ton of 1 3/4" wood screws. I started by making a cardboard cutout of the top of the box to propperly curve around the hatch area and against the back seat. The new design was then coppied on the MDF and cut out. Since we wanted a vented enclosure, upon calculating I determined that 2 4"x26" ports were needed. Since the whole box isn't 26" tall, I had to do the ports on an angle. This needed more precise calculations and cutting. Once I figured the size of the pieces needed, the cutting was done with my trusty Black and Decker jig saw. Once the front piece was cut out, I had to decide on what design I wanted to do for the
speaker cutouts. Since both Mark and I wanted to have the inside of the box showing, I decided to have it looked like the Strokers were just sitting on the box. Once again I used 1/4" Lexan glass and placed it behind the front piece and secured it with 3/4" screws. I figured by using several small spots that were taken up by the glass, this wouldn't decrease the structural integrity of the box as a whole. Once this was all
done, all the front edges where the Lexan would reside were routered of with my 1/4" curved bit. I realized after that I should have used a smaller bit to achieve a better curve. Oh
well. Once the box was constructed I had to decide what to put on the inside of the box for a good look. I decided upon grey speckle paint and some purple neon to match the exterior. Then I headed down to a stereo shop up here in Oshawa, Crossfire audio & security, and picked up 2 yards of matching grey vinyl for the covering. The box was covered and then I added the Lexan to the inside along with some sealant. Now
the wiring and adding the subs and power to the neon is all that has to be done. And bingo. A great looking good sounding box that is covered by the seat and the only part you can see are the edges of the ports on top. I must say that once again I am very proud of the results.
Click to see Marks car