3rd GEN Tacoma Subwoofer Enclosure Build

After driving this thing around for three months enjoying all the things it can do I finally had a break yesterday and today while my roof rack parts are out to powder coat so it was time to address the low end (read LACK of low end) in my Tacoma.

The forthcoming roof rack is going to free up the storage pocket behind the drivers seat which is where I used to keep my recovery gear. NO MORE. It's going to the Pelican 1750 on the roof and now I have some room to play.

Single Hertz ES200 woofer. Vented enclosure. (.650cu.ft. tuned at 39Hz). I don't think I'll bounce my windshield wipers off the glass with this but it HAS to be better than stock. Here is the project from start to finish:

Chopped off the lower ledge of the storage pocket to free up some space. Deciding to do this allowed me to use a traditional depth woofer by getting low in the pocket where there is more depth.

The foil tape is cold weather HVAC tape I picked up from Home Depot. It's sticky, it conforms pretty well and polyester resin simply does not stick to it. The orange you see is clay. I packed it into the corners to allow a small gap and rounded edge to make it easier for me to remove it once everything was cured.

I laid up six layers of 1.5 ounce mat and soaked it with standard laminating polyester resin. Usually I would add black pigment to the resin for a more finished look but I knew I was going to post this build on here and I wanted you to be able to see everything. At this point I let it cure over night.

This morning I popped the new mold out of the pocket. You can see the conformity of the foil tape. You are looking at the back of the new enclosure now. The OEM bolt holes even captured so this will be easy to mount later.

Next I peeled all the foil tape off the cast. A bit of trimming along the edges to get it to lay flush to the front of the pocket and I'll be set. The black sharpie marks are transfers from where I "chopped" the enclosure up into sections to calculate the internal air space.

Test fit.

Next I calculated the vent and built that of fiberglass as well. Wood would be fine here but the fiberglass mat is thinner and as strong if not stronger so I decided to stay with fiberglass as much as I could to keep from eating up the amount of air space I already don't have here.

Next I made some .500" MDF baffles to flush mount the woofer and sink it as far back as I could to make room for the grill I want to make.

More MDF pieces finish up the front and then I taped off the interior of the enclosure and used some fiberglass paste I mixed up to make the front of the enclosure. Once this cures it will come part in two halves to make it easier for me to finish.

Here after it is cured and removed you can see the front and body of the enclosure.

I used some more fiberglass paste to mate the front and body together once I had worked the port and smoothed the edges inside the enclosure. More cure time......

Next I started working on the grill system. I had to get this part made and in place first because I am going to mold it into the design and the pocket with some body filler all at one time.

So the pink stuff in this picture is the body filler. I used it to sculpt the enclosure to the profile of the OEM pocket. The grey stuff is PVC plastic. It's the start of the grill. Sorry if this is boring. It's about to get good......

This particular pain in my ass is the shaping of a very rigid plastic grill that will always be removable to service the woofer but it will serve to protect the woofer when I have my seats down to make room for the dog. the grill fits inside the other grey trim ring with magic.

This is what it looks like when I win. If this part hadn't turned out the way I wanted it to I would have never shown you this picture. Defeat is hard on the tummy.....Victory however...

Here are the various parts of the new enclosure. The body, the grill, the system trim ring and the concealing trim ring that hides the fasteners. All sprayed in primer and then I went to Subway....

Once the primer was dry according to the manufacturer specific..(when I finished my sandwich) it was time to start wrapping and painting the various parts of the enclosure. OEM matched grain, color and texture. Mine is the 2019 TRD OR in Tan so I got the dark grey interior but all of the panels are this strange not black but not really grey either color. The struggle is real.

After I got the vinyl to agree with me I coated the inside with FLOCK. It's like a powder suede that gets all over everything including iPhone camera lenses and that is why this picture is blurry. Sorry. Moving on.....

The grill is painted to match the OEM trim ring around my radio. SEM makes this stuff, it's a dye not a paint. What's the difference? About $15 a can. That's the difference. Dark silver paint would be $5, dark silver dye is $20. F'n economics....

This is the rear of the trim ring. You can see the tiny grills I pressed and cut to cover the port. There is only one port but I made one for each side because it would have looked ridiculous with one on one side and nothing on the other. Like a Cyclops. Unacceptable.

Here is a close up of the port grill. Stamped steel. 65% open. There is give and take about whether you should cover ports with grills but I know people that talk with their mouths open and I think that is wrong so we are even.

So here is the almost finished product. Still a couple of little accent things to do but the flock was finally dry enough to move forward so I did....

Here is a picture of my hand in case you wondered what color I was. This is my shop logo, going in the top of the enclosure because I have bills. Promotion is expensive.

So here the thing is completed. Well....almost completed. I still have to install the amplifier (will be another glorious thread....get popcorn and beer). Tomorrow if time permits I'll get it into the truck and snap a few pictures of that. For now......goodnight! Micah

#relicautomotivedesign

 

Here I was, back in 2009, all proud as shit that I pumped out an MDF box that fit behind my rear seats that doesn't look horrible and now this...

/wrist

Really interested in your feedback on the Hertz Audio driver. If my JBLs blow up that's where I'm looking first. Also, I hate you, that sub box is incredibly sick.

 

wow, really nice work there! hope it sounds as good as it looks.

 

@dolbytone I’ve been using Hertz and Audison since 2008. I’m happy with them across a lot of different applications. Having said that...I had a pair of these woofers from a previous installation that probably had less than 10 hours on them so I opted to use one in here instead of buying something else. I think if I had to purchase a new driver for this build I’d have selected the JL Audio 8w3 or their 10tw3. It’d been a toss up for that for me.

But.....from what Toyota calls bass to this...I think I’ll be satisfied.

Cheers!

 

Great job, that by far is the best custom box that I have seen!

 

That’s nice! Apparently that’s not your first time.

 

Wow absolutely beautiful work, I'm looking to get something similar but I don't have the skill set to make my own nor the tools or materials. Do you know of any boxes (single 12") that fit behind the seats that I could purchase? I'm looking for something plain and rather inexpensive that can house my 12" Image Dynamics sub currently in my jeep. I did see a ********* box but I've been reading a lot of really bad things about them.

Thanks!

 

@JHannibal

I know of a couple of companies that make some pre-fabricated solutions for adding woofers to the Tacoma. I do believe that any of those products require removing and/or altering the plastic storage bins located behind the seats but here are the links to the one company I have had business with in the past and never experienced any issues. God I miss Image Dynamics. The ID Max and IDq woofers.....UNREAL.

http://www.audioenhancers.com/toyota.php

 

I'm totally fine with removing or altering the storage bins behind the seat I'm probably not going to use them anyhow. Sounds like you have to buy from a dealer which I don't have in Hawaii could be terribly expensive too so I might have to look for a different option. I'm currently running a IDMAX 12 v.4 D4 in my Jeep and I'll be purchasing a 2016 here shortly that I want to put behind the seats. Do you know where you're putting the amp yet for your install? Also please show lots of pictures!

Thanks

 

That looks great! Makes mine look like an elementary school woodshop project.

 

Where at in Hawaii? I have two friends that have shops there. Derek Pace at Certified Sounds and Kent Izuka at Security and Sound Systems. Both are great guys and if they are where you can get to them they can just make one for you.

 

Yeah but you got a bigger woofer!

 

That would be super cool, I'm on Oahu by the Aloha Stadium. Feel free to PM me. Thanks!

 

It does pound.

 

Wow, great work!

 

Amazing, so when are you going to start selling these?

 

Hahahaha. The actual body of the enclosure is super easy to make. The trim and extras take some time, especially bending them like that. I think a production model would have to be way toned down if I ever had a chance of hitting the market with them.

I ordered the JL 8w1v3 for it today. Going to change the vent up a little bit and try this new woofer and see if I can get it to do what I’m looking for. It sounds good but I listen to a lot of rock/country so I just think I need more impact and pretense out of it.

If I nail down the woofer that works then we can take about taking on the world! Hahahaha

 

Got it installed last night. Decided on the front stage today and ordered the speakers so it looks like the full build log will get started as soon as the roof rack is finished up this weekend.

 

What did you pick for the front?

 

Damn.. That looks pretty amazing.. Where are you located? I want one lol