sealing kickpanel

[gr868]

has anyone sealed the void behind a first gen camaros kickpanel i took my kicpanel out(plastic panel) and there is a nice space behind it for my seperate but the blower motor is in there and from what i can see there is also a duct running the length of the dash and connected to the astro vents in the dash any idea how to seal the motor and duct off in there?

[class67]

You can use spray foam (expanding) to seal it up. I think that would work well enough for a mid-range driver. Or, you could probably build a small enclosure to fit inside there as well.

[makoshark]

Check out what DSE did. I am about to do something very similar in my 67

[gr868]

thanks for thase replies i went with the foam seems to work very nice work on your kicks just hate cutting my car i figure i can always disolve the foam

[nekkidhillbilly]

foam will sound way better than that steel anyhow

[makoshark]

You do know that area is for water drainage that goes down into the rockers. If you spray foam into there, then you will be inducing a sponge to soak up that water and hold it. The result will be extensive rust issues in that area.

[Taylor1969]

You do know that area is for water drainage that goes down into the rockers. If you spray foam into there, then you will be inducing a sponge to soak up that water and hold it. The result will be extensive rust issues in that area.

That is what I was thinking... I would just use a baffle behind the speaker like this:



http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=260-788

[preston]

Info - enclosing speakers in those foam baffles will make them sound like crap. Same thing if you just bolt them with an undersized enclosure. MOst speakers need room to vent to make good sound, and a close baffle will reflect the back waves.

[gr868]

i sealed off the top of the area with expanding foam not just foam i stuffed the area with newspaper then placed cardboard on top of that then when the foam dried i took out the cardboard and newspaper it was what i had to do because the blower motor was also on the passenger side i just used a razor knife and removed the vent from the backside of the kickpanel it is totally hidden and sounds great i am not too concerned with the moisture because i dug 30 years of crap out of there first and no rust yet!

[jst8a5.0]

I did this in my ventura. Except I did in in the space closer to the seat behind where the one picture showed. Originally I had the speakers in those holes in an infinite baffle setup. I even made stainless baffle board for the speakers to mount to and even made a vacuum operated door that used the factory diaphragm to actuate it. I have 35 mm picture in hand just not in the comp. There is a support brace in the ventura that must be cut out to use the space toward the seat in the kick panel. After that clean that black gooey crud out and fiberglass away! I had f/g kickpanels with the speakers mounted to them before and it sounded like crap. I even had them in the wells, they were too far under the dash IMHO. When I sealed them and made beauty panels to fit over, then the sound really came out. I still can't believe how much bass those little 6.5ers can dish out! Oh and I have a bad habit of not taking pics of my work. I'll try to go take some.

[gr868]

i was dissapointed at first with how my mb quarts sounded at first then i hit them with some more power and now they sound great and very powerful midbass for sure! i didn't take pics either but i wasn't sure if i was going to kepp them so...

[RSX302]

I did the foam and bondo setup with 8" mid bass drivers. Sounds fantastic! I'm glad I did it. I also used 1/2" MDF for the speaker face mounting.

Since I'm in So Cal, I don't need to worry about rain too often, but I was thinking of making a nice panel to cover and seal the cowl opening just in case.

[jst8a5.0]

That's purdy

[Vegas69]

I wanted to keep my astro ventilation atleast through the kicks even with my vintage air. Air doesn't seems to move through these cars very well with the windows down.

[chicane67]

Info - enclosing speakers in those foam baffles will make them sound like crap. Same thing if you just bolt them with an undersized enclosure. MOst speakers need room to vent to make good sound, and a close baffle will reflect the back waves.

Not necessarily true. The individual transducer will be the greatest variable in this equation. Some transducers are designed for infinate baffle... some for acoustical suspension... and others for ported/reflex. So, to merely state that they are going to sound like "crap" on your behalf is just an assumption... bordering on a wildass guess.

Considering, that the size of most speakers that can actually utilize a product like the XTC baffles, do not need the enclosure volume that you are trying to impression with.

Honestly, the XTC baffles were first created to keep door speaker from the elements inside a door cavity. It just so happends that they also work quiet well with a number of speakers to add the needed wavefront damping for a transducer that was not suited for an infinate baffle. I know this, as I have a set of XTC baffles in the doors of my truck that are protecting my ADS 325i seperates. They load the transducer just enough... without having to build sealed enclosures.

On a further note... your reference to the reflection of "back waves" is an indication of possible phase cancelation due to the baffle not being rigid enough to support the transducers frame... and providing a solid enough platform to where the cone can operate without being influenced by unnessary movement of the baffle structure. Not to mention, that there is a specific distance required behind a given transducer, be it an open or closed pole, to operate without being influenced from reflected pressure waves.

[RSX302]

Not necessarily true. The individual transducer will be the greatest variable in this equation. Some transducers are designed for infinate baffle... some for acoustical suspension... and others for ported/reflex. So, to merely state that they are going to sound like "crap" on your behalf is just an assumption... bordering on a wildass guess.

Considering, that the size of most speakers that can actually utilize a product like the XTC baffles, do not need the enclosure volume that you are trying to impression with.

Honestly, the XTC baffles were first created to keep door speaker from the elements inside a door cavity. It just so happends that they also work quiet well with a number of speakers to add the needed wavefront damping for a transducer that was not suited for an infinate baffle. I know this, as I have a set of XTC baffles in the doors of my truck that are protecting my ADS 325i seperates. They load the transducer just enough... without having to build sealed enclosures.

On a further note... your reference to the reflection of "back waves" is an indication of possible phase cancelation due to the baffle not being rigid enough to support the transducers frame... and providing a solid enough platform to where the cone can operate without being influenced by unnessary movement of the baffle structure. Not to mention, that there is a specific distance required behind a given transducer, be it an open or closed pole, to operate without being influenced from reflected pressure waves.

I agree….and will add my 2 pennies from what I've learned over the years...same thing just different angle..

A driver with a higher total Q will work better in free air setups vs lower. My 8’s have a .44 total Q so to get maximum power from them, they will work better in a sealed enclosure for dampening. The higher the total Q, the more dampening is built into the driver for free air operation and allows for moderate power levels. Very low total Q drivers (.3) typically use very small enclosures, but in turn are very inefficient and will be designed to handle higher power levels to get good volume from them. You can use a lower Q driver in a free air environment, but it will handle a lot less power then rated before it over excursions on itself...hence sounding like crap.

Adding the XTC baffles will give that little extra to dampening. Also, try adding a little fiberfill behind the driver to help with resonance and/or tricking the driver into thinking its in a larger enclosure.

BTW...I was early ADS and loved them! PH15..PQ20...320is etc...
I now run CDT Audio and Zapco stuff and have to say, very close...ADS is a little softer in the highs, but still gives me goose bumps.

http://home.roadrunner.com/~rderaad/...d%20System.htm

[68driver]

ronracer - Did you have to trim any metal to fit those 8" mids in that location.

Also wondering if anybody knows what size speaker DSE used for their install? ( https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=27574&d=1230735303 ) They look like 5.25" or 6.5" components, but I can't tell for sure.

- Rob C.

[RSX302]

ronracer - Did you have to trim any metal to fit those 8" mids in that location.

Also wondering if anybody knows what size speaker DSE used for their install? ( https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=27574&d=1230735303 ) They look like 5.25" or 6.5" components, but I can't tell for sure.

- Rob C.

I did trim a little metal front to back,(nothing top to bottom)suprizingly not a lot with the 1/2" MDF mounted to the surface. The speaker basket angle is smaller allowing for a slightly narrower opening.

The DSE speakers look like 5.25's based on a 1" tweeter shown below in the picture. Clean set-up..I would hate to be the poor guy welding it in that location..Contortionist