Hello all... I think that I've only posted on these boards once in the years that I have been a member, but I have gained a lot of insight in to the repairs that I've done on my Rover, so I wanted to thank everyone on these forums before I got into my project... And yes... I got lazy and didn't cover the old car... Note to self, cover the car so that it doesn't need to be washed after...

Background... Like with many, my Discovery takes on water, and recently the stereo took a dive and all the speakers have been crumbling for a while, so time for the replacement.

What I'm installing:

JBL - PVR-175 Marine receiver: challenge: it's round...
Audio Control 6xs sound processor
Soundstream Stealth 1000D amps x2
Polk Audio DB6501 6.5" components: Front doors
Kicker css65 6.5" components: rear door
Planet Audio p55neo: rear door
Kicker CompRT 6.75" subwoofer x2 in the cargo door: challenge: they don't fit

So... I got carried away... Yes, but I do enjoy a project and this is definitely one that requires fiberglass work... Time to start, I chose the rear subwoofer enclosure to begin:

Tools and materials:
Fiberglass Resin
Short strand enforced resin filler (add strength to the box)
Light weight fleece
2x4 sheet of 1/2 inch MDF
Spiral saw, bits and router blade (cut the rings)
Jigsaw
Clamps
Staple gun w/staples
disposable plastic containers
paint brushes
lots of disposable gloves
sand paper

The first step that I took was to cut the base to match the stock subwoofer cover:


Step 2: cut the speaker rings for flush mount subs
Set the spiral saw up to cut the rings, I cut 4 rings 2 per speaker for the base and 2 per speaker for trim. Cut the outside diameter first, then move to the clamp the ring and cut the inside, next router the edges to the inside of the trim rings


Step 3: glue and clamp the rings. I used gorilla glue and let them cure for about 30 minutes, then sanded and ran the router around the outside


Test fit sub in ring:


Step 4: calculate airspace and space your rings from the base: to do this, I cheated... Calculate the airspace needed by using L*W*H/1728 = volume I then found a cardboard box that size and filled it with packing peanuts, because my box is an odd shape, wrapped cloth around my frame and made sure the peanuts would fill it..

Then, I cut stands out of a 2x4 piece of wood and screwed them to my base and mounted the rings to it


Step 5: Stretch the fleece over your frame, staple the center of one side first, then stretch very tight, working out all the wrinkles and staple the fabric at the rear of the base.




Step 6: fiberglass... Mix your resin with the instructed amount of hardener is a disposable plastic container. Don't forget your mask and gloves! this stuff is nasty (for those who have never worked with it....

Using one of your paint brushes, saturate the fleece that over the box, but don't saturate over the speaker rings, just the portion of the fleece that contacts the ring, fully saturate around the ring and the base, this is what is bonding the box.



After this cures for an hour, or two, use a razor blade and cut the the fleece from the inside of the rings:



Now, let the resin continue to cure until it is hard, it may still be slightly sticky, but at this point, with rubber gloves, you can work on the structure.

Mix the short strand reinforced filler with the hardener (this is messy and I would have preferred aerosil, but didn't want to wait to get it) with your hands, take spread the filler around the inside of the box, focus on the edges of the base and around your speaker rings, kind of a pain, but necessary.

Do this until the entire inside of the structure is covered, you will be able to see spots that are untouched. let this cure for about 10 minutes and remove the spacers holding your rings and let it cure the rest of the way.



If you want to get real crazy, you can put a layer of chopstrand on the outside, play with bondo and body filler, sand and paint.... But I'm taking the easy route, thin layer of padding and covering it with tan vinyl to match the interior.

I hope you find this interesting, if not slightly useful. I'll update as I do the rest of the project if there is some interest shown...

 

So... I gutted the entire interior to find and fix the sunroof an heater core leaks, fix any rust spots and install the stereo components.

The bare rover:


The source of the sunroof leak:


The drain lines were clean, but the silicon around the drain insert was worn and water was leaking from there. Stripped the silicon and resealed the sunroof pan.

The next leak was from the heater core. There are two drains, one on either side of the center console, as seen below, both ends were clogged with mud.



I wire brushed all the rust spots under the carpet and primed and painted them... Then began to install the equipment.

I switched the stereo to an Oxygen head unit to use my iPhone for all source:


I installed the tweeters for the polk audio and kicker 6.5" components in the Harman Kardon speaker bezels in the doors, for the front, I cut an MDF circle to fit and mounted the tweeter to that, then sealed it in the rear of the bezels, the kicker tweeters fit in the rear bezels well, so I just needed to put a small bead of silicon there to secure them.

Then I replaced the tweeters in the pillars and and replaced all the original door 6.5"s with the new.

I mounted the two Soundstream stealth amps under the passenger seat and trimmed the carpet around it:


I installed the 6xs signal processor under the driver's seat, above the TCU, where the factory amp was installed:


After covering the new enclosure, I installed the 6.75" subwoofers and mounted it to the rear door, I am waiting on a steel rear door panel, powder coated black, that will be behind the speaker box.


I also installed the planet audio 6.25" in front of the jump seats, that is the only spot that isn't replacing a factory location...

Then I started reassembly:



After assembling the lower half of the vehicle, I took the sunroof motors apart and I'm taking them in to be rebuilt:



All that's left now is replacing the headliner fabric that was ruined from the leaks, the fabric is on its way...

 

What is that? I've never seen anything like it.

 

Fantastic work! How long did it take to do all that?

 

It is an Oxygen Audio O car, kind of cool... Just uses everything on the iPhone and feeds it to the rest of the system. I was going to use a different stereo, but we dropped by a shop, this caught my eye and they gave it to me for $30. They've dropped way down in price because the iPhone 5 was released and it isn't compatible beyond the 4.

 

Thanks! With tear down, repairs, cleaning and all, This project has taken about 45-50 hours of work. Took about at day to make the sub box, the rest, started on a Thursday after work and pushed through Sunday night.. Still waiting on a few parts to finish.... It was quite a bit of work, but also quite a bit of fun and now I know the condition of the rover, under all the dress up...