[Stan99]

Well guys here is the start of my overhead console. I started this about two weeks ago and havnt had much time to work on it since I started it. The console is going to house 2- 5.25's, 2- 4"'s, my CB and all of my rocker switches to control my lockers, rock lights, fog lights, windsheild lights and my compressor. I wanted to do something I havnt seen yet. Im sure somebody out there has done something similar but I havnt seen it. So here is a little write up on what I have done and I will post more as I get it done.

Also I will be putting 6x9's in wedges behind the front seats and some 6.5" in the doors. I am also going to do at least one sub and two amps. I havent decided where yet.

I did my cage about a month ago. Then I cut rings out of particle board and a mounting plate for the CB also. I started out makeing some top covers out of hardboard. These will be removable so you can access all of the wireing and components. Then I had to add two peices of tube for where the 4" speakers are mounting. They werent meant for structual but I am sure they added some strength to it. I then mounted the rings for the speakers to the roll cage using hot glue and some gorilla glue. The next step was mounting the peice that will house the CB. The strongest way to mount this was to brad nail it to the top removable peice. I also used some wooden dowls to go from the plate bracing it back to the front of the cage. Then it was time to stretch the fleece over the bottom side of the cage up around the sides and staple to the top. Once that was how I wanted it, it was time to add the resin. You have to be really generous with this stuff. Then let it dry overnight and should be rock hard. That is a s far as I have gotten so far. The next step is to sand it smooth and then add 2-3 layers of Fiberglass mat.

Here are some pics of what I have so far.........

removable top peices
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4" speakers mounted right above your head
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Here's the 4" wrapped and resinged
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[Stan99]

Here's one of the CB mount. Its a Cobra 29 I believe. It mounts right up front by the windsheild
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This one shows the cage flipped on its but and shows what the console will look like from the bottom. The two 5.25's mount in the bottom two cornoers in this picture
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This one shows the seat mounts. There is plenty of room to either mount one 8" sub under each seat or the amps. Not sure what I am going to do yet!
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[spife7980]

finally you carry this over from fiberglass forums!

any luck on the lights yet?

[mylt1]

cage looks nice but i have to tell you, more speakers doesnt mean better system. you would be better off with just the 5.25's and 6.5's with a sub.

[gily25]

Originally Posted by mylt1

cage looks nice but i have to tell you, more speakers doesnt mean better system. you would be better off with just the 5.25's and 6.5's with a sub.

I was just about to sa that LOL!

This appears to be a work in progress, what speakers are already in place?

If you'll be taking the doors off (I imagine that's why you decided to double on front speakers) consider using those fiberglass skills to do a nice kick pod for a midbass and tweeter and put the coaxials on the rollbar for fill.

[Stan99]

I know the more speakers I put wont be. And the reason I am putting the 6x9's and the 6.5's is because the 5.25's in the rear arent going to do much for me up front and when I pull the doors wich will be alot of the time, I need the extra sound. I didnt figure the 4" speakers would be doing much also. I do plan on running some tweaters in the dash pad. I only have the 5.25's and 4's in place now.

I plan on running the 6x9's and the 6.5's off of a amp and the 5.25's and the 4's off of the stereo. I dont want to over do it but I want to make sure when I am running around with no top and no doors it still sounds good.

If you compare what I am putting in to what a normal jeep has in its sound bar and dash, im not really adding much except for the 6x9's behind the seats.

I posted it here to see what you guys thought. I dont have to do them all, tell me what I should keep and what I shouldnt. Or where I should put them to sound best.

As far as the dome lights go Spife7980, I just ordered one of the rectangle one's and one of the ovall one's. I will see if they will work and go from there. If they dont I am sure I can finsd a place for them on one project or another.

[mylt1]

i wouldnt worry about putting speakers in/on the doors. build a couple of kick panels and leave the rest alone. truth be told all you really need is a good set of components up front and a sub. that will give you a good front stage. the rear speakers are really only for fill. i have done a couple of installs in cars and with just the front stage and sub it sounded amazing. quality, not quantity is what makes the difference. if you want speakers overhead then just stick with a set of 5.25's or 6.5's if you have the room. better yet, if you buy comps they usually has coax's that will match or at least be close. that way your not running 75W up front and only 50 in the rear. makes choosing an amp that much easier.

[Stan99]

Well guys I here ya on the speakers and now I am rethinking the rest of the speakers. But for sure the 5.25' & 4's are going in the cage. I just layed the last layer of glass last night. So now it is time to get itchy and sand it down and start putting some filler on it. Also I figured out what I am going to use for my dome lights. I picked some LED's from Ozium, they are tiny but put out a ton of light. They would be perfect solution for some rock lights and for 10 bucks a peice they are worth it. I will post some pics of those up later. Here is where it sits right now.

Give me some ideas for where I should put my subs and amps. Here are the spots I would like to use

Under front seats
top of rear fender wells
Fender well wedges (6.5" subs maybe)

I dont want anything under the rear seat!

Here is one of the last layer of glass before the resin
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With Resin
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[green_jeep]

that looks GREAT i wanna make an overhead console but i want it on the inside of my hardtop.
i can make a frame out of wood then wrap it with fleece and do as you did?

[Stan99]

I had planned that originally. Then I started planning on putting more and more up there to keep the dash clean. I will have almost every aux switch mounted up there. Its really not that bad to do. I have enjoyed it so far

[Stan99]

Just a couple up dates. It should be ready for paint by the end of the week.
I have found some great little lights for the dome lights. I am still trying to figure out how to mount them so the will be flush.

I now have a layer of dust a 1/8" thick of filler andFG dust on everything in my garage. But atealst its starting to look like I though it would.

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This one shows the top that is removable to get to the wireing and switches

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One of the rear speakers.

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[Stan99]

I completley forgot about this thread. So some finished pictures.







Thsi one shows the LED's I used for my dome lights. I also have one in the rear over the cargo area.


And of coarse one of my little helpers. It wasnt in for more than a minute before they had to have there seat in.

[rubibluejay]

Nice job on the fiberglass! How do you like the sound?

Jay

[Stan99]

Well so far I havnt got a radio in there yet so I cant tell yet. But being impatient as I am I couldnt resist to hook them up to my stereo in the garage. Running off of that they sound pretty good and it should be a pretty well rounded sound system.

The speakers in the roll cage will be running off of the head unit and the other speakers will be ran off of amps.