ICE ICE POLO (ROBolop Design)

Cause of the cold this week, I didn’t manage to do much. Where I’m working at the moment, there’s no heating, and you can feel the cold comin’ out of the ground. There are nicer days to work on an install.

The 2 alu frames (for the glas to rest on) are finished. On the back of the subbox, where the hinge is placed, I had to weld an extra iron.
After that I drilled a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT of holes in the aluminium, and also in the iron and alu bar. After that I made some screw-thread in there so I could tighten it all nicely. Remember, the subbox needs to be 100% closed.

Once the holes were good, I taped the glass onto the aluminium.
I chose 2x4mm laminated glass. This is the same as the glass that’s in your front windshield of your car. I chose this because it’s superstrong, be also, must it ever break, the shattered pieces won’t fall apart, due to the special film that’s in between.
You never know the glass will burst after my wife plants a bag of potatoes into the trunk, then it won’t be the end of the world… just needs a new glass.

I glued the glass with black TEK7.

I left this to dry for more than four days, and it still wasn’t dry. Probably because it’s cold and moist in my garage for the moment.

Then I worked on the connections of the woofers.

Here you can see the 8 alu tubes where the cable gets through. You can also see LED holders, and little O-rings.

First of all, I glued the led holders into the alu tubes with 2 components-glue
Because my cable didn’t got through anymore, I had to abrade the LED holders one by one till the cables got through again.
F*CKN JOB...

Another shitty job was that I had to sand down the inside of the holes, where the tubes glide through.

Once all this was done, I could place the tubes through the holes without scratching it.

You can also see the O-rings I slipped over it, to get a nice finishing touch.

With these connections I want to prove that it doesn’t always have to be copper, and you can make nice things with normal stuff.

Here you see how the glass rests on the subbox, and how it’s screwed. Offcourse I’m going to place rubber in between to get a more perfect seal.

The glass on the amplifier part: This will be tightened with a couple of screws, so if I have to turn the EQ, it’s just a matter of screwing some screws loose.

Another cool shot

Exiting day today.

I mounted the box into the trunk. I used every inch possible in there, but I had a good feeling when I let the thing go up and down.

I had to do a minor adjustment with the hammer. The box didn’t go (only for a couple of mm) by the eyes on the back of the trunk

STOP- Hammertime! lol

You can see how close it all is.

I also changed something on the hinge and now I need to finish it off.

When the trunk is up to gain access to the spare wheel, I need to flatten out the back seat

I think the spare wheel is easy accessible, no?

I managed to lift the box in the trunk, without using much force.
It lifts easy with only using a couple of fingers.

You can see how easy I managed to solve this.

I welded 2 springs together. I had to do this cause 1 long one, wasn't strong enough.

I also used a steel cable of 3mm.
To tighten these, I used some ordinary luster-clamps.

You can also see I mounted the springs on top of each other, otherwise there was no room.

You can see on the length of the cable, I can still add more tension on it.
That I will do once it's all mounted, then I can do the fine tuning of it.

Here you can see how tight it all is next to the box, and what I mean with putting the springs on each other.

The springs and the hinge, there's also some fine-tuning necessary. I have to sanded down, and spray it.
Around the springs I'm going to pull a tyre of a kidsbicycle, so that it can't vibrate.

The box is placed on 4 rubbers, also for the vibration. But I also had to make something to tighten the box on once it's closed.
I had to do this in a simple way, so that my wife didn't need to go throught a procedure of 10 things before getting to the spare wheel.

I've managed to solve this with only 1 inbus-screw

The shackle I made, is screwed in the trunk. You can also see a rubber cap on it.
Underneath I tapped some screwthread.

Then I made a little aluminium plate, and screwed it to the box.

So when the box is closed, the plate comes directly on the shackle.

I tuned this with another inbus-screw (M10).

And so you can screw it loose or tight with only 1 screw.

Sometimes I wonder what the hell I'm doing with the bimmer.
When I was working on this thing, I ask myself why I'm not doing things more simple. No head-aches, and in a much faster pace.

I started making the panels for the sides. A work that shouldn’t be underestimated.

When I used to go and check out the cars in competitions, this was the first thing I looked at.
And yes, I checked out MANY installs, and I’ve seen many, many side panels that don’t fit at all.
There are many people that put so much effort in creating a nice box for the woofers, the placing of their amplifiers, … But when it comes to the side panels…they forget.
On the other hand, in some cars it’s just not that easy to make side panels for, and the Polo was one of them in my opinion

After thinking for a while, I knew what I wanted, and then I made this.

First I cut out a model out of cardboard and tape, and made this mold out of wood (6mm).
Because I didn’t want to have a fat big side to look on, I added aluminium of 2mm thick?
Glued it on with Tec7 and put on some screws on the back

So this will be the side panels I’ll put into the trunk. And because I wanted them to be as thin as possible, so I made it with wood of 6mm thick.
The sides are made of 2mm aluminium.

I first cut out a mold in cardboard, and sew it out.

Once you have one, turn it around, and you’ve got number 2.

Because I want to make use for every inch in the trunk, I made holes L and R, so you can put something in there.
By doing this, I also break a rather rag surface that doesn’t look good.
The model of the holes won’t be equal L and R, that’s because I can’t go bigger on the right, cause the supply of the gas-tank is there.

I also made a thickening of 1cm around the hole, as you can see clearly on this piece.

What you have to look out for is when you work with wood and aluminium, is that your filler you use is appropriate for these 2 materials.

Because I also wanted a nice rounding at the bottom, I screwed and aluminium L on there, and finished it off.
Creating a rounding is pretty simple.
Here I used a spraycan of deodorant, where I put my sanding paper on. But there are several things you can use as sanding blocks.

Then I taped the sides of the plastic where the come against.
Then I put some filled on the back of the panels , and mounted them.

Once it’s dry, you can take it out carefully, and it looks like this.

After some sanding work, it looks like this

It looks quite simple, but it isn’t. I’ve made this a couple of times now, but in the beginning it didn’t go that well.
I wasted a lot on these things to make them look good.

Because the glass plate (EQ) must go open smoothly, I screwed another alu plate on there. So I don’t have to walk around with a sucker.

Here a picture with the sides in it.

What I personally love is that the separation between the sub-box and the amplifier is made out of glass. It gives the impression it’s one piece, but it has 2 compartiments.

OOOOooo yeah, the PPI Deq 230 EQ just got a bit smaller.
Cause I haven’t got that much space, I put the disc in that thing.

Robolop Design hé, lol

I let someone make me a set of alu little busses, to go in between the amp and the EQ.

I'm planning of polishing these, so they shine like a mirror. Like that I'll get a nice contrast with the matt alu plate on the bottom.

The 4 who are a bit longer, holds everything that's on the amplifier, in place.

This will be the coverplate which will rest on the glass.
I made this one in 8mm thick MDF wood.
Off-course I made the 2 holes as big as possible, so you can see as much as possible of the install.

Because the middle of the coverplate is quite wide, I was afraid that I'd loose the effect to see from the front, to the back. But it's really ok, it's still looks fine.

Off-course I'm going to add some lighting in there too.
Here are a couple of things I picked up from the motorhos in Essen (DE)...

Everything I made for in the back of this Polo thus far, is removed from the trunk now. So I can give the trunk a good clean now.

The meaning now is to rebuild everything the install, outside of the trunk. But there’s a lot of work to be done first.
Some of the iron, aluminium I used, will be sanded off, and sprayed black.
The wooden box, which holds all of the components, will be glued together. The aluminium on the bottom will be glued tight with TEC7.
I was planning on making a carbon plate for it, but where I’m working now, it’s too moist, and I’m afraid it won’t be perfect…So I’ll have to come up with something else.
I also need to mill some other sloths in the bottom of the box, where the cables are.
These sloths go towards the sides, but if I look at it now, I just haven’t got space to place my cables there. Pretty stupid of me, I should have known.

Everything is ready to be covered in skai-leather, but I just can’t. Because it’s a daily car, we’ll have to use the trunk to place all our purchases in.
This means, when I buy some wood (or whatever), I have to put it there. It’s not possible to always put a blanket in there, being scared of scratchin’ it a little.
The best thing I can do is to cover it in to find the same piece of cloth the trunk is made of, and cover it in that.
Offcourse, that will look like SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT, but then again, maybe I should have left it like it was.

Sometimes women are right…SOMETIMES I said

I’ll sleep another night on it, before I open a bottle of glue.

Because the temperatures here are minus 0, I didn’t do anything on the polo last several days.
It’s too cold, and according to the weather lady , the weather isn’t going to chance soon.
So I guess updates will be on hold for some time…

And then there’s something totally different, a big breakthrough in my life, and I’m getting goosebumps typing this.
But what it is, I can’t say now, but it will be good for the works on the bimmer and the polo.
Later more info about this dudes.