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Hate the dinky,tinny sounding 4" things in the kickpanels? Wanna know how to mount speakers in the doors? Just like this! (With lots of detailed pics)


JoeCool

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*WARNING: Not for the squeamish or the faint of heart!!! *

DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT go any further if you cannot handle the graphic images of Datsun cosmetic surgery!

 

 

 

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's begin!

First off, why did I cut up  my door panels? Besides the fact that a tiny speaker in small enclosure such as the kick panel 5" speakers sounds like crap, and I am 6'2" tall and already am struggling with legroom, so forget custom kickpanels that stick out even more,  the vinyl on my doors isn't in the best of shape to begin with, they are stained, discolored, and part of it has been painted black. Also my dashboard was hacked up by a previous owner to fit a crappy old Sears and Roebuck cassette player. So at this point, WHAT THE HELL! Besides, it is MY truck, and I can do what I want! :P

 

So how can I mount some nice 6.5" woofers in the doors like every other car and truck made in the last 30 years has?

 

Well, there is this spot in the door here: see crudely drawn black arrow...

 

(other areas won't do, either the seat, window regulator, or door opening/lock mechanicals in the way)

 

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Measure clearance with window down. Only 1" of space behind it until the window, and since my speakers require 2" mounting depth, I will use a spacer.

BA58B60C-7E1A-4A8A-91E3-30A9F0EC45CA_zps

 

(Actually, looking at the size of that rectangular hole now, and knowing the measurements, I think a 5x7/6x8 would fit as well. But I got an awesome deal on the 6.5's)

 

 

Measured the door, then the door panel. I will just show the transferred measurements to the panel.

 

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Now for the speaker holes. The Styrofoam my Rockford Fosgate Punch P165 6.5" speakers are packed in has this nice big hole in the center. AND NO, I am NOT using those "bling" grilles they came with! 

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It needs to be centered to screw in the speaker and close to the bottom of the rectangle to avoid disconnecting the speaker wires when rolling the windows down.

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Now for the view of the cutout on the vinyl covered side... looks good to me!

 

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Test fit to the door... meh, round peg in a squared hole.

 

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Mark a roughly 6" circle and do a LITTLE bit of cutting and bending...

 

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ROUND hole, much better!

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I decided to wrap the holes circumference with some foam weatherstrip to reduce vibrations, also I painted the doors with undercoating spray (rattle can).

 

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16 gauge speaker wires ran. I drilled a hole through the kick panel at an angle through the old speaker hole and ran it through an existing vent hole in the door. (before stuffing into wire loom, TEST FIT in progress)

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1" thick adapters in place and mounted to door with long sheet metal screws. Only was able to use side and bottom holes. But three should be more than enough support.

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Speaker mounted to door. Grilles coming later from RF. (speaker is straight, my head was angled)

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Well... time for a little update. I have decided to put those speakers in my daughter's Saturn and bought the components of the same model, the Rockford Fosgate P165-S. (Will, be keeping the same cool looking grilles.)Built in crossovers so no worries there, but now I have to figure out where to mount the tweeters... more to come, stay tuned, same Bat time, same Bat channel!

 

x575P165-F_group.jpg

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The little round ones, we called them biscuit speakers, are very directional and should be at ear height if possible. I couldn't do this in my truck so I placed them in the top of the dash so the sound reflected off the inside of the windshield

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