Replacing 'vert speakers - a pain?

[ebalita]

I was going to replace the speakers on my newly acquired vert... hmmm the covers do not pop off? Do I have to take the freaking door panel and side panels to replace the speakers??

[94_240sx]

I was going to replace the speakers on my newly acquired vert... hmmm the covers do not pop off? Do I have to take the freaking door panel and side panels to replace the speakers??

Yes, panels need to be off. Rear is fairly easy to replace. I have to replace front speakers, but I'm afraid. I'll do it sooner or later since biggie told me where the screws are.

[ebalita]

Can you show me where the screws are for the rear.. I may want to try that.

[94_240sx]

Can you show me where the screws are for the rear.. I may want to try that.

You will see a couple of screws if you open the door. Boot snaps are also screws. Others are hidden. You must remove back seats to get to them. To remove back seat, there are knobs you can pull under the seat. 2 big bolts are in between lower seat and back seat. Put your hand here and there. You will find them. There's nothing to break, so don't worry.

[jamesblonde82]

im also scared to do this. i'd like some nicer speakers in my doors, but my panels are in really good shape i'd hate to mess em up. let me know if you end up doing this.

[The Inflicted]

I replaced both my front and rear speakers about a month ago.

I did the rears first, since they were putting out the worst sound, although all four speakers had almost completely disintegrated. I pulled off the rear interior panels from the back and then used a pair of pliers to remove all the staples. The stock speakers are connected with an odd perpindicular style plug, and I had to tear all four of these apart with some needlenose pliers to get the wire ends free. I had a little bit of trouble installing the new 5 1/4" speakers in the back because the mounting screw holes wouldn't mount properly, but using a drill and some coarse self-tapping wood screws I got the things mounted with minimal fuss. I put the interior panels back in by using a pack of flat black interior screws I bought at Advance. I used four per panel, drilling a pilot hole first and then cranking down with a screwdriver, and it looks pretty decent and fits very flat to the interior.

The front was a bit more difficult. I had to remove both door panels which was tricky because I didn't have a good way of removing the seat belts, but leaving the belts in place I was still able to bend the panel far enough out to get to the speakers. They sit in little cream-colored plastic trays, and you can unbolt the trays from the car before removing the speakers. Like on the rear, I found that the mounting points for the front 4x6" speakers were just a bit too close to let a modern speaker bolt right in, so I drilled into the very brittle plastic and was able to get a couple of thin screws through it to anchor it. I'm not too happy about how well that mounted though. You may want to find speakers that have slots instead of holes at their mounting points.Putting the panels back on was tricky too. It was very hard to get all the holes to mount back up where they should, and the panel was attached with several flexible-plastic christmas-tree-shaped anchors that tore up when removed. I wasn't able to reuse a couple of those, and there were two screw holes near the seatbelt pillar that just wouldn't bolt up again. One of these days I'm going to drill into the steel and tap it for some new holes because the panel isn't really on there as solid as I would like.

I had to repair the power window on my S14 once, and it was much easier to get the panel off and on again on the newer car.

[thrty5thsc]

It' not that bad. Just be carefull. The twisting and bending is what damages the inserts. I put MBQuart 6 1/2 componants in front and rear. You should use foam baffles in the rear so they seal right. very poor mount design.

[ishkabibble]

It' not that bad. Just be carefull. The twisting and bending is what damages the inserts. I put MBQuart 6 1/2 componants in front and rear. You should use foam baffles in the rear so they seal right. very poor mount design.

The sheet metal around the rear seat is like an echo chamber. Put your ear next to it when someone else is driving sometime... tons of road noise.

[thrty5thsc]

Ish is right, very bad for audio. You really need a baffle in the back, (and some dynamat). If not it will sound like your holding your speaker up in the air with your hand. Speakers need the air in front to be sealed off from the air in back of the speaker. The mounting point in the vert doesn't seperate the air. It's all open. You can have the best drivers in the world in there and they would sound like creap if you don't seal it.

[thrty5thsc]

I love your signature Ish!!

[ishkabibble]

Thanks. I like yours, too.

[BiXLL]

uh-oh, am I sensing a group hug coming on here?????

[ishkabibble]

uh-oh, am I sensing a group hug coming on here?????

The vert forum is one giant group hug.

(usually)

[93vert240]

I modded 6x9s into my front door panels. all you have to do is cut out the inner lip if I remember correctly. Speakers will have to be mounted in place of speaker grills.