I just thought I would post this since everything turned out so great. I was having a real nightmare of a time mounting the 6.5" drivers of my MB Quart component set (after fighting with the OEM tweeter hardware to get the quart tweeters mounted "stealth"). It became clear that in order for these speakers to go in the door, something had to be fabricated. There was no use in cutting the OEM speaker basket as originally planned, since there was NO WAY you could make it work. I was looking for something to make a spacer out of, but I wasn't fond of using wood. I had heard that someone had primer sealed their wood spacer, so I was considering doing that, but then I had an idea. Since plexiglass/lexan was too expensive in the 1/4" thickness I needed, I went to Albertsons (yes, the grocery stoor), and bought a cutting board! It's just plain white, solid, 1/4" thick acrylic, and it's cheap as hell! It cuts easier than plywood, cleaner than fiberboard, and will not crack like lexan can. I made a spacer with an inner diameter matching the quart cutout and an outer diameter about 1.5" larger (about .75" on either side). I put a foam baffle in the spacer to seal the front, .5" weather stripping on the back to seal the back to the door, and mounted the speaker directly through this sandwich. It clears the window/door panel perfectly, and it totally air tight both in front of and behind the spacer. I've got a better seal than the OEM basket.

Anyway, I just thought I would share, if it helps anyone. I don't have pictures, but I could take some if anyone needs one.

 

**** man, that's a damn good idea!!!! I've noticed that the screwholes on the baskets in the front of my hatch are getting stipped, and I've been a little worried about what I can do about it.... sounds like this might just work.

 

I have 2 sets of MB Quart 6.5" components and I was about ready to put them in. Was it hard to mount the 6.5 or just the tweet? How about installing the same set in the rear?

 

Depending on the model you got, the tweeter is only hard to mount if you want to cover it with the OEM grill like I did. The thread on the screw that holds the OEM tweeter will actually work in the quart tweeter, so I used the OEM mounting bracket and grill. However, it just barely fits, so you have to work with it a little before it will go in behind the OEM grill. There are two plastic pins that extend from behind the OEM grill to the mounting bracket, and this is where you attach the grill to the bracket. If your tweeter doesn't fit between these two pins (it's very narrow), you'll have to fabricate something. I eventually got mine to fit.

The 6.5s were a real pain in the ***, like I said, because you can't use the OEM speaker basket (even a cut one), and you can't mount the speakers to the door directly because they are too deep. This is where the spacer came in, and this is where I got the acrylic idea.

I didn't do the rears because the roll bar is in the way, but I know from the roll bar experience that it will take some time to remove all of the panels to get to the rear speakers. You can't just pop off the grill unless your new speaker is going to drop right in, which the quarts won't.

 

Great Idea, Thanks man! That gives me an idea for mounting a sub in the spare tire well. I used to work in food service and we used to have huge cutting boards, if I can get one that is bigger than the spare tire well I could make a nice enclosure out of that! Thanks.

S


[Modified by stevel, 6:19 PM 7/10/2001]

 

The 6.5" 160mm MB Quart speaker baskets will require you to use a 3/4" MDF spacer ring, or else the magnet will hit the window. The 1" 25NX based tweeters (larger one inch dome with 5 spoke tweeter diffuser) will not fit under the factory tweeter grille without cutting and hot glueing.


[Modified by dc24me, 7:02 PM 7/11/2001]

 

I used the stock bracket and 2 sided adhesive to mount my tweeters. It has held up for a year and a half. I had no challenge whatsoever mounting the new tweeters and I didn't have to modify the brackets at all.

It's not 2-sided tape...it's a 2-sided adhesive rubber compound. The adhesive strips came with the speakers.

 

got a question for ya, i'm not really good with fabricating my own stuff like you so i was wondering if the foam baffles from crutchfield would work well as a replacement for what you made yourself..?
http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S...37XT65&o=M&a=0

 

Check out this ghettoness......


It took multiple 2 footers to figure this install out!

 

Were you asking me? If so, no way. The foam baffles that crutchfield has are the same as the ones I used to seal the front of the spacer, and keep water off of the cone on the other side. Once you screw the speaker down, they don't act as spacers at all. If your magnets will fit without a spacer, you're good to go with the foam baffles. However, if you need some extra room, you won't get if from the foam.

 

Okay, I had a lot of people e-mail me asking for pictures of the door speakers, and since I don't know what site they saw this post on, I'll post it to both (SHO and H-T). Here is the pic of the door speaker:



What you can easily see is the thickness of the white acrylic spacer and the foam baffle that I used in front of the spacer to seal the connection with the speaker. What you can't easily see is the weather stripping on the back of the spacer to seal the connection between the spacer than the door panel (which isn't entirely flat). The bottom of the spacer is also not completely round so that it won't contact the door panel.

And here's a pic of the HU install using all OEM parts (except for the HU, heh, heh).



I posted a question a long time ago about good quality mounting kits for a HU in the teg, and someone suggested that I try to use all of the OEM parts. Well, I did, and here is how it came out. (I did cut up a mounting kit to fit around the top 1/16" because I'm **** about gaps, but it isn't necessary).