Hey everybody, this is my first car, and I had a question about installing new speakers. I know the firebird did not come with speakers in the door, but I have heard many people say they installed 5.25" speaks in the door, how do you go about getting the door panel off? Sorry for such a dumb question, but im really trying to understand my car better. Thanks for any help!

 

well it depends on whethor you have power windows or something I think. But Im not exactly sure how you remove it. Im pretty sure theres a buncha clips holding it on. Your window roller will need to be taken off if you have manual windows as well as any other obstructions. Theres a hard plastic piece on the top of the door that needs to be taken off I think too...

 

I do not have power windows, so the motors shouldnt get in the way, in fact i have almost no options on the car (it came with the orig. sticker). Any other help?

 

well Ive never taken a door panel off but I would just go for it yourself...Im sure some1 will help out though soon.

 

to get the panle off you squeeze the black part at the top in and pull up, there are 3 or 4 clips that hold that black piece on that you have too squeeze and pull up, then there are little clips all around the door panel that you just have to pull, but becareful to not rip the cardboard on the door panel, not that hard really just pull and they will come out, might take a little force but nothing bad

 

I believe there's a tech article that gives you step by step instructions, but here's a short version:

1. Remove the 3 bolts holding the arm rest on. They are a larger Torx size.

2. Remove the small torx bolts holding the plastic trim around the door handle. Some of the torx bolts are hidden under false panels, so be thorough in your removal.

3. Unsnap all of the plastic pieces holding the perimeter of the panel to the door.

4. Make sure the window is down, then remove your window crank with a GM window crank removal tool (Like $3 at any parts store and well worth the money)

5. Pull on the door panel to try and pull it away from the door. This will help you figure out if you've got any screws around the door latch that you missed.

6. Grab the black window sill, and push toward the door and up at the same time. Squeezing it toward the door and up will take a little practice but isn't hard.

7. Once things loosen up, fiddle with the door lock latch until it comes off the rod.

8. Once the door panel is free, disconnect anything that's attached (mirror cables, power accessory plugs, etc.

By the way, with manual windows you can squeeze a 6.5" speaker between the window crank and the bottom front of the door. It may interfere slightly with the kick panel when the door is closed, but you can heat the kick panels and reshape them slightly to give you more room. Or just take the easier and better sounding route and use kick panels.

 

i have 8" in my doors but i had to make a enclosure much like a kick pannel setup for 6.5 would look like. works very, very well.

 

I have a set of GTA door panels sitting in my basement, and I may, just may design a pod for them to hold a 6.5" or 8" woofer. I might do that in the IROC and then I can stuff a smaller 4" midrange into the kick and eliminate the midbass problem associated with kicks.

But that all depends on whether I can do it without making the door look stupid.

 

it's very difficult indeed. i took my ideas off of the 97-03 grand prix doors. it works quite well and as you say the midrange problem is eliminated which is very nice.

 

It'll never work.

 

You can make it work Jim. Not true Kurupt. All you have to is take off the carpeted pocket. Get alittle crafty and instead of sinking in the speaker make it come out a little so it is even with the lower rear part of the deluxe panels that juts out. Like you said just make an enclosure and make it blend with the rear of the panel. You might find some enclosures like that that would fit right in that place over the removed pocket.

 

yeah my 8" sits like that. i need to get some pictures up..

 

wait wait wait... "the...is...too?" Ah it is easy!
(obscure Family Guy reference...)

anyways... CARPETED?!... I must have gotten screwed... all I had were some cheap non-UV-protected grey cupholders... they started falling apart, so I just pulled them out...

 

I was refering to Jims IROC, and the GTA panels he has, they are probably deluxe door panels. I dont think the deluxe panels came with cup holders but I may be wrong. As far as I know most of the deluxe panels came with the carpeted pocket, in place of where your cup holder is attached. This picture is of a deluxe panel!

Victory is mine!!!!!!!

 

your door panels stick out, hrm... seems like there could be lots of room for speakers in there... mine are completely flat.

 

I'm more of a carpenter/home construction person than a mechanic/car person, but I made custom mounts for 6 1/2 speakers that go along with the camaro black door moldings. I took 3/4 MDf, cut it into 7 1/2 by 8 square, and took some time and patience to sand down the corners until they resembled the door moldings. I used a sinker drill bit to sink the wholes for the screws (similar to the way the screws are sunk on the moldings), and painted with two coats of semi-gloss acrylyc black paint. I bolted the speaker to the mdf, the mdf to the door, and bam! BTW, I have power windows, so the 3/4 mdf was necessary for the speaker magnet to clear the window motor, and it BARELY clears it. Looks good and sounds great.

 

I'm curious why you didn't just go with kickpanels if you were going through all the trouble to slash up your doors?

/just curious

 

Didn't slash. I cut 4 inch b 4 inch hole in door panel and screwed drywall screws into the panel. My door panel is 1/4 inch wood so it worked out fine. This only cost $7 (for the MDF) and about 1.5 hours. I'm not sure how much kick panels are, but probably not $7.

 

do you have any pictures of this?

 

hmmm maybe i should take a crack at door panel speakers..... we all know how well my dash mounted ones came out

 

im interested in this now. i had planned on using kicks but im hearing the midbass isnt great with them, and thats what im looking to improve. they're rainbow 265.03's off an orion 8004 so they'll sound nice in the right enclosure and i dont want to screw it up.

i have an 87 gta with power windows, but im kind of new to fabricating, although i did a really nice job making my speaker box. i think i could tackle it if i take my time but im still leary of hacking up my doors. can anyone provide some good pictures or some more details descriptions of door speakers?

i have 6.5's with tweets, but i would consider selling them and getting 5.25's if i had to.
the mounting depth is 66mm which is like 2.56 inches.

 

Sounds ironic, but a pickup truck backed into my door last wednesday. Needs a new door and some body work. Here's pics of that. Car is in the shop, I'll get pics of the speakers when the car is done. (If you look carefully at the middle pic, you can see the speaker on the bottom left of the passenger door).



Here's a zoom in of the speaker (6.5 inch) from the middle picture.

 

No offense, but if u can't figure out how to take the door panels off, then custom-fabricating door speaker mounts is gonna be well beyond your skills at this pt. U should probably start w/ some smaller projects before u hack your door panels up.

Since u said this was your 1st car, I'm guessing u'r in high school. There's probably at least a few other guys that have systems in their cars... maybe u could offer to help them w/ their installs and learn something in the process.

 

i agree. however a guy once said something similar to me, just not as polite when i asked for help. 2 years later i ran into him and he was asking me for help.

syc0path if you plan on modifying your car you should really pick up a gm specific manual for you car, they are a bit expensive though so if you lack the cash pick up a haynes or chilton. well worth the investment. use this site as your guide and you can't go wrong.

 

Those must be some shallow speakers, because I don't see how they don't hit the window internals... that spacer really isn't that significant... at least from what I can see in the photo..

 

i had to space mine alot, but it's also an 8" sub.

 

so whats up is this possible with a 6.5 inch rainbow 165 driver? the mounting depth is about 2.6 inches. i have power windows and an 87 gta. how much would i need to space is to get it to fit?

 

Just got my car back. I threw together an Adobe photo gallery <a href="http://www.bellabrothersonline.com/thirdgen/webgallery/index.htm">at this link</a>. Again, its 3/4 inch mdf cut 8inch X 7inch. The cut in the door is 4 inch x 4 inch. I pulled out the panel enough to get a tape measurer in there and determine where the 4x4 hole had to be so the magnet will fit (The magnet has to be placed just above the window motor).

NOTE: The screw holes are not yet painted black.

 

30 watts rms, eh?

 

How does that subwoofer sound considering it is in the door? Also, what other speakers do you have in your car and at what locations?

 

I'd have to say that they probably just sound like really good mid-bass drivers... there isn't enough room for a decent enclosure there, and not to mention he probably has to tweak the EQ just right to not get incredibly annoying rattles.

 

I have been searching high and low for a GM Window crank removal tool for my 86 (one of the cranks needs replacement).

Nothing. Some vendors seem to remember the tool but no one has one.

Help! Where can I buy one?!?



-Paul

 

You dont really need one. You can use a small screwdriver, or skinny pliars. Just be careful not to lose the little clip.