DIY upgrade door speakers
10-04-09, 10:42 AM
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1JZ Single SC400
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DIY upgrade door speakers
While I had the interior out, I decided to redo the front door speakers, from the factory 4 inch to a 6 1/2". Heres a few pictures along the way. I believe you get the idea on how to do it. They are a few of these on here but were dated a few years back, I wanted to post some pictures of how I did it and my outcome. If you need some further instructions, ask!
10-04-09, 10:49 AM
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1JZ Single SC400
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I also used 1/2 inch MDF. I thought 3/4 inch would be too think for the door to cover. Overall, night and day in the sound.. Its more deep and precise.
I also found out you have to file down the two factory pieces to get it to fit flush against the door.
I reused the factory baffle to keep it damp proof and better sound. I used some window foam to keep the seal even better around the baffle and the speaker itself.. Once its mounted, its there! Hope you enjoy!
I also found out you have to file down the two factory pieces to get it to fit flush against the door.
I reused the factory baffle to keep it damp proof and better sound. I used some window foam to keep the seal even better around the baffle and the speaker itself.. Once its mounted, its there! Hope you enjoy!
10-05-09, 06:20 AM
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10-05-09, 08:46 AM
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The first step is to open the door.. 
2. Remove the 3 bottom screws on the door panel
3. Remove the 2 screws on the upper inside of the door, this is closet to the door hinge.
4. Remove the plastic insert inside the door handle with a small flat scredriver. Remove screw.
5. Remove the 2 screws under the arm rest.
6. Pull on the bottom of the door, with a little pressure. This is to pop those little plastic away from the door.
7. While the door is on the ground, remove the 2 cables for the door handle, and the locking mechasim. Put away door for the meantime.
8. Pull out on the WHITE plastic tab on the top part of the speaker housing, then undo.
9. Then disconnect the BLUE one also on the top.
10. Disconnect the GREY connector on the bottom/side.
11. Remove the 4 gold screws around the housing.
12. Remove the 4 screws to remove the 4 inch crappy dry rotted factory speaker.
13. Flip on back and remove the 2 screws on left that you can SEE!
14. Remove the several other screws around the baffle, you have to feel for the these under the factory foam pad. I believe their is 8 of these. Place aside for now. I am doing this by memory.
15. Remove the remaining 2 screws for the factoy port hole. The long black thing. You will not reuse it.
16. Remove the factory foam pad and discard.
17. File down the 2 plastic nudges on the back side, as shown in picture above. This will help the MDF lay flat better on the door when finished.
18. Lay the factory door speaker housing on the sheet of MDF, again I used 1/2 inch. YOU may get away with 3/4, but it seemed too thick for me. Trace out the housing with a sharpie. It doesnt have to look perfect, just get it close.
19. Lay the plastic piece aside.
20. Use your new stencil that came with your new door speaker and center it on the MDF.
21. Cut both of these out. If you dont have the cabalility to cut precise corners, then drill a whole with drill bit big enough to get the blade in their to do your cutting.
22. Wipe the dust off. Front and back.
23. Make sure you new speaker fits in the whole. Make sure your MDF piece fits pretty good against the door and most importantly the wholes line up.. If not then trim or recut another piece.
24. If everything seems to be right, then use some sort of seal/foam to seal the factory baffle piece. Look at picture above.
25. Heres where it gets a little tricky.. Depends on what type of setup you are using, coaxials, seperates with a X-over, etc., depends on your wiring. I simply replaced it with a JL audio 3 way 5 1/4, and tied in the factory tweeter in the door, upper part of the door trim.. By doing this, look at the factory part that you first removed, on the under side of it. There are several wires going to cap, and a soldering board. I cut the gray wire at the board. This gave me the longest wire to reuse. I then drilled a small hole in the bottom of the baffle to feed the wires through. Then I drilled another small hole in the top of the baffle to feed the new wire to the factory tweeter. I used my new wire for this. Keep in mind, the factory tweeter already has a capacitor on it, so dont worry about adding one. Once I had everything ran through the holes, I soldered the factory wire and my new wire going to the tweeter together, then secured it inside.
26. Put the new baffle back on and screw it in, using the factory screws. The foam did the trick for the seal around it. YOU may use something else.
27. Place your new speaker in, screw it in, and use the factory connectors to connect it. I used the wire with the black line on it for the positive.
28. Poxy or seal up the 2 holes that you drilled for the new wires to run through. Let it dry!
29. Once dried, secure the new MDF panel to the door. Keep in mind, the factory screws will not be long enough, use longers ones, I used 2 inch ones. Reattach the white connector on top and the grey on on the side.
30. See how it sounds, and put the door panel back on. Hopefully everything is rattle free and sounds better than before. If you decide to amplify these with a different amp besides the factory, PM me for wiring details, or bypassing the factory amp.
If I forgot something, Please let me know.. I did all of this by memory.
Lastly, I also redid my rear speakers to 6x9's. If you need info on that just ask or PM me.
2. Remove the 3 bottom screws on the door panel
3. Remove the 2 screws on the upper inside of the door, this is closet to the door hinge.
4. Remove the plastic insert inside the door handle with a small flat scredriver. Remove screw.
5. Remove the 2 screws under the arm rest.
6. Pull on the bottom of the door, with a little pressure. This is to pop those little plastic away from the door.
7. While the door is on the ground, remove the 2 cables for the door handle, and the locking mechasim. Put away door for the meantime.
8. Pull out on the WHITE plastic tab on the top part of the speaker housing, then undo.
9. Then disconnect the BLUE one also on the top.
10. Disconnect the GREY connector on the bottom/side.
11. Remove the 4 gold screws around the housing.
12. Remove the 4 screws to remove the 4 inch crappy dry rotted factory speaker.
13. Flip on back and remove the 2 screws on left that you can SEE!
14. Remove the several other screws around the baffle, you have to feel for the these under the factory foam pad. I believe their is 8 of these. Place aside for now. I am doing this by memory.
15. Remove the remaining 2 screws for the factoy port hole. The long black thing. You will not reuse it.
16. Remove the factory foam pad and discard.
17. File down the 2 plastic nudges on the back side, as shown in picture above. This will help the MDF lay flat better on the door when finished.
18. Lay the factory door speaker housing on the sheet of MDF, again I used 1/2 inch. YOU may get away with 3/4, but it seemed too thick for me. Trace out the housing with a sharpie. It doesnt have to look perfect, just get it close.
19. Lay the plastic piece aside.
20. Use your new stencil that came with your new door speaker and center it on the MDF.
21. Cut both of these out. If you dont have the cabalility to cut precise corners, then drill a whole with drill bit big enough to get the blade in their to do your cutting.
22. Wipe the dust off. Front and back.
23. Make sure you new speaker fits in the whole. Make sure your MDF piece fits pretty good against the door and most importantly the wholes line up.. If not then trim or recut another piece.
24. If everything seems to be right, then use some sort of seal/foam to seal the factory baffle piece. Look at picture above.
25. Heres where it gets a little tricky.. Depends on what type of setup you are using, coaxials, seperates with a X-over, etc., depends on your wiring. I simply replaced it with a JL audio 3 way 5 1/4, and tied in the factory tweeter in the door, upper part of the door trim.. By doing this, look at the factory part that you first removed, on the under side of it. There are several wires going to cap, and a soldering board. I cut the gray wire at the board. This gave me the longest wire to reuse. I then drilled a small hole in the bottom of the baffle to feed the wires through. Then I drilled another small hole in the top of the baffle to feed the new wire to the factory tweeter. I used my new wire for this. Keep in mind, the factory tweeter already has a capacitor on it, so dont worry about adding one. Once I had everything ran through the holes, I soldered the factory wire and my new wire going to the tweeter together, then secured it inside.
26. Put the new baffle back on and screw it in, using the factory screws. The foam did the trick for the seal around it. YOU may use something else.
27. Place your new speaker in, screw it in, and use the factory connectors to connect it. I used the wire with the black line on it for the positive.
28. Poxy or seal up the 2 holes that you drilled for the new wires to run through. Let it dry!
29. Once dried, secure the new MDF panel to the door. Keep in mind, the factory screws will not be long enough, use longers ones, I used 2 inch ones. Reattach the white connector on top and the grey on on the side.
30. See how it sounds, and put the door panel back on. Hopefully everything is rattle free and sounds better than before. If you decide to amplify these with a different amp besides the factory, PM me for wiring details, or bypassing the factory amp.
If I forgot something, Please let me know.. I did all of this by memory.
Lastly, I also redid my rear speakers to 6x9's. If you need info on that just ask or PM me.
Last edited by 1JZPWRD; 10-05-09 at 08:57 AM.
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10-05-09, 05:25 PM
#9
1JZ Single SC400
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I need to add one more thing... While doing the cutting, you need to see where ALL of the factory wiring goes from outside of the door through the hole in the door. Its on the bottom LEFT on the right door, and on the RIGHT bottom on the left door. You will need to trim a section of the new MDF a little for this to fit securely and flush against the door properly. If you look in the FIRST picture, its at the bottom left about 2 inches long. You can file it down or sand it away, whichever is easiest. It will be on the backside of your new piece of MDF that you just cut. I failed to mention this when I was writing this this morning. SORRY! You will see what I am talking about when you put the piece of MDF against the door. You will only have to trim a 1/4 of an inch or so, about 2 inches long to get it to fit right.
11-25-09, 03:19 AM
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i was trying the upgrade today. I have the pioneer front speakers and my stock housing is not directly flat. half of it is higher than the other. There is a slant in the middle.
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