Rear Deck Speaker Upgrade

[kdog_us]

This project involved the removal of the small factory rear deck speakers and the intallation of 6X9s without modification to the rear seats. I did look for information on how to upgrade the rear speakers without much modification and came up empty handed. Below are some pics and descriptions of what I did. This may be handy and maybe not. Just thought I would share.

Step 1: Rear deck/speaker removal
-simply fold down rear seats and remove the four retaining screws.
-carefully ease the rear deck back until you can access the backs of the speakers.
-disconnect speaker wires and remove the entire rear deck.
-label speaker wire left in the car.

Step 2: Prep for new speakers
-remove stock speakers.
-use template provided with new speakers to draw out and cut the larger openings in the rear deck (this is the point of no return).
-Add spacers as needed to bring the new speakers up enough to clear the firewall. You can temporarally mount the speakers and spacers and set the rear deck in place to ensure clearing the firewall.

Step 3:
Use craft foam to build up the rear deck around the spacers.

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Step 4:
Shave foam to create desired shape.

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Step 5:
Use Durabond or equivalent filler to smooth edges and fill gaps.

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Step 6:
Use 1 inch thick piece of wood (I used a piece of floor trim) to fill gap below. Cut and sand wood to desired shape.

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Setp 7:
Use black vinyl or leather to cover. I did this by first stapling the vinyl along the back side of the piece of trim wood, leaving plenty of excess material. Then screw the trim piece in place and let the vinyl hang down.

Step 8:
Use more filler to blend the trim piece and the foam together. Sand as needed for a smooth surface.

Step 9: Cover
This step can take some practice, but I used staples and was able to pull it off and staple it back as many times as needed for a good result. Start by pulling the material tight, very tight up and over the center. Pull the material around the rear deck and staple underneath. Then move to one side and pull very tight and staple. Move back toward the center, staying on the same side, pull and staple. Repeat this process working back and forth until one whole side is done. Repeat for other side.

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Step 10:
Install new speakers, plug them in, and replace rear deck. Note - you will need to replace the two upper screws with longer ones due to the added trim piece. Self tappers are good here.

Thats it, your done!!

I hope this information is useful. Any and all comments/questions are welcome.
Thank you

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[brads911sc]

Well Done. Awesome. Thanks for sharing.

[andyt11]

Yeah, thats really neat. Thanks for taking the time to write it up.

I take it there is no space behind the panel for the depth of the 6x9's. Must only be just enough for the original 6x4's then?

[dshepp806]

Wher did you source the decklid materials? Does it match the rest of the related black materials nicely?

Best!

dOYLE

[kdog_us]

Thanks guys. You are correct, there is very little room under the factory speakers. Id say less than 2 inches.

[kdog_us]

The foam came from Micheals. It was in the "make your own flower arrangement section". The filler was Durabond fiberglass filler I bought at the local auto paint supply store. I did a test piece with the foam and Durabond first to make sure it would not melt the foam. It gets a little warm, but no melting. The vinyl came from Joann Fabrics and matches very nicely.

[brads911sc]

So what is the sound improvement advantage over the stock size? did you do this so you could use a cheap 6x9? lack of availability of the stock size? did you look at ones from Polk Audio, Infinity, Bose, etc than came in the stock size?

[kdog_us]

The sound improvement is nice. Its a bit fuller sound now. Better mids and lows. The 6x9s are from Polk (around$150). They are a decent speaker for me. I dont really blast the music much, but I do like a full sound. They are adequate for that. The sound system is nothing special and consists of the following:
-Alpine CDE102 deck
-Rockford Fosgate P400 Punch amplifier (mounted in trunk)
- Alpine 6.5s in the front
-Polk 6x9s in the rear

[brads911sc]

Great. Thanks for the info.

[nineball]

nice job. only possible improvement i could see would be to give the foam a light to medium coating of the fiberglass material, just to help prevent breakdown of it over time. heck even a good layer or two of heavy duty tape would be ok as well.