Awesome idea for door speaker grills

[icu400]

Ok fellas, I just put my pioneer 4-ways in the doors, and even running off my cheap changer wired through the radio they sound amazing (hu going in hopefully tomorrow, ran into a ton of work this weekend)

So I finished installing the speakers, put the panel back on, stepped back to admire my work, and I couldn't see the speakers.... I was heartbroken, I could hear them, and they sound awesome, but I could not see that pretty blue/silver cone staring back at me, blaring away. So I hatched a plot to bring my speakers back out of hiding.

Later this week I intend to buy a piece of 1/4in thick plexiglass and cut it to the exact size of the factory grills on the front 2 doors. On my 95 explorer at least, the grills sort of pop off the trim without too much trouble, but I was afraid to take them away for fear of wreching my new speakers with my knee or a careless finger. So I am gonna mount a piece of plexiglass on the trim, with some sort of adhesive and possibly screws if I can find a good way to do it. I am still figuring that part out. And as far as sound goes I am going to drill several holes in the glass to let sound through and air in, that should not be a problem (not big enough to let fingers through either).

The only obstacle is mounting the gless, but I am confident I can find a way to do it that is good looking and works well.

I have never seen this done before, but if you have done it feel free to share your wisdom. I am opening a cardomain site this week and I will put up some pictures of my complete install as well as my friends. I will dedicate a page to this as well as the box we built for his f150. For the record, we fiberglassed it today and it is quite nice. We did use matting, for all who were wondering, and the total cost of the box, including terminals, was around 30 dollars (wood, resin, screws, everything). I will be doing something similar with my stealthbox I intend to build in a month or so.

Just an update, if anyone likes this idea I will be able to offer up anything helpful in a week or so after I do it. Thanks all.

 

[snocross1985]

I'm interested to see how this turns out.

 

[huskyfan23]

Why not just take the factory grilles off? I did and haven't had any problems. I don't understand why you need to see your speakers though.

 

[Alec]

it's very hard to drill good holes in plexi without cracking it, especially a bunch of em.

 

[icu400]

I would rather not just take the grills off for fear of damaging the speakers. Looks are important, but protecting my investment is as well.

Hrm, I had not thought of that alec. Would a high power drill be less likely to crack it than a low power? What kind of drill bit would be best?

Also I had thought of simply using a coarse bladed jig saw to cut the glass, but couldn't I score it with a razor and just knock it off?

 

[Brandon4AU]

The factory grill is easy to get off. Just take the door panels back off. The grill is attached with pegs that were melted over the holes. I took an exacto knife to the pegs and they cut easily. After that the stock grill pops right off. It will look funny though if your new speakers are recessed.

 

[Cartman]

I cut a couple of plexiglass rings out this weekend using a rotary saw (oversized dremel) in 1/2" and 1/4" and it worked great, just make sure that it is very well clamped down when you cut/drill.

Put alot of holes in it, you really want as much of the air getting out as possible.

 

[icu400]

Do you think I could use my dremel to cut these out then? I think I might have to get a course drill bit to drill this stuff with, or I could just use a diamond tip dremel bit that I have, that could work....

Yeah brandon, I know how easy the things are to get off, but do you think I could just drill holes and slip the plexi over the old pegs? If not I will probably just be glueing these babies on because screws coming through the vinyl would look bad...

 

[Redrig]

I think what you want to do is drill almost through it one way then flip it and finish from the other side. I did this along time ago so im not exactly sure, but whatever I did it worked great.

 

[DMan446]

It would be less likely to chip or crack if you start with a very small bit and then gradually change up to a larger bit. That way it is not removing all the material all at once, so there it less stress on it. (Self Experience)

Note: Someone asked about using a Dremel to do it, technically you can, but dremels tend to melt the plexi, cuz at its lowest setting the rpm's are too hit on the dremel. (Self Experience)

Just my $.02

 

[huskyfan23]

Even if you do accomplish this task I don't think you'll like how it looks.

 

[draft]

I'm just interested in how this looks, that's all.

 

[DMan446]

You would have to polish all the holes, otherwise they will have that opaque white look and still not be able to see the "blue cone starring back at you"

 

[Robb]

I don't see much need to go to 1/4". 1/8" should be fine, and look a little better.

 

[expo5.0]

i'd wait two weeks and think about this one before you do it.

this is the sort of thing that will turn out like crap thus pulling you into a neverending web of customization culminating only when you make completely custom fiberglass door panels. I've been there, and its up to you if you want to go there/think you have the talent to make it work in the end. I can assure you though that this first step will only look like crap and force you to keep customizing further to try to fix it.

 

[EBInterceptor]

My front speakers have a felt screen behind the mesh grill. Not sure if yours have that too. But if you haven't torn that out, start there. The sound is what's important, not the invitation for theives.

 

[draft]

My front speakers have a felt screen behind the mesh grill. Not sure if yours have that too. But if you haven't torn that out, start there. The sound is what's important, not the invitation for theives.

Yep, they all have them. I figured this "awesome idea" was something along the lines of just removing that mesh, but I was wrong I guess.

 

[icu400]

yeah, i already removed the mesh, that was the first thing I did after I took the trim off, lol

As far as this goes, I am gonna take the grills off first and put the trim back on to see if I like how that looks. I am not going to damage the grills; if I have to cut them or something then I won't mess with it, because if this does not work I don't want to be stuck modifying my door over and over. If I like the looks of it, then I will cut out the glass and put it there and see how it works out. I am putting my hu in tomorrow so if I have time I might experiment with this after I finish that.

peace

 

[icu400]

Well, two down, one to go. Subs and the hu are now in and working well. I am gonna tackle the plexi tomorrow and see what I can work up. I will also make a point of taking pictures of everything. There really was not much to see as far as the rest of the install went, but I will see about getting some of the real thing. They will be posted on cardomain as I am not an elite yet

peace all

 

[travish_1]

Any pictures?

Got any pictures of your work? Wehn I put new speakers in my X I took off the fabric material and painted the mesh screening black. Looks great. You can see the speakers (they're white) bumping when the bass is going.