How 2: Fit Optional Door Speaker Pods

[Bean]

Well after several days of fighting on with these ive finally got them sorted. I thought i would post up some of the probelms i had incase anyone else has the missfortune of having to fit them

Stuff needed:

Door pods

a starlet to fit them to

mdf rings to mount your speakers to - i got mine from ebay i got two sets of 18mm rings

Dynamat extreme - ive discovered starlets seem to have a habit of ratteling so i got some from ebay again, from america as it worked out cheaper

130mm speakers

self tapping screws

soldering iron

drill

insulation tape

bucket loads of patience!!

speaker wire

stanely knife

screw drivers

Big hammer

bigger hammer

I think thats about everything

The first thing i did was to take the door cards off, and remove the original pocket and mount the new pods. This was when i came to my first problem. Si had kindly made me a perfect template of the door cards the pods were fitted to so i used this and cut the hole required in the door card then when i came to line the pod up with the hole i had cut you could still see the original hole from the normal door pocket. So i had to mount the speaker pods slightly further forward to cover the hole up.

So after drilling the door card and fixing all the screw to the pods they were mounted up nicely.

I then came to work out how i was actually going to mount the speakers to the door. I did lots of searching and found someone on starlet au that had done this and he sent me a picture.

Where the yellow arrow points is where a bracket is, i cut the bracket off.

I then used some solvent cleaner i borowed from work which was brilliant at cleaning up the door panel ready for the dynamat to stick to nicely.

Then carefully beat the door panel back slightly to give me more room to mount the speaker and allow the mdf rings to mount better, keep putting your window down slowly to make sure you havent pushed the panel to far back that the wiring connectors rub on the window.

Then mount the mdf rings - this is what took me so long, as my speakers have a big mounting depth it was a nightmare getting it so that the speaker fit into the rings properly as to not hit the door panel but also fit in the speaker pod with the door card back on.

I soon realised that i was gonig to have to seriously chop up the speaker pods so my speakers would fit. i cut alot away from them and sanded the pod down so it was as thin as possible where the speaker was going to hit it. eventually i managed to get it so that i was happy with it. The speaker pods do rub on the dash slightly when you close the doors but theres nothing i could do about this as i had to mount the pods slightly further forward, and the door card isnt quite completly flush with the door panel, but it also means when the doors are closed theres no way the pods can rattle and vibrate from your speakers which is a plus i guess.

Make sure youve remember to feed your wires through the door into the car before you mount your speakers i ran mine through where the original wire ran through the door as i think its best this way. i taped the wires to a old metal coat hanger and cut into the rubber slightly with a knife then wiggeled it through it comes out into the car behind the plastic panel where your flare would have been, just unscrew the plastic screw and pull the pannel off, it clips into the door sill panel so pull that off too so you can put them back on together later.

When you have your speakers all mounted up properly and wires ran through decide where your crossovers are going (if your fitting components) and run your wires to where they will be. i have put mine under the seats so i ran the wires under the door sill trims and poked a hole through the carpet under the seats. Now you need to connect your speaker wires up to your head unit out puts. luckey for me i had used one of those iso adapters from halfords whcih have all the wires labeled! so just cut the 2 front left and front right wires and then solder your new speaker wires to them, and wrap with insulation tape. I ran these wires underneath the centre console to my crossovers under the seats.

Then you need to choose where to mount your tweeters. I couldnt decide, so for now there just resting on the dash with the wires tooked behind (these wires were also ran under the door sill trims)

Well i think thats about it! All thats left to do now is stick on some Pendulum and crank your headunit up until it cuts out lol I need to get a separate amp for my speakers at some point.

Then admire your hard work, and your hands that are now cut to pieces.

If anyone has any more questions just pm me.

Im sure theres plenty of spelling mistakes in this but im sure you can work it out.

good luck