CaptainGSR

Update on 05-16-09: Photos of the install at the bottom of the page.


I just spent the past hour looking for an old thread.... I give up!

I remember seeing a post that mentioned building an adapter, to mount smaller front speakers on a non-HiFi car. It even had a photo.
Does anybody remember where I can find it? Has anybody built such an adapter? Any photos?
I am thinking of taking apart the stock Nokias, in order to keep the stock grills.

Cheers,

harveyn

Hi, I don't have photos, but I did just that. To retain the original speaker grills you need to keep the rim of the original nokia speakers. I simply cut the old speakers out from the rim, I probably used a dremel and a sharp knife. I then mounted my replacement speakers into the cut surround. I had to grind back the rim of my replacement speakers as they had a lip on them in order for them to fit flush. I also sprayed the speaker grills satin black before refitting them. They are mounted with fragile little tabs within their surround that can be bent back to allow you to remove them. My grills made gone 'milky'. Cheers

cy7878

I posted some pics under a thread started by Nuff a few weeks back. Harvey is right, just cut the rim for the 6 inch speakers (I used a saw to make multiple cuts 2-3 cm apart down to the ridge and just used a plier to snap the little pieces off the rim) to fit the 5.25 inch after market speakers. For the tweeter, the metal grill pops off with firm steady pressure and the outer rim can be dremel out to fit after market tweeters inside with JB weld or epoxy.

cy7878

https://rennlist.com/forums/993-foru...many-pics.html

Here is the link. I think my pics are near the endd of page 2.

bart1

From another forum:

CaptainGSR

I finally finished my installation today.

I followed cy7878's advice and made my own adapters.

I installed a set of Polk Audio MM5251s.

Important: In order for the stock grills to stay perfectly flush, the new speakers have to be mounted against the inside of the door panel.

The Tweeters were concealed inside the stock mounts. I posted some pics of the process on page 3 of this thread.

I bought some Dynamat Xtreme, to ensure a perfect seal between the speakers and the door panels.

The factory plastic baffles are too narrow for the new speakers, so they were replaced by a pair of 5.25" XTC foam baffles. These latest happen to fit perfectly. Make sure to cut a big enough slot in them, for wires, and to also retain some bass.
The factory foam rings are too thick, and cannot be reused. Fortunately, the XTC foam baffles are much thinner, and can be compressed. They therefore made the rings redundant anyways.

Note: the plastic film covering the door's sheet metal, is old and fragile. Do not allow anything sharp (i.e. screws) to come in contact with it. Hence, the foam baffle around the speaker's mounting screws, and the need to screw the crossovers from the inside out.

Here are a few pics of the process:

CaptainGSR

The result is simply amazing. Just snap the grills back in, the car looks perfectly stock, yet the sound quality has been much improved.

I hope it helps someone.

cheers,

cy7878

Nice work. My speakers sit above the ring, instead of below. The JL Audio speakers have thinner rim which allowed the grill to fit flush. But looking at your pic, I see the Polks are much thicker.

I'm thinking about trying a set of 6 inch speakers. But I have to find the time to take the grill off (pain in the butt) and measure the mounting distance just to make sure I don't buy anything that won't fit.

CaptainGSR

Yeah, the Polks are much thicker.
I too looked at a set of 6" JL audios online. Their outer diameter is very close to the diameter of the stock nokias. I wonder if the stock grills could somehow snap on them. It might be possible to make a groove on the outer edge of these speakers with a dremel.
Since I could not find a shop that carried the JLs in my area, I decided to stay with Polk Audios. They are a perfect match for my rear speakers anyways (mm461p). I am using a simple Alpine head unit, and no amp (18rms*4).

cy7878

You know Woofersetc has a shop in Downtown LA that's walk-in and they carry the JL Audio stuff. I just need to measure the ring diameter to see if it's close to the 127mm that's the size of the 6 inch speakers. I'm thinking about trying a set of full range in place of the mids because of cost savings. To be continued....

CaptainGSR

Let me know what you find out.
I got the front Polks on Ebay, and the rears from Sonic Electronics in Valencia.