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Thanks guys. I finally got it up and running last week. Overall I'm pleased with it but I have more mods I will do later to try to improve the bass quality. I plan on adding some holes to the door to vent off some of the pressure in it to the outside of the car to get it to behave more like an IB set up. I will also work on getting the interior rattles solved. I'm going to wait until spring though so that I can paint the door after cutting the holes in it to prevent it from rusting.

I changed the power wire to dual 4 gauge from where it enters the cabin. It allowed me to hide the distribution block behind the kick panel instead of under the seat. Mounted the crossovers and amps. I still need to make a piece to support the back of each amp. I put a piece of mdf under the carpet where the crossovers sit to keep from putting screws throught the floor. I also upgraded the factory grounds. I still need to run a new power wire from the alternator to the battery though. I did the new motor ground directly to the alternator casing.

I wanted to run the power down the driverside because there was a lot better access to the firewall but the rocker sill already had a big bundle of wires and the 1/0 wouldn't fit along side it. It was a complete pain in the ass running the wire. I have the doors back together already. I may have to pull one back apart though so if I do I'll get a quick measurement. It had a 2 way of sorts. I used a reall small 3"mid/tweet in the dash and the 6.5 in the door. I added the tweeter to the sail panel and put the dedicated mid in the dash. Thanks. I'm pretty pleased with how it's coming together. I just hope it sounds as good as it looks.

O.K. Had some free time today and the sun was out so I took atvantage of the warmer temps and started wiring the car and dropping in some new speakers. Had to pull the wheel liner to get a spot that I could reach from inside to pull wire through. Then I opened up an existing hole for a grommet and silconed the grommet in place. Ran the wire into the cabin and siliconed around the wire to make sure it's weather tight. I sleeved the wire with some rubber hose to protect it since it has to run over a sheet metal edge. Had to remove the cowl cover to drill it and run the wire though it. The power cable fit real nice it the clips that were there already from the factory. At this point I started running speaker wires and then got side tracked and ended up installing the speakers also. They are an old set of 3 way Boston Acoustics Pro series with 6.5" midbass, 4" mid, and tweeter. The stock speaker is rather odd, the whole thing is injection molded plastic. I did make use of it for the new speaker install though. I cut out the basket and dropped my new speaker into the frame for a direct fit to factory loction. Deadened the door, ran the wires and installed the drivers. Made mounting plates for the 4" to go in the factory dash location. I ran a bead os silicon around the plates to prevent cancelation. I'm going to use some foam around the clips on the grill to seal up the other openings. Now I need to finish the power and grounds and mount the amps.

If only it were that simple. Thanks. At the rate I'm going it will be spring before I get an amp wired to hear them. Thanks. I finally got a set of lift shocks that will hold the door open. Had to make some heavy duty brackets, the stock stamped steel pieces were not up for the extra load. I'm going to change the mount location slightly then paint them.

Well that jig is completely different than the one I just bought so you may be in luck. Maybe do a test run with it before doing any critical cuts. Make sure you get a bit that is long enough to make the cut in 1 pass. I was using a cheap Ryobi 1/4" bit that was only 3/4" long and it wasn't leaving a clean cut on 3/4" MDF. I bought a higher quality 1" long bit and it cut faster and smoother. Your going to love cutting with the router once you get the hange of it. I made homemade jig and loved it so much I went ahead and bought a proper Jasper jig. Now I look forward to cutting speaker openings.

Good call on the circle jig. You'll kick yourself for not buying one sooner. The only problem is if your using the router thats in your pics it doesn't have the plunge attachment that the jigs require. I have the same router and I'm looking to see if they sell the plunge attachment for it or if I'll end up buying another router that is set up for plunge cutting. If you want to flush mount the subs just do a double baffle and cut the top layer out to flush the subs and use the bottom piece to mount the subs. It's real easy to do. Just cut both pieces for the baffle and clamp the 2 pieces together. Layout your center mark for the subs and pilot drill through both pieces with a small drill bit to locate the pivot for the jig. Then remove the clamps and router out the holes to the right diameter. Keep in mind when using the circle jig that you'll need to nail the circle your cutting out to a piece of scrap board and clamp or nail the baffle down. If you don't do that the router will run wild as you near the end of your cut and the center starts to break free. I learned that the hard way.

I used some spray on bedliner on the handle for better grip and wear resistance. Put some dynamat on the back of the plate to keep it quiet. Wired and mounted the subs. With the grill on. As you can see very little storage space has been lost and it's very hard to spot through the side glass with factory tint. Now once this dam ice/snow storm blows through I'll have to get busy on mounting and wiring the amp.

I whipped up a new handle out of 3/8" round bar. I busted out the torch and hammer and flattened the ends to give me a flat tab to drill the holes for mounting it. I put a few coats of paint on it so it will be ready to install tomorrow. Then I can got on with mounting the subs.

I've got a couple little things to do first. The lift handle on the outside is plastic and isn't going to last long pulling this much weight up. I'm going to make a steel handle to support it and need access to the inside of the door.

I forgot to post these. I made some backers to sandwich the door sheetmetal between these and the mdf to prevent the door from distorting causing it to leak. They also prevent the thin metal from splitting from fatiuge over time. Notice all the ends are rounded, if they were left square they would tear throught the sheetmetal.

Got it bolted on last night. To get a good seal against the door with it still being removable I laid down a bead of 100% silicon caulk and let it completely dry to form a gasket. I think it looks much better now with it dyed black.

Mine has a weird electric motor driven latch so there is no linkage to worry about at least. Thanks though. ______________________________________________________________________________________ Well after setting it in the car I realized the carpet color wasn't what I wanted. So 1 can of dye later and this should look much better. Also trimmed the carpet from the mounting cups. Made a cutting tool to make the cut clean. Just place it over the cup and smack it with a hammer. Ran the wires through the factory boot. Covered the door in some noise blocker foam. Not sure what brand this is, it was given to me by a buddy of mine. Heads up guys this glue is amazing and was only $7.50 at Pepboys. I did have to do a test piece to make sure it wouldn't melt the foam but it worked out real good. It was only in the 20's outside and it was still super sticky. I bought some 3M stuff for $13 a can that didn't work half as good. It sprays out in more of a webbed pattern not a spray like paint cans and the 3M stuff does.

I was going to brace the panel with some MDF but it may not need it. The outer panel is curved and the stamped recess for the plate gives it a decent amount of rigidity. I'm going to just try it like this first. If the panel flex's a lot I can pull the baffle and do it later.

Thanks. Decided to remove the wiper motor and chop the rest of the bracing out. Less metal equals less noise is how I see it. Then I started deadening the door. I had a full roll of dynamat left over from years ago so I put it to use. I'll be doing a foam layer over that as well. I'm hoping to get the foam on tomorrow then run the wires through the door and get the baffle mounted. They are calling for snow so that may hold me up a bit.

this build makes me wish i could cut a straight line with a T-square. Funny shit. Believe it or not I was never any good with wood working until the last couple years. The biggest thing that helped me was buying/making a few decent tools to get the results I'm after. Looking around the internet has also helped alot to give me insite on better ways of doing things. This is good to hear. I'm going back out to see what else I can get done tonight.

I need to deaden the door still. So it's going to be a bit longer on that.

Covered the grill frame. Made sure to keep the fabric from puckering at the corners. Test fit it to the baffle. Picked up some carpet thats a real close match to the interior color for the baffle and got busy wrapping it up. Once again made sure the corners were nice and smooth. I was surprised I managed to, I usually always mess this step up. Just need to let the glue set up completely then trim the carpet from the sockets for the grill studs and it's ready for install.

Right, not having any room to load simple things in the ride gets old after a while. Especially if you have kids. Well I've never cut off part of the ear but have taken a lot of skin off a few fingers over the years. Lol. Kenwood KAC-8152D. It's not a power house but it's rated at 550rms and I only need 400 total so it should do. I'm also trying to keep the amp draw low to avoid costly electrical upgrades.

Thanks. Got busy on the grill tonight. Using these ball studs to hold the grill on. Pressed all the cups into the baffle. I probably used way more than needed but I didn't want the grill to slap against the baffle. I also installed the ball end in the grill but forgot to take pics. I put some aluminum screen on the back of the grill to give extra protection against damage since the grill cloth isn't very sturdy. I had to slap a coat of black on it because the bare wood was showing through the grill cloth.

Thats the one big downside to audio builds. How it sounds is what really matters in the end but we have no way of knowing on a forum. I'll report how it sounds when it's up and running at least. I was going to just slap a box in the back but then I'd end up having to remove it all the time for more room. So the time spent doesn't bother me since I'll be able to load up the car for and go on a road trip without leaving the sounds behind. I really don't know what to expect out of it. I have a feeling it's going to sound close to what a sealed box does.

Got the bracket glued and srewed in place. I also welded some bolts in it so I only need to use 1 wrench for tightening the fasteners. Also got all the other mounting holes drilled and had to get creative on a few of the bolts. These bolts get sandwiched between the base layer and trim panel. I welded a tab on them to keep them from turning. Then I notched the panel for them to sit flush. Everything is glued and screwed. Just need to let it sit until the glue sets up. The rest of the parts for doing the grill came today so thats next on the list.

I have my plan of attack figured out for mounting this to the door. I got started on the bracket for the upper edge. I welded up a piece that I can glue and screw to the baffle and then bolt to the door. I'll use some form of weather stripping or silicon to seal it up and keep it from sqeeking. It follows the curve of the door so I can torque it down without distorting the door or baffle. I also decided to lighten the bottom baffle after feeling the difference in the grill panel after boring the holes open. I need to pick up some fasteners tomorrow and hopefully get it bolted up to the door for a test fit.

Thats funny. I didn't think anything about it until you mentioned it then I looked at the pic again and could picture a bunch of mids and tweets mounted there. Thats not my style thankfully.

Both the head unit and amp have a cross over option so it will be easy to play with the setting to see what sounds best. Just about have the wood work dialed in now. I routered all the corners tonight. After that I got busy on making the grill panel. This will be removable and will be covered in grill cloth for a more stealth install. I bored a bunch of holes in it to lighten it up. Routered all the edges on this also so the openings won't show throught the grill cloth. It's coming together now. I'm waiting on the grill cloth and grill pegs to get here to be able to finish the baffle up. I'll turn my attention to sorting out a good way of mounting all this to the door in the mean time.