Component tweeter installation locations on an FC

[Pete_89T2]

Has anyone managed to add component tweeters to thier FC by installing them where that plastic triangle trim piece goes on the doors? If so, please share your how-to info and pictures if possible.

I'm thinking of tackling such a project to improve the sound system of my FC; I had no luck finding any pre-fab mounting solutions, but figure it wouldn't be to hard to come up with a decent DIY solution that looks stock.

Thanks,
Pete

[project86]

I think FC3SMurray did. Shoot him a PM

[JustJeff]

I have some Boston Pro tweets mounted on the door panel in front of that trim. Mine came with pods all you'd have to do..if your's have pods, is sink a single screw into the panel

[LunchboxCritter]

I believe he's wanting to flush mount them. I know that I would.

[Pete_89T2]

Originally Posted by LunchboxCritter

I believe he's wanting to flush mount them. I know that I would.

Flush mounting isn't necessary, and I'm guessing not easy since you don't have much depth to work with under the plastic triangle. I'd be ok with a pod mount, as long as it could be made to look like it belonged there in the first place. The factory sound system on my '03 Protege5 has its tweeters in the same general location, and they do stick out maybe 3/4" but don't look tacked on - a similar setup in the '7 would do the trick.

Here's a picture of how the stock tweeters look in my Protege5, along with a picture of the triangle door trim I'm referring to on my FC where I want to mount the tweeters.

[totpkg]

Hummm .... I have had several 2nd gens with different sets of tweets mounted in 3 different locations.
first was flush mounted in front of plastic triangle on that "flat spot" (1" Infinity's)
second was flush mounted on the metal piece where the windshield and dash
meet ... (1" CDT tweets)
and third was behind the vent in the door .... (1" Boston Pro set-up) with
the 6.5" in the door.
by far the set-up inside the vent was the most difficult, but the best sounding ... prob 'cause the Boston Pro was the best speakers, and they were pointed closer to my ear.
I hate the 6.5's in the door ... but no other location really avail on the 'vert ...
on my coupe I made a bucket to fit in the towers ...
If I could post pics ... I would on the tweet locaton that I have now ...

KK

[JustJeff]

My vert has all Boston Pros. Amazing speakers for the money. I've got 6" in the doors, tweets in the pods on the door in front of the triangles. I've got 4" under the dash. I've got an 8" under the rear deck.

I've also got a set of 5" that I"m thinking of creating boxes and mounting them firing out of the rear deck from behind the seats. Alot of the music I listen to is surround sound and it kills me having no rear speakers.

I'm surprised how much fill the 4" under the dash adds. I had never used those factory locations cause of how poorly they are located. But it really does help fill. Though I do have the gains on the amp pushing those speakers turned way down.

I thought about making some sort of flush mount for my tweets like other have talked about. But I really like how the pods allow me to direct the sound. They really sound excellent there and the pods look right at home where they are. For me it wasn't worth the effort of fabbing up tweet mounts.

[TitaniumTT]

If you look close, you can see where I mounted mine. They are under the plastic mirror trim, on the flat spot on the door panel just behind the vent. They are angles and the sound is pretty damn good. Alpine 6.5" components with some pretty trick mounting.

[Pete_89T2]

Originally Posted by TitaniumTT

If you look close, you can see where I mounted mine. They are under the plastic mirror trim, on the flat spot on the door panel just behind the vent. They are angles and the sound is pretty damn good. Alpine 6.5" components with some pretty trick mounting.

Nice setup Brian, did the angle rings come with the speakers? I'm guessing you just drilled a hole for the wires, and either screw or adhesive mount the tweeter base to the door panel?

What I've been thinking of doing is a surface mount on the plastic triangle piece itself, with angle rings to point the tweeters towards the driver/passenger. Since the plastic triangle piece is a bit flimsy as-is - it won't support a tweeter's base mounting screws all that well and one of mine is cracked anyway, the thought was I could laminate a piece of 1/8" thick sheet plastic (acrylic or ABS will do) to the its outer surface to beef it up. Then shape the edges of the now thicker triangle piece with a dremel/sander to make it look stock and paint it to match interior. This would provide a stiff surface to mount the tweeters to. Best part is the design is portable - if you want to get rid of them for any reason, or put them in another FC project, just pop them out and replace with another stock triangle piece.

Pete

[TitaniumTT]

Thanks Pete. Yeah, those rings came with the tweeters. They're actually flushish mounted. Meaning I cut an egg shaped hole out of the top of the door panel. The tweets sit in and there's a bracket that screws in to keep it in place. From there the wiring drops down to behind the woofer and through the panel to the cross-over.

I think that plan of yours would work well actually. I've seen some tweeters that just mount with small screws when surface mounted. So if you didn't want to go through all the hassel that you just described, you could take a piece of sheet AL, cut it to fit inside that trim piece to give it the support that it needs. Just a thought. Although, I like your idea better. I think it would look much better, much more substantial.

[JustJeff]

Pete

If I were you I'd fab up something out of fiberglass resin. First cut and tape some cardboard in the shape that will work best for you. Then paint the resin on it with some woven fiberglass. Leave the back that will contact the trim open. Once it's hardened you can take a dremel bit and sand out the cardboard. You can cut a hole for your tweeter and lay some vinyl that matches the interior.

Thats how I was considering doing mine. Then I realized the pods face the tweeters perfectly. That's when sinking one screw each through my door panels was alot more convenient than fabbing up a panel.

[Pete_89T2]

Jeff - I thought about fabbing something out of fiberglass resin, but concluded that with zero experience working with the stuff, I concluded that I didn't have the time to invest to get it right. Would be a great first project though, since it could be done without putting my car down for work.

Brian - I like the idea of using sheet metal on the backsides of the stock triangle piece as you suggest. In my case, one of the triangles is cracked in several places, so I figured laminating some plastic to the outside surfaces would kill 2 birds with one stone. The other thing to consider is the inside surface of the plastic triangle isn't flat - it has at least one protruding "pin" that you would have to drill holes for in the metal, and if the metal is too thick, there may be problems getting it to seat properly. There's also that rubber pad on the backside that would need to be removed & reinstalled over the sheet metal. Not sure if that's really necessary, but I would guess it's there for sound insulation.

Pete

[TitaniumTT]

Originally Posted by JustJeff

Pete

If I were you I'd fab up something out of fiberglass resin. First cut and tape some cardboard in the shape that will work best for you. Then paint the resin on it with some woven fiberglass. Leave the back that will contact the trim open. Once it's hardened you can take a dremel bit and sand out the cardboard. You can cut a hole for your tweeter and lay some vinyl that matches the interior.

Thats how I was considering doing mine. Then I realized the pods face the tweeters perfectly. That's when sinking one screw each through my door panels was alot more convenient than fabbing up a panel.

Instead of cutting up some cardboard, smear some wax over the stock plastic, then cover it with some wax paper, TIGHTLY. Apply the resin and mat ( I would use mat for the first layer, and woven for subsequent) one time and let it harden. Pop it out and now you have a mold of the original stock piece. From there, the skies the limit with where you can go with it.

[TitaniumTT]

Originally Posted by Pete_89T2

Jeff - I thought about fabbing something out of fiberglass resin, but concluded that with zero experience working with the stuff, I concluded that I didn't have the time to invest to get it right. Would be a great first project though, since it could be done without putting my car down for work.

I've been working with the shit for longer than I can remember and there are guys that do much better work with it than I do. There's really only a few tricks to using it, it's mostly just what works best the way you work. I would definately experiment with it though, it's alot of fun. A few tips though

Always wear gloves and clothes you don't care about

never sand without a respirator (those little surgical masks don't cut it)

when you're done... take a COLD shower, as cold as you can stand and don't scrub... just rinse.

When forming shapes, the first one or two layers, use mat, not woven.

after the shape is there, switch to woven or bi-axial

NEVER let it fully harden if you're laminating.... wait until the epoxy starts to kick... if you can run you're fingers over it and drag it a little, but still leave a fingerprint, that's when you apply the next layer. This gives you a chemical bond, not just a mechanical bond. If you let it harden and then apply the next layer, you're left with a mechanical bond and if it's ever going to delaminate, this is where it will happen.

When you move onto the next layer, wet the first layer by appling a coat of resin. If the pieces are small enough that you can wet them out first, do so, I usually have a scrap piece of wood that I'll roll some resin on, put the PRE-cut pice of mat or woven on, roll that into the epoxy, put it on the piece that's getting laminated, then apply a little more resin making sure all the air bubbles are out.

Don't go with too many layers, flexibility is you're friend.

Originally Posted by Pete_89T2

Brian - I like the idea of using sheet metal on the backsides of the stock triangle piece as you suggest. In my case, one of the triangles is cracked in several places, so I figured laminating some plastic to the outside surfaces would kill 2 birds with one stone. The other thing to consider is the inside surface of the plastic triangle isn't flat - it has at least one protruding "pin" that you would have to drill holes for in the metal, and if the metal is too thick, there may be problems getting it to seat properly. There's also that rubber pad on the backside that would need to be removed & reinstalled over the sheet metal. Not sure if that's really necessary, but I would guess it's there for sound insulation.

Pete

The other thing to consider would be, would the sheet metal bump the trim piece out so much that it no longer seats properly? I think that rubber/foam piece is there to keep a little tension on the piece to attempt to prevent it from squeking, making noise, etc etc.

My thought, probably didn't explain it well enough, was to use the sheet metal as a backing plate and sandwich the plastic piece between the backing plate and the tweeter..... but as you pointed out, that still leaves the crack to be dealt with.

[EJayCe996]

Originally Posted by TitaniumTT

If you look close, you can see where I mounted mine. They are under the plastic mirror trim, on the flat spot on the door panel just behind the vent. They are angles and the sound is pretty damn good. Alpine 6.5" components with some pretty trick mounting.

[img]http://forum.teamfc3s.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=36366&d=1162407820[img]

Your fancy speaker panels are going to wind up missing when you come to Texas