6x9 speaker install on the cheap

Boredom, tools, and time = money saved.

I was looking for something to do and figured its time to upgrade the stereo and speakers on the taco. I had the single disc, non jbl, non mp3, NO AUX INPUT, stock POS, with matching POS drivers in the doors. I did not want to drop much money into this, so I decided I would do the work myself, and buy as little as needed.

I purchased a set of 6x9 speakers from bestbuy (kenwood KFC-6994PS) and had them match the lowest price I found online. Everything else came from crutchfield.

Why not get these from crutchfield? I was near bestbuy already and since these speakers were listed as "do not fit your vehicle" from Amazon, and crutchfield, I figured its easier to run back to bestbuy if SHTF.


Stereo install was fine (Kenwood Excelon KDC-X597), rear speaker install was cake (sony GT1638F) since they were consider a "fits with adapter" item, and crutchfield sends out the adapter/brackets free for these as well as wiring adapters.

So I took a good look at my options for mounting the 6x9's and came up with some ideas which worked great.... Remember, Im not going for great sound, I just want something better than stock, and the ability to play different media, and have handsfree bluetooth on a budget.


stock setup in front door, outlined with sharpie


what your left to work with....... nevermind my color code cheat sheet... I hijacked the signal further up the line because the stock setup runs signal to the tweeter first, and then to the lower driver and I wanted to disable all stock crap


heres the factory mounting bracket.....what can we do with this?



well I wont use the drivers anyhow, so lets open things up a little using razor knife


and now for the dremel


needs some more massaging, but its getting there


better



Time to move onto that large lip on the door panel that would hit the speaker.......yeah, we have a little bit of space to work with here




time for some more dremel action.....almost done here, but it needed to be completely ground down, including those 3 vertical ribs, those touched the plastic bar that goes across the speakers midrange just a tad


After some more work with the dremel and a composite cutoff wheel, a sanding drum, and finally a fine grit stone, things were smoothed out and cleaned of debris with air compressor nozzle. Sorry forgot to take pics, but basically like I said. I had to bring those vertical ribs flush with the rest of the "grill".

Now, test fitting showed I was all clear EXCEPT that the screws used to mount the new speakers onto the factory housings came into contact with the doors sheet metal. The screws I used were #10 x 2" and only extend past the brackets less than 1/4"..... Between the factory brackets and the speaker depth, these screws were a good fit. I tried nuts and bolts, but only had 1 bolt that would have worked... If these screws loosen up over time, I will use that 1 bolt I have for reference and buy enough to replace the screws.

I ended up marking the contact areas with a sharpie (love them damn things, and the ink comes off with a MR.Clean magic eraser).
I then picked up my trusty Dremel, a few cheap cutoff wheels, the sanding drum, and fine grit stone grinder... Went to town and made my notches.
FYI, eye and ear protection was worn at all times!

and yes, I made sure the window was up the whole time and periodically checked for proper window operation.




used factory screws to mount brackets to the door, and I used that 1 bolt that I said ended up fitting on this speaker with a nut, washer, and lock washer for safe keeping (top left). I used the #10 x2" screws in the remaining 3 mounting holes


nothing to look at when ur done really, looks factory....... pardon the scuffs, I wasnt aware how often I make contact with the door and my foot before I took this pic

 

I like it sir, looks good

 

thank you


I have a 4 channel amp i may install later, I assume it may driver the speakers better with less distortion (the amp is only a 75watt x4 A/B). Why not, its just sitting here from my last car.

 

75 a side would drive those real nice, Justus..I have Fosgate 6x9's in mine on an MTX 100x2 and it really fills up the truck

 

thats almost exactly what we did to install my infinity speaks years ago (used the stock speaker surround)

nice! do it, will should alot better

 

Maybe on the next paycheck..... Waiting on some money to come in from a sale too, so that will help.

 

Nice work man!!! I need to invest in a dremel I think! Was yours the regular oem speakers or the JBL's? I wonder if there is any difference in the mounts at all between the two.

 

I had the non jbl


And yes...... Dremel ftw