Rear Speaker Deck Removal and Amp Install

[Heinoceros]

It's actually used for the keyless entry system...not the "radio"

So the range for opening the doors radiates from this module? or are their antennas or something near the door handles? It always seems to me like i need to get within a foot of the handle, but i will now have to test it a little more.

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[gzstang]

So the range for opening the doors radiates from this module? or are their antennas or something near the door handles? It always seems to me like i need to get within a foot of the handle, but i will now have to test it a little more.

Kinda hard to explain everything in one reply but yes there is antennas in the handles and one by the trunk. And just for a fun fact there is over 8 modules that have to communicate together just to get in your car.

 

[Heinoceros]

Kinda hard to explain everything in one reply but yes there is antennas in the handles and one by the trunk. And just for a fun fact there is over 8 modules that have to communicate together just to get in your car.

Yea, i hope they didnt use the same engineers that developed sync. I know you can override the keyless entry with the key, but is there a way to override the start engine feature? I dont recall seeing that in the owners manual, but i havent really looked for it either.

 

[Heinoceros]

Ok, i am replacing the rear speakers with some alpine 6.5's, and the new speakers came with a bracket, but the bracket has large gaps between the bracket and the deck. Does this matter? the original speakers sealed against the deck somewhat, with a inch long gap for wiring etc, so it wasnt really sealed up. Should i put in some sort of foam board or something to close these up?

 

[TheColorRed]

Ok, i am replacing the rear speakers with some alpine 6.5's, and the new speakers came with a bracket, but the bracket has large gaps between the bracket and the deck. Does this matter? the original speakers sealed against the deck somewhat, with a inch long gap for wiring etc, so it wasnt really sealed up. Should i put in some sort of foam board or something to close these up?

You can use some sound deadener for that...as a matter of fact...if you planning to add a sub...you should sound deadened most of the rear deck

 

[TheColorRed]

Keep the pics coming!!!

 

[TheColorRed]

I'd like to have my speakers upgraded in my base GT. Thinking that may make a world of difference in sound if I get top end speakers, no additional amp though. Any opinions?

Ok...factory speakers can only handle about 25 w each...anything more then that and the speakers will blow. Factory head unit is thus only pumping out about 25 w per channel. Now...if you go and buy some top end speakers...they will be able to handle 3 times more power. So what you have is a head unit that is pumping out 25w of power to a speaker that can handle 75 w of power.

This is why amplifiers are used. Head unit will never pump out enough power for top end aftermarket speakers.

 

[Heinoceros]

Now i have finished installing the speakers and amp, and done some preliminary tests. The first thing i did was run the speakers without the amp. As expected, they did not help the volume at all.

With the amp hooked up, they are a lot louder, and now there is bass.

What has become immediately apparent is how little i know about how to setup an amp. For a baseline i have turned the bass assist to low (the high level converters option to try and restore bass in the signal for a stock radio which has been designed to take out the bass), and turned the gain on the high level converter to the middle of its range, and am using the gain control on the amp to try to get the volume to balance with the front speakers. I was hoping to be able to leave the front door speakers alone, but I think they are going to have to be replaced as well. its only a hundred bucks or so for low end alpines, but its a hassle wiring them through the doors.

I will post some pictures of my final rear deck setup. I used some foam board and caulk to close up the gap, and i think it turned out pretty good considering it was 8 dollars in parts.

hopefully i will get some time tomorrow to spend some time working out what the amp should be doing. Its setup to be able to cut out different ranges, and i think for now i want to let them all through. If i get a sub, ill use the amp to cutout the bottom and just send it to the sub.

 

[SilverSpoon09]

Subed... I will probably be going through his in the next year and as much info as possible would be great thanks for the pictures.

 

[TheColorRed]

Now i have finished installing the speakers and amp, and done some preliminary tests. The first thing i did was run the speakers without the amp. As expected, they did not help the volume at all.

With the amp hooked up, they are a lot louder, and now there is bass.

What has become immediately apparent is how little i know about how to setup an amp. For a baseline i have turned the bass assist to low (the high level converters option to try and restore bass in the signal for a stock radio which has been designed to take out the bass), and turned the gain on the high level converter to the middle of its range, and am using the gain control on the amp to try to get the volume to balance with the front speakers. I was hoping to be able to leave the front door speakers alone, but I think they are going to have to be replaced as well. its only a hundred bucks or so for low end alpines, but its a hassle wiring them through the doors.

I will post some pictures of my final rear deck setup. I used some foam board and caulk to close up the gap, and i think it turned out pretty good considering it was 8 dollars in parts.

hopefully i will get some time tomorrow to spend some time working out what the amp should be doing. Its setup to be able to cut out different ranges, and i think for now i want to let them all through. If i get a sub, ill use the amp to cutout the bottom and just send it to the sub.

awww...you arent going to replace the door speakers...those are the pics I'm waiting for.

Yeah...it is a hassle running your own speaker wire thru the door. Well...just time consuming...since all you need is to just drill a tiny hole thru the rubber boot.

Or...you can do it the ghetto way and reroute the factory wires. For me...if it's an old car I would go ghetto...but it's a new car...I might as well take the time to install new wires

 

[Heinoceros]

awww...you arent going to replace the door speakers...those are the pics I'm waiting for.

Yeah...it is a hassle running your own speaker wire thru the door. Well...just time consuming...since all you need is to just drill a tiny hole thru the rubber boot.

Or...you can do it the ghetto way and reroute the factory wires. For me...if it's an old car I would go ghetto...but it's a new car...I might as well take the time to install new wires

No worries, it looks like i am going to be replacing the door speakers too. I will post pics when i get in there. If i could easily plug in the new speakers to the existing wires, i would probably ghetto it, but since i have to put new ends on, i might as well run new wires through there.

i am just going to use the 4x75 amp to drive the 4 6.5's. It means i have nothing for the sub, so ill have to add another amp if i end up adding a sub. I am actually fairly impressed with the bass coming from the 2 rear 6.5's, so this may end up being enough. i need to drive around for a couple days and do some research.

 

[Heinoceros]

ok, those doors panels are seriously on there. There is one of those clips you can pull free a few inches above the latch near the top left of the drivers side door panel. and i figured those would probably ring the outside of the left and bottom of the door, and i gave a good pull, but nothing more would release.

i could not find ANY other bolts that hold the door on. There is usually one inside the latch handle. And usually one holding on right at the door handle, and i couldnt find either.

the latch handle has what looks like a plastic insert with a tiny half-circle cutout on the top of it tucked away. i thought surely i could pry that little insert out and it would be covering a bolt. but i couldnt get it to budge.

there is a little bump stop rubber thing behind the latch handle. I thought there might be a bolt under there, but i couldnt see one. its easy to take on and off, so ill try again when i have a little more light and time.

It started raining here, so i had to give up for now, but ill try again later.

 

[draco24433]

Heinoceros,

Thanks for everything!

 

[mustangman'15]

I agree with the above!
Thanks for all the great information and details!

 

[Heinoceros]

More progress. I was on the right track before, you do pry off the under latch bolt covers using that tiny gap on the top, but its a little more complicated.

The cover has two tabs on the back which hook under the door panel, so you have to pry it up from the front of the cover. The gap is at the top of the cover, so you cant pry it directly out, since that would require the top to pivot down. You want to stick one of those tiny hook scribes into it so that you can pry it at an angle and force the forward section of the cover to come out first, since it has to pivot on the rearward edge because of those tabs.

I know this sounds super involved for a bolt cover, but i actually had a lot of trouble getting this out initially. I didnt want to scratch it, and it looks like you should be able to pry it out from the rear edge, but that rear edge is absolutely not moving. Once i knew what was under there, i got the second one out in about 5 seconds. I cannot stress enough how easy it is if you have one of those hook scribes, doing it with a tiny screwdriver did not work worth a damn.

The other bolt is under the arm rest, just pry that bad boy out. It took a good deal of force to get it out, i was worried i was going to break it, but it did come out fine. i used a little nylon crowbar to do it. the plastic on these doors scratch pretty easy, dont use metal!

there are four of those little blue clips, and one stronger metal clip. One of my blue clips fell off and into the door of course, but i can fetch it up when i remove the door panel.

Its still raining here, so i wont be able to actually remove the panel till tonight. But now that these two bolts are done, there are only two more little bolts along the bottom of the panel, and it is supposed to just lift out.

use one of these!

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