OK so my Focals dont seem to want to fit.. I dont want a Huge door build making so was thinking of just making some Pods, just some little discreet ones.. How difficult can it be to make a speaker pod!!?

Obviously im going to need to make a MDF mounting plate and use fibreglass to mould a shape..

Can anyone shed any more light on making door builds, is there a site anywhere that shows you the steps etc??

any help appriciated..

Leon

Fibreglass? Eurgh - horrible stuff! :)

In previous cars, where I've needed to make a build, I've made the basic (square/rectangular/whatever) enclosure out of MDF, including the mounting ring, for the speaker. Then, use masking tape to create the smoothed/rounded sides, so that it's the complete shape. You can then use expanding foam (CAREFULLY! ;)) to bridge the difference between the MDF and the "real" shape. That way, you get a smooth surface to vinyl over, and it's far quicker and easier than using fibreglass.

In my Legacy, I've managed to get away without visible builds, by copying the basic shape of the original speaker (and bracket), spacing it all forwards with a couple of layers of MDF, and then building backwards into the door-space, again with MDF rings. Not particularly elegant, but it means it's hidden inside the doors. Mind you, I still had to cut the essentially-garbage "grill" off the front of the doors, but that sucked anyway :D

More help/advise available, if you need

Globbits/Richard

Thanks for the advice... i got impatient and decided to fit the speakers in! im now looking at how to stop the windows from going all the way down so they dont hit the speakers. They only need to be stopped about 2" short of all the way down. They sound amazing im sure it will all be worth this agro!

off to fit the autochanger and Cap now, lets hope i dont blow myself up!

cheers

Leon

Stoping the windows early is a pain - plus, you can't drive with your arm out the window :D
If you use a spacer ring (normally made out of MDF) then you should be able to wind the windows all the way down. Plus, the speakers will sound better, 'coz the mounting won't vibrate as much (so you get more bass response :))

Good luck!

you may have seen the "Focal Speaker Advice" section in the ICE Forum, i am currently using MDF Spacers but the speakers are so Big that they either hit the Windows or the door card!

I have looked and there seems to be 2 runners that the windows use to go up and down.. could i put some sort of bolt in to stop the windows? would the motors keep pushing until they burn out or when they meet resistance would they stop!?

Leon

Ah, gotcha. No, I haven't read up on the Focals (I'm too happy with my Alpine DDDrives :)) (So much so, that I haven't bothered fitting the set of Cerwin Vega 7" components I've got lying around! :D)

As for putting a bolt onto the slider, or other such physical obstacles, the basic answer is yes, you can. That is, all electric window units these days come with either an auto-shutoff or auto-reverse. This is so that, if some poor kids head gets stuck, they don't get deaded ;)

Of course, the down-side of this is that if you have an auto-reverse then you're a bit screwed :D

My old Vauxhall Cavalier (that I had many many moons ago) allowed you to reprogram the power windows, so that it could "learn" where the ends of travel were. It's just possible Scoobies have a similar learning program. Can't hurt to give your local dealership (with a clever mechanic) a bell and ask......