2ndhandyotaman
Member
'Lo everyone, I was searching yesterday for any threads on this subject. All I could find was lots of ' it won't fit', 'it's not worth the effort', 'it can't be done' types of threads, with the except of a single member who claimed that he did it and it was easy. :ybrick:
I decided to have a go at it, and take a few pics along the way. I saw a few 5.25" adapter rings on the webz and I saw a boo-tube vid of a dude going mad with a dremel tool trying to hack up the stock mount to make a 5.25 fit. I thought that there has to be an easier way.
First thing I did was buy 2 sets of 6.5's and a set of 5.25's just in case the rear actually wasn't worth the effort. I used some Pioneer speakers that the local Best Buy had on a clearance rack. I can post the model number later on, I deleted the pic of the box before I transferred it from the phone to the work station for re-sizing.
I knocked out the front speakers first, no pics because it's well documented in this forum AND it's pretty much idiot proof. I used a 2 way speaker and clipped the old stock soldered connection at the old speaker then re-soldered the leads to the new speaker, allowing me to plug in the separate tweeter and keep it functional. I didn't really need to do this as the new speaker already has a tweeter in it, but since my leg blocks the speaker opening in the door card I added 10 extra minutes to the job and kept the upper tweeter functional. I can hear it playing, so I know that this works.
Rear door- I removed the door card and rolled down the window to get a depth measurement from the opening surface of the door to the surface of the glass, it's right at 2". The new 6.5" speaker had an overall depth of 1.75", so I knew that once the thickness of my adapter plate was factored in I wouldn't have clearance issues.
I used the stock plastic mount as a template to trace out the shape and location of the mounting holes onto a piece of 1/2" thick acrylic sheet that had on hand. I used a jigsaw to rough cut the 2 adapters, then used the mounting template from the speaker box to locate the new inner hole. I made a 1/2" hole inside of the new hole in order to have a place for the jigsaw to start cutting.
I then stacked both adapters and gently clamped them into the vise, then used an electric drill and a big sanding drum to shape them both the same and to have the inner holes the same. I think I got this sanding drum kit from horrible-freight years ago. It comes in handy every once in a while.
Be sure to wear a respirator when doing this, the dust is very fine and it very bad for you if it gets into your lungs.
Once I had the basic shapes done, I needed to counterbore the 2 lower mounting holes on the adapter so that the speaker could sit flush. I couldn't find the right size pilot for the CB, so I used a big countersink instead. It's not "correct" but it will be ok, I didn't submit this job to QA for any inspections. :twitch: You basically need to have the mounting screws flush, or a tiny bit below the surface of the adapter. I re-used the stock mounting hardware because (1)- it was already there, and (2)- I'm a cheap skate. No need to waste money on new hardware when the old stock stuff will do just fine. It's been doing it's job for the past 17 years, I'm convinced that it will keep showing up for work every day.
I had some "tacky tape" left over from aerospace work that I used to make a seal. It's basically a Teflon putty that is in a roll, it's designed to survive inside of an autoclave. I've seen similar items at Home Depot in the insulation aisle that would work just as well. You could even used an acrylic caulk. I just used what I had on hand.
Once the adapter plate was bolted up on the door, I used the new supplied leads from the speaker to pass under the vapor barrier because the new speaker has the connection terminals facing inside of the door now. I snipped the plastic connector from the stock harness and soldered and heat shrink tubed the joint for protection. It's my own personal opinion that the crimp style terminals should never be used, they make horrible connections and they are not water proof and it just screams "amateur hour". It takes so little extra effort to make a nice solder joint along with a bit of heat shrink tube insulation. You'll never have a failed connection once you learn how to solder correctly.
That got me to this point. If you look closely you can see the heat shrink tube insulation, I had black on hand.
I then held the speaker in place and used a battery drill with a 1/8" diameter drill bit to drill the mounting holes for the speaker. I just made a quick mark on the adapter, then stuck the speaker to door to get it up out of the way ( it has a big ass magnet in it, use it to your advantage !)
Once the holes were through drilled, I held the speaker back up and used the stock screws ( 3 of them) to secure the speaker. I dug through my box of old VW hardware and found some interior screws that would good enough to hold the speaker in the 4th spot. ( did I mention that I'm a hoarder? I don't throw anything potentially useful away. ) That got me to this point.
Some duct tape to secure the harness to the vapor barrier, and I was done. I powered up the stereo to verify everything was working. It was, so I just put the door cards back on, cleaned up my mess, accounted for all of the tools and closed up the storage unit ( AKA " the shop") :wow:
Hope that this helps somebody. Now's there's proof that the 6.5's will fit. It takes a little bit of work but it's completely doable by just about anyone with a few basic power tools.
Here's an update with a pic of the speakers that I used.
Compared to how bad the condition of the audio system was when I got this truck 6 weeks ago, it sounds pretty nice to hear music again. After the new year if I still have this, I'll upgrade to a double DIN touch screen HU.
I decided to have a go at it, and take a few pics along the way. I saw a few 5.25" adapter rings on the webz and I saw a boo-tube vid of a dude going mad with a dremel tool trying to hack up the stock mount to make a 5.25 fit. I thought that there has to be an easier way.
First thing I did was buy 2 sets of 6.5's and a set of 5.25's just in case the rear actually wasn't worth the effort. I used some Pioneer speakers that the local Best Buy had on a clearance rack. I can post the model number later on, I deleted the pic of the box before I transferred it from the phone to the work station for re-sizing.
I knocked out the front speakers first, no pics because it's well documented in this forum AND it's pretty much idiot proof. I used a 2 way speaker and clipped the old stock soldered connection at the old speaker then re-soldered the leads to the new speaker, allowing me to plug in the separate tweeter and keep it functional. I didn't really need to do this as the new speaker already has a tweeter in it, but since my leg blocks the speaker opening in the door card I added 10 extra minutes to the job and kept the upper tweeter functional. I can hear it playing, so I know that this works.
Rear door- I removed the door card and rolled down the window to get a depth measurement from the opening surface of the door to the surface of the glass, it's right at 2". The new 6.5" speaker had an overall depth of 1.75", so I knew that once the thickness of my adapter plate was factored in I wouldn't have clearance issues.
I used the stock plastic mount as a template to trace out the shape and location of the mounting holes onto a piece of 1/2" thick acrylic sheet that had on hand. I used a jigsaw to rough cut the 2 adapters, then used the mounting template from the speaker box to locate the new inner hole. I made a 1/2" hole inside of the new hole in order to have a place for the jigsaw to start cutting.
I then stacked both adapters and gently clamped them into the vise, then used an electric drill and a big sanding drum to shape them both the same and to have the inner holes the same. I think I got this sanding drum kit from horrible-freight years ago. It comes in handy every once in a while.
Be sure to wear a respirator when doing this, the dust is very fine and it very bad for you if it gets into your lungs.
Once I had the basic shapes done, I needed to counterbore the 2 lower mounting holes on the adapter so that the speaker could sit flush. I couldn't find the right size pilot for the CB, so I used a big countersink instead. It's not "correct" but it will be ok, I didn't submit this job to QA for any inspections. :twitch: You basically need to have the mounting screws flush, or a tiny bit below the surface of the adapter. I re-used the stock mounting hardware because (1)- it was already there, and (2)- I'm a cheap skate. No need to waste money on new hardware when the old stock stuff will do just fine. It's been doing it's job for the past 17 years, I'm convinced that it will keep showing up for work every day.
I had some "tacky tape" left over from aerospace work that I used to make a seal. It's basically a Teflon putty that is in a roll, it's designed to survive inside of an autoclave. I've seen similar items at Home Depot in the insulation aisle that would work just as well. You could even used an acrylic caulk. I just used what I had on hand.
Once the adapter plate was bolted up on the door, I used the new supplied leads from the speaker to pass under the vapor barrier because the new speaker has the connection terminals facing inside of the door now. I snipped the plastic connector from the stock harness and soldered and heat shrink tubed the joint for protection. It's my own personal opinion that the crimp style terminals should never be used, they make horrible connections and they are not water proof and it just screams "amateur hour". It takes so little extra effort to make a nice solder joint along with a bit of heat shrink tube insulation. You'll never have a failed connection once you learn how to solder correctly.
That got me to this point. If you look closely you can see the heat shrink tube insulation, I had black on hand.
I then held the speaker in place and used a battery drill with a 1/8" diameter drill bit to drill the mounting holes for the speaker. I just made a quick mark on the adapter, then stuck the speaker to door to get it up out of the way ( it has a big ass magnet in it, use it to your advantage !)
Once the holes were through drilled, I held the speaker back up and used the stock screws ( 3 of them) to secure the speaker. I dug through my box of old VW hardware and found some interior screws that would good enough to hold the speaker in the 4th spot. ( did I mention that I'm a hoarder? I don't throw anything potentially useful away. ) That got me to this point.
Some duct tape to secure the harness to the vapor barrier, and I was done. I powered up the stereo to verify everything was working. It was, so I just put the door cards back on, cleaned up my mess, accounted for all of the tools and closed up the storage unit ( AKA " the shop") :wow:
Hope that this helps somebody. Now's there's proof that the 6.5's will fit. It takes a little bit of work but it's completely doable by just about anyone with a few basic power tools.
Here's an update with a pic of the speakers that I used.
Compared to how bad the condition of the audio system was when I got this truck 6 weeks ago, it sounds pretty nice to hear music again. After the new year if I still have this, I'll upgrade to a double DIN touch screen HU.
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