snksknr94

Doing what I do, I've seen first hand what happens when a shade-tree mechanic trys to take a door panel off, even some of the other guy here who do line work mess them up. I mainly do trim,, AC, and electrical, so I get to see that stuff first hand. Plus, I have a drawer full of panel tools, so pulling one off correctly is no biggie to me. All I'm saying is that by tellling people to just pull the panel off, somebody is going to end up damaging the door panel, and they are not cheap to replace.

captain howdy

Good point. I never doubt your skill or experience. That's why I'm a little hesitant to tell people how to do things or how I have done things. I don't want them to screw something up and blame me. I should change my sig to "Do so at your own risk!".

snksknr94

The clips in these panel are the easier ones to get loose but I've seen them stick and damage panels as well. General rule if you pull on it and doesn't come loose invest in a 3 dollar trim tool, to finish getting it loose.

Lee3333

Just to be safe, I searched my workshop but could not find my tool. I went out and bought one (I never consider any tool a bad investment.) Then, when I got home, I found my old one. But the cost has gone up-it is actually 9 bucks. (But since I haven't opened the new one yet I can return it.) :)

Now, where do I start pulling? Top, bottom, front, or back.

And I will start with how to articles as soon as I come up with something interesting that works. I will post a photo of my airhorns, but still haven't come up with a good 12 volt high amp power source to make them work.

snksknr94

I always start at the front edge or the bottom front corner.

Lee3333

I finally got around to working on the speakers. Last night I pulled off the rear-simple except I had a rough time until I realized there was a pin on the top back right under the lock. Anyhow, my 6 3/4 fit perfectly. How could
6 1/2 line up properly with the holes?

I still have to remove the panals again to spray on the insulation (it was too dark last night).

But I used a simple way to connect the wiring. I unsnapped the factory plug from the stock speaker, then unsoldered it and resoldered it to my new speakers. No cutting of the factory harness this way. But, the factory wires are awfully thin. How much power is the upgraded Pioneer supposed to have?

captain howdy

You are only talking about a 1/4" of difference so the hole size is almost the same. It's an 1/8" difference in the hole position. Most of the time 6 1/2" and 6 3/4" fit in the same hole. Measure your factory speakers, they are 6 1/2". The amp is 260 watts. Did you chop the factory conector off of the speaker in order to reuse it? The female end is built into the speaker, you can't just unsolder it. That I have to see to believe. See what I mean:

Notice the male end is still pluged in to the female in the photo.

snova031

I pull panels off for a living...only time I've ever damaged anything regarding a door clip is on the older Suburbans, I've ripped a few doorclips straight off of the housing on the doorpanel- the doorpanel is made out of frickin carboard though

Every once in a while a few clips will stay in the door...that's when I grab my panel tool and pop em out :)

captain howdy

Never mind I stand corrected. I got home and played with the factory speakers. You can get the female side off and it's pretty easy to do. I thought it had a pin in it that you would have to chop out but it is just a plastic clip. You can pull out on the connector a little and slide it off or you can use something to press on the clip while pulling up. SORRY! I should have looked before opening my mouth. I wanted to solder the connections anyways so I never even looked at how it was designed or how to get it off.

Lee3333

I just used a flatblade screwdriver and poped the connector off the speaker, then unsoldered the pigtail going to the old paper cones. It makes it easier to change the speakers. I have not changed the fronts yet-but the rear do not sound any louder with my Rockford Fosgates. But the quality is much better-especially the bass and highs. When I check what I did in daylight, I may find that they did not line up as good as I thought they did. You said the amp is 260 watts. Is that the sub amp, or the internal one driving the front and rear speakers. That would mean each channel is 65 watts. I find that hard to believe-the amp I used in my other car was about 40 per channel and 200 for the sub and it was LOUD.