Fitting 6.5" speakers is a turd of a job...

[ian332isport]

As most of you are probably aware, I quite like a challenge, but fitting 6.5" speakers in an E30 is nightmare

The main problem is the bonnet release lever being in the way. Well, I think I have found a solution for this.

BMW did it like this:



I did it like this:



I used an Audi TT release lever. You need to make a mounting plate that screws in the original holes, and then screw the Audi lever to it. You also need to space out the cable slightly, but the standard cable fit's the Audi lever just fine.



You just need to open the glovebox to pull the release handle.

As far as fitting the speakers is concerned, you do need to open the hole up slightly. It's not quite so bad on the drivers side, as you can use a spacer ring, but you can't do that on the passengers side because the glovebox won't open.

I'm getting some 3mm thick stainless rings laser cut which will give a very solid mounting surface. These rings will be bonded with Sikaflex and screwed into place.

I also need a new spine, as my current one is knackered after being bent into the footwell for the last week figuring all this out.

Cheers,

Ian.

[placey]

ian

looks like good work there. i spotted the sound deadening (dynamat extreme??) and the goo to build up the original factory ring for a flush seal in the pics. are you intending to angle the speakers up to be on-axis at all? are you going to be clear of the glovebox opening with the rings? and did you not consider door builds? there's much more space in the doors but they do bring a set of issues of their own.

i love the tt lever solution - i have considered in the past inverting the factory lever or shortening it or re-deploying the cable entirely so as to open the bonnet at the front of the car - original mini stylee or maybe under the steering column ford stylee, but your solution is excellent.

paul

[ian332isport]

ian

looks like good work there. i spotted the sound deadening (dynamat extreme??) and the goo to build up the original factory ring for a flush seal in the pics. are you intending to angle the speakers up to be on-axis at all? are you going to be clear of the glovebox opening with the rings? and did you not consider door builds? there's much more space in the doors but they do bring a set of issues of their own.

i love the tt lever solution - i have considered in the past inverting the factory lever or shortening it or re-deploying the cable entirely so as to open the bonnet at the front of the car - original mini stylee or maybe under the steering column ford stylee, but your solution is excellent.

paul

Hi Paul,

The sound deadening is Brown Bread which is pretty much the same as Dynamat Extreme as far as I can tell (apart from the price). It's just good old silicone sealer to seal up the open section where the wires pass through.

I did look into angling the speakers, but it's just not possible with the glovebox in the way. You would also have issues on the drivers side with it being in the way of the accelerator pedal. It's not too much of a problem though, as the speakers I'm using have a very good off axis response. I did have a listen with them temporarily mounted on some MDF rings and the staging/imaging was very good. I used a little time alignment to get the centre stage just right though. I did not want to get invloved with cutting the doors up, or loosing the door pockets, so it had to be the kicks.

Using a 3mm stainless ring, it will clear the glovebox even when you open it. It will be pretty close once I get the grills on though. Until I get the rings next week, I won't know exaclty how much clearance I will have.

I'm well chuffed with the TT leaver. It was only Ԛ£5 odd at my local Audi dealer. Took a long time to find something that looked like it would fit though. Let me know if you need/want any more pictures etc.

Cheers,

Ian.

[ste]

Good solution fella.

[ian332isport]

Good solution fella.

Took a bit of head scratching, but got there in the end

Must do Beer sometime

[ste]

Just shout. This week is good for me...

[ian332isport]

I can do Thursday or Friday this week I think. I'll give you a call in the week

Ian.

[ste]

Nice. Just like the biscuits.

[ian332isport]

Here's a bit of an update.

I got the rings laser cut and they are now securely bonded to the car with Sikaflex. This gives a really nice solid flat mounting surface for the midrange speaker. It also makes it easier to seal the area where the wires pass through.





This is a trial fit with the speaker in place and the standard kick panels trimmed to allow the new speaker to poke through. I was actually very pleased with how it looked, as I was originally going to re-make the covers. There's a small gap between the kick panel and the speaker trim ring, but if I recover the kick panels in vinyl then this gap will completely dissapear.



Ian.

[stevetigger]

Nice, when can you do mine!

[Brenner5]

thats great..

any more pics please..

i'd like to do the same...

do the 6.5" speakers go straight in once the rings are fitted ?

do you have any pics of the complete install ?

anys pics of the mounting bracket which joins to the audi lever ?

cheers

[placey]

superb looking results. nice work...

[ian332isport]

thats great..

any more pics please..

i'd like to do the same...

do the 6.5" speakers go straight in once the rings are fitted ?

do you have any pics of the complete install ?

anys pics of the mounting bracket which joins to the audi lever ?

cheers

It's still work in progress, so don't have that many pictures at the moment. I'll pst up more as I take them. The finished speaker install is going to look pretty much the same as the one above though.

Unfortunately, you need to enlarge the original hole slightly to get the speakers in. I enlarged the hole by maybe 5mm all the way around, but this is going to vary depending on what speakers you use.

I don't have any pictures of the bracket alone, but it's just a flat piece of 2mm thick stainless steel cut to shape. Here's a couple of closeups of the lever/bracket.




You can also see the smaller metal plate I screwed on the top of the audi lever housing. This is to help secure the E30 release cable. I had to make a spacer to take up some of the slack in the cable. If you mount it exactly where the Audi cable would sit, then you would not have enough tension to release the bonnet. I made a spacer out of a 5 or 6mm bolt to take up the slack. I didn't take any photo's, but I just cut the head off the bolt and cut a groove along it's length. The inner cable then sit's in this groove. The plate just holds it in place.

Here's a few shot of the boot install. The 5 channel amp is soon to be replaced by a pair of Genesis Dual Mono's and a Miniblock. There's just enough space to fit them between the shock towers






These are the Rainbow tweeters fitted in the BMW pods. I had to trim the pod back to allow the tweeter to sit properly. It was a good snug fit before, but there was a nasty rim around the edge, and they also touched the dash slightly.



Cheers,

Ian.

[dazleeds]

thats a very nice install mate

wish i had the patience to do mine
look forward to seeing it finished

Daz

[Brenner5]

wow..

that boot install looks very nice and tidy..

do you have the sub directly facing the ski hatch? any pics of this..

i really like the way you have got the CD changer set up and hidden all the wiring..

[ian332isport]

do you have the sub directly facing the ski hatch? any pics of this..

Sorry, don't have any at the moment. I'll take some later in the week (working until Wednesday).

The subs are firing in through the ski hatch though. It's actually a pair of 8" subs (one either side of the ski hatch) that are facing each other. Each sub is in it's own sealed enclosure, although physically it's like one big box if you lift it out of the car.

Cheers,

Ian.

[tbmw]

nice boot install
couple of quick questions if oyu dont mind
1) whats the flase floor made from?
2) how do you secure the subs from movin about with the accelaration and brakin of your car?

very impressive work tho

[ian332isport]

nice boot install
couple of quick questions if oyu dont mind
1) whats the flase floor made from?
2) how do you secure the subs from movin about with the accelaration and brakin of your car?

very impressive work tho

The false floor is made of MDF covered in carpet. Subs are bolted solidly to the car and require the rear seat back to be removed before you can get them out. It's a pain if you want to get to the amplifier for some reason, but makes it very hard to steal anything

Ian.

[Brenner5]

can you get pics of the sub box and dimensions ??

maybe bolt my box now !!

great job by the way..

[Geeman]

I'm so impressed by your precision and the way you go about modifying your car. The boot looks better than factory! The kick panel speakers look great too. Excellent work!

Giles.

[ian332isport]

can you get pics of the sub box and dimensions ??

maybe bolt my box now !!

great job by the way..

I'll take some pictures on Thursday

Looking at the size of the subs in your Sig pic, I don't think they will fit in the boot very well.

Ian.

[ian332isport]

I'm so impressed by your precision and the way you go about modifying your car. The boot looks better than factory! The kick panel speakers look great too. Excellent work!

Giles.

Cheers Giles

I guess I'm a bit anal when it comes to modifications. I like it all to look like it's pretty standard. If it looks modified then I consider it a failure

Ian.

[miniblob]

Looks fantastic mate - thought about selling laser cut rings and bonnet release kits?

[Geeman]

Now there's an idea. I'd take a bonnet catch set-up from you along with the speaker rings... I'm sure others would too.

Worth thinking about.

[cliffybabe]

really goods pic's, it hink i might be having ago at this one

[ian332isport]

I haven't got around to taking the box out yet, but here's some pictures from inside the car.

This is with the arm rest in the up position:



This is the arm rest down:



This is what you see with the trim dropped down:




After a couple of months of searching, I have finally managed to get all the amplifiers I need to upgrade my system.



It's a pair of Dual Mono's and a Minblock. Should look nice in place of my P300x. I'm hoping the DM's will really wake up the Rainbows as well

Ian.

[beardymat]

ian, i have to say your car is a constant source of inspiration for me,your way of thinking about mods is very similar to my own.
i just wish i had the free time to get mine on the road so i can start all the fun mods (engine conversions,huge brakes ice etc).

great post,great car.hope i get to see it in the metal sometime

[Geeman]

Yup... I agree too. It's what everyone wants to do, but has never got round to doing!

[mrLEE30]

nice job, but it appears from the earlier pictures that you have way too many gears!!!!

i had similar probs on mine but used some wooden spacers behind the bonnet release (3/4 inch) so it would clear the grill, but mine LHD so no glovebox issues!

good work fella

now while you fish around for all those gears you can listen to some decent sounding music!!!

mrlee

[danny_j]

Awsome Amps!

I was going to go Genesis amps when i had my A4, bloody expensive though

[DanThe]

Well done Ian, thats exellent work
Its nice to see someone with a setup like yours that DOESNT lisnten to Drum and Bass
ie. Dookie and Music For The Gilted Generation

[TW166Y]

probably the best e30 install ive seen... good work buddy

[325iSportMark]

do you have the sub directly facing the ski hatch?

In mine I've got an Infinity 10" in a sealed box, with a JL monoblock amp, when I first put it in I had it facing the ski hatch and the bass response was virtually non-existant, it was really bizzarre, then I turned it round to face away from the hatch and voila, bass a-plenty! Must be something to do with accoustics, but if you've got one sub then away from the hatch is definately the way to go.

[Brenner5]

do you have the sub directly facing the ski hatch?

In mine I've got an Infinity 10" in a sealed box, with a JL monoblock amp, when I first put it in I had it facing the ski hatch and the bass response was virtually non-existant, it was really bizzarre, then I turned it round to face away from the hatch and voila, bass a-plenty! Must be something to do with accoustics, but if you've got one sub then away from the hatch is definately the way to go.

my previous sub was a 15" Digital Designs 9515, i had it facing the back shelf (where rear speakers hang down) as that was the only way to get it in the boot, did push alot of air through the hatch...

i'm looking to get a 12" now and face it away from the hacth, should do well i guess..

[Patm3]

nice work