chillininnh

I've been wanting to add a pair of speakers to the front of my Mach. I tried the MP Products kick panels with speaker pods but they were less than ideal for a manual transmission car. They interfered with the emergency brake pedal for starters. They also cramped the foot box area in general, considering I wear a size 14, room is at a premium. I refuse to cut anything to install speakers anywhere in the car.
 
I had an extra pair of fresh air vents in the parts pin so I thought I could perhaps mount a speaker in each of them. I want to maintain the appearance of a working vent but have it contain a 6.5" speaker. I have started modifying one side and have a pair of speakers on order. I had an old speaker at work that I used for mock up and it looks like it's gonna work pretty good. I will miss the fresh air but if I want to go back I can simply reinstall my originals. Here is a pic, I trimmed the plastic some to maximize space inside, and screwed the door shut to keep it from opening. I also cut the cable down but left the opening mechanism so it looks functional. The original kick panels should go right back on, over the speaker, I of course won't be using the grills. More pics to come.
 

 

 
I know some people have used the cougar pods for a similar install. i went this route because the cougar pods lack the vent mechanism and I want it to appear stock, using the original kick panels.

Speakers arrived this morning, they are Rockford Fosgate P1675 6 3/4" and fit in the opening nicely. I had to clearance the back a bit to get them in the center. I used double sided tape and a few screws to hold them in place. I then sealed it all up with black silicone rubber. I used some 3M duct tape (sticks like a mother) to seal up the clearance hole and ran the speaker wire extension. Followed that up with some new foam on the back side to keep out the road debris. I have the speaker wire leads already there from my earlier kick panel speaker experiment so swapping them in should be a breeze. I'll snap some pics of the finished product. Work is slow today, time to do the other side!
 

 

Oh man that wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. The passenger side was gravy, no problemo. I completely forgot that one of the first things that went in when assembling the interior was the parking brake. It has to be "floated" to get the vent on the drivers side in and out. A 1 hour job turned into over 3 hours. It was worth it though, 4 speakers is just way better than 2.