Fitment of Pioneer TS-G series speakers behind OEM grills (2 Viewers)

[Ppleasants]

Just finished this update/mod and it’s awesome. I have low standards for car audio (too many fireworks as a kid) but at least one of my speakers was blown. This is a great way to keep the stock look with upgraded performance.

Modifications were minimal but here they are:

1. I made a gasket/spacer for the front speaker out of some 1/4” neoprene sheet that I already had.

2. To mount the front, I bought 3/4” long #12 sheet metal screws and reduced the depth of the head by about 50% on the bench grinder. This, combined with sanding down the back of the door panel (thin MDF-type board) only at the screw furthest forward, made the door panel sit flush.

3. For rears, just pop off the grille to remove the 3 screws holding the speaker; no door panel removal is necessary. I then modified the plastic “basket” and folded down 3 tabs on the speaker (removing the 4th with shears) to rivet to the basket.

4. I did have to remove the plastic “Y” pattern behind the grille on the rear speakers (but not the front). As it sits now, there is 1-3mm of clearance between the front of the speaker and the mesh on the grille.

5. For front and rear, I cut the original wiring harness (a separate plug for each speaker) at the speaker and used lineman’s splice, solder, and heat shrink to tie in to the spade connectors provided with the speakers.

Sound is much improved. A new head unit and Metra adaptor comes in later this week so I’ll be bypassing the stock amp and adding Bluetooth connectivity. For what it’s worth, I’ve done extensive research and chose the Sony XAV-AX100 for Apple play connectivity as well as a clean physical and digital interface and quality reviews. There’s also a write-up on this forum about how to change the load screen to a custom image; in their case and mine, a LandCruiser logo for a stock feel.

Thanks for all the info before me.. made the project much easier.

 

[cavboy78]

i put that sony head unit in about 6 months ago and it is...hands down...the best head unit i have ever used on any car i've ever owned. it's the third double din i've put in the cruiser. i also bought this...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073SRQFDJ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and cut a hole through one of my empty slots under the ac control. keeps it clean looking.

 

[Rainmn]

I had a different experience with the Pioneers in my front doors - sharing for what it's worth.

When I bought my 80, the previous owner had already installed a Pioneer NEX double din unit, however it was wired through the factory amp and didn't sound good at all. I re-wired it to bypass the amp, which made an improvement, but it still wasn't good.

A little while after, I had the front doors apart to install sound deadening, replace the rubber window channels, and also the speakers. Found this thread and ordered the Pioneers so I could retain the factory grills.

I was never really happy with the fit of the Pioneers. Between touching the window track, pushing out the door panel a little, and I'm 99% sure the speaker cones were hitting the back of the door panel, making them sound like crap, I decided to ditch the factory grills. I also didn't want to use 4" speakers in the rear doors, so I figured if I was going to lose the factory grills there, I may as well lose them up front too.

I ended up installing a set of Rockford Fosgate Punch P16s, and couldn't be happier. Even in black, the grills don't really bother me, but I'm still going to paint them to match. (I'll admit, the design of the RF grills played a part in my speaker decision. If I was going to surface mount the speakers, I wanted a traditional looking grill) They sound 100 times better than the Pioneers, but as I said, a lot of that is likely because they were probably hitting the back of the door panels. I'm definitely ordering another set of these for the rear doors.

 

[Jamahone]

I had a different experience with the Pioneers in my front doors - sharing for what it's worth.

When I bought my 80, the previous owner had already installed a Pioneer NEX double din unit, however it was wired through the factory amp and didn't sound good at all. I re-wired it to bypass the amp, which made an improvement, but it still wasn't good.

A little while after, I had the front doors apart to install sound deadening, replace the rubber window channels, and also the speakers. Found this thread and ordered the Pioneers so I could retain the factory grills.

I was never really happy with the fit of the Pioneers. Between touching the window track, pushing out the door panel a little, and I'm 99% sure the speaker cones were hitting the back of the door panel, making them sound like crap, I decided to ditch the factory grills. I also didn't want to use 4" speakers in the rear doors, so I figured if I was going to lose the factory grills there, I may as well lose them up front too.

I ended up installing a set of Rockford Fosgate Punch P16s, and couldn't be happier. Even in black, the grills don't really bother me, but I'm still going to paint them to match. (I'll admit, the design of the RF grills played a part in my speaker decision. If I was going to surface mount the speakers, I wanted a traditional looking grill) They sound 100 times better than the Pioneers, but as I said, a lot of that is likely because they were probably hitting the back of the door panels. I'm definitely ordering another set of these for the rear doors.

Would you mind posting photos of your door panels with the RF speakers?

 

[Rainmn]

Would you mind posting photos of your door panels with the RF speakers?

Here you go. I'll be painting them to match sometime over the next week.

 

[HumbleDaddy]

I made a video of the easy way to put the pioneers on the outside of the panel.
I used 6 1/2 on front and rear doors.
I plan on painting the grills later. Here is two YouTube videos of how to do it without the factory grills:
Video 1
Video 2

 

[HumbleDaddy]

I made a video of the easy way to put the pioneers on the outside of the panel.
I used 6 1/2 on front and rear doors.
I plan on painting the grills later. Here is two YouTube videos of how to do it without the factory grills:
Video 1
Video 2

 

[HumbleDaddy]

Sorry the second video on the rear speakers didn’t upload right. Here it is:

 

[asutherland]

On one of mine the spade connector had popped off, so I soldered it in the same fashion they did from factory, including a little zip tie to keep strain off the solder joints.

 

[MontyAndCruiser]

I had a different experience with the Pioneers in my front doors - sharing for what it's worth.

When I bought my 80, the previous owner had already installed a Pioneer NEX double din unit, however it was wired through the factory amp and didn't sound good at all. I re-wired it to bypass the amp, which made an improvement, but it still wasn't good.

A little while after, I had the front doors apart to install sound deadening, replace the rubber window channels, and also the speakers. Found this thread and ordered the Pioneers so I could retain the factory grills.

I was never really happy with the fit of the Pioneers. Between touching the window track, pushing out the door panel a little, and I'm 99% sure the speaker cones were hitting the back of the door panel, making them sound like crap, I decided to ditch the factory grills. I also didn't want to use 4" speakers in the rear doors, so I figured if I was going to lose the factory grills there, I may as well lose them up front too.

I ended up installing a set of Rockford Fosgate Punch P16s, and couldn't be happier. Even in black, the grills don't really bother me, but I'm still going to paint them to match. (I'll admit, the design of the RF grills played a part in my speaker decision. If I was going to surface mount the speakers, I wanted a traditional looking grill) They sound 100 times better than the Pioneers, but as I said, a lot of that is likely because they were probably hitting the back of the door panels. I'm definitely ordering another set of these for the rear doors.

Thank you for finding speakers that don't have an ugly 2000s style ricer grille on them. Eyeing these now.

Would the P1650s (6.5s) have posed any real additional hurdles in installation, do you think?

 

[Rainmn]

LOL....I will freely admit that the grill design played a bigger part in my speaker choice than it should have. I turned out to be really happy with the sound of the speakers, so all is good. I liked them enough that I ended up moving the P16s to the back doors and installing the component versions in the fronts. Also got around to painting the grills too, and I'm completely satisfied with how they look. My only minor gripe is that I couldn't remove the grills from the tweeters, so I couldn't paint them.

As for whether the 1650s would have been any harder to install, not sure. Probably not, unless they are deeper than the P16s.

 

[MontyAndCruiser]

Answer a question, receive another!

Happen to have detail pics on how you mounted the tweeter? Lack of "easy" path for components is my biggest gripe with this truck so far. Your picture seems to make it look like it might be easy.

At the moment you've got me thinking the P1650s in the back, component version of P16/1650 in front, a 4 channel Class T amp stuffed somewhere, and see if i can stuff one of those shallow loaded power "under-seat" subs under a set, or back where the rear "woofer" thingy sits.

Was the model you used for the doors the P1675-S or P165-SI?

 

[Rainmn]

No pics of the install process, just the finished product. My definition of easy might be skewed based on experience....I was a car audio installer back in my younger years. (Somewhere around the time when these trucks were new)

The model I used for the fronts is just P16S. The nice thing about these is that you don't have to run additional wires into the doors or mount a crossover somewhere - it's built into the mid bass driver. I ran new wires anyway, since I think at least one of my oem wires was damaged somewhere.

To get the tweeters where I have them, the metal behind did need to be cut out. It was also a little tricky to get the tweeters to sit flush in the vinyl, since the door panels aren't flat in that spot.

 

[MontyAndCruiser]

But, basically something someone with a good selection of tools and free time could figure out? I've done a similar install on my Montero, but it was a bit easier in that it had tons of space for the mids already. I did have to get a little creative to stick the aftermarket tweets behind the oem tweeter grilles in the sail panel. Feels bad cutting up brand new tweeters, but at least it looks factory.

I've just never really hacked up door panels for speakers before. So i'm a LITTLE gun-shy, but also don't want to keep saddling my wife with the terrible stereo in the truck now. She sometimes drives my Montero so she doesn't have to listen to it.

 

[Rainmn]

With a little time and the tools, anyone could do it. The only thing I bought was a new holesaw for the tweeters - I think it was 1 3/4". I already had one, but it's sharpness was questionable at best.

One tip - when you use the holesaw on the door panels, start with the drill in reverse. That stops the blade from grabbing the vinyl and ripping it off. I drilled the pilot hole with a regular bit, then ran the holesaw in reverse to mark the hole, then finished the cut on the vinyl and foam with a razor blade. Then went back with the holesaw in forward to cut the plastic of the door panel.

On the rear speakers, I did make a spacer out of 1/4" MDF that I sandwiched between the sheet metal and door panel.

 

[MontyAndCruiser]

Gotcha. I have a ton of hole saws from various other things, so sounds like i'm covered there. Sounds like hole through everything, mount tweeter, and the tweeter grille/flange sandwiches the vinyl panel? Easy enough.

 

[Thesteelstring]

I made a video of the easy way to put the pioneers on the outside of the panel.
I used 6 1/2 on front and rear doors.
I plan on painting the grills later. Here is two YouTube videos of how to do it without the factory grills:
Video 1
Video 2

I just did this install. It was very simple. I reused the factory connectors. Thanks for the tutorial!

 

[Dragos80]

Sorry the second video on the rear speakers didn’t upload right. Here it is:

Just make sure from now on you only shoot your videos holding your camera horizontally.

 

[Kyle Wewe]

Been wanting to make a thread on this for a while but haven't gotten around to it.

It's really simple, just involves unplugging harness from factory amp and plugging in harness from H/U. You'll have to cut and solder some extensions for the H/U harness because the fac. amp input is located underneath the glove box.

Tomorrow I can post some pics, a lot easier than trying to explain it via text.

Did you ever post any pics—I’m talking this project this upcoming weekend

 

[MickeyB]

LOL....I will freely admit that the grill design played a bigger part in my speaker choice than it should have. I turned out to be really happy with the sound of the speakers, so all is good. I liked them enough that I ended up moving the P16s to the back doors and installing the component versions in the fronts. Also got around to painting the grills too, and I'm completely satisfied with how they look. My only minor gripe is that I couldn't remove the grills from the tweeters, so I couldn't paint them.

As for whether the 1650s would have been any harder to install, not sure. Probably not, unless they are deeper than the P16s.
View attachment 1661246 View attachment 1661247

Looking to do this upgrade. You have part numbers of the speakers you used?