4 Speaker Installation - Factory Grills

[MrOffshore]

OK, there have been plenty of write ups for installing speakers, but I decided to do a detailed write-up, with pictures and most importantly, not use any dreaded aftermarket speaker grills...I wanted to remain as factory as possible. For the most part I believe I succeeded...I hope this helps some of you out that have been looking for a little more detail than has been readily available. I will post this installation over the next day or so...thanks for reading.
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<br>I chose to use the thin Pioneer TS-G1644R&nbsp;&nbsp; 6-1/2" Two-Way speakers...I paid $39/pair for them...not to have high expectations, but I put these in my other Land Cruiser and they sound fine...definitely a bump up from the stock speakers which if you've ever take a look at yours lately are probably deteriorated.&nbsp; Note that I simply cut the speakers wires from the factory speakers close the speaker leaving as much speaker wire as possible...this enabled me to utilize the same factory terminal connection.&nbsp; I soldered the speakers wires to the new speakers...definitely the only way to go.<br><br>&nbsp;

<br>This picture shows the factory speaker removed from the front door panel.&nbsp; I used a significant amount of FatMat throughout this entire truck...more about that in another post...I have over three weeks of constant nightly installations...this truck is quieter without the door panels than it was before I removed them (almost impossible to believe, but true).&nbsp; This picture also shows the window rail shown just to the right of the center of the hole...this is the trouble with the FZJ80 Land Cruiser...there simply isn't enough depth to install a high quality, large magnet speaker...but trust these Pioneers sound fine unless you're a true audiophile.&nbsp; My main concern was to retain an completely factory look...so I didn't want aftermarket grills sticking off the doors.&nbsp; If you notice on your Land Cruiser when the door is closed the factory speaker grill is right up against the side of the dash, so it's even a tight fit for speakers surface mounted to the door panel...be careful what you choose if you're going that route.<br><br><br>This picture shows the new Pioneer speaker simply sitting in the speaker hole...the magnet is holding the back of the speaker against the window rail so that I can place a piece of blue painters tape on the door marking the mounting holes that I am going to use.&nbsp; The speaker is too deep and too large of diameter to fit into the recessed area of the factory speaker location, so I am going to modify the door panel slightly to secure the speaker...you will see why I am marking the mounting holes with the tape in the next post.<br>

 

[MrOffshore]

speaker install continued


After marking the mounting holes with the painters tape, pull the speaker off the window rail and then continue the tape down into the recessed area shown...this is marking where you're going to be cutting.


I used a Dremel with a cutoff wheel to simply cut a line along each side of the blue painters tape...making sure to cut all the way up through the curved area of the recessed area.


This image shows the two cuts per piece of tape, one on each side...the tape is removed and there are 8 total cuts for each speaker.

 

[MAINEFJ40]

Nice write up do far. Subscribed.. looking forward to similar mods down the road

Sent from my battery sucking HTC using IH8MUD

 

[MrOffshore]

Speaker install cont.


Now you're going to need to take a pair of channel locks and flatten out the tabs that you've created by cutting the slits in the door panel. Just try to make them as flat and even as the main door panel...as shown in the image.


Now...the tabs are going to be too long to install the speakers...so they need to be cut down...you can determine how short to cut them by using the cut out template that comes with the speakers (on the box itself)...holding it up you will see how short to make them the tabs so that there is enough room to screw the speakers to it, but not have a bunch of excess that's going to conflict with the speaker itself. I market it with tape and then held the template back up again, as long as I could see the blue tape in the mounting holes of the template I was OK...again, just making sure not to have too much tab remaining. Remember, when it doubt leave too much...you can always cut more out, but adding it back is a major job and time consuming.


This picture shows the paper template sitting under the speaker.
In this case you're trying to move the mounting holes as far out as possible...so I used the furthest out mounting points which aren't actually circular holes, rather they're horseshoe shaped mounting points...you can see the blue magic marker points on the template.

This is also a good time to prime the bare metal that you've left behind after cutting the metal...even though this is on the interior door panel, trust me, water can get to this point and create problems on bare metal.

Once the speaker is mounted (which I missed the shot of) you will see that the door panel will NOT fit back over the speaker properly...don't freak out, this is supposed to happen. You're going to need to make the hole in the interior door panel slightly bigger. This is because the speaker is not recessed down into the factory provided mounting point. The speaker is now surface mounted against the steel door panel...this is not a difficult fix.

 

[MrOffshore]

This image shows the shortened tab that I cut down to mount the speaker to...it also shows it already painted so that it won't rust. This image is a bit deceiving, because the tab looks like it is still curved, but it is actually bent out straight and flat.


This is an interesting image...I hope it makes sense to you and it may be the first time it's been captured on film (not to unlike Sasquatch)...this is INSIDE the door cavity....looking at the speaker up against the window rail...WOW, this shows just how tight it is and how important it is that you bend the tabs out to create the proper spacing. Amazingly, this door cavity is much larger than you might think...but the engineers didn't design the window track to stay away from the inside of the door panel allowing adequate room for a nice set of speakers. What I believe could have been more easily addressed by the window engineers became a problem for the audio speaker engineers...too bad for us later as the factory speakers are weak on the best day for what these trucks cost when new. The rail in this image is the vertical line and if you look closely you can see the speaker magnet and how it is backed up against the window rail.


OK, this is the back of the interior door panel...this is the hole that is going to be too small...forcing the door panel (pictured) to hit the speaker...not allowing it to lay flat and effecting the performance of the speaker. The speaker is slightly larger than this hole. I took my handy Dremel with a round sanding drum and carefully used it to enlarge the hole a little bit at a time. You can use your speaker template to mark the general size you need...but again, it's better to remove too little than too much because fixing this one after taking away too much material is a real problem. You can remove a little material at a time and test fit the door panel over the speaker.

 

[MrOffshore]

This image shows the shortened tab that I cut down to mount the speaker to...it also shows it already painted so that it won't rust. This image is a bit deceiving, because the tab looks like it is still curved, but it is actually bent out straight and flat.


This is an interesting image...I hope it makes sense to you and it may be the first time it's been captured on film (not to unlike Sasquatch)...this is INSIDE the door cavity....looking at the speaker up against the window rail...WOW, this shows just how tight it is and how important it is that you bend the tabs out to create the proper spacing. Amazingly, this door cavity is much larger than you might think...but the engineers didn't design the window track to stay away from the inside of the door panel allowing adequate room for a nice set of speakers. What I believe could have been more easily addressed by the window engineers became a problem for the audio speaker engineers...too bad for us later as the factory speakers are weak on the best day for what these trucks cost when new. The rail in this image is the vertical line and if you look closely you can see the speaker magnet and how it is backed up against the window rail.


OK, this is the back of the interior door panel...this is the hole that is going to be too small...forcing the door panel (pictured) to hit the speaker...not allowing it to lay flat and effecting the performance of the speaker. The speaker is slightly larger than this hole. I took my handy Dremel with a round sanding drum and carefully used it to enlarge the hole a little bit at a time. You can use your speaker template to mark the general size you need...but again, it's better to remove too little than too much because fixing this one after taking away too much material is a real problem. You can remove a little material at a time and test fit the door panel over the speaker.

 

[akarilo]

Nice write up. I've been meaning to get around to replacing the "buzzed" factory speakers. Maybe this thread will provide the motivation.

 

[MrOffshore]

Well...this is actually getting very aggravating...this is the third time I have had to post this set and write it out, I keep hitting some button on my laptop and losing the post!! This shows the back of the door panel and the speaker hole that has to be enlarged. Again...DO NOT remove too much material...doing so will not be easy to repair. Remove a little bit at a time and test fit the panel. The Dremel removes it fairly quickly and you want to make certain you're retaining the circle shape. You can use the speaker template to determine the basic amount of material that needs to be removed, but take just a little bit at a time. Also, do not remove so much material that the cutouts for the speaker mounts are gone...that would be too much. Removing the speaker grills before you do this is not really easy...but if you're careful it's not too difficult. Take a pair of needle nose pliers and get a grip on the retaining spring washer...wiggling it around will weaken the plastic tabs, so carefully unscrew it with a slight pulling pressure. Note, the items is not threaded, but it will eventually come off. I don't know if there's a tool made especially for this, but I would love to have one if there is. Breaking off the plastic speaker mounting tab is not good, but also, not the end of the world...you can find a small screw and matching washer and screw it into the hollow tab...the tough part is finding the right size screw and washer that will hold the speaker in place...I had it happen and was fortunate to have a screw and washer on hand to solve the problem.


After test fitting the panel numerous times you will eventually have good clearance around the speaker without interference. Remember, not too much, just enough, this is finesse job so take it easy. I trimmed back the excess vinyl as well so it would dampen the speaker performance.


This shows the speaker grill in place and the door panel installed. Please note, that even though the hole you cut is allowing the speaker room to function, the panel will still be tight and might bulge just a bit near the speakers...the key is too simply keep the panel off the speaker. Trust me when it's installed you won't notice any slight bulging if there is any...enough fitting and this won't be an issue though. If you're going to be removing and test fitting the door panel repeatedly, it's a good idea to have the proper door panel puller that keeps you from damaging the door panel or plastic mounting tabs.

 

[MrOffshore]

Rear Speakers


Remember, I explained to solder each speaker wire...well, to make certain you don't damage the backside of the speaker with hot solder, put a piece of Gorilla Tape or Duct Tape underneath your work area, as shown here with the black tape.


This is the rear door panel...hope you're admiring all the FatMat...I did the inside of the door cavity...both sides! So there are three layers on each door, the backside of the exterior skin, the backside of the interior skin and the interior skin....NO noise...NO vibrations. Well, if you look at this image you're going to notice that the hole the speaker is a bit different. I used the Dremel and cutoff wheel to remove the extra material. There's not easy way to say what to remove other than the recessed material or what you don't see in this image.

I'm going to be mounting the same speakers in this door and they will be behind factory speaker grills...the only exception is that they are going to be a set of front speaker grills...the factory rear speaker grills are too small. So you're going to need to buy a second set of FRONT speaker grills either new or used. I paid $15 each from the great people at Land Cruiser Parts. Much of what I did on the front will be the same here, but I will detail it because there are some important differences.


Once you have the recessed material cut out of the factory speaker positions you will tape a piece of sturdy paper or cardboard to the door panel, covering the hole where the speaker mounts. We're doing this because we need to make certain we're going to be mounting the speaker perfectly centered with the existing hole (which we will also need to increase the size of) in the interior door panel.

 

[MrOffshore]

Rear Speakers continued


Place the interior door panel up against the paper...it's worth noting that you want the door panel completely in position, so go ahead and make certain you're at least secured enough that your door panel is placing the speaker hole where it will be when completely installed...this is important for centering the speaker in the cavity correctly.


Now take a marker and trace the hole onto the paper.


Remove the door panel...keep the paper in place.

 

[MrOffshore]

rear speaker install contd.


really losing my patience here...not sure what freaking key I am hitting on my keyboard, but again, this is the fourth attempt at this post after writing it out fully with pictures, etc only to lose it. Hope this is proving worthwhile, because right now I am at my whits ends with this thing....laptop keyboards suck! Take the speaker template and hold it up centered on the circle you've drawn and draw the slightly larger circle. Also you're going to feel around so that you're going to be able to make certain that you're mounting screws are hitting metal. So you want to make certain that you're marking your mounting holes as well.


take a utility blade and cut out your circle. this is where a heavier paper comes in handy as it will be easier to cut with a sharp blade...something too think will be difficult to cut.


You know where your mounting holes are going to be and just like the front speakers you want to mark them with tape so that you can but the slits and bend the tabs out, identically to the front speakers. This image shows the tabs cut and bent out...this is where you're going to mount the speakers. Note that in my case, only the two top holes needed to have the tabs bent out...the bottom two were already on the flat area and were good to go!

 

[MrOffshore]

rear speaker install contd.


here's the speaker mounted...not unlike the front speakers I am mounted into the actual holes inside of the perimeter of the speaker. Just like the front speakers, you're going to need to fit the door panel the same way by enlarging the speaker hole...keep in mind you're now mounting a set of front speaker grills...the factory rear grills will be too small. One nice thing I noticed was that the there is a set of mounting holes on the paper template that comes with the speakers that matches the grill cover mounting tabs...this is helpful for marking them on the backside of the door panel before shaving away too much material. I can't emphasize enough you want to make certain that you don't remove too much material...so test fit often and take your time. Don't forget to paint the bare metal you created when you cut the door panels!


This image shows the door panel being test fit before any shaving was done...you can see that the door panel hits the speaker and would effect speaker performance...so again, remove material so that it allows the speaker to perform.


This is completed and all in place...great factory look and unless you know what you're looking for you can't tell that the grills are from the fronts and not the smaller factory rear grills.

I hope this was helpful. I will state that even with the factory head unit these speakers are an improvement, but the overall Toyota stereo system is about a 2 on a 10 scale...actually an embarrassment for what these trucks cost new. These speakers perform very well with a nicer head unit. I am installing a Kenwood AM/FM/CD/DVD/Navigation/Sirius system plus a Kenwood subwoofer...I might do a write up on it as well...but trust that posting this was a nightmare with as many times as my post was deleted after almost completing it. Good luck with your install and trust that as a newby this was one of the more difficult tasks to get really good information on...this post is proof that you can put 6-1/2 speakers front and rear with factory grills! I almost tried a set of Polks but was given different information from different vendors on the actual depth of the speaker...I think they would have likely sounded better than they budget Pioneers...maybe in a month or two as I think swapping out speakers after most of the main work is done would make it much easier.

 

[steffan]

Very nice - great pics!

 

[iptman]

As many times as this topic comes up this thread should be in the FAQ.

 

[Grench]

More than one way to skin that cat?

I like what you did on the door panel, but why didn't you just use a spacer to move the speaker out that 1/4" instead of cutting metal?

 

[toycruiser]

Nice Job! Thanks for the write up

 

[MrOffshore]

More than one way to skin that cat?

I like what you did on the door panel, but why didn't you just use a spacer to move the speaker out that 1/4" instead of cutting metal?

I gave thought to using a nylon spacer and I believe that would work saving some time. I found that by using the tabs I was able to push the speaker in that last little bit up against the window rail. Doing it again I may opt for the spacer and save some time though. Thanks for posting the option!

 

[Itchy Sides]

Great write-up! Subscribed and added to the growing and already lengthy "to-do" list. Thanks!

 

[jdeitch]

Nice Job! Thanks for the write up

X2 What they said.

 

[doc W]

This is one of the best write ups I have seen! Great work. X3 add to FAQ.