Attaching photos
How To: Replace 6.5" Front Speakers (1st Gen)
The front speakers are in the door, and are 6.5" mid range woofers. There is a tweeter for the high sounds, which is located in the A-Pillar by the dash. This means you want to install 6.5" COMPONENT speakers. The COAXIAL speakers you may see have the tweeter built into the 6.5" speaker cone, and you don't want these. Also to note, is that with any door mounted speakers, you will want shallow speakers so the rear of the speaker doesn't hit the window glass when it rolls down. Also, most after market speakers don't bolt up with the holes in the door. You can by some cheap adapters, but the easiest and cheapest (and best way to guarantee fitment and window clearance, and to avoid hacking into your wire harness) is to use the stock speaker, gut it, and create the adapter, while still using the stock harness connectors. This is what I am describing to you today. Now that the intro is out of the way, let's get on with it:
1) Remove the door panel. I didn't take photos of this, but it is straight forward. Remove the trim piece around the door open latch (pull straight out). Remove the Phillips screw in the door pull/handle (it is vertical in the little cubbie). Pry up the trim pieces where the arm rest is. Remove the additional Phillips screws around where the door pull is. Unplug any harness for the window/lock switches. Pry out the circle push clip that is behind the side view mirror. Carefully pry the door panel away from the metal door, and lift up to unhook it from the base of the window sill.
2) Remove the stock speaker by unplugging the wire harness, and removing the three Phillips screws. Put it on your bench next to your new 6.5" component speaker.
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3) Take a razor blade and cut along side the outer edge of the stock speaker. Rip out the stock woofer cone to reveal the ribs and wires underneath.
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4) Take some pliers to the ribs (grab and twist) to cut the middle of the speaker. I find needle nose pliers are good for the initial breaking of the ribs, but wire cutters are good for cleaning up the remaining burrs on the inside of the ring.
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5) Next, take note of the two metal connectors. This is what you need to connect your new speaker too. I snipped off the "L" shaped bend with wire cutters to make it a straight tab. This is great for using a regular female spade connector on!
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6) Connect the speaker wire (that should have come with your speakers) to your new speaker. Trim the wires down and crimp on some female spade connectors. This will connect to the new tab inside the ring.
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7) Match up the polarity from the wire harness connector to figure out which tab is positive and which one is negative. Match the tab to the new speaker. Per the FSM:
Driver Side Positive: "L" ??? I don't remember what color mine actually was...but I used whichever wire was not the Black/White negative wire.
Driver Side Negative: Black/White
Passenger Side Positive: Brown
Passenger Side Negative: Black / Red
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8) Connect your new speaker to the tabs (bend them a bit if needed to direct them away from the magnet).
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9) Attach your new speaker to the plastic ring. I used a 1/8" drill bit to drill three holes in the outer plastic ring that lined up with the new speaker holes. I then used trim screws (with a wide flange) to hold the new speaker to the outer edge of the plastic ring. The plastic is soft enough to let the screw cut threads. Don't over-tighten.
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10) You now have a new speaker mounted and connected to the stock speaker ring. You can now bolt it straight back to the door with the stock mounting locations. You also have the speaker connected to the stock connector, so you can plug the wire harness back in very easily. Additionally, the stock speaker ring acts as a spacer, which gives you that extra clearance from the window.
11) Test your sound in the speaker. Put the door panel back on.
12) Be Jamming.
I used Rockford Fosgate R 165S speakers. They have a mounting depth of ~2 inches, and also come with tweeters (as a COMPONENT set should). I did not install the tweeters, though.
1) Remove the door panel. I didn't take photos of this, but it is straight forward. Remove the trim piece around the door open latch (pull straight out). Remove the Phillips screw in the door pull/handle (it is vertical in the little cubbie). Pry up the trim pieces where the arm rest is. Remove the additional Phillips screws around where the door pull is. Unplug any harness for the window/lock switches. Pry out the circle push clip that is behind the side view mirror. Carefully pry the door panel away from the metal door, and lift up to unhook it from the base of the window sill.
2) Remove the stock speaker by unplugging the wire harness, and removing the three Phillips screws. Put it on your bench next to your new 6.5" component speaker.
3) Take a razor blade and cut along side the outer edge of the stock speaker. Rip out the stock woofer cone to reveal the ribs and wires underneath.
4) Take some pliers to the ribs (grab and twist) to cut the middle of the speaker. I find needle nose pliers are good for the initial breaking of the ribs, but wire cutters are good for cleaning up the remaining burrs on the inside of the ring.
5) Next, take note of the two metal connectors. This is what you need to connect your new speaker too. I snipped off the "L" shaped bend with wire cutters to make it a straight tab. This is great for using a regular female spade connector on!
6) Connect the speaker wire (that should have come with your speakers) to your new speaker. Trim the wires down and crimp on some female spade connectors. This will connect to the new tab inside the ring.
7) Match up the polarity from the wire harness connector to figure out which tab is positive and which one is negative. Match the tab to the new speaker. Per the FSM:
Driver Side Positive: "L" ??? I don't remember what color mine actually was...but I used whichever wire was not the Black/White negative wire.
Driver Side Negative: Black/White
Passenger Side Positive: Brown
Passenger Side Negative: Black / Red
8) Connect your new speaker to the tabs (bend them a bit if needed to direct them away from the magnet).
9) Attach your new speaker to the plastic ring. I used a 1/8" drill bit to drill three holes in the outer plastic ring that lined up with the new speaker holes. I then used trim screws (with a wide flange) to hold the new speaker to the outer edge of the plastic ring. The plastic is soft enough to let the screw cut threads. Don't over-tighten.
10) You now have a new speaker mounted and connected to the stock speaker ring. You can now bolt it straight back to the door with the stock mounting locations. You also have the speaker connected to the stock connector, so you can plug the wire harness back in very easily. Additionally, the stock speaker ring acts as a spacer, which gives you that extra clearance from the window.
11) Test your sound in the speaker. Put the door panel back on.
12) Be Jamming.
I used Rockford Fosgate R 165S speakers. They have a mounting depth of ~2 inches, and also come with tweeters (as a COMPONENT set should). I did not install the tweeters, though.
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