Fitting Components

[eyedee]

Could all those who have fitted component speakers to the front doors of their FD's offer their advice due to experience on how to fit them, please? Ive wired the rest of the car and run the speaker cables from the amp at the rear to the footwells with about 1m spare wire to reach wherever it may have to go. But the door electrics are sent from the car to the door via a sealed gromit and the only way I can see of getting to the wires on the inside of the car is through a circular whole about 2" in diameter located in the metal wall of the vehicle. I cant get my pinkies through there! Any ideas?

:wave

[Archbish]

Use some very stiff wire to push through the grommet, and then attach the end of the speaker wire to the stiff wire and pull through.

[eyedee]

Cheers mate, that's what I thought I'd do. The holes are so small though that it is VERY difficult to get the wire through the door. I think I may have to drill a larger whole through the plastic.

Cheers

[colinrx7surrey]

atatch cable to a pice of coat hanger with sum tape push coat hanger wiree thru gromet hey presto--un clip wire from coat hanger pull coat hanger b k tru

[eyedee]

Had the door to pieces last night, and unfortunately, the coat hanger wire approach wont work. The channels through the plastic grommet in the door of my 92 FD3S are just big enough to run a coat hanger through - so the tape stuck to it approach makes it too thick. Just get some very stiff speaker cable about 1.5mm wide and pass that through. Takes some persuasion, but it does go.

Cheers :wave

[eyedee]

Where did the weekend go?!? I spent the vast majority of it outside fitting the Kenwood component speakers and wiring to the Rex. I guess I should be used to it by now, but the RX-7 never fails to amaze me how bloody complicated every, seemingly simple job turns out to be! Fitting components in a Megane = 3 hours. Fitting them in a Calibra = 4 hours. Fitting them to an RX-7 = 2 days!!! I am known to be a bit of a perfectionist, ensuring every wire runs at 90 degree angles, ensuring no two wires cross (where possible), bullet/forking/spading every connection with colour coded connectors etc. But still!

The speaker depth area is VERY shallow. It measures approx 7cm from the window when lowered fully and the door speaker cover. I had purchased some Kenwood 17cm Dual Mags with a 6cm mounting depth. After careful measurements, a 6mm deep mdf bracket and the removal of the plastic 'wall' directly behind the mid speaker, it just sat perfectly.

Then theres running the cables. I gave up running thrm through the gromet as the gromet is securrly sealed to the car and the release seemed to be on the inside of the car behind the inner firewall totally out of reach. So I finally had to drill a new whole and gromet that, to get the wires through the doors! Paid off though as I was able to run far thicker, better quality cable to the speaker.

The tweeters went up the A-pillar and the cross ovr boxes hung (securely) beheath the dash board on either side of the car. With all the rigging, cable running and design to make it all fit, it took ages. Now gotta change the head unit and see if they work!

:rolleyes: :rollin

[RobbieRX-7]

its all a bit late now,but its easy to take the sodding door off. (4X10mm bolts)..get a partner to hold the door ,knock the stainless pin upwards for the door stay, unplug the wiring harness and within 5 miniuts of starting- the door is of!f..doing it this way you can run as big as possible cable through the hole and even use some anti rust formula on the drilled holes,plus you can give it a good cleaning around the hinges etc. im gonna need to do this again so i can get a central locking motor to work in my drivers door.

[eyedee]

Hi mate, Yeah I did consider that. But the bolts were on so tight and you could tell from the paint that they hadnt come off in the past, so I decided to soldier on. Maybe that would have been the better option looking back, but you know what it's like. "It'll only take me 5 mins" - 2 hours later... :rolleyes:

[eyedee]

Having wired it all up last night, I can honestly say that if you are into music, buy a set of decent components!!! They sound fantastic in the REX once they are well placed (I found the tweeters at the top of the window pillar to work well). All that work is well worth it. :D :D :D