Did you make those 6x9 speaker door pods? I really want some but not sure how to tackle building them from scratch.
I did. They’re made from a number of layers of particle board that I glued and screwed together, wrapped with vinyl, and screwed into the inner door panel. If I were to do it again, I’d do a better job matching the contours of the door panel to pull them forward a couple of inches. They’re Kenwood 4-ways and are a bit on the deep side at almost 4” but don’t significantly intrude on knee room. I have a matching pair in the side walls behind the doors and some Kenwood 2-ways the factory location with bass blockers wired in, all running through a small amp to balance the system. With the head unit I’m about $400 in on my sound system and I think it’s worth every penny, and as I tell the mrs, I always could’ve spent a whole lot more.
Here’s a quick primer:
Take a sheet of cardboard and lay out the shape you want as the base. This will be your template for the first layer. I went with a sort of egg shape.
Cut the first layer to your template, then lay out the next layer the same way, tapering your layers if you want. Continue in this manner until the desired thickness is reached, then cut out the centers of each layer to the template for the speaker cutout. Drill some pilot holes in each layer, use a quality waterproof woodglue (Titebond 3) and screw the panels together.
Once you have the layers firmly together, smooth the layers on a stationary belt sander or with a hand rasp if you don’t have a good reason to have one (I’m sure you can think of dozens of uses for a stationary sander if needing to justify a purchase).
After the outer surface is smooth, there are a number of ways to finish the pod. Wrapping with vinyl cloth is a quick and easy way to to it, primering and painting the particle board itself is another good way to go, a heat shrink vinyl wrap could be nice, be creative. To wrap with Vinyl cloth you’ll need a staple gun and 3M 90 spray adhesive. Play with the vinyl to figure out how you want it to lay and where your seam will be, then staple the edge down, spray the adhesive on the pod and the back of the vinyl, wait a few minutes and stretch the vinyl around the pod. Fold the loose edge under and staple it down. Trim the pod and pull and press the vinyl anywhere that it’s still loose, folding the edge over the mounting side. Then pull your door panels, mark where your pass through hole will be and cut it out. Mount the pods to the doors with plenty of pan head screws, run the wires, remount your inner door panel, attach wiring and mount the speakers in the pods and away you go