I see that our 5th gen w/ Bose sound uses 5.25" rear door speakers. I'm not too keen on speakers in the rear door (listening to the radio through the Bose system, I can't hear the rears as well as the fronts)... and I really liked the 6.5" rear deck speakers in my old Mazda.

I'm interested in cutting 6.5" speaker holes in my rear deck and leaving the rear door speakers dormant. I'm thinking of removing the child seat latches (and cutting out the carpet & sheet metal around that area). On an initial look it seems this is doable--the sheet metal underneath appears flat around that area. All I have as far as tools is a dremel. (5-35K RPM AC-powered, got some cutting wheels and something that looks like a drill bit which I've used to cut metal before...)
Has anyone ever tried this? Does it sound doable? Should I remove the rear deck before attempting it... it doesn't look like I'll have much room to work, but if I have to I could buy the Flex-shaft for my dremel and use that to help with the tight spaces.

I haven't done anything yet towards the new system. I plan on replacing the front speakers, installing new speaker wire in the process, running power to the trunk, operating a 4-ch amp for the interior speakers and a 2-ch amp bridged for my single 10" subwoofer, using my Alpine CDA-9813 with only its preouts for sound output. The rear speakers will obviously be in the rear deck with speaker wire routed over to the amp location. I'll also be mounting both amps onto a piece of wood or plexiglass... still thinking of how to lay that out (maybe even make shelves so one amp's on top of the other? that'd save a lot of space...)

 

Well, to add--I haven't done anything physical to the existing system yet. I have ordered everything I need for installing the new system (wiring/headunit installation kit/etc., new set of speakers for the rear), so the idea I'm proposing is already committed... I'd rather cut the speaker holes myself but I'd get it done professionally if it's prohibitive for me. I doubt it is though... I've cut metal with a dremel before.

 

Anyone have any advice? I've never cut speaker holes before

 

i had the same plan for a long time now.
The amp and the 6x9s i want to put in, have been in my garage for over 4 months.

I will cut the child restraint latched out and leave the middle one in. My problem is cutting through the sheet metal. It doesnt look so easy. I just gont done messing around with my dremel, (i have all the parts) and I used the saw blade thing, and that would take centuries.

What have you used to cut through the sheet metal before?

 

Welp, I just finished it.
Took me like ****ing 7 hours to do as it's the first time I've done anything like that.
The jigsaw I bought at Walmart was useless, damned blade kept slipping out. Instead I went through 3 fiber-reinforced Dremel cutting wheels cutting it all using my Dremel. It was messy, and it was a *****, and I had to take the entire rear deck apart (had to get the carpeted trim off), but it was worth it. The speakers are mounted and tightened down and they look great.

So far I have the amp power feed run through the firewall, and the rear speakers in place. Now I need to get the front speakers in place (and run new speaker wire to the doors), and then lay the rest of the wiring/install the headunit, which will be the easy part of the install :-P