Hey folks. Im getting ready for my first comp (a biggie!) and am at the point where I've taken two days off work/school to throw together what I can. When I securied my kicks origionally, just getting them in there was such a PITA that I wasnt' thinking about covering them, and they're DIY so no stock grills fit these...sooooo today my first project has been kick panel covers on the quick...criteria...cover/protect the speakers, not stand out too much (I may go back and uncarpet and vinyl them later, but thats a one day project...one day I don't have right now!) and QUICK. So here we go.

Here's pics without covers....

 

So, no grilles fit well on these. I got the parts express 8" cheapo grill that fits right on top of the outside diamerter of the PR170MO




Covered the metal with cloth so it didn't look cheap n waffley.

 

Cut out MDF covers to the kicks. Don't know what happened to the pics of this, but the hole for the girlle is largely countersunk so the parts express grill can fit up ibehind the hole as you see it now.... in between the speaker and the wood.

 

to get the form to not totally clash with the direction of the door, I (after taping it up) stapled grill cloth to the baffle, and held the other end of the grill cloth to the metal protrusion of the car.



Pic of most of it taped off on the passenger side...

 

Taped off and with grill cloth connecting kick cover to metal curve, broke out the fiberglass. Let it cure, and put another layer of glass matover the curved grill cloth part to give it some gumption incase someone kicks it.

Took it out and a lil trim and this is what i have...



One thing I forgot to mention earlier, after I made the wood part of the kick cover, I used grill fasteners from parts express(used in hom audio) after drilling a hole through the kick and the kick cover in the corresponding spot, i just attached the different parts of the grill fastener. You can see the grill fastener here. It goes into a hole with the plastic piece in it and keeps everything fitting snug...

 

Both covers at this stage, on different sides, which believe it or not is just about done No time to sand sand sand to vinyl it now.

 

What next...uhhh cover them with carpet. Hot glue the grilles in there (thought they fit pretty snug without it) and attach. Here we go. Not the pretties things in the world, but accomplished my goals...doesn't jump out at you or get in the way, protects the speaker, and has taken me essentially a morning to do..

 

FYI yes I'm going to vacuum and yes I have Floor mats to cover some stuff up. What to do next? sooo much to do!!!!!!!

 

Looks interesting.

 

They look awesome!! You need carpet as bad as I do

 

Nice tutorial Steve. Good luck!

 

Horns ready to mount.



Wrap em in grille cloth first.





Gonna mount them differently than before to try to gain a little more width. Cut shorter so they draw a lil less attention.

 

Looks good Steve. Time for a detailing

 

Very interesting. Nice work.

 

nice! nice work. i really need to gather up some ***** and try FBing.

 

I was under the impression that kicks were supposed to be somewhat aimed toward the driver
Let us know how it turns out.

 

Most people you see with kicks have them angled. The big center console combined with having horns makes that not the most important thing in my install. I' had been using these locations with success before building the covers. Should be a lil better now cause i'm moving the horns back.

In a sense, I'm mimmicking Mic Wallaces BMW install (http://www.imagedynamicsusa.com/gall...2_itemId=6864), and his speakers (though way less pathlength differences than mine and horns way further back) are like mine fully off axis pointing towards the center of the car.

 

Horns remounted much stealthier and smaller than last time, angled out a little bit in search of the wider soundstage...(definately a little wider than before ...and further back)





Quicky battery cover...used plexi to cover the positive battery covers, then attached my circuit breaker securely to that. Had to even tape up the end of the connectors that are attaced to the circuit breaker. Not pretty, but this should get me all of my points ( I Think 5 for having everyhting positive covered and 5 for everything secure). There's no deduction for electrical tape I'm gonna try to bum 6" to a foot of 0 guage to upgrade the ground at the comp, but the quick little run of 4 will work temporarily.

 

Quicky IASCA photo log book to document wiring, terminations and basic stuff like that....



Coming down home stretch...leave in 6 hours with a doctors appt in the middle and have to pretty up my trunk as quick as I can. Other cleaning and stuffing my doors with polyfil will be tonite in between tuning sessions.

 

Good luck Steve!

 

buena suerte.

 

great job!!