'93 audio overhaul

[mtb1981]

I've been toying with my grand am for about five years replacing everything that breaks with better stuff and just generally toying with it to make it a bit nicer than it originally came. The one area that it needs a lot of help with was in the audio department, so after many iterations of equipment in and out of the car, I decided to show some pics of what I'm currently up to to make it sound better. I'll update this thread when I have interesting pics of unusual or more complicated mods.
-Mark

[mtb1981]

This might need a little explaining... I didnt like the midbass of the stock 4x6 speakers in the doors, so I got a good deal on some Polk DB650s and threw them in. Well, threw them in isnt exactly right. They are 6 1/2 speakers, so I had to make mounting plates out of some Lexan (very similar to plexiglass) that the place I work at gave to me. I looked at the 6 1/2 adapters on ebay, and then figured out how to make them myself. I ended up removing the stock speaker and cup from the door and placing it upside down on the sheet of lexan then traced around it with a sharpie marker and cut it out with a bandsaw. From there I took the mounting pattern from the db box and marked the hole size on the lexan, drilled a pilot hole, then cut that out by hand with a jigsaw. I did this twice, then put some weather stripping around the edges to seal it to the door, lined up the mounting holes and drilled and countersinked them, then installed. This is a picture of what they look like installed.

[mtb1981]

After I installed the speakers I realized that they made the doors rattle pretty badly, so I needed to decide what to do. I had helped a friend dynamat his doors and he said they sounded way better, so I gave it a shot. I got a deal on the stinger equivalent, their roadkill expert door kit for $50, and applied it with a roller I got a Lowe's for about $1. At the same time I realized that there were only cutouts for the 4x6 speaker and a seperate tweeter, so I took the door panel completely off and started drilling. The plan was to take a 1/16" bit and a lot of patience and drill out every freakin' hole on the panel to allow the sound to pass through the panel with as little resistance as possible. These are pics of the door panel mid drilling and after I was done with the drivers side door. On a side note, I absolutely love my DeWalt 18v drill, but that thing is heavy as hell. If you plan on doing this, use a light one because it really isnt that hard to get through the panel, but you end up holding the drill for a few hours solid.

[mtb1981]

Front of the drivers door after I drilled the holes.

[mtb1981]

backside of the same panel. You can see how many holes I had to drill.

[mtb1981]

After the Dynamat. I actually used Stinger RoadKill Expert because I got a good deal on it. It's actually worth the effort to rip your door apart and smooth it down. The midbass definately has a bit more kick than it used to and it seems to have smoothed the overall sound.

[mtb1981]

The amp rack to go in the drivers side rear corner of the trunk bolted to the supports. I'll update with more pictures when I get around to actually putting it in.

[mtb1981]

So I actually got it put in, then decided I wanted to change some stuff, so it will be comming out soon to re-route the 4 Gauge power and ground to the in line fuses through the board like the distribution block. Plus I picked up a cap pretty cheap, so I need to find a place to put that. Let me know what you guys think please.

[nineteen88ga]

Lookin pretty good. The only thing I'd chamge up is how you have the 4 gauge wire running to your fuse holders. I'd try to do something similar to how you did your D blocks if you can.

['96GAGT]

Glad to see I've got someone on here who lives within 10 Miles of me and has the same name as me and has a same GEN car as me!

['96GAGT]

I have a 96 Right now but I've got a 95 GT Coupe as well.

[mtb1981]

I was going to do the 4 ga wire, I got lazy and just threw it up. sorry.

Mark, glad to see someone else is from the same area. by the way, I just hit 170k on the odometer, beat that.

['96GAGT]

How does 169,478 sound to you? I'd say pretty damn close. But that's on my 95. My 96 has 100,907