I'd like to cut holes in my kickpanels and put my own speakers in them, rather than buy a new kickpanel/speaker setup for $129/ea. My dad says no-go on this though, because something like the sheet metal will react with magnets in the speaker (since the end of the speaker will pretty much be surrounded by the inner body of the car), and that's why I have to get the 'special kickpanel/speaker set-up'. Can anyone comment on this? Thanks.

Although if you were to cut indeed the metal of the car would react to the speaker but it shouldn't be sufficient to damage the speaker or cause sound problems. Look at most door speakers in any car they are generally butted against window hardware, etc. but I wouldn't do it just to keep the car original. Kick panels are not the hard to build but take a little time. I get my general shape w/ chicken wire then cover w/fiberglass and harden it. Finish them w/ bondo and cover them with the material that matches your interior. I own a car audio company in KC. Reply if you need more info.

I did this on my car.
Put 6" 160w round speakers in there.
They work fine. Had to cut some sheet metal behind the kick panel on the 69.
The small amount of sheet metal will not effect the perminant magnet of the speaker.

I believe the factory kickpanel speakers were just put in a cutout. I think they were 4x6's. I don't think it would be a problem.

OPG has kick panel speakers, I have em smile.gif

you might consider putting them in the doorpanel instead. They would be easier to fab new and save the originals. I don't know about 71s, but mine was really tight between parking brake and the metal plate.

I cut mine, cause I was already so far past originality I didn't car, here is a pic, if I can get it too work. I had to grind a little extra room on both sides but I think they looks good. The only thing I don't like is that in the position they are in you don't get a lot of direct sound, its more like filler sound to deepen the sound of other speakers.
http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0UwDYAvMYbi2SSVceYT1QhlramxnhM*rTL0K51jVpFSjaLf5eF Zb2EY9oRNol5Zb03CeFW8A0R4bGh3*RdJLkpdtTfwykkJey!mG NFHDOyL!nFds05vsgQzgq9MM4uwL7/inside%20of%20car.jpg?dc=4675464937317073036 http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0RAAAAAEViN!SSVceYT1QhhL8SwsZF3e6gaBjOlyla4MYroBUe jr95QiXIMw6dfKNtkEEMnXjGPJng6M2xvUDLGGOWV41tZL7HyK ANx*wbe0/inside.jpg?dc=4675464937320450153
The bottom pic shows the little crossbar I cut out to fit the 6's in the panel, mine were deep speakers so if yours are flatter you may not need to do it.

I bought the kick panel speakers for my car and the panels look great BUT the speakers that come with them went in the trash about a week after I put them in. ! :mad: They are pure junk - even for a light weight system with no amp.

I bought a pair of Blaupaunt 6" and installed them. I had to mod it a little to get them right but no cutting on the car and they sound great.

If you can get the panels without the speakers do that and buy your own. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Hope this helps !

Tom

Personally if you can get the panels with no speakers installed, get them. Thats what im waiting for until I buy them. Last thing I want is to pay for some crappy speakers when I just want to rip them out and put in my own anyway.

The sheetmetal won't effect the speakers or magnets.

Advantage of custom or pre-made kick panels:
Not messing up an original interior piece (reverseable).
Driver (speaker) is (or can be) angled up into passenger compartment where your ears are.
Disadvantage:
Cost & Labor.

Whatever you do there are several key items to get good sound.
The driver FIRMLY attached to the surface, without warping or distorting the speaker frame.
The "cavity" or air space behind the driver is sealed as well as possible - creating a cabinet - for good bass response.
The high frequency drivers (tweeters) angled towards your ears if possible - upper frequencies are "directional" - your ears are not mounted on your ankles!

There are a zillion tricks to get a car to sound good, but these are some of the unbreachable basics.

One thing you may be able to try is a pair of much thinner speakers to mount on top of the existing kick panels. I've got a pair in another project car (Not a Chevelle, but actually an old Honda ....is that acceptable on this board smile.gif )that are about 3/4 inch thick, but around 5" in diameter. I haven't done much research into different speakers out there, but maybe someone still makes a similar size speaker. Here's a picture of the ones I have mounted on the headliner:

http://web.njit.edu/~jjj8778/civic/Parts/Overhead%20Speakers.jpg

What you see in front of the headliner is the whole speaker and housing, I didn't cut into the headliner at all. I haven't hooked them up yet, so I can't vouch for sound quality, but they would be much easier to tuck somewhere than a larger, thicker speaker.