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DIY Rear Speaker Grills for a formerly Bose equpped FD
Just sharing my solution to rear speaker grills. As mentioned in this thread, I had to add an audio system to my '93 FD which was originally a touring model equipped with the Bose system. https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...ed-fd-1140400/
Since I couldn't find any used non-Bose FD rear speaker grills, nor was I too keen on paying stupid money for a used pair, I opted to make my own. Started with the existing cubby piece that was in my formerly Bose equipped FD. So I traced a line around the circumference of the cubby trim, and started cutting along the line with one of those oscillating multi-tools with an appropriate plastic cutting blade. What I was left with was the oval rings with the all the factory clips still intact.
To cover them, I found this speaker grill fabric on Amazon.
Way more fabric than I needed to do the job for only $9.99. The fabric is pretty stretchy, looks nice and covers well. I painted the cut tan cubby rings black so the tan wouldn't show thru the fabric. To install the fabric to the cubby rings I just used a hot melt glue gun and a screwdriver. Apply the glue on the backside in the channel along the circumference of the ring, about 1/4" worth at a time and just use a screwdriver to stretch the fabric into the channel, gluing it in. Work your way around until done, cutting away the excess fabric with a razor blade. Pictures below should give an idea how it's done:
Backsides of the grills; top is before installing the speaker grill fabric, bottom is after Face sides of speaker grills; left one is before fabric was installed, right is after Done & installed in car
That turned out really nice, Pete! That's a great way to solve the problem.
It's just not worth paying big bucks for the rear grills when you NEVER see them. You may catch it out of the corner of your eye, you just need something not terrible there.
I guess the only downside is if you have something sitting on the bin, it could slide into the speaker and damage it. The stock grill is all plastic so it protects the speaker. But, for the price difference, whatever.
I'm not too worried about cargo damaging my speakers. The only stuff I'd put back there is maybe a small duffel bag or back pack, which are soft and big enough so if they did hit, they would likely be blocked by the grill's ring. That speaker grill fabric itself is pretty strong, and once you stretch it over the ring & glue it like I did, it gets as tight as a drum skin. The fabric also resists cutting & abrasion, as I found out while trying to trim the excess with a razor blade - it doesn't cut easily, and I had to switch to a fresh blade to get the job done. So unless I put something sharp & pointy back there, the odds of something penetrating a speaker are slim.
One thing I'm concerned about though is how well this fabric stands up to sun/UV without color fading, or the high temps inside the car when it's closed up and parked outside on a hot summer day. Might not be a problem with my car normally being garaged, time will tell.
01-21-20, 03:24 PM
