It makes sense though. Attention to detail and quality pieces during the install is what makes or break the entire setup.
It makes sense though. Attention to detail and quality pieces during the install is what makes or break the entire setup.
Are you not entertained?!?!
Those turned out great!
Nicely done! Wish I'd gone that route with those inserts. I used what I had in the hardware bin so used T-nuts. Yours looks much cleaner with inserts flushed in.
I've been working on this on/off here and there including some redo work.
Since I will be installing a continous blanket of MLV/CCF under the door panel trim, I had to remove these reinforcement blocks from the door panel. These blocks basically put pressure on the molded plugs which covered the large openings to keep them in place in the inner door skin. They broke the plane of the inner door skin.
I planned on installing galv steel sheet over the molded factory hole plugs and filling the void in between with some expanding foam to reinforce them and stop them from vibrating. Silicone caulk was used to seal the plugs. Then I lined the surface with plastic grocery bags so as to be able to remove the foam from the plugs in the future if needed and to keep the surrounding area clean. Fabbed up some galv steel covers and drilled holes in them as injection ports for the expanding foam. Screwed them on with stainless sheet metal screws into pre-drilled & prime/painted holes.
Grocery bag lining
Galv sheet installed and expanding foam injected into voids
Now this all seamed like a good idea but it ended up not working like I had hoped.
The void was so air tight that the expanding foam never fully expanded or cured even after 4 days of waiting... and YES I shook the can well before application.
When I pulled off the galv sheets I was left with a gooey mess. Thankfully it removed easily (because of the grocery bags) from the molded plugs but I could not salvage the galv sheet so that part had to be redone.
Last edited by Truthunter; 03-27-2017 at 11:02 AM.
Take TWO
Even though it is hard to see in the photos, the surface that molded plugs attach to have multiple compound curves. I decided to use a combination of different sized adhesive foam weather stripping and OCF blocks (cut from window a/c sealing kit) to take up the void between the molded hole plugs and galv sheet covers.
I cut new galv steel covers & adjusted them to let the wires/cables pass through as needed. The edges of the molded plugs decouple the galv sheet from the inner door skin for the most part. But I used CCF in other areas where the galv sheet would have been in direct contact with the inner door skin.
This worked out very well. The molded plugs are reinforced and have very little flex in them now. Everything is sealed up tight & solid.
Last edited by Truthunter; 03-27-2017 at 11:48 AM.
Went through & got intimate with anything that could rattle under the door panel. I used Tesa tape as a decoupler anywhere a harness or connector clipped into the sheet metal. I also wrapped any connectors that had a little play in them to prevent them from rattling. Any parts of the harnesses that I felt could vibrate against the inner door skin and make noise I wrapped with scrap pieces of packaging foam I had laying around & tesa tape.
Had to make some adjustments to the mounting baffle for door panel clearance.
Adjustments seen on left one. Notches for door panel clip clearance & milled about a 1/3" off one of the corners & put a round over on the front edges which allowed the door panel to fit better/easier.
My "dust collector" started vomiting so had to clean it out
Cut some CCF for gasket between door skin and mouting baffle
Used the door panel to rough cut MLV barrier
Used the MLV to cut CCF. On & off with the door panel (too many times) to make necessary modifications so that it fit and ended up with this:
After test fitting the door panel with the ZR800 installed I found the clearance to the door panel grill unsatisfactory.... only had about 1/8" between the peak of the surround and the grill.
I also took some clay and stuck it on the window right behind where the ZR800 magnet sit. Lowered the window, reinstalled the speaker, removed it again and measured the thickness of the clay where the magnet had imprinted itself. It showed 11/64" clearance to the window with the window in its lowest possible position.
So with this information I determined I could drop the speaker into the door another 1/8" and gain that clearance to the door panel grill. So I fabbed up some 1/4" HDPE mounting rings to replace the 3/8" ones.
Mounted to the door with CCF between mounting ring and baffle
So with this, there is now still only 1/4" clearance from the peak of the speaker surround to the door panel grill. That's still less than the rated 9mm xmax of the ZR800s. So I took a dremel to the back of the door panel grill area and was able to remove ~1/8" of material. So now I have about 3/8" (9.525mm) clearance which should be ok.... I hope