- Joined
- Jul 27, 2012
- Messages
- 3,094
- Reaction score
- 445
- Location
- Brisbane - Australia
- My Car
- 1973 Mustang Convertible
Hi To All,
I recently posted a thread on the installation of some new rear speakers for my Mach 1. To quickly recap, i wanted to come up with a speaker install that did not mark or deface the interior of my '73 Mach 1 in any way. That project was successful, and the end result didn't look too bad. However, as time has gone on, i found myself not entirely happy with the finished look of the speakers,and have come up with an idea of dressing the enclosures off for an overall better look to match out the all blue interior. See my pic below,and see my first post on the initial speaker install job.
http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-austin-vert-installs-new-rear-speakers
My new pics will tell the story, but the new idea was to design and invent a speaker box cover that would snugly slip over the existing speaker boxes, and again, not mark or deface any existing setup that i have. To achieve this end goal, i decided to make a cover box out of Craftwood sheets. I used a combo of 6ml and 4ml thick sheets for the construction. I didn't want to get into using any nails or screws, so i chose a method of construction using thin profile right angle metal stips from my hardware store, and a good strong builders glue called Liquid Nails. So essentially, the box is just glued together with the metal strips as a good reinforcement backup. So the approach was to measure and cut the pieces, glue together bit by bit, and then sand down the edges to detail off the box. The front face design was achieved by carefully measuring out spaces 15ml apart in a right angled grid pattern, then using a sharp point center punch, tapped out all the spots where the starter holes were to be drilled out later with an 8ml drill bit. The idea was to create a kind of speaker grille facing that would look OK, and still let all the sound come through without any problems.
After constructing the box, the next step was to finish it off cosmetically. I wanted to end up with a finished look that was fairly close to the adjacent blue panels where the box sits. So i ended up by color matching some blue colored Acrylic Lacquer with the addition of some mat additive, over a 2Pack primer/ putty that was sprayed on as a spatter coat to simulate a vinyl grained finish.
The finished cover box now just slips over the existing speaker boxes with a snug fit, and is held on by two strips of heavy duty velcro hook and loop stick down tape that gets placed on the top front leading edges of the speaker boxes. The new cover can be removed and installed at any stage without defacing anything thanks to the velcro strips. That's it basically, and i think the finished look now is a decent improvement on what was before. It just finishes the whole thing off in a better fashion i think to better match the blue interior look.::thumb:: Believe it or not, the rear speakers sound better than they did before. The cover is a practical concept too, as it protects the speakers and speaker grilles from bumps and thumps, and the sun's harmful rays.
See my pics below -
Many thanks,
Greg.
I recently posted a thread on the installation of some new rear speakers for my Mach 1. To quickly recap, i wanted to come up with a speaker install that did not mark or deface the interior of my '73 Mach 1 in any way. That project was successful, and the end result didn't look too bad. However, as time has gone on, i found myself not entirely happy with the finished look of the speakers,and have come up with an idea of dressing the enclosures off for an overall better look to match out the all blue interior. See my pic below,and see my first post on the initial speaker install job.
http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-austin-vert-installs-new-rear-speakers
My new pics will tell the story, but the new idea was to design and invent a speaker box cover that would snugly slip over the existing speaker boxes, and again, not mark or deface any existing setup that i have. To achieve this end goal, i decided to make a cover box out of Craftwood sheets. I used a combo of 6ml and 4ml thick sheets for the construction. I didn't want to get into using any nails or screws, so i chose a method of construction using thin profile right angle metal stips from my hardware store, and a good strong builders glue called Liquid Nails. So essentially, the box is just glued together with the metal strips as a good reinforcement backup. So the approach was to measure and cut the pieces, glue together bit by bit, and then sand down the edges to detail off the box. The front face design was achieved by carefully measuring out spaces 15ml apart in a right angled grid pattern, then using a sharp point center punch, tapped out all the spots where the starter holes were to be drilled out later with an 8ml drill bit. The idea was to create a kind of speaker grille facing that would look OK, and still let all the sound come through without any problems.
After constructing the box, the next step was to finish it off cosmetically. I wanted to end up with a finished look that was fairly close to the adjacent blue panels where the box sits. So i ended up by color matching some blue colored Acrylic Lacquer with the addition of some mat additive, over a 2Pack primer/ putty that was sprayed on as a spatter coat to simulate a vinyl grained finish.
The finished cover box now just slips over the existing speaker boxes with a snug fit, and is held on by two strips of heavy duty velcro hook and loop stick down tape that gets placed on the top front leading edges of the speaker boxes. The new cover can be removed and installed at any stage without defacing anything thanks to the velcro strips. That's it basically, and i think the finished look now is a decent improvement on what was before. It just finishes the whole thing off in a better fashion i think to better match the blue interior look.::thumb:: Believe it or not, the rear speakers sound better than they did before. The cover is a practical concept too, as it protects the speakers and speaker grilles from bumps and thumps, and the sun's harmful rays.
See my pics below -
Many thanks,
Greg.
