Front Speaker Installation (350Z)

Intro

Changing the factory stereo system is one of the best mods you can do on the 350Z. It seems everyone is unhappy with the stock stereo setup, both the Bose and the base. Here I will show you how to remove the interior door panels and replace the front speakers. We will be installing 6.5in component speakers by Infinty. The components have a separate woofer cone and tweeter, along with an external crossover. I will guide you in wiring up the system and creating speaker brackets from the stock speakers. See my other tutorials to see how to replace the stock head unit. Later we will be installing amplifiers and subwoofers, so stay tuned.

Tools needed

Door panel removal

Driver Side

In the driver's door handle cup remove the small plug to reveal a single phillips head screw. Use a small flathead screwdriver or some type of pick tool to remove the plug. Remove the screw with a phillips screwdriver and set aside for later. Get a firm grip on the door handle and pop it loose, lifting up and forward. Flip the door handle over to reveal the harnesses. Unplug all the harness. Use a pick tool or small flathead screwdriver to push the small locking button on each of the harnesses.

Using a 10mm socket or phillips screwdriver, remove the two screws that are now exposed. Set them aside for later. Lift the door release lever and locate the black plastic panel behind it. Using a curved pick tool, or similar tool, pull the panel away from the door and remove. Using a 10mm socket or phillips screwdriver, remove the bolt deep inside the exposed cavity. With the door fully open, grab the lower rear edge of the interior panel. Pull the panel away from the door firmly. This will release the pop fasteners along the lower and rear edge of the door. Make sure you have released all the fasteners before moving on.

Grab the rear of the door panel and slide it upwards grabbing along the window opening. The door panel has a lip along the top edge that needs to clear the top edge of the door. Once cleared from the door edge, pull the panel out to expose the underside. Remove the door lock and lever wires from the backside of the interior door panel. These slide out of a slot that you will see. Some of the pop fasteners may have remained on the door. Remove these carefully with some pliers or flathead screwdriver. Put these back in their respective places on the door panel.

Passenger Door

The passenger door removes in a similar fashion with one exception, the vertical door handle. Using a small pick tool or flathead screwdriver, carefully pry out the top portion of the aluminum handle covering. Once it is far enough out to get a grip on, pull it off of the door perpendicular to the door panel's surface. This will expose 2 deep cavities that house 2 10mm bolts. Using a 10mm socket and a long extension, remove these 2 bolts. After you have removed the bolts, pull the handle out. It may seem tight, but will come out with a little force. The rest of the door panel removal is the same as the driver's side.

Woofer Cone Removal and Installation

Using 10mm socket, remove the 3 bolts holding speaker to the door Unplug the speaker harness, depressing tab with small screwdriver or pick tool.Pull the speaker off of the door. I have a provided a picture of the removed picture for reference. Many people have asked for this view, questioning the size of the cutout.

We are going to create speaker mounts/brackets using the stock speaker. This will leave the stock speaker destroyed and unuseable, but the stock speaker is horrible anyways. This is the cleanest, most efficient method of mounting aftermarket speakers in the doors. Using a Dremel tool (or other strong cutting device) cut the speaker out of its mounting frame. Trim everything away leaving only the outer ring along with the 3 bolt holes. Below is a before and after shot of the factory speaker. Here add some speaker wire to the speaker. I used about 2-3 feet and will cut the excess off later. Screw the speaker into the factory speaker frame (the one we just cut) with some good self-taping screws. (take note of teh verticle orientation)

I decided to run my speaker wire through the rubber grommet in the door. Using a sharp X-Acto knife, cut a small slit in the rubber grommet on the door(where the factory wires run through). Make the slit just big enough to run the strand of speaker wire from the woofer cone through. Reaching up throught the speaker cutout, feed the woofer cone's speaker wire through the slit you just made in the grommet. Place the woofer cone/bracket assembly back in the factory location and bolt into place with the 3 10mm screws.

Tweet Removal and Installation

Grab the tweeter panel from the bottom edge and pull out and down to remove. There are two push-in type fasteners on the back. Remove two screws that hold the stock tweeter in place. I am going to flush mount my tweeters in the stock locations. To do this I used a 1.75in hole saw to cut a hole the diameter of their mounts. Center the hole saw in the tweeter location and drill it out. Be very careful here. If you mess up, you will be purchasing a new panel. Take your time and line things up before making the cut.

Here is a picture after the tweeter hole is cut. You may need to clean the edges using a razor blade. Also, you may need to cut off the rear factory speaker mount posts. These are no longer needed. Place the tweeter into the hole aligning it properly for adjustment. These tweeters are have angular adjustments. It should be lined up so that you may point the tweeters towards the center of the car's interior. I used a hot glue gun to mount the speaker in place. This way it is removable later (compared to some stronger epoxies). Be careful to only get glue on the tweeter housing. I soldered some speaker wire extensions onto the tweeter. 2 feet is about the right length for this installation.

Insulate the speaker wire connections using electrical tape or heat shrink tubing. Once insulated, you can reinstall the tweeter panel. The panel hooks underneath a small black rubber flap at the very top edge of the door where the tweeter goes. Slide the tweeter panel under this flap and line up the two press-type fasteners and push the panel in firmly. Feed the tweeter's speaker wire down along with the other factory wires to just above the woofer cone.

Crossover Installation

Using self taping sheetmetal screws, attach crossover to door. I placed the crossover just above the lower speaker, because this is where the door panel has the most clearance. These crossovers are very large and the door lacks flat surfaces to mount them on. To prevent rattling, I added some dynomat underneath the corners of the crossover.This was not a flat area so i only snugged the screws to prevent damaging the crossover. Begin wiring the crossover. Install the tweeter wires first, followed by the woofer wires. Take note of the +/- of each. You want them to be the same on both tweeters and both woofers.

Next install the input wires from the factory harness. You may either cut the plug off and strip the wires, or splice new wire into them. One thing to note here is speaker polarity (+/-). It does not matter which wire you make positive(+) or negative(-), just so long as you stay consistent with your pattern. I used the red factory wires for positive(+) and the blue for negative(-). (This may be hard for some people to swallow, but trust me, or email me and I can give you a physics lesson.) Make sure all the connections are clean and snug. Replace the crossover cover.

Door Panel Installation

Since the Infintiy speakers are much larger than the factory one, I had to trim the lower corner rib on the inside of the door panel. Using a Dremel tool, I removed the rib to allow clearance between the door panel and the speaker. The door panel goes on exactly opposite of how it was removed. First slide the upper portion over the window sill lip. Get everythign aligned and pop in all of the fasteners around the rear and lower edges. Install all of the screws that we removed in STEP 1. Replace the door handle and all the screw covers. You are now finished. Enjoy your new sound. Here is a picture of the tweeter installed and the man himself hard at work (disregard the messy garage.. i need to clean)