Anyone put speakers in kick panel area on a 69 Charger?

[tomdroptop]

Hey everyone, I would like to have mid's to complement the 6X9's in the package tray. Do not want to cut my new door panels. Don't mind cutting the kick panels. I have a few sets of those so if I dislike I can go back again cheaper!
My question is after I removed the drivers side kick panel there is a metal plate right there against the kick panel which does not allow for any speaker....so that being said can that metal be cut away? If so what's behind it wire-wise? Has anyone here placed or know of anyone that has placed, say 5inch speakers, in that area?
The pass side seems more forgiving.
Open to suggestions to other areas people may have come up with as an alternative.
Thanks!

[billschroeder5842]

I've done it before but with 3 inch speakers. 5 might be too much.

[mpdlawdog]

I made custom boxes out of wood and attatched them to the floor and vents....I will have to get you pics.  They turned out nice with nice sound.  I didnt have to tear anything up to install them and I can take them out without causing any damage. 

[Dino]

I made custom boxes out of wood and attatched them to the floor and vents....I will have to get you pics.  They turned out nice with nice sound.  I didnt have to tear anything up to install them and I can take them out without causing any damage. 

I'd be interested in seeing that as well!

[elacruze]

I made custom boxes out of wood and attatched them to the floor and vents....I will have to get you pics.  They turned out nice with nice sound.  I didnt have to tear anything up to install them and I can take them out without causing any damage. 

I'd be interested in seeing that as well!

[mpdlawdog]

sorry guys...I have been playing Mr. Mom while my wife vacationed on the west coast....I will try to get pics tonight

[bull]

Year One lists Ken Harrison reproduction kick panels with built-in Kenwood 4" speakers but it looks like they only have them for A and E body cars.

[bill440rt]

I ran into this problem, too. That's why I resorted to the doors. There was of course more room without sacrificing sound quality. 
There is a little well on the passenger side hinge pillar so a speaker would fit on that side. Problem is on the driver's side. There is not much room and then you have the parking brake pedal to contend with so you need a speaker grille as flush as you can get it.

Check out Crutchfield's website. You may even want to call one of their advisors. Some of their product lines offer slim-profile speakers. However, again you might be sacrificing sound quality. Do some careful measuring where that speaker will land, you'll ultimately want the magnet to line up with the recess in the pillar. Look into speaker grille options as well to get the flushest ones possible.
A slim profile speaker might be your best option.

[Back N Black]

I installed mine in the fresh air vents, another option.

[mpdlawdog]

sorry its a pain to post pics here sometimes

Anyway, parden the mess I've been doing my honey to do list......my car has power windows so I knew cutting the door panels would be out of the question because I knew I could probably never replace them and I didnt want to cut them up....I came up with this....I built them out of wood....I drilled through the wood and through the inner fender.  I pushed a bolt up through and into the box.  I bolted it down with a washer from the inside.  I then screwed the front and the speaker to the rest of the box.....they look better in person actually....I am going to pull them back out and cover them with black carpet.....its on my long list of things to do!

The bright lights switch actually goes where it is suppose to...I havent installed it yet...on the list also!

[Bob T]

I was thinking about some slimline speakers mounted in a custom enclosure between the front seat rails facing forward, then you get the sound forward and are not having to look at some speaker assembly while you're driving , although the Back n Blacks ones in the grill are a good idea too

[sixty8charger]

I installed mine in the fresh air vents, another option.

what a neat idea...   hmmm,  I was wondering down the road what I would do with mine.  Maybe a 3-way speaker in the center dash to replace the original and then 2 in the package tray.

[dkn1997]

I installed mine in the fresh air vents, another option.

what a neat idea...   hmmm,  I was wondering down the road what I would do with mine.  Maybe a 3-way speaker in the center dash to replace the original and then 2 in the package tray.

I gotta say that's one of the simplest, yet most sensible mods I've seen yet.  A thin layer of speaker fabric in the vents and they would be totally invisible.  perfect for a non AC car that gets converted to AC where the vents wouldn't be used.  Even if you want to use the vents i'd think a good amount of air would get through.  Awesome!

[Indygenerallee]

Great Idea Back n Black! 

[tomdroptop]

Liking he "inside the vent" idea, very slick!
I ended up doing something along the lines of what mpdlawdog did.
I will have to snap some shots of it and post them. 

[dkn1997]

Liking he "inside the vent" idea, very slick!
I ended up doing something along the lines of what mpdlawdog did.
I will have to snap some shots of it and post them. 

Not that I thought of that before...but what mpdlawdog did is closer to what I had envisioned years ago...I was more thinking to build pretty much the same box he did but having it attach to bottom of dash and point diagonlly at floor, kind of on the same angle/plane as those little side vents on a/c cars. 

I'd love to see more pics of his and yours too tom... stereo system has been kicking around in my head forever

[tomdroptop]

Went out and took a shot. I wanted to go with bigger speakers than anything that would fit under the dash or inside the vent so this was my solution. People actually don't even see them until I mention them most of the time, believe it or not. Mind you this is JUST a picture of them so that's all your focused on but hope this gives you an idea.

[Dino]

Went out and took a shot. I wanted to go with bigger speakers than anything that would fit under the dash or inside the vent so this was my solution. People actually don't even see them until I mention them most of the time, believe it or not. Mind you this is JUST a picture of them so that's all your focused on but hope this gives you an idea.

Nice work, I'd love to see more pics if you have them, such as how it's mounted in the car.

[TexasStroker]

tomdroptop, do you have a shot of the driver's side set-up?  I like how you angled it for a better sound stage.

I have the audio on my "to do list" for the Charger. 

[Ghoste]

Nicey done Tom.

[tomdroptop]

I Don't get on here much sorry. I will grab some shots By this weekend and put them up.

[Dino]

I Don't get on here much sorry. I will grab some shots By this weekend and put them up.

How dare you have a life outside dc.com!   

I'm anxious to see how you did this but don't rush, I'm sure we'll still be here after the weekend.

[tomdroptop]

Lol yea I know right? Well if work offers OT Im all over it. These posts remind me to take the shots though. Lol

[cowboy4x4n]

i was thinking of doing the kick panels but settled on the cleaner look of installing two 4" speakers in the dash where the factory am speaker was. clean and sounds good.