How to make "Custom Fit for Ford Mazda" Speakers Fit a Mazdaspeed 3

[Mastermind46]

So... one day my father and I were cruising down I-25 blaring some 2 Chainz and one of my front speakers blew out. Mazda OEM speakers suck ass.

What sucks even more ass is that the speakers I bought needed quite sizeable spacers to get them to fit without the windows hitting them when they roll down. I called some places to get these spacers made and they said they all use particle board or cut the oem speakers... end preface!

I ordered Pioneer TSD6802R 6 X 8 2-Way 260 Watt Speakers

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OEM speakers off of Ebay were like $30 bucks per
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2009-2013-Mazda-3-Mazda6-Loud-Door-Speaker-Genuine-OEM-NEW-GS1E-66-960A/201583453773?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid=222007&algo=SIC.MBE&ao=1&asc=36861&meid=b09e113d685245e09b62f251f1bd2d1c&pid=100011&rk=1&rkt=10&sd=201256042915

I also did not want to cut the OEM speaker wiring harness so I spent like 60 minutes searching to find adapters... Metra 72-5602 (for select 2011 and up Ford vehicles). They were $7 for 2 off of Ebay.

Oh and do not forget to buy a bunch of the door panel snaps as all of them will break when you pull the door panel off.


First step was to remove the speaker components from my soon to be non particle board spacer... Pliers, clamp, and some sort of saw or angle grinder works great for this step.






The next step was to attach my speakers to the spacer... I originally used 3M foam double sided tape to do this. I did not want vibrations since my speakers did not perfectly sit in the spacers. I eventually took everything apart and filed down the edges on my spacers to get the speaker to seat better and used liquid silicone instead of the 3M tape... (No more vibes).



The above picture was when I was using the 3M tape.

 

[monkey.bones.007]

Nice job on the stereo, how'd your wheel fall off if you were working on the stereo?

tapatalk, it sucks

 

[5doorsoffury]

5x7 adapters are very cheap. I was able to get kicker qss 6-3/4 component woofer in there after replaceing thoes alpines above with out the window hitting.

Splicing into the wire will allow you to keep the oem connection (not much of a reason to keep them unless oem speakers will be put back in). I used a small amount of dynamat to prevent vibration. Butyl rubber can be used ina pinch. Last but not least when i replace blown speakers in a car with no clearance i use the old speaker basket to house the new speaker. Just rip out the guts and use some sharp screws. If you are careful and use a plastic panel pry tool you wont break a clip. I havent broken any yet.

 

[Mastermind46]

@5doorsoffury I did not want to change from oval speakers... someone convinced me of this before I bought anew. Looking back on it I totally would have knowing I could just buy a simple adapter. I definitely would use some other sort of vibration resistant material instead of 3M tape. The silicone worked very well.