3-Speaker Install for the MR2

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[url=https://imoc.co.uk/app.php/kb/viewarticle?a=89&sid=654acd53d5b84ff8768b441b549cd8f9]Knowledge Base - 3-Speaker Install for the MR2[/url]

3-Speaker Install for the MR2…
By Paul Port
Pictures of Focal 165k3 installation in a Japanese (Right Hand Drive) MR2.
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First the Bass Driver.
The bass driver can be installed in the doors behind the stock trim. Simply cut two rings of 6mm MDF the same diameter as the speaker. Hot Glue together with a slight angle (use a 10mm chunk of MDF to space one quadrant). Strengthen the shape with fibreglass bridging compound.

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Clean the door skin with Alcohol to remove traces of grease. Then use plenty of Hot-Glue to attach the ring to the
door.
When you attach the rings, make sure you rotate them such that the
loudspeaker points up and towards the seats.

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It may be angled by only a few degrees… But everything helps the
imaging.
Some Plastic will need to be cut away from inside the stock speaker grill to allow the speaker to fit… A small rotary tool will be useful here.

Next the Kick Panels.
First cut out the baffle to which the speakers will be attached. I printed them from a computer, then Spray-Glued the templates to the MDF.
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Once Cut-Out and Glued Together, Prepare the foot area in the car for Fiberglassing!

First, Use tie-wraps to pull back any cables in the way.
Next, you will need to remove the end part of the Sill Trim. This is simply held on with plastic rivets – not difficult to remove.
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You don’t want any chance of the Fiberglass resin soaking into your carpet, as this would be irreparable. Cover everything in a layer of clear packing sticky tape (available from office suppliers). To be double safe, you could then cover this with spray-glue, and lay over a sheet of Polythene from a DIY store.
REMEMBER: Resin is very liquid… It will flow and run, it will find ANY hole in your packing tape, and if it gets into your carpet… you are screwed!

Some people start by laying and soaking sweater fleece in resin. I find it much easier to start with Fibreglass Matt in the first place.
First, Mount the Midrange driver to the baffle you created. Cover the back with packing tape – as you may like to use it to push the damp fibreglass into shape.
Pre-Cut the matt into strips 3-Inch wide by 8-Inch long; this will make it easier to mould the fibreglass to the shape of the footwell.
Lay the strips one at a time. Cover the area behind the driver at least two layers thick.
‘Work’ the matt with a paintbrush soaked in resin – this will move fibres into adjacent strips making the structure stronger.

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Once the fibreglass has set, trim to shape and check the fit. Use small blocks of wood and Hot-Glue to attach the fibreglass panel to the speaker baffle.

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The next step is to cover the new speaker pod with sweater fleece or some other thick cloth. Roughen the back of the fibreglass with coarse sand paper or a file to give fresh fibreglass resin something to bond to. Stretch the cloth over the shape eliminating any wrinkles, use hot-glue to hold it in place.

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Now soak the fleece with fibreglass resin (and I mean SOAK). Use the paintbrush to work the resin into the material – especially the area around the back where it joins the fibreglass part you made earlier, and the speaker baffle (but not the centre of the speaker baffle)
Once the fibreglass has started to set, you have a small period of time where it’s easy to cut out the centre section of the baffle with a new blade. Wait until the cloth is solid… . But not rock solid (if you know what I mean).
You may like to re-enforce the cloth with fibreglass filler on the inside surface.
Resulting pods should look like this:

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When the fibreglass resin has completely hardened, you can cut away the excess fleece from the rear of the pod using a knife. Use a coarse sanding disk and a drill to grind the top surface of the speaker baffle back to the wooden layer (If you soaked the fleece correctly, it will still be well attached to the baffle at the edge).
If you plan to cover the pod in Vinyl, you will need to sand the exterior to give a smooth surface. If you intend to cover in Carpet, you don’t need to bother.
I made the grilles at this stage. Cover the speaker baffle with tape or a layer of plastic sheet. Cut some metal mesh to fit in the recess, pack the edge of the mesh with fibreglass filler compound. Once set, push the new grill out and sand the edges. As the grills are symmetrical, they can be flipped over with the mesh on the outside and pressed back into the recess. Once the grill is covered in speaker cloth, and the pod covered in Vinyl or carpet, the grill will be firmly held in place without need for further fixings.
I advise using a thick contact adhesive to attach the carpet, I have never had much luck with the ‘carpet tile spray can’ type adhesives. Evostik make a series of glues they call ‘THIXOTROPIC’ EG type TX528 – this is available in most DIY stores, and is much easier to apply than liquid adhesives - it spreads like butter. Cut an old CD-Rom into 1/8th and use the curved end to spread the glue on the back surface of the carpet / Vinyl.
The Finished speaker pod:
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