This is the first of a number of posts that will help those of you considering installing a pair of MB Quarts Q series components in your front doors. I chose to buy the previous models (on eBay, 1/2 the price of the new ones). I also used Dynamat Extreme (also from eBay!) on the inside of the doors and around the speakers. While I have another pair of MB's for the rear doors, and a pair of JL amps; this was the first step.

Results?

The job was longer than I thought it would be, but basically pretty easy. First door took me about 4 hours, the second door about half that. I enjoy this type of work, so I took my time, and had fun.

The sound difference is a fantastic improvement, even with the Blose amp. The difference in clarity is quite dramatic. The total cost so far was about $400, and worth every penny. Read on if you want to see more.

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This a really great tool to have if you want to remove the inner door panel. You will need to remove the wiring harness on the inner door panel, and the mounting clips are pretty easy to damage. This tool will help you remove these clips without damaging them, (although you still need to be really carefull).

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Another great too to have for this job. These are bandage scissors, used by EMT's. It cuts Dyamat very easily.

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Two other special tools I used for this job, (sorry no pictures) are a roller for the Dynamat, (Dynamat sells these, or you can use a wallpaper seam roller, like I did,) and a plastic windshield gasket tool. I've never seen one of these windshild tools for sale in an auto parts store, I bought mine at a place that sold windshields to the trade. It's a double ended pry tool made completely out of Delrin. It was particilarly useful for removing the door handle trim without damage. Just lift it a little with a screwdriver in the slot, then pry it off with the plastic pry tool.

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MQ Quarts come with a nice stick-on template. Here's a picture. You'll need to drill holes for the mounting screws, and bigger holes for the studs. The stock holes are a bit oval. I reshaped these ovals a bit with a ballpeen hammer, (photo later), to make them more round.

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Dynamating the speaker holes. (After all the holes are drilled!)

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Cutting pie shaped segments and folding them under.

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Here's the underside.

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After trimming all the excess, I poked a hole in each mounting hole with a fine nailset. Then I turned it over and trimmed around each puncture.

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The mounting holes have all been trimmed.

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The elevation ring needed to be used to allow to speaker to clear the window track. But there is plenty of room on the front side of the speaker. The ring is mounted in this picture.

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Remember I said the hole was a bit oval? It is very tight on the side of the speaker, (see arrow, opposite side, too). I needed to deform this shape with a hammer just a little to make the speaker fit.

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I've seen several posts where people have mounted crossovers directly to the inner door panel. It just didn't seem that these big crossovers were going to fit there. So I glued them to the lower rear corner of the door finisher. Plenty of room there.

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Here's the inside of the door all Dynamated. On a less pleasant topic, I'd like to talk for a moment about re-attaching the window tracks. This took me quite a while untill I figured out a few tricks:
1] Leave the speaker off untill these four bolts are in. It gives you a way to get your hand in to manipulate the track.
2] There's a black round sticker covering a 2" hole in the door. Remove this sticker so you can manipulate the rear track.
3] Use a philips head screwdriver to center the bottom hole, stick your hand in the hole to pull the track towards you, then mount the top screw. Wait a second....that's three hands you need! (OK I admit, I used my chin to press down on the screw driver. I'll be ****** if I call my wife out to the garage for an assist that does not involve brake fluid!)
4] Once the top screw is in, the bottom one is easy.



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Mounting the tweeters is really easy. I used the "U" shaped brackets that came with the MBs, flattened them with a hammer, and drilled a hole right at each end. Then I used the stock speaker mounting holes and screws. Just don't over tighten the screws, it will start to bend the grating.

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