Page 1: Car pictures / System Layout
Page 2: Installing wires
Page 3: Installing Illusion ND8's in doors
Page 4: Installing Morel MDT29's in kick panels
Page 5: Installing ADS 312rs.2 subs in trunk
Page 6: Converting dash to blue lights
Page 7: Converting Alpine HU to blue lights
Page 8: Misc install pics
Page 9: Future Upgrades
Page 10: Building passive crossovers

This page is a picture tutorial for fiberglass kick panels with only a tweeter in them.

The tweeter in this case is a Morel MDT29. It is the little brother to the MDT33, one of the finest home tweeters made. The MDT29 is a home tweeter (and is an 8 ohm speaker). However, what makes these tweeters special is their frequency range and off-axis response, which make them ideal for car use. They have an FS of 900hz, and are flat from around 1200hz to 20khz. In my install they will be crossed at 1.6kz with a 24db slope. This range is important because the human voice is from roughly 2khz to 6khz. By allowing only one speaker on each side in the system to reproduce this sound (the Morel MDT29 tweeters), a point source for all vocals is created, making imaging of voices very precise and clear.

To begin the install, a fiberglass mold of each kickpanel must be made. To protect the interior, and ensure removal of the kick panel mold, 3 layers of high quality (don't use cheap stuff) masking tape are put over each area, and then an outline of the factory kick panel piece is drawn on the tape:

For the first layer of the mold, I used an old sweatshirt that I cut up. First I trimmed the piece to roughly the shape I wanted. I then sprayed the backside of the cloth with 3M adhesive spray, waited about a minute, and pressed the cloth into the taped over area in the shape I wanted. At this point I brushed on fiberglass resin onto the cloth, putting enough on to soak into the cloth:

Once dried, I added an additional layer of fiberglass mat to the mold:

If the kicks were housing midranges, then this part would require additional layers of fiberglass. However, as there will only be tweeters in these kickpanels, these 2 layers are plenty. At this point the kickpanels are left to dry, and are then removed from the car. Another layer of resin is brushed onto the backside of the mold to ensure the cloth is fully impregnated with the resin.

The next step was to fashion the baffle and grills for the tweeters. They were made from 5/8" MDF, cutout and edged on a table router. Each baffle is made of 3 parts. The top ring is curved for when the fiberglass is molded to it. Having the top ring raised up also gives room for the grills to be flush mounted and offers protection to the tweeter. Then the bottom layer is to hold the tweeter. The small ring shown in the picture with the notch cut out fits inside the bottom layer. The purpose is to have room for the wires to connect to the tweeter terminals. The right picture shows the baffle assembled with the grill resting on it. In the grill you can see the recessed edge. This is for the perforated metal to rest on.

Here are the rings assembled with the tweeters ready to be test fitted, and on the right is one of the tweeters fitted into the baffle.

The next step was to attach plumber's strapping to the back of the each ring, and then attach the other end of the plumbers strap to the fiberglass kick panel molds. These two pictures show this step complete and the kick panels attached back in the car. Once in place the baffles can be moved to work on the imaging.

Once satisfied with the imaging of the kicks, use wooden dowels and a hot glue gun to solidfy the placement. Then remove the speaker(s) and take the kickpanels out of the car.

Now take 2 old tshirts (one for each kickpanel). Wrap the tshirt around the kickpanel, drawing all the excess fabric to the back. Tie off the tshirt as tight as possible to keep the tshirt tight in the front forming a smooth curve. Set it down and apply a layer of fiberglass resin to the tshirt, saturating the cloth. Make sure you apply the resin all the way to the edges, and a little past the edge of the cutout for the speaker.

Once dried, add a layer of fiberglass resin and fiberglass cloth to both. Make sure any air bubbles are pressed out while doing this, as bubbles will weaken the structure. Repeat this step as many times as you like until it is as strong as you want it.

Again, once dried, apply a layer of bondo. I prefer UV bondo, as it does not require mixing. You simply smear the UV bondo on in the shade, set it out in the sunlight for 10 minutes, and it is dry and hardened. The left picture is just after the bondo was applied and set outside. The right picture is after the bondo has dried.

Now the fabric covering the speaker hole is removed with a razorblade.

At this point it is time to cover the kickpanels. I chose Selectproducts carpet material, and Selectproducts spray adhesive. The spray adhesive is applied to both surfaces, and then let set for 30 seconds. At that point the carpet was pressed to the kickpanel wooden trim ring area first, and then slowly pressed down the outside, starting at the side that is most visible when installed. On these there was small overlap, but due to starting at the visible part, the seam was at the back of the kickpanel. Trimming the overlap off with a razorblade leaves a clean edge hard to see, and hidden regardless. Wait about 30 minutes and the speaker hole can be cut out. Because the grills will be press fitted into the opening, I cut the carpeting so that it goes down into the opening.

The grills are simple wooden rings, with a perforated metal sheet trimmed and glued to the top of them. They were then painted black, and wrapped in Selectproducts speaker cloth. They are attached by using a staple gun around the underside of the ring. The kickpanels themselves are bolted to the metal of the car using threaded bolts attached to the metal that fit through holes drilled in the kickpanel. A nut is tightened down on the inside of the kickpanel. Another hole is cut in the back of the kickpanel for the wire to enter through. The wire is connected (soldered) to the tweeter, and the tweeter is fitted and attached to the kickpanels using screws. Lastly, the grills are pressed into place... the finished product!