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After getting through a number of other household projects over the holidays, I finally got going on adding the door speakers and MTX 2120 amp to my base model 9-3. Although, I am not done yet, the information from the audio guide in the FAQ section and the information from SteveH and others was a great help!
Once I got the first door panel off, putting in the Kenwood 1677 6.5" speakers was not too hard. As others have said, the speaker wires were there waiting to be hooked up. Several people talked about watching out for a plastic membrane that provided weather proofing for the door. Once I got the door panel off, I didn't see a plastic membrane. The primary working of the door (window, side air-bag sensor, etc.) were protected by a grey foam sheet about 1/8" thick that was held onto the door with adhesive. It had perforations in the sheet around the cutout hole in the door which made it very easy to remove that piece. The sheetmetal around the cutout hole slopes down into the hole, so to get a flatter surface to drill the new mounting holes for the screws, I used a pliers to bend the metal out at the points I planned to drill until it was flat and flush with the rest of the surrounding metal.
As for the amp, it will fit in the area behind the center console panel on the passenger's side, but it didn't work to anchor it in using cable ties. It just wasn't stable enough. After trying a number of things, I ran out of time which is why I am not done with it yet, but I have figured out an approach that I think will work. I will give a brief description here and post pictures when I am done. Any comments would be appreciated.
The trick is that only the top left mounting hole of the amp lines up with the A-shaped metal frame behind the center console panel. So, drilling a hole there and then securing it with a short machine screw and nut takes care of one corner. The top right corner is back near the temperature control cable and levers. So as not to interfere with those, I plan to use a machine screw and nut as a stand-off in the pre-drilled hole for Saab amp that is in the right "leg" of the A-shaped metal frame. This will be positioned roughly at the midpoint of the back side of the amp and will hold it out enough to avoid the temperature cable and levers. The upper right mounting hole will be left unanchored. To anchor the bottom two mounting holes, I went to the hardware store and bought two small metal brackets used attach a ceiling light fixture to a ceiling junction box. These are about four inches long and have a 1.5" slot at each end. I plan to drill holes in the bottom of each leg of the A-shaped metal frame and anchor the brackets to them using machine screws, nuts, and star washers. The slots will allow me to adjust the brackets to line up with the mounting holes on the bottom corners of the amp.
There is a metal bracket at the base of the A-shaped metal frame where the screw from the center console panel connects. The bottom edge of the amp will either rest on this or possibly bump it during normal road vibration. I would like to "pad" the top of that bracket to protect the amp and wondered if a little piece of Dynamat would be good for that? Any other ideas?
It may not get back to this for a couple of weeks, but as I said, I will post pictures when I am done.
Mark
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