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Not everyone has speakers in the doors of their car or there is not enough room for the size speaker they want. In my case there wasn’t enough room for the amount of speakers I wanted. So in order to get a 3-way setup in my doors I needed to make custom fiberglass speaker pods. Luckily the bottom of my door had a removable pocket/speaker grill that would be the perfect spot for my pods, and would blend in perfect for a stock look.

Tools and Materials
Fiberglass chop mat
Fleece
dowel rods
Resin and hardener
Paint Brushes
Spray glue
Masking tape
cooking spray or auto wax
jig saw or dremal

After removing the pocket, I taped off the designated area with painters tape making sure to overlap the tape edges and extend further than I needed so I wouldn’t get fiberglass on my door. Try to keep the wrinkles to a minimum so not to distort the shape. With the whole area taped I drew the shape I wanted out on the tape so I would be sure to cover everything necessary, plus it will give me a nice line to cut later on. It’s a good idea to put the door panels on the car and make sure your lines don’t conflict with your dash or anything else in the interior.

Before you get started fiberglassing cover up any untaped areas so not to make a mess and use some cooking spray or wax on the tape to help release the fiberglass once it’s drys. Now you can get messy. After mixing up the resin paint the tape on the door panel to give the chop mat something to adhere to. Now using small workable patches (2″x2″ or 3″x3″) stick the chop mat to the resin coat you just applied and cover your designated area making sure not to build up too much, slightly over lap the other pieces. When you have it pretty much covered, begin soaking the mat with the resin mix making sure to keep dabbing so the mat is formed to the door panel shape.

I like to use a heat gun to help the resin harden faster, but if ones not available time will eventually do it’s job. With the first coat done you have a basic mold of your door panel, but is by no means sturdy enough, so it’s time for another coat, now your a little more free to get messy and glob the resin and chop mat on anywhere you feel needs strength but try to keep it as flat and bubble free as you can, it will save you time and energy sanding it off later. Pay particular attention to the outside edge of your soon to be speaker pod, this part needs to be super stiff. When you’re satisfied you covered it all, fire up the heat gun again and let it dry. Now you can remove the mold from the door. Start from the edges and slowly work the tape loose freeing the mold from the door.

Peel the tape from the back of the mold, and look how you outline stays with the fiberglass

Using a jigsaw or a dremal cut along the line to get the final shape of the base of your speaker pods. I like to cut to the outside of the line and sand down to the line for a smoother finish. Now test fit you molded speaker pod base on the door to sensure nothing has changed.

It’s time to decide how you want to mount you speakers. Some people use speaker rings and mount the speakers on top with a speaker grill over it, but I decide to use a plate with a raised edge to mount my speakers. This way the speakers were recessed and I could make my own grill for a more factory look.

With your speaker mount decide you need to figure out location. Take into account obstructions, mounting depth and sound path and find a suitable place to mount your ring or plate. Then using dowel rods or scrap wood support speaker mount using glue or screws if possible.

It’s a good idea to test fit it again in the car to make sure there are no problems down the line.

With the frame set, you can cover the pod with fleece. stretching it tight and wrapping it around the back using sprayglue to secure it.
Don’t laugh at my fleece it was cheap

Once again I would test fit the pods with the fleece on to be sure it doesn’t hit anything inside the car. Now it’s time for more resin. Soak the fleece from end to end making sure to let it soak in. I personally like to leave the bottom wrap around till later because I find that the resin tends to loosen up the spray glue and release the cloth, so I wait till the top is dry then flip it and get those areas.

When both sides are dry, remove the excess fleece from the back and get it as flat as possible. I use a disc sander because it cuts through the hard fiberglass quick. With that out of the way you can fit them to your door panel see the final shape of your speaker pod.

Some body filler and sanding will be necessary for a smooth finish, how much depend on what your covering it with. I chose a thin Lambskin leather to match my doors so I had to smooth them out pretty good.

Finally they are wrapped in leather and mounted to the door