Speaker grilles for covering up cracked dashboards

[rickjames8]

So my dash is so far gone, that I'm willing to experiment with trying to make it better. One area where it was really bad was where the speakers are:

20170331_225146.jpg

So I thought about getting some 4" speakers and top-mounting them, but 4" speakers have grilles that are about 5.5" and that's too big to fit between the glovebox and the a-pillar. So I bought smaller grilles on ebay and put them in. I screwed them right on top of the old ones. They were $5 shipped.

20170331_230206.jpg 20170331_230842.jpg

If it looks a little familiar, that might be because it resembles the grille on the prototype.

07HJC142617926F.jpeg

http://www.ebay.com/itm/262361982213...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[Bob635]

Rich,

I also am tired of the difficult accessibility of the speakers, wiring, and other dash components on the D. The conversion to "non visible fasteners" was taking place in the 80s and the D was no exception. However, I don't think that is smart or practical for a car that will out live us all. So, on the Dream Delorean. The dash will be easy to disassemble to get to all the wiring, speakers, HVAC controls, etc. We plan on going with blackened allen type mounting screws with snap in covers to hide them or not.

I hope to have a mock up dash by the end of May. I will post pics then.

Bob

[mr_maxime]

I was also thinking of doing something similar but to give it clearance for more modern speakers. I'm still not convinced about it though, it looks weird with the grille above the dash. Then again, Im not that big of a fan of the stock look.

[rickjames8]

Rich,

I also am tired of the difficult accessibility of the speakers, wiring, and other dash components on the D. The conversion to "non visible fasteners" was taking place in the 80s and the D was no exception. However, I don't think that is smart or practical for a car that will out live us all. So, on the Dream Delorean. The dash will be easy to disassemble to get to all the wiring, speakers, HVAC controls, etc. We plan on going with blackened allen type mounting screws with snap in covers to hide them or not.

I hope to have a mock up dash by the end of May. I will post pics then.

Bob

I look forward to seeing it. Again, with the glovebox in the stock location, it's not possible to mount any speaker on top. The smallest I could find with grilles was 4", and those grilles were too big.

To me, the speaker grilles look like they belong there. Several other similar cars have the same thing:
front1.jpg

[mr_maxime]

Actually, I just realized that for me it'd look way better if it was the same color as the dash. Ill probably order a set and try to match the color.

[Lwanmtr]

I dont mind visible speaker covers..every cat I've had them that way. I still have to dig under the dash to pull the speakers out to see what condition they are...depending what I find I'll decide if I want to get stock ones or newer speakers.

[Andrew]

I recently repaired 4194's cracked drivers side dashboard speaker area with Apoxie sculpt, SEM texture paint and SEM Landau Black semi-gloss vinyl paint. To verify correct hole spacing I taped a piece of paper on the undamaged passenger side speaker and then spray painted the paper from the underside of the dash, thus making a template. Following the repair with Apoxie Sculpt and sanding, I held the template in place with framing nails and drilled holes per the template.

Unfortunately, the dash flexes too much for the Apoxie Sculpt alone; thus, it did develop some small cracks on reassembly. However, my plan is to remove the dash again and spray it with Duplacolor truck bed liner, followed again by a few coats of Landau Black.

Dash repaired speaker.jpgspeaker before.jpgspeaker in progress.jpg

[rickjames8]

I recently repaired 4194's cracked drivers side dashboard speaker area with Apoxie sculpt, SEM texture paint and SEM Landau Black semi-gloss vinyl paint. To verify correct hole spacing I taped a piece of paper on the undamaged passenger side speaker and then spray painted the paper from the underside of the dash, thus making a template. Following the repair with Apoxie Sculpt and sanding, I held the template in place with framing nails and drilled holes per the template.

Unfortunately, the dash flexes too much for the Apoxie Sculpt alone; thus, it did develop some small cracks on reassembly. However, my plan is to remove the dash again and spray it with Duplacolor truck bed liner, followed again by a few coats of Landau Black.

Dash repaired speaker.jpgspeaker before.jpgspeaker in progress.jpg

That looks awesome!! Very creative fix, I must say. I do think at some point I'll take my dash out - my plan was to have it professionally redone. Your results lead me to believe a DIYer can get it to look great, and I might give it a try.

[Andrew]

That looks awesome!! Very creative fix, I must say. I do think at some point I'll take my dash out - my plan was to have it professionally redone. Your results lead me to believe a DIYer can get it to look great, and I might give it a try.

Thanks! I like fixing what others would deem unfixable...hence my recent rebuild of a Solex 35 CEEI accelerator pump :-).

The total cost of the dash and binnacle repair was pretty low. I redid 4194's dash and binnacle for about $100. It took a few nights worth of work but the results were well worth the effort.