So, with the ICE upgrade I bought some 6×9 speakers for the rear side doors, but the standard door panels are too small to house them. I decided to make my own out of MDF, the benefit being that I can then attach other accessories/tools/storage to them as the build goes on.

I took the door panel apart, removed the upper moulding which clips into the window channel, this will be reused.

I traced round the main panel, marking screw holes and then cut it out with a jigsaw and made larger holes for the new speaker and re-positioned window switch. I finished off by routing a margin all round in order to closer replicate the thickness of the original panel – this meant the door would close easier as the door seals weren’t being overly compressed. I then routed a beveled edge to make it a little neater.

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After a trial fit and I was happy the screw holes were in the correct place I made another for the other side by tracing round the first (as a mirror image of course).

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Next I gave both panels two coats of mdf sealer.

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And then sprayed with adhesive and covered in grey vinyl.

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I trimmed and folded the edges over and stuck the excess to the back of the panel with the same adhesive

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The next job was to cut out the window switches and stick the edges down, and do the same for the speaker hole.

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This was the result. The window switches were screwed into the back of the mdf panel

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As the window switch was moved further away from its original position, the wiring needed lengthening. I cut the connector off and attached some filler pieces of wire with spade connectors, so that the switch can be easily disconnected.

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Following the wiring colours from the manual to make sure it was connected back up correctly

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Screwed into position.

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With speaker fitted

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Finally with the original upper panel fitted back into place. I also bought some screw caps in grey to cover the screw heads and make it a little neater

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