rear 6 x 9 spear installation on a 2001 GA SE

[dr1verdown]

i'm having some trouble finding out how to put in some aftermarket 6 x 9 speakers in the back of my grand am. it's a 2001 two door SE if that helps. i was reading other posts about installing them in older model grand ams but i didnt see anything about late model ones. any help would be appreciated. thanks

[RememberTheAlamo]

I had this problem too. What you need to do is fold down your two rear seats. Look around on the plastic that the seat covered, you should see about 4 black slittle plastic push pin things; carfully remove them. There are plastic moldings that go from near the top of the door window to the base of the rear glass. These are secured by little plastic metal fastners. Pull on it hard but carefully, and it should come free. Pull those out of the way and lift the rear speaker carpet/speaker cover up and outta the car. The rest should b simple.

[AntiF]

I just did this the other day. Here's the few things you're going to want to be very specific about making sure you do.

-Pop the old speakers apart. Theres a bottom section that works as a perfect mounting bracket for your new speakers, so they fit perfectly into their spots without shaking/sliding/etc. The old speaker's brackets fit fine with my new Alpines, so I'm guessing it should work with pretty much anything.

-Dont even bother trying to remove the stock speaker covers. It's a pain in the ass and involves alot of cutting, and will essentially make your car look crappy.

-If your new speakers only have two leads, dont freak out that the old ones have 4. Just cut and splice all the positives together and all the negatives together. This was the thing that freaked me out the most.

Good luck, and hope your Grand Am gets thumpin nicely.

[dr1verdown]

so....what kind of work is involved in removing the stock speaker covers? also, how exactly do i fold down the back seat? i spent an hour this afternoon just looking at it from the backseat and actually got into the trunk and looked and felt around and i cant figure out how to do it

[AntiF]

Originally Posted by dr1verdown

so....what kind of work is involved in removing the stock speaker covers? also, how exactly do i fold down the back seat? i spent an hour this afternoon just looking at it from the backseat and actually got into the trunk and looked and felt around and i cant figure out how to do it

To get the old speakers out, nothing really. But if you want to replace it with the fancy covers that come with most speakers (like the 4 spokes w/ Alpines, or the red covers w/ XPlouds) you have to literally cut the old covers out of the carpeted piece they're in. It'll look really bad though, unless you're a good cut and you can somehow cover up the extra space that'll be missing.

As for the backseat? It's two straps in the trunk. Pull em and push on the seat-back and it should go forward.

[jmeek29]

At least its this way in the 2002 model. Open the trunk and you will see 2 pull nylon straps mounted on the top of the trunk panel, pull those at the same time you push on the seats from in the trunk and they will go down

[dr1verdown]

Originally Posted by AntiF

To get the old speakers out, nothing really. But if you want to replace it with the fancy covers that come with most speakers (like the 4 spokes w/ Alpines, or the red covers w/ XPlouds) you have to literally cut the old covers out of the carpeted piece they're in. It'll look really bad though, unless you're a good cut and you can somehow cover up the extra space that'll be missing.

is it possible to remove the entire panel and possibly build a new one or fill the spaces in with something? i got Xplods and i think theyll look good in the car but its gonna be a real pain in my ass. i wanna do this tho...its like my only hobby right now, pimping out my car.

[AntiF]

Well I imagine you could build something to the same size specs, but it's gonna take time and precision.

[dr1verdown]

yeah but do u or anyone else know how to take the whole panel out?

[AntiF]

Remove all the plastic fasteners and any screws and carefully pull it out. It should work. I didnt take mine out to change my speakers, just lifted the front enough to slip the olds out and the news in.

[RememberTheAlamo]

I have xplodes. Believe me u don't wanna mess with that rear cover.

[dr1verdown]

why's that?

[RememberTheAlamo]

I got a spare rear deck cover from a junk yard. I tried to moded it, and it came out looking like somethin awful. I wouldn't recommend it.

[Hoags]

If your seat back does not fold down, you will have to unbolt and remove it. Fron what I understand there should be 4 bolts involved there should be 2 on the seat bottom in the area in about the middle of the foot wells, remove and the seat bottom should slide out toward the front of the car, you should be 2 bolts on the bottom of the seat back remove and the seat back should slide up and out (there should be two clips at the top of the seat back) that should give you access to the rear dash cover.
I'm not sure if this is the actual set up for you model I have not done it on any of the late models mine is a 96 but I can't see where they would change a simple set up like this.

Hope this helps.

[dr1verdown]

i was thinkin...and looking at the panel. it looks like its contoured so i wont be able to make one out of something flat like plywood or particleboard. forkliftguy, if u read this, can u tell me where to get fiberglass and how to lay it like u layed out that bumper mod? would fiberglass be a good material to do this with? or would something else be better?