A tall/wide/thin box arrived yesterday, and in it were something I didn't know existed and couldn't find on 914rubber.com when someone mentioned them.

Mark saw the posts, and confirmed he had them in stock. They came quickly, and perfectly packed.

What a cool product. They come with all clips already in place, and ABS sheet plastic is so far superior to the moisture-prone (over 50 years...) fiberboard stuff that these cars came with. I will probably do a little finish work to the edges after a test fit, but maybe not...as they still need to get a thin later of foam and then the basketweave. I hope I can transfer my door top pads, as they're really nice, and then will come the decision of whether to cut these for 6.5s, as I do like my tunes when I drive. One thing is certain, though: These will outlast me and the car, and offer a vastly superior mounting surface for speakers if I do choose to mount them.

So, Mark, thank you for what you and your team do for our hobby. Very cool.

Good to hear, been thinking about these also.

Pete you do know Mark also does ABS speaker pods for 6.5" speakers, not door panel cutting then.

I had a parts car that had 6.5 in the lower front typical of the 70s and 80s, and then in the middle of the arm rests they put a 4" speaker. Maybe so you could feel the vibration in your fore arm

Yeah, I know about those and they look like a good product—and have had some good reviews here. Not right for my build, however, as I want to keep everything as period looking as I can...so I am slave to the factory speaker boxes.

Have actually embarked on a slow, spare-time project to put the best "hidden" stereo system (within reason) in my 914. Have the flat six to listen to in the meantime. I ditched my head unit years ago and went iPhone only with a factory defroster dash switch to turn on the amp and EQ. But all of my stuff dated back to ~1991 and was tired. So I am starting from scratch with a 6-speaker system (mids and tweeters are going into the factory speaker boxes, with 6.5s probably staying in the doors to the horror of many...but they don't really bother me there) and an amp under the dash. Not sure where some of the other items are going to go.

Went with ABS for the speaker boards in the factory speaker boxes, and now these door panels in more black ABS should also offer a better, more stable mounting setup. Have a long way to go, but am taking some pics along the way and may do a writeup. It won't be super fancy, but I hope to do this once more and not again. It's been almost 30 years since the last speaker install!

This is what I did for tweeters. I modeled these elbows with SolidWorks and 3D printed them. They mount at the coat hook location using the same screw and have a locating pin just like the hook bracket. The wire goes through the hole in the stock pillar trim. All parts are intact if I would ever want to go back to stock look and remove them.

Obviously the focus is on them in the pictures but being in somewhat of a hidden area they kind of disappear.

Crappy photos with flash

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I look forward to hearing more about how the door cards go together. I have a 914Rubber set that came with my complete resto kit that has been in storage for a year. My original cards are in pretty good shape but not perfect and I might be ready to install cards as early as this weekend so will need to make a decision soon.

Interesting idea above with the rear tweeters. I like the reversible nature a lot, but have been thinking about doing something similar very subtly on the bottom of the upper targa pad. Some of the tweeters these days are just tiny.

As for these door cards, they've had me thinking about how to really do the doors better than I have in the past. I am also toying with the idea of using them and some sort of "structure" to maybe completely hide the 6.5s behind new basketweave with the "holes" between the "bricks" poked out with a very small hole punch and then a port tube under the armrest or somewhere else to vent the door as a bass tube. Not sure that would work for the obvious reason of sealing, but I wonder if it would still be as good or better than the usual "just bolt a 6.5 in the door by the release/lock" my car and so many other 914s have. Would like to find a way to hide the speakers.

So all that to say: My road with these panels is gonna be a slow one. I haven't had working audio in my 914 for a while now, and have been okay with that. But I know I'll enjoy the car more with Bluetooth audio and access to my music as well as Pandora. I just want to do it better than I did it 30 years ago...and it's kind of fun, taking it slow. The factory speaker boxes are kind of fun to work with. Once those are done, I'll tackle mounting the new amp, the crossover boxes, the EQ, and a couple of other things before facing what might be the easiest or trickiest part...the doors and those 6.5s. Hopefully, good ideas will come as I proceed. Here to learn from others, too!