I have an 87 and I am trying to remove the front bose speakers to replace with kenwood components. How do I get those bose boxes out??? They are glued in with some kind of white putty stuff and I cant get the boxes to budge. Do I have to completely disassemble the door to get at them from the other side???

 

Unless you really want to save them, you can do like I did...break, cut, twist, saw, and in general destroy them to get them out. I had no intrest in saving mine, so it didn't matter to me. If you want them in one peice, you'll have to take the whole inner door apart. :(

 

If I were you, I'd remove the entire Bose system and replace the whole thing with aftermarket components. Bose Head units don't take kindly to mixing with other types of speakers and such. Setting up such a system is pretty cheap if you install it yourself.

:cheers:

 

You can get them out without breaking them, but it is a bit of a PITA. I would save them so that you can: 1. re-install them if you sell the car and want to keep your aftermarket equipment or if the buyer wants stock stuff and 2. so that you can use the Blose enclosures to house your the woofer or mid from your components.

To take them out, you have to remove the door panels (they obviously will not fit through the speaker hole). Remove the panel by taking out the bolts or screws in the carpet, in the door handle, and in the door edge. Take care to carefully separate all of the wiring clips (make sure the window is up while you do this). The enclosure is attached to the door by four screws. Once you have the door panel vinyl sheath removed and 4 mounting screws removed, you have to disassemble the enclosure while it is still inside the door by unscrewing the 16 or so screws that hold it together. I don't remember if you have to remove the Blose speaker while doing this but you might (it's just three more screws.) Once you have it disassembled the two pieces will fit through the opening in the door, but you have to remove some of the bolts holding that metal plate to the door and fiddle around with the enclosure to squeeze it through. It's best if you have someone with long skinny forearms to pull them out (but you will lose some skin regardless). The putty stuff can just be pulled off. If it can't it means you've missed a screw or two somewhere.

The kids are calling me now, but check your email. I'll send you some pics a little later. BTW, you are also replacing the head unit and speaker wire right? The Bose stuff won't work with non-bose equipment. Read the audio forum. There are tons of posts on this subject. :cheers:


[Modified by Charlutz, 10:16 PM 11/3/2002]


[Modified by Charlutz, 10:28 PM 11/3/2002]


[Modified by Charlutz, 10:35 PM 11/3/2002]

 

I am not intersted in keeping them intact. The front left one went bad. I already have the head unit, amp, and rear 6x9 kenwoods installed. I have 6.5" kenwood components for the front, but have been having a pain finding a way to get them in there. I have started the break, cut, twist, saw process....what a pain....at least all the wires are ran and just waiting to be connected...I am probably going to try unscrewing the right one instead of tearing it out. Thank you all!

 

I went the easy route and put 4" Infinitiy speakers in the boxes. Only had to drill some new mounting holes for the speakers, but the boxes didn't have to come out. Even with the 4"ers, it still sounds so much better than the Blose, I figured that was a good compromise. Plus, it's nice to know I can always go back to stock if I ever really want to, although for the life of me I can't figure why! :D

 

This is the single best piece of advice when it comes to the whole Blose issue. When I bought my vette, its the very 1rst thing I did the very next morning - and nothing was wrong with it! I hate BLOSE so it made no difference :D

 

Here is the easy way to get the stock Bose speakers out of the front doors of a C4. Take off the inner door panel.....take your time and do it carefully! If you need step by step instructions, give me a shout! You will need to remove the aluminum insert in the middle of the door....same instructions as above....take care and time! Here is the trick to getting out the speakers.....take a 1 or 2 inch wide putty knife and slide in between the figerglass of the door and the face of the speaker....you will need to rock the knife side to side while pushing into the putty to break the putty seal. After the putty knife "breaks through" the putty, move the knife over an inch (into virgin putty) and do the same. In a few minutes, you will travel aroung the speaker and break loose the putty seal. Next, just slide the speaker out the middle hole. I removed my speaker a few days ago (89 coupe) and it just takes time and care. I did not damage any components in the removal process. Send me an email if you need help or some pictures. You can do it!!

 

I left the stock bose enclosures in the doors (they're actually not too bad for housing 6½'s) and mounted my 6½ Sony X-Plod 3-way's in them. (With a little bit of ginding with a dremel, no biggie.) The end product was easy and it sounds a LOT better! (BTW: I ran new speaker wire to the Sony's.)
I have a JVC LD-LX300 Head Unit, Sony X-Plod Speakers (6½" 3-way's in the doors, and 6x9 3-way's in the back.) It's PAINFULLY easy to hook up the door speakers my friend. It may LOOK hard, but it's WAAAY easy. Only thing you gotta do is this:
There's four screws that hold the bose enclose to the door, unscrew them, then slide it back and bring your normal speaker wire through the bose enclosure (so you can get it to your 6½'s) then remount your enclose with those 4 screws. Go down to Home Depot and get a big sheet of 1/8" HardBoard (That's what it's called). Cut out a square that's exactly the same size as the square piece that's cutout of your carpet. (Where the Facto Bose Speaker grille was), Then cut out a 5¼" (Usually the same size for all 6½'s...but check per your speaker) hole out of that square piece of hardboard. Then screw that square piece of hardboard onto your door, in the same spot as the factory bose speaker grille. Then mount the 6½ in that hole you cut out. (Now, this is the part where you have to trim down the bose enclose to fit the 6½ speaker) Then just mount the speaker tabs to that piece of hardboard and voila. Here's the finished product:


:cheers:
BTW: If you don't want those ugly square pieces of hardboard sticking out, just replace your carpet pieces on the doors, and only cut out the 6½" speaker hole. I plan to do that some time in the future, but until then, I can live with the square pieces.


[Modified by TIMSPEED, 11:00 PM 11/3/2002]

 

I unscrewed every screw I could with the speaker/amps in the doors. Then I took some channell locks and busted them up small enough to pull the pieces back out of the hole or from where my hand is in the second pic.

 

I'm tring to install a DIN radio in my 91 inplace of the bose radio, does anyone make a install kit for this?

 

Post this on the audio forum. Metra is the kit most use. $20 and some of the kits come with a pocket where you can store a couple CDs.