Rear overhead speaker housing upgrade (Tintop, no A/C)

[Slimvest]

Possibly a smaller audience on this one, but thought I'd share. I found limited info on replacing the stock rear speakers within their housings in the forum. As far as I know, these speakers were only found in tin top vans without A/C. I recently hooked mine up just to see if they still worked. They did, but after one longer trip the 30+ year old speakers basically disintegrated.

Speaker swapped and reassembled:

While my van has plenty of "upgrades" that aren't factory, I like these compact OEM housings and just wanted to upgrade the speakers. I also wanted to eliminate the side-facing aftermarket speakers the previous owner put in the rear panels next to the bench seat (follow-up project).

I purchased 3.5" speakers with the lowest profile I could find. The Infinity Reference 3032 fit the bill:
https://www.infinityspeakers.com/speakers/REFERENCE+3032CFX.html

First step was opening up the old housings without destroying them. I considered buying a spare set to experiment with, but the only seller I could find wanted $80 for the pair. No way.

I was able to pull the grill fairly easily, but it took me some time to figure out the OEM speaker was glued to the inside of the housing. I used a flat head screwdriver, inserting and twisting, working my way around the perimeter to separate the speaker free.

You can see the gap between speaker and housing here:

I used snips to cut the now freed old speaker into pieces that allowed it to be removed from inside the housing. One speaker removed:

Next was getting the new speaker to fit into the old housing. Stock hole diameter was closer to 3", so I needed to modify things a little. I used an oscillating tool to cut sections of the inner rib profile that holds the speaker grills in place. One on each side, one on the top.

I also had to trim the mounting tabs on the speaker and drill a couple small holes for mounting screws.

Not perfect, but with the grill in place, you don't really notice the difference. The first image above is the finished unit. A fun project that I hope is helpful to others.
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'87 GL w/ Reimo top (sold Aug '21)

[Thief777]

Hey!
Recently I finished mine. I split it with blade from handsaw for metal (I don't have a lot of tools lol). And I glued in an Audison Voce Av 3.0 midrange speakers. They were 1mm bigger than original, so some trimming needed to be done.

[kguarnotta]

These are nice looking speakers...anyone have a pic of them installed?

I've got a pop-top - with AC box where my rear speakers are installed. But I just like the look of these.
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-Kevin
Lincoln, MA

2001 Eurovan
'86 Triple Knob Syncro w/EJ22
'78 Westy
'69 Single Cab
'65 Kombi - EZ-Camper

[Balkman]

I did the swap tonight and it was a good low-stress project that took about 2 hours to do it all up complete.

I did snap off one of the tabs on the outside of the speaker so I just enlarged the hole where the tab was and ran the inner wire out and put a spade connector on it and on the body of the van.

[Red Ryder]

Nice work guys. Not sure the effort is really worth it for 3” speakers though. There is not much you can expect from something that small. YMMV…
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“Most everyone’s mad here. You may have noticed I am not quite all there myself.” — Cheshire Cat, Adventures of Alice in Wonderland

“Scarlett” — 1990 Vanagon Carat Wolfsburg Edition (Tornado Red)
“Nigel” — 1999 Jaguar XK8 convertible (Alpine Green Metallic)

[Sodo]

I just did this with Infinity REF3032CFX speakers
So EXCELLENT to know what speakers to buy and know they will fit.
Samba RULES!

It was easy.
The wires transfer over directly, same size spades.
The speakers are kinda small. Not much effort, but not much benefit can be expected. Except over rotted foam.
The OE magnets were the same size, but these have tweeters.
I hope the sound is worth the $44 outlay.

The rubber suspension was completely rotted

Pry the screen out with a pick.
Go around and around the grille, prying it out little by little.
It's not glued, it's just jammed into the channel.
It comes out without any damage.

The OG speaker can be pried out with a screwdriver.
It collapses a little, and the plastic flexes a little
Need something to protect the box edge from the screwdriver.

I used a drywall knife to cut the plastic.
Not real easy, but can be done.

I siliconed the speakers to seal them in the box.
Then used pop rivets because I didn't have screws.

Thanks to all who posted, making this EASY!

Now I have to replace the door speakers.
And put a subwoofer under the front seat.
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'90 Westy EJ25, NEW oil rings (!) 2Peloquins, 3knobs, SyncroShop pressure-oiled pinion-bearing & GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox.
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered original gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[911autoworks]

This was a great thread and so helpful. I did the exact same upgrade and it worked out great. Thanks for sharing.

[Gnarlodious]

I did this back in 2009, the model number then was Infinity Reference 3022 so you can see how far the versions have progressed since then.

I left the screens off for a crisper sound, I think they were only there in case of obstreperous children. It would be an esthetic issue since these modern speakers are difficult to damage compared to the original paper cone speakers.

Only real difference is I didn't hard-mount the speakers. I used the mounting tabs to slide them into slots top and bottom so gravity holds it in. I think I used a Dremel spinning cutter to cut the mounting slots. The speaker just floats, it's easy to change without dropping the pod:

In 14 years this system has served me well, and I listen to a LOT of loud music. Also, to refute the poster that said "don't expect much", WRONG. These modern little speakers really help to get a full sound especially if you are not in the front seat.
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Vanagon ’83 diesel AAZ w/Giles injection, 5spd 4.57R&P+TBD and a '78 diesel Rabbit

[Sodo]

I wonder what the sound difference is - with the speaker box sealed.vs.open.
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'90 Westy EJ25, NEW oil rings (!) 2Peloquins, 3knobs, SyncroShop pressure-oiled pinion-bearing & GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox.
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered original gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb