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From the very get-go, I was told that replacing the rear speakers in my DeLorean was nothing short of a pain in the ass. The speakers are located behind the interior fiberglass, which is held in place by two screws, the upper seatbelt bolt, and a plastic seal. This latter element is what makes the procedure annoying, since it involves removing the weather-stripping around the doors, and then taking a sharp knife and cutting the plastic seal on the lip of the opening, which the weather-stripping was on.

The plastic seal is held in place by a brownish glue, like rubbber cement. When it’s cut and the fiber glass is pealed away from the wall of the vehicle, the rear speaker can be removed with a right-angle screw. While the afore-linked directions were valuable and easy to follow, they were not complete in the case of my own vehicle.

The passenger-side speaker was removed as per the directions mentioned above. The bracket that held the old speaker has three screws, only two of which could be removed with a right-angle screwdriver extension. The third screw I removed using pliars and very short turns. I had to do the same thing with the third screw on the other side of the car also.

On the driver-side door, I realized that the plastic seal was on very tight, as though the glue used on the driver’s side was significantly stronger than on the passenger’s side. This ended up not being a huge problem, since a previous owner had cut the plastic seal in the past just forward of the lip. I almost did this on the passenger’s side, but realized that cutting the lip is better since the cut is hidden by the weather-stripping when the project is complete. Sadly, a previous owner didn’t consider this, but since the cut was already present, the fiberglass was easy to remove, and I didn’t need to struggle more with the hefty glue holding the plastic seal on the lip.

The metal brackets that hold the old speakers are fitted for a certain circumference, and my new speakers, although the same size, have a larger magnet circumference. Initially confused as to how I’d tackle this, it turned out that the brackets can be bent; three prongs that “grab” the magnet can be bent outwards, and bent back down to fit over the larger magnet. A little patience with the metal band that secures the bracket to the magnet, and all was good.

Just as unwieldy as the front speakers in terms of getting to the screws and such, the rear speaker replacement took a little longer to cut the plastic seal and pull away the fiberglass, but overall the replacement was not very difficult. My hands got a little scratched up in the process, and manuevering inside the small interior of the DeLorean puts some strain on you, but the whole procedure took maybe an hour to an hour and a half (which included figuring out what to do with the smaller bracket circumference and having to do the driver’s side twice after the speaker wire detached).

The head unit installed in the car is a piece of shit. While the speakers definitely sound better than the old ones, the bass is distorted at high volumes, so I’m hoping that my incoming head unit will be a marked improvement. If not, I have a subwoofer and amplifier on hand to make things right.

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