Zorba, Male Belly Dancer


Henna Design Zorba's Jeep Henna Design
Center Console Speaker


Jeep TJs have a plastic center console with a speaker grill. It may or may not have had a sub-woofer in it from the factory, mine was one without. The web is full of stories of people either upgrading the factory unit, or installing an aftermarket sub-woofer in a Jeep that didn't originally have one.

I had a better idea for what to do with this space. I didn't want to lose the rather generous storage the non sub-woofer console has, and I needed a place for an external CB radio speaker. This seemed perfect to me - I wasn't interested in a sub-woofer anyway, this is a Jeep not a Donk!

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Console's outer shell, with original block-off plate.

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Inner and outer shells held together with rivets...

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... had to drill them out.

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View between the two shells where the speaker will go - including the blocking plate.

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6-1/2 inch speaker acquired on eBay for $16 - sitting on blocking plate.

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Hole cut into inner console shell.

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Speaker installed with included clips and screws.

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Showing projection inside the console.

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Fits exactly between inner and outer console shells.

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Original blanking plate cut out with correct sized hole.

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Testing speaker and wiring.

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Needed a back shell.

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Has a mounting flange!

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Installed - a bit deeper than I would have liked, but still saved most of the storage area.

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Outside view of rivet circle.

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Re-assembled.

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Original rivets replaced with ¼" bolts, washers, and Nylok nuts.

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The console sits over the handbrake, which had a bit of cosmetic rust...

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... which was painted over.

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Re-installed in Jeep, this is with seat all the way back...

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... and all the way forward. I don't see how this could have been good acoustics for a sub-woofer, but for communications it should be fine.

I may, or may not put some acoustic insulation inside the plastic bowl-cum-backshell. Communications speakers need to suppress bass, a "tinny" sound is best for this type of application. If there's too much boominess, I'll experiment with it. The wiring is run forward under the front half of the console, ready to plug into the back of the future CB radio.

Read on for the next part!

Jeep graphic


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