I'm pretty sure that this can be done, Ive read it in posts, but I havent seen it myself. Ive got a new set of exile components to go in, but... I just dont want to start hacking my door panel apart and not be able to get it. any tips? Pics? Help!

No other way man. Take off the door panel and hack away. I've used tin snips, jigsaw, and sawzall, dremel with a barrel sander in the past. Had one car that had nice raised speaker enclosures in which the voice coil and half the frame fit into the hole of the old frame and I screwed it on through the door panel, but still had to cut out the door panel to do that. I assume you want to tuck them inside of the panel though.

Well actually I would prefer to surface mount them, I kind of like the custom look. I ended up just opening the hole up from the inside, and screwing the speaker to the door trim. I don't really like it though cause I can't see my new speakers. Very getto, and it sounds like $&!+ when I turn it up. Vibrates like crazy, so its off to Home Depot for some MDF, and Ill try again.

I think you'd get better sound and less vibration if you use a drill and drill a pilot hole clean thru the door panel and into the door metal.

I,m going to steal an idea from foreversilent004 and do something like this.

That, looks like a great idea

that is the 'correct' way to do it. with an mdf baffle used as a spacer. you do want to make sure it seals correctly, and allows for no air. caulk, silicon sealant, the putty from a hobbiest store will work great as well. you also want to break up standing waves from behind the speaker as well. there is no reason to hack a speaker in there when it just takes 10 minutes to do it correctly.

car audio is 90% install 10% components.

http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95925

it should look like this when you are done:

what about fiberglassing the door panel? you dont have to do the entire door panel, maybe cut out a sleek, wavy design that you glass in with teh speaker pointed up at an angle to get better sound transfer throughout the vehicle You could redo the carpet on the door if there is any the same color or fiberglass that too, make it real custom

you could. it'* alot more work. but then again it does look nice if done well...and if you were going to delve into such a project you should/would 1st need to know alot of things as it would be a waste to spend the time/effort/$ FBing to not have thought about this:

Am i ever going active?(which if your FBing you should be answering yes too)
What are the characteristics of my speaker and sound stage?
Are my speakers better listened to? off or on Axis.
What are my imaging goals?

and obviously you'd want to have your door correctly sealed or it would be an even bigger waste.

but hey thats just me.