Upon removing my left door panel to lube the door release (which stopped working from the inside), I discovered that the particle board on the door panel was basically moldy mush. I found the right side slightly better - perhaps due to the presence of at least some of the original, butcher paper "vapor barrier" on that side (there was nothing on the left at all).

I went looking for replacements, found VP Auto who's website claimed to have or be able to get them - even in my original color, but sadly the claim could not be redeemed. I managed to track down a very good, used set in the wrong color at a fairly nearby salvage yard. I am not sure if I will try to spray dye them from blue to what I originally have (brown) but may not since I am not finding any maker of brown - only "sand" and "buff" which could be ok but not the same.

Anyhow, this presents an opportunity to replace the circa 1983 JVC CS-420 speakers in there now and I am looking for suggestions/details about what to install and how to install them. The store-installed JVC units I have are mounted only to the door panel itself using speed nuts of some sort. The original speaker grills are still partially held in place with a retaining clip on the few corner pins that remain intact.

Aside from the speakers not sounding that great any more, this whole method of installation seems pretty lame. I note that there are 4 pre-drilled holes laid out in a square around the speaker area measuring 4" on a side. Are these to be used for speak mounting? If a speaker were mounted atop the door vinyl and screws passed through and into these holes, it might make a pretty solid mount. Obviously, to remove the door panel would require removing the speaker. So should the speakers be mounted to the metal directly (maybe with something in between to avoid vibration)?

I understand that there is little depth available for a speaker in these doors and my JVC seem to be no more than 1.5" in depth. What is the max depth I can fit safely? And with my manual crank windows I think I have to beware of something that protrudes too far into the interior of the car and that crank arm.

And then there is the issue of the speaker grills. I am not married to the original, brown ones (the wife's 1980 244 doesn't have them) and they will likely not remain "whole" during the transplant to the new door panels. It seems I can still get these online in various places. But they are rather expensive and most new speakers come with grills. If I end up keeping/using them, is there some way to attach the grills other than with the seriously defunct, 4 plastic pins?

So can anyone offer some suggestions/tips for figuring this all out? Thanks very much.