2003 Chevy Cavalier 5-speed

josh_parsons626

Well me and my gf decided that we're gonna get another vehicle from our 2004 Ford Freestar family van. It's gonna be a 2003 Cavalier 5-speed. We've gone out and test drove a couple of them and we're thinking that this is gonna be the one. As far as system wise the front doors are 4x6? according to Crutchfield. Is this right? But the rears are 6x9's. I'm gonna do a DB series and need some suggestions. What do you all think about something custom? Also 5 1/4 component's can go in the kick panels. Would this be good and then put the 4x6 in the doors? Or leave them out completely and just put in the kick panels? Am I right just going with the 6x9's or should I put 6 1/2 component's in? I also want some kind of custom sub enclosure cause I still wanna be able to keep my spare tire in. Can somebody give me some suggestions?

MacLeod

The only reason to go with kick panels is for the best possible soundstage. The trade off is you lose a ton of leg room. If youre just going to be using this as a daily driver and dont plan on competing, kick panels may not be the best idea.

However, if you do go with kicks I wouldnt worry about the 4x7's at all. You can still use the 6x9's for some sound for the rear seat passengers and some extra bass response but your soundstage will suffer.

josh_parsons626

Do you think I can put 5.25 in the doors? If not I'll have to do db460 in the doors with db1000 Tweeters and put them somewhere, probably in the front part of my dash beside the A-pillars. Where I know the 5.25 would sound better than 4x6 if I have to do that, with some ampage and some subs it'll still sound really good going down the road. Cause I'm not building any kind of custom system used for show, but on the other hand I do want it to sound REALLY good when I listen to my heavy metal also.

pentavolvo

5 1/4" dbs will deffinetly fit in those doors with minimal work

josh_parsons626

OK I understand that part the 5.25 components in the doors, right. What about in the back. Honestly, now for the best possible sound is it better to do 6.5 components or just some 6x9's?

josh_parsons626

And another thing, I know I said I was gonna go and buy an 03 Cavalier. I didn't "buy" the 03, but I got "given" to me a 95 which still have the same size speakers and everything.

And, see I love all Polk speakers not just the home speakers but the car speakers as well. And I was wondering, see I had Alpine Type-R in my 93 Mazda 626 before with Rockford Fosgate tweeters and it was so loud and so clear. I'm just wondering how the Polk DB series compares to Alpine Type-R and even how like the SR series compares to Alpine's Type-X speakers? Does anybody know or have actually listened to both? Cause actually besides Polk (at least for car speakers) Alpine is the next thing I really love.

myork

You can fit 6.5 inch speakers in the doors - I have a pair of polk ex602a's in my 98 Z24 - crutchfield has the adaper brackets.

But in all honesty, before you do any modifications to the cavalier, I would check a few things mechanically. Cavaliers are very prone to two serious problems, a weak differential, and waterpumps that only last 30-60K miles. If the diff goes, you will need a new tranny (they house the diff in the transmission case, so when 1 goes it spews metal chunks all through the tranny). The water pump doesnt sound too bad initially (the pump is only $25), until you find out that to replace the water pump, half the motor has to be disassembled, which will cost $600-800.

A 95 cavalier isnt worth the cost of either repair, so it might be a good idea to ask the person donating the car if any of this work has been done.

Just a little heads up from someone who learned the hard way...

josh_parsons626

Well the water pump pulley has a wining noise in it. The pump itself is fine but the pulley has something wrong with it which means I'll have to replace the whole pump. Also, since we're talking about mechanical issues. Does anybody know a good site to go for good performance parts for that 95 cavalier with a 2.2L non Ecotec motor? I have Andys Auto Parts, Auto Parts Warehouse and today I found stuff from Nopi's main page. Can anybody tell me any other good sites to get hard to find parts?

But......for starters, I have replaced the starter, alternator and I got a red-top optima battery, and I did Bosch Platinum +4 plugs today w/Bosch 7mm wires. I did the starter and plugs & wires cuz they needed it but the alternator and battery was just because I DO wanna fix it up - performance or not, preferably performance. I'm really into the motor and transmission part of a car, more the motor, and I know y'all might think it's totally stupid but I'm gonna try to rebuild this motor in my Cavalier. Not building this car for show or street or track but a powerful daily driver w/a good sound system to rock & roll.

Now back to the system.....y'all say I can do 6.5 in the door, right? And then do 6.5 in the back? Would that sound the best it can sound, or would putting 6x9 in the rears sound the same? I dont plan on really anybody riding in the back but for my rock & roll, I want it sound the best it can. Should I still go ahead and put 6.5 components in the rears as well? And if so where should the tweeters be put? In the middle beside the components? So that the tweeters are beside each other and the component woofers are on the outside?

Can somebody please help me in this dilemma? Cause when I know what I should go ahead and do, I'll fork out the money and go do it.

myork

www.j-body.org has a ton of info about cavaliers and sunfires, stock as well as aftermaket.

As far as the speakers, I have 6x9s in the rear deck, but I was told that having round speakers is better than oval speakers because they dont distort as much at higher volumes. Someone with more experience will prolly chime in but I personally would go with 6.5 coaxial speakers in the rear deck - if they have tweeters that swivel you can point them to give sound to your liking.

Some people prefer having "rear fill" where the rear speakers are really only midwoofers at a lower wattage than the fronts, but I prefer 4 channel stereo. I guess it's just a matter of personal preference.

MacLeod

Rear speakers will not make your system sound better. It causes all kinds of cancellation issues and screws up your soundstage.

But if you want to have some tunes for your back seat passengers or just like having sound coming at you from all angles, then just stick some 6x9's back there. No need in wasting money on components when you wont be able able to hear their best anyway.

josh_parsons626

Well everybody I thank you for your help and suggestions, but I have some bad news to tell y'all. I put plugs & wires in last night so they're probably 24 hours old now. Well they're already charcoal black around the tip because oil's spitting up from the spark plug and thick black smoke started pouring out the tail pipe so that motor may last 1 more mile but I doubt it. And I dont have the money to put in another motor nor would I really want to. So at this point guys I really dont know what to do. We have the van and it's dependable so we're not stuck or anything, but we're down to 1 car and that makes me a little nervous. I dont think my credit is strong enough to even apply for a loan to buy a car off an individual. I just dont know what I'm gonna do for a work car, guys.