Tanman

To all of you aftermarket audio folks, how did you route wiring from the speakers in the door panels into the car? I used my front passenger side as a guinea pig and had to drill holes through the metal edging to route my cables into the car. Took a long time and I was worried the whole time the drill bit was going to snap off and kill me. Even a drill bit made for metal takes forever to drill through 2/16" of metal.

I did a search and found some good information, but no one has said anything about running new cabling from the speakers to the amp. I don't want to use the cheap wires from the stock radio, I've been told they handle max 40-50W.

Tanman

BTW, Nissan has the wiring from the door components (speakers, window controls, door lock, step lights) routed into the car via one block of connectors. If you check at the door hinge, there's a rubber sleeve that hides all the wiring. It ends at a block attached to the inside of the car with one screw. If you remove that block, what you see is a large pin grid block of connectors. DO NOT push in the block on the car side, it will fall into the hole and you won't be able to get it out. The block takes up the entire rectangular opening, so you can't run wiring through there.
I pushed the block in, so now I have to pay some shop to open the dash and push the block back in place. Please learn from my error and don't do it yourselves. Currently my front passenger side electronics don't work because the connector block is disconnected.

max'n out

pull the kick panel off. Then take a hanger from the speaker location into the ruber sleeve your talking about to the kick. Take the speaker wire and tape it to the hanger and pull it back through.

Tanman

If you do that, the wiring has to break through the rubber sleeve to get into the car, so you can still see the speaker wiring and it still gets caught in the door when you close it. The rubber sleeve ends in a plastic block with no space for another wire. You can't route the speaker wire through the same whole as the old speaker wire because of the block.

Have you actually done this, or are you guessing at how it would be done?

max'n out

Have I dun this to my car...no...have I dun it in many cars yes. The rubber flexible hose holds all types of wireing remove the factory speaker wire and it will make a little more room. If your upgraded wire is a little thick then drill a little more room for it where the kick is. If you really think that there is no room then get a new ruber booty to replace it. But since so many people have upgraded the wires for new speakers i can tell you it will fit.

adman

Yes...I have done it to my car too. If you open the drivers door and look from the outside of the car you will see a rubber plug near the hinges. Push a wire hanger through the plug. Then, under the dash you will see where the hanger comes through. You can then pull the cable to either the head unit or the amp rack. Unfortunately, I tried using the stock housing first on the passenger side. I believe the cables are blue/yellow and blue/green. But, they are not very adaquate.

If you tie them off right, they will be fine...and do not require any extra slack. I ran mine along side the stock harness to the new door speakers.

Hope that helps...


ADMAN

Tanman

Do you have to open up the dash to see where the wires come into the car? My biggest problem right now is that I knocked the plug out of the hole and can't get it back in place. I can't see how you guys made room when the plug is a solid plastic block with wire connectors to control the lock, window, and light for the door. You can't remove the old wires to make room because the wires all terminate at this block. You'd have to cut out a piece of the block (probably not possible) in order to make room for new wiring. I have a 2K. Is that what you guys are driving? Maybe it's different if you have 2K1s?

Tanman

Here's a picture of the plug that i'm talking about.

You can see the rubber sleeve in the back right of the plug. I can't see how you fit a stereo cable through that block into the car. The only opening on the side of the car is rectangular hole where this plastic block fits. You'd either have to cut sheet metal or part of the block.

Tanman

So anyone else run new wires for their speakers, or do you all use the stock wiring? I'll post pictures of the holes I drilled to route the wires into the car.

adman

Well, this is what I did:

I ran my new speaker wire from the amp rack to the drivers’ dash. I removed the triangle kick plate. I went outside and opened my driver’s door. I took a metal hanger and poked it through the rubber plug between the hinges. It came out under the dash, just above the dead-pedal area. I then removed the wire harness from the door and cut a small hole in the rubber gasket. I zippy tied the new cable to the bundle and ran it down inside the door. From there, I ran it down to the speaker and tied it off three or four times so it would not rattle.

Hope that helps...


ADMAN

max'n out

Thats sounds just like what I said to do from the begining. See dude it works.

adman

FYI: The rubber plug I am referring to is not the same as your photo of the white connector. If you stand outside your vehicle and open the door all of the way, you will see a small rubber plug between the hinges. It is actually between the door panel and the front fender (1/4) panel. Just look carefully inside the opening.

I can send you a photo later if you can’t find the hole...

ADMAN

Nathan

iTrader: (28)

I'm not trying to flame but shouldn't this post be in the audio and electronics forum?

Tanman

No, because this is an installation that all 5th-gen owners can use.

Funny, Crutchfield says the stock wiring is cheap. Some local installer told me stock wiring is good quality because it's meant to last a long time. Considering I don't turn up the volume too loud, maybe I can get by with the stock wiring.

Thanks for the information Adman, I'll look for the hole you're talking about.

serin

iTrader: (2)

as a tangent, which wires in that bundle are the power and ground for the door lights? i need to find where they come out underneath the dash on both the driver's and passenger's side.

Tanman

You can take the door apart and you'll see which wires lead to the step light on the front doors. Then you can trace the wires back into the dash, or just go by color. It's pretty easy to take the door apart, I can email you the Crutchfield instructions if you need them.