I need to know what you guys did when bringing your power cable from your engine to your cabin in your 4th gen(if you installed subs). I am probably going to need to drill but I would like to know if there is an opening already present that I can use or, if not, where I should drill the hole.

I am installing 2 12's and amp. Not sure if I will try to use stock head unit or aftermarket yet, as you can see, I haven't even gotten past the first step yet :P

Thanks!

 

There's a little rubber piece you can poke a hole in and feed the wire through into the firewall. It's right of center towards the top of the firewall. Sorry, i dont have a pic, but you don't have to drill a hole.

Get a head unit that has atleast one preamp output otherwise you're not gonna be able to run the amp - Youre going to want to control the level of the woofers. Invest in a farad cap or capacitor if you don't wan't your lights to dim like a sob

Run power cables on one side of the car and speakers on the other. That way you wont get any interference.

Make sure you finda GOOD ground for that amp wherever you decide to put it.

Make sure you have a fuse in between the battery and amp.

Oh, whatever you do, DONT cut your factory wires! Buy the wire harness to hook up a new headunit, theyre cheap.

Do it once, do it right.

 

Like he said you can fish it through the firewall through the rubber gromet. If you have an auto you can also drill through where your cluth would be if you had one of course. Just make sure to be carefull if your going to be drilling through your firewall, I've seen people drill right though brake master cylinders and AC compressors . Then just run the wire through the kick panel and down the sill plates untill you get to the trunk.

 

to all above

 

i fish 0/1 gauge wire thru a grommet on the far left/ driver's side just at the corner of the firewall. no need to drill.

 

Do you have an auto or manual? If it's an auto you will have a clutch master cylinder cover that you can drill through. (where the clutch pedal connection goes through the firewall if it was a manual)

 

you do not need to replace the factory radio if you dont want to or if the money is funny lol if you stay with the stock radio you will need a line output converter they are like 10 bucks from just about any audio shop, as far as the farad capacitors their junk other than for looks they store such little power that their just about worthless if your trying to do it right just get a second battery if your pushing anything under 2000 watts i wouldnt even worry about it if the whole lights dimming thing is a big deal to you just spend the money and get the battery that way your set up for bigger and better things later on down the road

 

he can run the amp without an aftermarket deck.
he would need a hi/low converter..just plugs right in

 

#8
bkbajan
he can run the amp without an aftermarket deck.
he would need a hi/low converter..just plugs right in


!!ding ding ding!! lol its called a line output converter

 

jack up car, remove tire, remove plastic fender well splash guard thing on drivers side** and you wil see a rubber garmet thing that is about 2-3 inches wide, poke a hole in it, its quite thick so dont worry, and run it through there straight from the battery, that hold comes out in the very corner of the floor boards area, you will have to get a flashlight and lay in the drivers door lol. but that way it goes straight to the plastic kick plate cover and down the door sills, you wont even know its there. thats what you want.

 

To all who were wondering it is (unfortunately) an automatic. I did think about drilling where the clutch would be but I definitely will look for that existing hole first.

This whole project is pretty low budget, I bought two 12's with a very nice box, all the cables, and only a 400 watt amp. It only cost $100 though. So I'm assuming I won't be needing too many special components to keep it from blowing out anything?

I'll be posting pics soon so you can see it, also if ANYONE has a picture of their setup it would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

400 watts peak or rms? Thats a big difference sir.

Run 4awg or 0wag depending on how much the amp is rated for. If it 400 watts peak u can run 8awg. But if u ever plan on upgrading to a larger amp, best to jus run the 4awg.


Either way, on the firewall there is a 3/4" hole near IACV u can run wiring thru. IF it is not already drilled u will need a angle drill. I didnt have one so i had best buy drill the hole for me but NOT install the wiring. Best buy suck a** for wiring.

 

funny thing is i installed a beat in a 95 maxima yesterday at work lol. automatic...just drill thru where the clutch cyl would be! can't be any easier, and nothing in the way on the engine side to worry about piercing thru.


w/o the cap, you mean.



adding second batteries are strain on factory alternators.....

 

whats my prize?

 

No offense man...i have a 150 watt rms amp and 340 watt rms sub.

Im backed off the amp gain so that its prolly on 85%.

The headunit sub volume is 0 to 10. I have it set a 2 and its plenty loud enough.

2 12s?! U must be tryin to have a party out yur trunk lol

 

they may be some danky *** weak subs tho

 

If you do plan on swapping your headunit and you're looking at something relatively low-cost, take a look at the JVC KD-AHD69. It's feature rich and sounds good.

I never put in subs or amps, but I did swap out my stock speakers with some Boston Acoustics ones, and I used that JVC as my head unit. SO nice to be able to play music off a flash drive! It fits and works flawlessly in my 95 SE, too.

 

I worked as an installer for 7+ years and this is how we did it every day. This is also why I can install an amp in your car in 45 minutes and it takes you guys hours. Don't make everything so difficult, just do it the easy way. Make sure you use a grommet if you drill through metal though!

Also, in 7+ years and probably 1000+ amp installs, I have never removed a tire to run power wire. I have run it under the car a few times when using multiple 0 gauge runs. (so the carpet doesn't look like it's popping veins on muscle beach)

 

+1 to drilling through the firewall with one of those stepped titanium drill bits to 4guage size and put a grommet to shield it through the firewall.

 

My 12s are mounting on a piece of 3/4 plywood mounted directly to the frame behind the back seat. There is a metal panel that was removed to allow some air space between the front of the subs and the back seat. It sounds really great and no box to take away trunk space. I can show you pics later if you want to see.

 

I would love to see pics of anyones setup. I will be doing the install today and any point of reference will come in handy

 

I'll do it when I get home later today.

 

Free air = pimping like it's 1987!

Please don't do that! Very few subs are designed to run free air and when doing this you reduce peak rms power handling by 75%. So your 300 watt rms subs now only handle 100 watts, and they have very poor control over tight, fast notes. Don't be a ghetto hack...build or buy a real box! (mdf please!)

 

Almost done with the install, need quick help though. What do you guys mean by line output converter to use my stock head unit. A link to one would be greatly appreciated!

 

do a seach on google or something, they start around $15 bucks or so. you need one to run subs to the stock headunit like everyone has been saying, otherwise they wont work.

when i installed my subs (jl audio) i also replaced all my speakers with jl audio ones. i upgraded my headunit because i installed a 7" screen and needed an aux input for it. I also didnt want to use an output converter.

as far as a capacitor being crap... i have a optima battery and my lights still dimmed when the bass hit, even when it was at its lowest setting. the cap helped a lot for me and it was cheap.

to each his own

 

Wound up not finishing the install yesterday. I was doing it with two other friends and we had to cut the stock head unit wires for two reasons. One, we couldn't find the correct part to get my subs into my head unit, and two, the wires were impossible to get out after trying everything. SO, I got a new Alpine head unit and attempted to install it. After getting all of the wires connected we realized that the head unit was not even recieving power. I THINK that this is because the adapter we were using for power may have possibly been an antenna adapter (I bought some cheap dash install kit from Target). The power cable is not there for the head unit. This may be because I got the head unit from a friend yesterday that had bought it new about a month ago for his volvo s60. He put it in and then realized that he didn't even want it anymore, so he took it back to his Volvo dealer to get the stock one put back in. When they did that, I believe they did away with the power cable for his head unit which he wound up giving me. I am going to go out later this afternoon and look for a new power cable and hopefully I will be able to find it.

Besides that, we wound up drilling where the clutch would be and it turned out perfect. The wires are tucked beautifully and you would never notice them. All that is left to do is get everything correctly hooked up to the head unit and get it working. Pics coming soon.

I would still appreciate any more advice that you guys have, you have been INCREDIBLY helpful so far and I am very grateful

 

You seriously run power wire underneath the car? I take it you warned your customers not to scrape the bottom of the car or you may catch fire correct? If you want a quality install it will take time. I'd rather have my install done right than fast. Like they say 'it's all in the install'.

 

Running live wire under the car is absolutely asinine. I wouldn't let you near my ride. There's no merit in expediency if you're comprising quality and safety.

 

Figured out the problem. Needed an extra part which will not get here until next Tuesday or Wednesday. I'll post pics of it when it's done in case anyone is interested.

 

So quick to judge... You guys didn't even ASK what vehicle it was. There is ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with running a power wire under a vehicle. I have done this twice, and it was on a SUV both times...safely secured to the frame. You do realize that people ASK install shops to modify their vehicles all the time, right? If you want the safety, keep your car stock. If you want double 0 gauge running from a dual alternator setup to a rear battery array and thousands of watts of amp power...maybe you don't give a crap about safety.

Also, if you manage to get in a wreck where you have damaged the power wire under the vehicle...you are dead anyway. Power wire is flexible and loom protects very well. Maybe if the car got run over by a semi truck it might get cut/damaged. If you are about to get run over by a semi truck the last thing you need to worry about is some wire under the car.

 

I didn't have subs in my Max, but I still installed Power wire! :O Oh my!!!!

 

Yes installing power wire underneath the car as you suggest is ABSOLUTELY wrong. Find a new day job please. Your ignorance of safety is ridiculous. There is a reason why car manufactures don't run power wire underneath the car. You can survive a wreck with a semi assuming you didn't have a halfass car audio wiring job that caused you to get on fire while waiting for the jaws of life to pry you out. All you need to do is bottom out once and your masterful install job is in the rear view mirror. Things like jack points underneath car, high heat from the exhaust, corrosion, driving through snow, etc are more reasons not to be doing this. A high powered audio system can be still safe. Research ford pinto to learn the cost of safety.

 

I always appreciate when strangers lecture me. Keep your opinions to yourself next time. You don't know me, and I don't know you...why would you assume that you know the situation better than I do? And thanks for the job advice...douche.

First, I was doing what the customer asked and paid me to do...even after explaining the safety issues. If you knew ANYTHING about doing custom work on cars you would understand that sometimes people want things done, regardless of the consequences. One of the vehicles was a Honda Element. Please, oh infinitely wise one...tell me where you're going to run two 0 gauge wires inside the car when there is no carpet to hide them? The customer is a surgeon, he did not want anything looking out of the ordinary inside the car. Everything had to be hidden. The Ford Pinto reference doesn't apply. I'm talking about MODIFYING vehicles, this isn't something a manufacturer would do.

Second, you do know that some vehicles have a ridiculous amount of empty space underneath them, right? How many vehicles have you worked on? Some vehicles have plenty of places to run wire that are far from any heat or fuel source. It's not like I wrapped the wire around the fuel lines and the exhaust.

Third, if you knew ANYTHING about installing electronics in vehicles you would know that trucks have all kinds of hot wires running to the tailgate/bumper underneath the bed. When installing rear view cameras, bed accessories, and lights in the rear of trucks you are forced to run wires under the bed. Maybe shops should turn away the customers because of the safety risk. Or maybe, if you explain what you're doing to the customer they can make their own decision.

Go teach safety to someone else son...maybe go on a speaking tour at elementary schools. Leave the professional discussions to the professionals.

 

NOTHING wrong with running a power wire on the underside of a car. You just have to know what you're doing and take the necessary precautions. I don't think anyone is stupid enough to run the wire next to the exhaust or something...

 

+1, as long as you do it properly, conduit is your friend as well.