MiniRX7

HOw did you guys run the power wires to the trunk.

Is there enough room through the firewall in one of the factory rubber grommets for a 4 guage wire??

As there anybody in the toronto area that can show me where they run the amp wires??


ED

Nathan

iTrader: (28)

Where in Toronto are you located?

MiniRX7

In mississauga!!

I notice you have the same subs i wanna see your install

Nathan

iTrader: (28)

Well I have nothing installed yet but in 1 week or so I should.

MiniRX7

maybe we can work together

Vadim

iTrader: (8)

it is easy. you take the gas pedal assembly out (2 or 3 nuts and disconnect the wire harness). you will see a weird shape steel plate that hold in place with 2 nuts. Loosen and take out the plate. That will expose the existing hole in the firewall and you can drill a bigger one in the plate then put a better rubber groumet in there and assemble everything back.

studman

There's a better place than that. I used the grommet in the driver's fenderwell. If you remove the plastic trim in the wheel well covering the firewall, you will see a bunch of wires entering the cabin. This is a safe place to run your power wire through because you don't need to drill a hole, fill it with epoxy, etc, and you don't have to worry about the bare metal (from the hole you drilled) cutting into your power wire and causing a short. Then just run the power wire down the driver's side trim. Remove the back seat using the 2 little white tabs, and run it under the black bracket you see (once the seat is removed). There ya go. Be sure to run your RCAs down the passenger side so you won't have engine/RPM noise in your signal. I used 16 ft RCAs (in case you haven't bought them, that's about what they need to be).

replicant

Studman, I am in the middle of running my power wire as well, on my 2k2 maxima se. I am wondering which plastic piece covering the firewall in the wheel well you are refering too. I spent 2 hours trying to run the power, but no luck, it seemed every hole on the drivers side wheel well I tried, just ended or wouldn't let me budge anymore. I'm getting a wee bit frustrated. I'd rather not have to drill any holes obviously Thanks Studman or whoever else keeps responding to this original thread.

MiniRX7

Apparently there is an easy place to feed it with no drilling..

I got frustrated so i got an audio shop to do it for me for 30 dollars and plus my wire is a 4guage....

see my website for pictures!!

www.pbase.com/MiniRX7

Click on audio install..

ED

replicant

Ed,

Thats exactly where I was feeding, but I couldn't find a spot from the wheel well to the inside of the car! I ended up spending over 3 hours on it :/

I'll try again tomorrow after work.

If anyone else has suggestions, please post!

replicant

HAHAHAAHAH.. I WIN!

I was so ****ed about not being able to get that friggin power ran after 3 hours; I decided to go back outside at 11:30pm and get that friggin thing done! Studman, I finally found the grommet you were talking about, it's RIGHT behind the door hinge (the middle one). I saw that thing and it was like a ray of light had shined/shone (grammer?) upon me! The next trick was running the rest of the power underneath that plastic barrier in the wheel well. I also had to work the power back up the door between the cabin and the door/fender well, THEN get the 4 gauge to go at a 90 degree angle into that hole. Well After many frustrating minutes passed this time around, I got it all done, even sent it all the way to the back seat before I just couldn't do anymore. I have to get up in a few hours for work, but it was worth it

I'll post pics on my website of EXACTLY what all I had to do and where I had to feed the wire, just so the next person will have clear documentation of all of this.

now.. zzzzzzzzzz

MiniRX7

Well i decided not to run the wire myself, other than that everything else was quite complicated including tapping int ot he bose audio system..

But all in all, it was a good 30 dollars well spent...

ED

replicant

I hear that.. I luckily did not buy the bose system, and am replacing every bit of audio equipment.. so things should be relatively easy from here on out.. i hope

MiniRX7

The bose audio wasn't all that bad.. because they run the wires to the rear of the car, so I don't need to run wires up front.. I tapped in to the bose harness!! Worked like a charm!!

ED

replicant

Awesome! That's the only problem is I'm going to have to run lots of speaker wire :/ It's worth it though, Now I have to get this dash kit hacked apart so I can flush mount my lcd screen. This is gonna be a semi pain in the butt. We'll see how it comes out though.

Can't wait to get the lcd in so it will look like its actually coming together. I ran the remote line tonight before dinner, i shoulda just left all of the trim plates off :P I have to run the speaker wire anyway!

Oh well, I"ll keep anyone who's interested posted via my website news.

Peace

TRuFLiPpeR

iTrader: (4)

replicant, i saw your web site and the pictures are great, but do you think you could either label what we're looking at, or go through a step by step on how to route the power wire all the way to the rear. thanks!

n1cK

MiniRX7

Hey,

First off, what type of screen are you using, is it an NTSC or VGA input screen.

SEcond, WHy did you choose to run a DC-AC invertor instead of a DC to DC power supply.

THird, What are you using for your source unit, is your signal going from the computer to the amp or through a head unit.



I am going to do this setup, btu i am going to move my climate control to the centre console and put my pioneer deck under neath the screen.. I am going to use the factory navi bezel for the 2k2's tof the LCD and the single din deck .. it will look factory. I am only going ot use a VGA screen to get that extra ounce of clarity and an 800x600 resolution..

FOr HD and the extra assurance, i will run a laptop drive as opposed to the standard desktop..

I will use a DC to DC converotor to ensure cleaner signal to the computer.. I will suplement this with a 1 farad cap so that there is reserve power when starting the engine. I will also use the ATX shutdown controller to control the computer as well..

ED

replicant

I am using NTSC, bought it a year ago when I first put it in my Intrepid, its pretty clear for NTSC. Yes, I would like to go VGA, but the price is substantially more, unles you get that Xenarc 7" VGA, but I am spending a pretty penny on a lot of stuff for this car. I'll wait a while to upgrade the screen.


Inverter does the job just fine, I am working on a DC-DC psu at the moment, but the inverter will do its job, until I finish the DC-DC power supply. As far as effenciency goes, you will find that many DC-DC psu's are as effecient with power as many inverters. Check their specs!

I used an eclipse headunit in my intrepid, but in my maxima, i am running the signal straight from pc to amp. I considered using an Audiocontrol MVC, just so I could have a hardwired volume control, but I am goign to build some relays to use the steering wheel volume controls to just do volume from my PC. See my pics of my Intrepid's system on my website.

I've had my carpc in my intrepid for 6 months and the only problem was heat, but it gets super hot here in Alabama. The HD is only a matter of preference. I am working on phase 2.0 of my carpc, which will feature a MUCH smaller form factor, in fact the mobo will be the size of a normal harddrive.

I also hope you consider the NITS of the vga screen you are looking at, if you go less that 200 you will find that clarity will not matter when its not bright enough to effectively read anything on the screen while in your car.

Once again the DC-DC power supply (not a converter) will be implemented as soon as I finish building it. Read my above sentences on the topic of "cleaner signals". I'll just re-ittetrate: you really will get a clean signal off of both. If you get an inverter that uses a square wave then sure effenciency will be less, but like i said before, some dc-dc power supplies that you purchase online have 65% effenciency!

Hope this helps answer some questions.
And yes, I am working on converting my galleries to PHP, for eeasier management of pics to come, and I will have information about each pic

Thanks for the interest.

MiniRX7

Well, in the use of the 2k2 Steering wheel controls, you can hook tehm up to the PAC SWI-X interface and then use the IR to control winamp.. Thats what i was planning on doing.


As for using the dc-ac invertor, i think most people use this setup because its cost efficient. However i too have noticed that the dc-ac invertors have gotten lot more efficient over the years... SOme nearing 80%..

For heat problems, i believe running about 4 fans in the case should do fine.

I was considering the Xenarc screen beucase its pretty cheap for a VGA screen. HOwever they did not post the NITS, i was hoping that it was 300 or more. They claim that it has some sort of coating for sunlight... So hopefully it is good to use.

I am sure using VGA signal as opposed to the NTSC will do wonders for clarity. In addition i am hoping to run 800x600 resolution so that there is a little more desktop space.

DO you have any form of ATX power swtich? I am sure you came across one at mp3car.com..

I plan on using a P4 and 512megs of DDR ram to prevent from caching on the disk (minimize HD usuage)...

But i don't know many people using the Xenarc screen. Which VGA screen woudl you recommend?

Do you ahve ICQ or MSN? So we can further investigate this situation..

ED

replicant

MIniRX7, my aim is Angus Bosch

Don't have time to chat right now, just thought I'd give yah the AIM name, i'll be back on the computer later tonight.. going out with me mates right now.

later