I need to know if anybody has run 0 gauge power wire through the firewall. If so where? I cant find any suitable grommets and I might have to run it under the car.

Any other places to pass from the engine bay to the inside of the car?

Any help is appreciated

 

Run it under the car away from anything that gets hot (exhaust) and up high enough to not drag on the ground. Just make sure to zip tie it in alot of places so it holds up good. Then pull it up through one of the plugs in the trunk. Don't forget to use a grommet to protect the wire.

 

i just drilled a hole where the clutch pedal would go and put a rubber grommet in there to keep it from rubbing. Then i just ran it straight back through the back seat. pretty easy job.

 

how many feet does running it under the car take?

 

I do automotive electrical installations as part of my business, and the #1 rule is never run any of the wiring, especially primary power wires, to any exterior of the vehicle. You always bring power wires through the firewall of the vehicle, never underneath it.

Get yourself a 1/2" hole saw for a power drill, and make yourself a nice hole in the firewall, just make sure there's nothing on the other side. Then buy a grommet kit and some silicone from Home Depot for a 1/2" hole for around $.50 and run the wire through it. A 1/2" hole should be big enough to fit one 0-guage wire through it. Good luck.

~ Kirk

 

assuming you put a fuse in the line, why would running the power on the outside of the car be such a bad thing? it does save you from drilling your car....

 

You would have to drill a hole to get the wire inside the trunk anyway. Running the wires through the outside of the car is just asking for a disaster to happen.

 

ist such a pain in the *** to hide tho

 

Theres nothing wrong with running the wire under the car as long as you take precautions. Don't run it next to any fuel lines, don't run is so low that debre can rip it open, just be smart about it & it will work out fine. To answer you question about the length just measure from bumper to bumper & you'll end up with enough cable. It's better to be long then short.

P.S. Never take advise from an installer that works at either Best Buy or Circuit City. That would be asking for trouble?????

 

I really dont see what kind of disaster could happen if you install a fuse by the battery and secure the cable so it would not get caught on anything. also, there is a small hole at the bottom of the spare tire...not sure if big enough...

Perhaps running a 4 until the firewall, where converting to 0 gauge. I know some may think that defeats the purpose, but if most of the current is lost over longer distances, being at 4ga for 2 feet may not be too detrimental....

 

hiding the wire isn't hard, you have to hide your RCA cables the same way except on the other side. just pop off the kick panel, door sill panels, and take out the lower section of your back seat. it's an easy 30 min.-1 hr. job. do it right dude, just take the time to run it through the car. i know that having an inline fuse on the power wire makes for somewhat of a decent arguement to run it under the car and not have to worry about taking very little of your interior apart, but in the long run you'll feel better knowing that you did a good job of hiding the wire and not having it exposed to elements it's not supposed to see.

 

a32matt i agree with you that running the wire in the car is a better idea, but not everyone wants to drill a hole in the firewall....and its a ***** to drill one there too...
I'm running only a 4ga so it fit right through the stock hole perfectly....

 

I think it's not just a good idea to run a inline fuse as close as possible to the battery but a must. Nobody wants there car to go up in flames.
I have my power cable running inside the car & pretty much every car I've owned has been the same way. But I don't have a problem with running the wire underneath the car also. Sometimes your forced to run wire under the car even when you don't want to. The protective coating that surrounds the copper wire inside is more then sufficient to with stand anything mother nature can throw at it. Your biggest fear would be running over something that rip's into the sheething around the wire. But if it's properly tucked up out of the way that highly unlikely to happen. Also i don't know if running the wire inside the vehicle under the carpet would give anyone 100% piece of mind. I have seen pictures & heard more then one horror story about power cable glowing red hot & starting a car on fire (hence the must for running a inline fuse or circuit breaker). In my eyes it's alot easier to start carpet on fire then it is the undercarriage of any vehicle. Thats just my 2 cents on the subject. I personally run my power cable like any other person would which is through the inside of the vehicle. But if the time ever comes where it becomes too difficult for me to disassemble a vehicle & proceed the normal way, I won't hesitate 1 second on running the cable underneath the vehicle. More and more vehicles are getting limited for space when dealing with the placement of certain electronic control equiptment like ABS controller or factory amp's. It's not always a good idea to run a power cable or RCA's next to wiring that controls these types of electronics. Nobody wants to step on the brake pedel on to find out there ABS system is malfunctioning. A few months ago on the org I was reading a story about a person who ran there power cable on top of the MAF sensor & his car started running strange. We told him to relocate the wire away from the MAF from beleif of signal interference & sure enough the problem was cured.

 

i thought there was another way though to run the power wire into the car? i didn't mean you had to drill through the fire wall...i know there is usually more than one way to run it into the car. i try to keep the fuse as close to the battery as possible so that if it does get red hot and start a fire like you noted, i would rather it be a small fire in my engine bay since it would most likely start up there and blow the fuse rather than the fire starting up in my interior or trunk if you move the fuse farther down the line. i'm not sure if this makes sense, i could be wrong every which way with this one, but that's my .02

 

Either way to run the cable (inside/outside) will get the job done, you just have to use precaution with both methods. Theres always safety issues when running a hot wire.

 

Wow I would never ever run any electrical line outside of the car....it can easily get ripped apart in a variety of different ways.

Anyways, I am running 0 guage wire (welding cable) and it was very easy to run. I just made a hole near the clutch pedal, and after getting it through the hole, it was gravy. To get it to the trunk, I just pulled back on the back seat so just enough room was there for me to slide it through, right near the top of the rear strut.

 

by seeing what youve said im guessing that wiring up an amp and subs is not very easy to while trying to hide the wire

 

Wiring up subs and an amp is just as easy.

 

pulling out the back seat is a cynch...just pull the tabs and it comes off. too much of a pain to try and find the hole and stuff the wire through it.

 

Just take your time, and open up the little white plastic tubes. They are there to run wires in, and I was able to squeeze my 0 guage in there, and run it into the trunk with ease. However if you would like to run it under the car, just get some PVC tubing, and run it through to the trunk. I have done it many times, and it is not a big deal. Secure the tubing by drilling a hole in the side of it, and then screwing it in place. Good luck.

 

Runnin my 0 awg was a biatch. don't run it underneath. Take your time and do it right.

 

An inline fuse of high guaged wire, 0 guage if you're running a 0 guage (+) lead to the trunk, should be placed as close as possible to the (+) battery terminal. This contains any problems to the battery area and will hopefully not cause any problems inside of the vehicle. What I do on installations is run a 6 guage (+) lead with an inline fuse to a remote power distribution center which contains 6-12 fusable links. This allows us to have one master power wire enter the vehicle and then we can link as many power links from the PDC. Very slick.

~ Kirk

 

Why only 6 guage as your main line?

Right now I am running 0 guage to a distro block, and I have 2 4 guages off of it.

 

wait so power wires cause interference? **** my 8 awg wire is right next to my MAF FAAWK