HyperZ

Alrighty ya'll... I'm a bit stumped on this one. I spent several hours yesterday going over my car, ripping inner body panels off to take a look at what was going on behind those crappily clipped on plastic interior panels so I could case out my amp install. Everything comes off easily... the tC seems to just come apart even though a few pieces need more care than others, but basically, it seems pretty straightforward - getting on the wiring around the car. Except I ran into the problem of not really finding a good spot on the car where to run the power wire to the battery.

There is one hole in the firewall that I noticed near the top of the driver's side on the firewall. Right now there is a 10 guage or so black wire running through a grommet with rubber molding on the inner firewall. I don't know if this will work... not sure that a 4 guage wire will fit through there alongside the other one.

Someone mentioned in another thread that there is a spot on the other side of the car, near the glove compartment. Any ideas on this... has anyone else used this spot and can tell me how to locate it so I know what to pry off?

If need be, I can just punch a hole underneath the rear seat and route the wire along the inside of the side skirts (it seems you can pretty much pull a few things off to get the inner cover of the side skirts to expose and then just run the wire inside that, then up the inside of the wheel well, on top of the inside cover... then to the battery.

This seems complicated for a power wire, but whatever seems best I'll go with. Toss me some suggestions on what you guys did for your amps.

tCizzle

i used the grommet on the drivers side just carefully make a slit with a razor and pop it thru

Rivulent

I actually used the gromet on the passenger side, cutting a hole and ran the wire through. Just be careful not to overcut the hole, undercut it and squeeze it through. In my case, I put my amp under my passenger seat so I ended up running it through the center console of the car then down under the carpet to under the seat.

SCI_TC_GUY

I drilled a hole about a foot above my dead pedal.....there was a piece of the firewall insulation already cut out there....in the engine bay, it comes out about 6-8 inches down the firewall right behind the battery......

Smokin

1. Open glove box
2.pull out glove box (yank it out, it wont break)
3.You should now see an ecu box which is held with 3 bolts.
4.Remove bolts/ecu box for better access
5.Now you should clearly see and be able to get to the black grommet.
6. Either use a razor ( carefully ) to slice a hole big enough for your wire or just pull the grommet to the side enough to fit your wire.
7. Run a coat hanger through to the engine bay.
8. Use some electical tape to attatch the wire to the coat hanger.
9.Pull
10. Run back really quick to your comp and make us proud.

HyperZ

I will get to it as soon as I get off work today. The sub box comes in Saturday though, but I wanted to get everything else out of the way.

This is good info.

acex008

i ran mine under the car.... i routed it along the framerails and up into the hatch thru the center rubber grommet found under the spare tire... That way, i dont get any interference from it into my audio cables.

mandos

From my gutting walkthru over in ICE:

For the power wire, here’s what I did, first, run through the boot w/ most of the interior wires:



Now run it up through the metal in the top of the brake:



Then through the same hole on the clutch:



Just be careful running it through there, the metal is rounded, but you should still take care when running it.

As you’ll notice in this picture, I ran the wire under the metal braces in the bottom of the car. Also, at the front of the car, just run it down behind the stock wires that go into the door:

terra_tC

The best way to go is to run it thru the grommet, cutting a small hole in it. Pull it through and run it down the drivers side door w/ the rest of the electrical. Remember to run your audio cables on the opposite side of the car!!
I wouldnt run them on the outside if the car...exposing them to elements that can later effect your system

acex008

It's just the 4 ga. power wire that I ran under my car and it's within a casing anyhow and then zip tied to the frame... worked like a charm. I'm not concerned. I did have it running along the driver's side and within the white plastic clips that you'll find under the plastic trim piece. That worked well too.

VIP_tC

I also ran mine through the factory rubber grommet on the drivers side. 4 gauge fit fine, now I will have to rerun my 1/0, it wont be as easy....

HyperZ

OK... wow. So, after several hours in the garage, I've finally wired everything for now. That means everything works. I looked at all the suggestions mentioned here except the one with pics just cause I never got to it. I ended up going through the grommet on the passenger's side because it was the easiest to get to. It took a while to find it though, it's hidden on the lower side near the center console and there is the A/C hose sticking through it. I had to lift the carpet and padding to find it.

From there, I just attached my cable to the battery terminal and wrapped it along the top of the firewall, then down to where the grommet was. I managed to get underneath the car and just slide the wire through. I then had to make a slit in the grommet to allow the hose and cable through it. Hopefully whatever water would pass through there still will.

The cable was routed back to the hatch along the bottom piece along the door, up the rear side panel and behind the rear seat to the cubby where the amp sits. Perfect. Found a good ground and now I need to wire up the remote turn-on lead. I don't even have a box yet... it gets here this Saturday. But I already attached my sub just to get a taste and it's sweet. I can only imagine how it will sound when I get the box and finish tuning it.

HyperZ

Just as an extra, I found this PDF. It's for a security installation, but the last part of it has several things to do as a checklist for post-installation, which may help some folks out when they are trying to figure out why their passenger's side window won't roll down from the driver's side now.

Checklist

dgHotLava

moved...