Wires under the carpet: how? where?

[Ernie Ball]

I did a search and didn't find anything that addressed this.

I'm putting an amp under the passenger seat.  I'll need to run power and ground out to the engine bay and and RCA cable and remote lead to behind the head unit.  I'll also want to run speaker wire to the doors.

What's the best way to do this?  Do I run them under the carpet?  If so, how do I get under there?  Where do I want to run them to?  Under the centre console?  What about the power and ground leads: also under the carpet?

[markiii]

short answer is yes

though try not to run Power, RCA and Speakers together

[Ernie Ball]

Yabut how?

[markiii]

power goes through the firewall grommit into the rear bins

then behind the seatbelt panels down behind the carpet (you will need a small hole) and under the seat

speaker cable through similar hole and under the plastic sill trims into the kickpanels, up nehind the dash and then through the existing grommitt into the door (it's a bitch of a job but a bent coat hanger is your friend)

best bet is put crossovers in the door so you only have to run 1 set of wires into the door.

drivers side speaker run take the same route but will have to go along up behind the dash.

RCA comes under the centre tunnel carpet and out through a hole (you will need to make) in the carpet. you will need seats and centre tunnell out to do this.

I suggest you get FLAT speaker cable rather the round stuff, it sits under carpet better

[Wabbitkilla]

There are a couple of ways to get under the carpet.

1. Take out the centre console (handbrake and gearstick), this will give you access under the carpets and you will see how the oem wiring runds front to back. You'll probably be able to run your power needs to the dash.

2. Take out the luggage bins completely behind the seats will also give you access under the carpet.

Neither is ideal as obviously the carpet is also fastened down by the seat runners. But option 1 should enable with a bit of fiddling to achieve what you want to do.

For wiring into the doors, what can i say? Explore the existing wiring to find the way? The panel immediately fordward of the door can be popped off as it's on a removable plactic rivet. Once you're in there all will become clear.

Like many things in life, "seek and ye shall learn"

[Anonymous]

......speaker cable through similar hole and under the plastic sill trims into the kickpanels, up nehind the dash and then through the existing grommitt into the door (it's a bitch of a job but a bent coat hanger is your friend).....

The easiest way to do this part is to unplug the door loom connectors and pull the rubber corrogated door loom seal and connectors into the door and then thread the speaker cable through the corrogated rubber things when they are in the door as it's easy to get to both sides then. I've done this quite a few times and you can easilly manage 12AWG speaker wire this way.

[Ernie Ball]

speaker cable through similar hole and under the plastic sill trims into the kickpanels

How do you get it under the sill trims?  Do these come off?

[markiii]

ah right then

to remove teh plastic sill covers kneel down outside teh car, place hands on teh sills wrap fingers under teh lip inside teh car and pull, teh whole thing lifts off

with that out, teh front kick panel is held in with one plastic nut, the seatbelt panel just pulls off as well, once you have removed teh 2 or 3 plastic poppers on teh top

[Ernie Ball]

Excellent.

So maybe I can do this without going under the carpet at all?  I'm wavering between putting the amp under the plastics in the bin or under the seat.  Seems like the install is easier if I put it in the bin...

[markiii]

marginally however if it goes under teh seat I'd probably remove the seat, centre tunnell and plastic trims to allow easy access under teh carpet, cut out a little sound deadening where teh cable need to be and put teh carpet back, you won;'t see it all

[MR-S]

If you're running cables to speakers through the door gromits you don't need to take the rubber loom covers off at all. Take the kick panel off, take the door card off and you should be able to see where the wires enter and leave the rubber loom cover. At the higher end of the loom cover - often the body end, squirt a little 3 in one oil down there - this is especially helpful if your running high guage speaker wire tape the speaker wire to a pen and push it through. No problem at all.

As for the amp, keep the power leads as far away from the rca's as possible and keep the ground as short as possible. If you're mounting the amp under the seat use one of the seat bolt points as the ground point, just sand the paint off the body. I'm not sure where the nearest bolt is in relation to the bins but again, keep the ground as short as possible. Run the power and ignition leads under the sills and run the RCA straight down the middle under the centre console. You might even be able to just tuck the rca under without removing the console at all. If mounting under the seats be sure to use a little sound deadening under the amp - stops and rattles and also prevents static being generated in the amp casing form the carpet. This should prevent the dreaded engie whine coming from the speakers  - nothing more head wrecking. If you do get feedback, spend €15 on a ground loop isolator. That'll sort it.