GPz1100

I got most of the car torn apart now. Most of the plastic panels are off and I can actually see what I got to work with.

For the amp power wire, I'm thinking right by the pass door edge would probably be the best. I was to run the rca's on the inside edge (towards the middle of the car) of the hump on the driver side. The right door speaker wire will go on the passenger side of the hump, and the left speaker wire will go on the driver side's edge.

The only bad thing is the pass speaker wire will cross the power wire at one point, but I believe so long as it crosses at 90 deg, any induced noise should be minimal.

Any thoughts on this or other ideas?

Richiec77

iTrader: (3)

Uh. It's not AC. So for that power wire to induce noise would be an Event I would like to see. Plus it's speaker wire. The high voltage output already create a large IND field than the power wire could. DC with an AC ripple vs. Straight true AC in a varied amplitude. No worry on that.

The rest of the run sounds fine.

GPz1100

Progress report.

Today I finished removing the driver seat, and center console (or at least got it so I can fish the rca's near it.

I also ran the fuse holder and power wire/remote to the trunk area.

Fishing 4 gauge through that grommet was interesting. The screws holding the computer in place were rotted. I snapped the head of one trying to unscrew it.
After much frustration, I was able to fish a small 16 or 18 gauge wire from the INSIDE of the car, undid the cowling on the engine side (black part that the wipers rest on), and was able to get enough room to fit a little wrench to undo the 2 screws holding the computer in place.

Still could not remove it entirely, but was able to get my hand down by the grommet to fish that small wire in. Once in, i taped the thin wire to the 4 gauge, and pulled it through.

This really should not have been so complicated. To finish it off, i rtv'd the grommet, just in case it wasn't sealing good.

Fishing the wire to the back of the car was simple. I use cable ties to secure the 4 gauge to the existing loom that was by the door sill. Looks to be like some power wires, and the wiring that goes off to the amp. Also, from the battery back, all wire was enclosed in wire loom.

I couldn't find a real good spot for the fuse holder, so I used a very small length of wire from the battery terminal to the fuse holder (~3"), left the fuse holder along side the battery, and fished the wire near the fusible links. Looks very stealthy, and fuse is super close to terminal (though I've yet to blow or short such a fuse (80amp)).

Tomorrow I hope to finish the rca routing, run speaker wire, and put seal/peel on the doors.

About the battery terminal - A friend suggested I use a vise to hold it, while heating it with a blow torch. As its heating, keep feeding it solder until it's almost filled up.. Then jam the wire into it. When it cools you have a very strong connection. Some heat shrink tubing over it, and looks very professional .

I had no blow torch, but used a little pocket torch that runs on butane. Took a bit longer to heat up, but still works just as well.

hawgs

iTrader: (3)

Do you think 20-25 feet of wire would be enough to run from the battery to the trunk area? How long are you RCA cables?

GPz1100

The 4 ga power wire was 20'. That seems to be a real good fit going from the battery, through the grommet under the pcm, then following the existing wireloom to the back of the car. With the amp in, I'll prob have a ft extra.

The rca's I got were 6M, (19ft), although 5M would work nicely.. The cables I wanted were not available in 5M.

I got everything from knukonceptz.com .. crystal cable for the rca's. It's a shielded twisted pair type. All 4 channels are inside 1 cable .

hawgs

iTrader: (3)

How much speaker wire are you estimating needing? I will be running from the 4 channel amp in the trunk area to fronts and sail panels.

GPz1100

It's now nearly a week later. The car is almost done. All that's left is to connect & install the sub, and some other misc things.

I didn't think this project would take me a week (working 5-8 hrs a day) to get done.

I must be really taking my time or just slow.

On a brighter note, I did get a chance to hook up power to the amp and listen to the system a bit. All I can say is wow.. What a difference. I'm sure once the sub is in place and I tune it a bit, it will be even better.

One thing I do have a question about. The HU i have is a kenwood kdc-mp7028. Advertised with 4V preamp outs.

The amp i'm using is an mrv-f545. It lets you dial in the sensitivity of the rca's from .3V to 4V. With the amp set at 4V, I can literally turn the HU volume up to 30+, and it's not super loud.

In order to get the volume I'm used to at #19-23, I have to set the sensitivity on the amp to .8V .

Ultimately, I suppose it doesn't matter where the amp is set so long as it is not clipping and there is no distortion. But this phenomenon has be dumbfounded. I should be able to match the preouts of the HU or the amp, no?

(ps, comparing volume levels to new HU with old monsoon 200W system).

I'm not looking to win any spl contents, but I dont like driving the HU volume up to 30+. I believe the cleanest sound will be within 75-80% of the max ..

Any ideas on this?

GPz1100

I'm really not sure. I had 12ga wire left over from a previous install, probably 60' or so, and the 20' that came in the kit.

Keep in mind, I ran speaker wire for the front doors, the rear sails, and sub. I rather err on the high side when ordering wire. It makes the install easier in case you decide to route something differently.

Also, from the door crossovers, I used the wire that came with the speaker for the woofer & tweeter. Roughly 12' each. I left it inside the doorpanel, incase i decide to relocate the tweeter else where (they're in the triangle piece by the mirror now).

iosigma

If you haven't ran spekaer wire you can actually take a Metra Plug. 70-2001 and make a interface from you existing speaker wire at the back of the car. There is a link to it in the FAQ section that has wiring codes and so forth. The only wires I ran were for the rca's remote turn-on, power and ground.

GPz1100

IOSIGMA, the car is now fully wired with 12 gauge going to the doors and sail panels (the latter in case I decide to add speakers there later), 3 pairs of rca's, and 4 gauge back.

For the hatch speakers, I used 4 jumpers to short out 8 pins of the factory amp harness so that I could just power the rears off HU power. Works well, though HU power is no match for amp'd setup.