im installing a new amplifier this weekend in my 3.2 and i have a few questions. maybe too many haha ive never done this before so i wanna do it right.
any help at all would be awesome!
where should i run the power cable through in my firewall?
whats a good spot to mount the amp?
is there an easy way to get the carpet up?
any tips that will make my life easier and all that?
ohh yea...and how do i remove the back seat?
thanks guys. im not afraid to find out how to do all this myself i just dont have to much time to install it.
oh yea....and wheres the best spot to run the ground wire to?
thanks!

 

-there is an opening in the firewall if you look carefully. its round and black (rubber).

-mount the amp as the manual suggest. sometimes mounting it upright or laying flat will cause it to get hot and thats not what you want. as far as where? some people like to mount it onto the box itself but if you do, put something beneath where you screw the amp down, such as some sort of rubber or a folded cardboard? doing so will leave a tiny gap btw your amp and your box (this prevents the carpet on the box to block the amp from cooling.)

-the carpet comes up easily. take out the center console and the passenger seat, to run the wires beneath the carpet, then run it towards the side step of the passenger front door...run it towards the side step of the back passenger door, then up the side of the back seat. use a metal coat hanger but be sure the front part of the hanger isn't the sharp end of the hanger to avoid ripping your back leather seats.

-you don't need to remove the back seat but you can if you want to run your wires all nice and neat. you can run it from the center console straight down the middle towards the trunk. there are...i believe 2-3 bolts in the crack of the back seat. once those bolts are removed, unhook the bottom cushion by um...pushing back towards the trunk and then up. don't quote me on that but i know a few members here have done so. maybe they can chime in.

-as far as tips go, see if you can get someone else to help you with this project. someone with a little experience or someone who did their own audio installation. when you wire your ground, make sure you chip off the paint from the car before you bolt it down.

-

 

wow man thanks so much....real quick...wheres the black grommet in the firewall at...and is there anything i need to know before detatching the passenger seat...like things not to touch and watch out for etc?

 

well when i took out my passenger seat, i scratched the wood thingy (around my passenger door window-lever) with the bottom of the passenger seat as i lifted it up and out of the car. be very careful when taking out the passenger seat b/c it barely fits through the opening even if you opened your passenger door to the max. hopefully you wont scratch anything oh yeah, once you run all the wires...i think you're suppose to have the RCA wires AWAY from the speaker wires.

the grommet is opening in the firewall is behind the battery, for the 2.5TL that is. its perfect that way so when you hook up your wires and fuse to the terminal, its right there on the battery next to the firewall opening.

 

If you are taking the back seat all the way out it might help to put the windows down too, might give you a bit more room to work with.

 

I would reccomend not running wires through the center console. There's no need to.


First of all, What speakers are you amping? it's nice to know as much info as possible, so be specific. If you're installing an amp for your subwoofer, RCA's next to speaker wires are fine. if you're amping your speakers, then either route the RCA away from the speaker and power/ground wires, or buy sheilded RCA cables (a little more expensive).

on my TL, I ran my power wire down the right side of the car, and the RCA/Turn-on/speaker wires down the left. Just unclip the plastic running panels and run the wires through. no need to go through the center console. I have 3 Monster Cable sheilded RCA's, so i have no problem with ground-loop noise. Plus, i have 2 Kicker KX350.2 2-channel amps runnning my speakers, so they are quiet and efficient. no noise in my system. Car Audio is my biggest hobby, so if you have any other Specific questions, i can answer them for you, not to say that anyone else on here would be wrong, because SOME people know what they're doing. haha. I had to take out my backseat to install this, because i have 3 amps, and a capacitor, and a custom amp board bolted to the back of the rear-pass-through. it looks decent. i have pics, but i don't know how to post them on here. someone TEACH ME HOW????


Good luck with your project! let me know how it turns out.

PS. NEVER mount an amp (especially a class A/B) UPSIDE-DOWN. The heatsinks will be inverted, and when the amp gets hot, it won't properly cool. NOT GOOD. haha.

just my two cents.

 

amps installed successfully! not cleaned up yet though so when it is ill post pictures.