Hi guys.

I am about halfway done with a custom install and have gotten to the part of running a 4 gauge cable from the battery to the trunk. I have a few notions on how to do it but would like to hear from someone who actually has.

All of the signal and speaker wires are running down the center console, under the carpet and under the back seat. I was planning on running the juice through the existing center firewall grommet, behind the glove box and along the passenger side but could be talked out of it.

Thanks, Skip

 

Skip, that is the exact route I took for the power cable! It's an easy run, but that center gromet can be a pain to get back on. Taking it that way looks very stock, expecially if you wrap the wire up in splitloom and electrical tape like the rest of the engine is.

 

It was a lot easier than I was expecting. I just put a coat hanger thoru the grommet, taped the power cable on and it came through behind the glove box. I haven't gotten a very good ground judging from the hum. I grounded the main to the "D" ring near and am getting a fairly serious alternator whine. Any suggestions on where to get a chassis ground in the trunk?

Thanks again, Skip

 

I grounded my amp to the same place the fuel pump was grounded to. It's under the bottom trunk carpet, all the way up by the back of the seats. I used the same place on my Accord and never had a problem. I do recomend sanding the paint away and then adding some no-ox or dielectric grease so rust won't form.

 

I'll check it out. Except for the whine, the theory worked pretty well. I took the fronts on the HU, ran them through the stock amp, through an LOC and into a preamp/EQ. From there three sets of RCAs go back to the trunk. The fronts and rears have a component amp and the sub outs will go to a Basslink when I get that in. My electronic experience tells me to check each stage before continuing or else I'll never isolate problems.

The next step is to replace the front six speakers and yank the rear 6X9's. I figure I'm 2/3 of the way through the process.

Thanks again, Skip

 

Yeah, I highly recommend unhooking everything and testing one section at a time. Unhook the rear and sub amp and eq, test. Unhook the front amp, hookup the rear amp test. Unhook the rear amp, hookup the sub, test. Repeat the entire test again with the eq in place. You'll find the problem eventually

This seems like a ton of work you are doing to just go with a basslink, what made you decide to go that way?

 

Most of the stuff I am using was intended for the car I had before this one. Also, I only needed a little more bass. If I was doing it from scratch I'd probably get a single 12 and a small, class-D amp. I still might. A friend is interested in a Basslink for his TSX so we might work something out.

At any rate, now I need to get the components and coax's in. I also have to pay a bit more attention to the lead dress on the RCA's coming in to the back panel. I put some carriage bolts on the sheet metal behind the passenger back wheel hump and hung another off a bracket on the tail light assembly. When the plastic is back in place a piece of carpeted plywood fits over those bolts with wingnuts. The amp is on the front and the fusebox and crossovers on on the back. With the signal wires coming down the center of the car and the power down the right they still cross at the bottom of the plywood. I am going to tape the RCA's higher up on the body panels to make sure there is no co-mingling. I think I'll still use the "D" ring bolt for the ground. The metal it fits into is at least 6 mm thick so there must be some significant structural steel underneath it. It is a lot closer to the amp than the gas tank ground. I'll probably shine a flashlight through it to see where it comes out under the car and report back.

Skip

 

I cleaned up the wires and the ground connection and the whine is fixed. Even through the stock speakers are still in it sounds pretty good. I haven't gotten to pulling the deck speakers and they are still connected to the stock amp. They even sound better for some reason. Once I get the new woofers and tweets in I'll reevaluate the sub situation.

The "D" ring bolt hole is about three inches above another piece of steel so I can't be sure what it is. It works fine and is very convenient. I am still playing with the settings since I have gain and tone settings on the stock HU, the EQ and the component amp. So far about two thirds up on all is the cleanest loud setting and I can still use the steering wheel controls as the master.

Skip

 

Congradulations on getting the problem fixed

 

It isn't as fixed as I thought -- just improved a great deal. I need to do a better job grounding the LOC and put a new RCA cable between it and the EQ. Still, the thing sounds great so far and I haven't even gotten the new speakers in yet. Oddly, the deck speakers also sound a lot better. I left them attached to the stock amp with the intention of removing them later. I can control them with the fader since it doesn't affect the signal going to the new amp.

Another thought popped into my head that I could reattach the rears to the stock amp amp and use the component amp to drive a better set of 6x9s. The sound wouldn't be as good as with a sub but I would have the whole trunk.

I'll keep everyone posted on my progress.

Skip

 

sorry for resurrecting this subject, but how did you run the wire to the rear doors? Did you just turn 90 degrees and go under the carpet toward the b pillar or what? I'm gonna do the power wire like y'all did, but am concerned about crossing the power and speaker wires (even if it is at 90 degrees). IN other words, would it be better to run the power cable down the center and run the speaker wires along the sides? Thanks---Brian