I'm installing a sound system and I can't find a hole in the firewall to run the power cable to the amp. There is a big black ridged hose that runs from the left side at the back of the engine bay which seems to go inside the car but I can't find where it ends up. Are there any other holes where I could run the power cable?

 

the one hidden behind your drill bit . jk, just drill one and put in a grommit.

 

whats a grommit

 

a rubber thing that goes inside the hole so that the power wire doesn't rub up against the hole and end-up splicing the insulation on the cable, hence causing fire/spark. they're cheap and necessary.

 

You sure you checked all over? I'm not trying to be an a$$hole, it's just that I found one on the passenger side just less than half way down. It was covered by a layer of that gummy sound deadening material GM loves to use. I don't know if it's standard or anything, but it would be worth a check.

Otherwise yeah, drill until you see daylight!!

 

I used my antennas old hole. Just use a drill on the stock grommet to make it fit a bit better with the 4gauge, put a bit of lube on the 4 gauge and it worked fine. Drilling one isnt hard though.
greg

 

On cars with the battery on the passenger side, I just drill a hole near the antenna hole. On cars with the battery on the driver side, I usually drill a hole right under the plunger for the clutch master cylinder. Just don't drill into the clutch master cylinder (which is mounted to the firewall on an ANGLE) otherwise you'll get really pissed off, you'll have to waste $60 and an afternoon of your time, you'll get brake fluid in your hair and eyes, and the parts guy will laugh at you for years to come for drilling into your stock one. I mean, not that I'd know or anything. That's just what I hear.

 

lol... I remember you posting about that. It's reassuring (in a sick way, I guess..) to know that even the pro's make mistakes occasionally.

Makes me fear the killer ones that lie ahead for me though....

 

I had hell trying to find the one by the passenger side. The driver side was easier for me. Its like right behind the gas pedal but kinda high. You should see that little rubber deal so you can just pull it out. If you still cant find it pop your hood and look behind all the krap for your steering. There should be one to the bottom left of it if your looking straight at the engine. Get a real long screw driver and tape the amp power wire to it but make sure the wire isnt connected to the battery yet. That wouldnt be good. Well with the screw driver you can poke the wire through the hole there and get to it from the other side quicker.

 

Behind the kick panel, right near the antenna hole. It's extremely easy to get to and you can get a straight shot at it so drilling is easy. It's by far the easiest spot on the car to run the wire through.

 

I just drilled one right under neath all the relays on the driver side. I can damn close to hittin the main harenss under the dash, (now that owulda really pissed me off) but i didt.

 

...straight through the fender!! LOL

I drilled a hole behind the passenger side kickpanel next to the wires that already come in through there. Stuck a grommet in there and I was set. Make sure you have the right kind of drill bit for this! When you know you do, keep at it, slow and easy. The bit will probably jam itself a couple times. Don't get discouraged, and you'll have your project done in minutes. Good luck!

 

Thanks for the help but I just thought it through and drilled a hole through the firewall just above the seam in the metal on the passenger side under the dash. The hole came out just under a rubber hose that went straight by the battery. Thanks for your help guys.

 

ok, i looked today for the hole in my fire wall and i could not find it, does anyone have any pictures of the hole in there fire wall? and or can someone circle where one would be in this pic?
thanks bub

 

man if you dont wanna drill a hole, go the easy way like i did. take the cable from the battery on whichever side its on, then make it follow the top of the fender to the door, open up your door, and slide the wire down to the inside of the door seal. then theres a plastic piece that comes from the dash area, loop that wire under it and your inside the car. now just do a little carpet pulling and undo the little door guard thing at the bottom and run it under there to your back seats. run it beside the back seat and up behind the back of them and voiala! right at your amp. and ive found the best way to ground an amp is to use the trunk hatch motors grounding screw. even though your car doesnt have the option, i think i still got the motor. dunno, but i got some kind of motor back there and it has a screw where 3 wires are grounded. i might look into gettin a hatch release button and makin that sucka work. oh well, my next step... gettin the car working again. then custom sub woofer enclosure. oh yeah! gotta have the bass. must get good sound out of camaro. go to the kappa. ooooooo kappa. ok ill stop.

 

Not only is that incredibly half-assed, it's unsafe. The wire will eventually chafe itself on the door jam and result in a short. If you've got a low powered system, you can poke the wire through an existing firewall hole, and if you've got a high powered system, you can sink a TON of current before you blow the fuse, which could result in a crispy car.

It's unsafe and lazy. I don't usually jump all over people for things (at least not until they provoke me), but this should never, never, never be done. It's just plain unsafe.

 

I agree with you jim. That is very unsafe. all you have to do is drill a small hole in the firewall on either the driver or passenger side. I put one right on hte driver side under abunch of relays and it was fine.

 

nah, not the way i did it. i do stereo installations and i check my wires at least once a week. ive had mine like that for about 4 months. still no chafing.i wrapped it up around the plastic lining that helps seal the door. the wire makes no contact with the door and it stays perfectly insulated. i know the way i said it in the last post did sound bad, just as soon as i get my digital camera out of layaway i can get some pictures to show it. i dont think i want to fry my nice expensive system that i paid good money to put in my car. i did it that way because i did run a wire through the firewall, but that wire melted and shorted out a 300 dollar amp. i live in texas and i have an engine that gets real hot. had to find an alternative that would keep my wire as far away from the engine that i could get it. and i tried it that way, and it works. so sorry if i caused any confusion, but when the regular way doesnt work, gotta find something new.

 

i did mine the exact way, for two reasons. one, i couldnt fidn that damn little grommet on my car anyways, and im pretty expereinced in doing this. i think on some cars the only actual grommet is behidn the engine, cause all the wires are hooked to some really F**Ed harness looking thing on the drivers side, so i did it his way. second, it was too cold to sit there wasting my time drilling a hole. soon as it gets warmer i will change my 8 guage wire to 4 or something..

 

yeah, i found that grommet the first time, but i was like heck naw. i aint running my wire through that, too complicated. so i drilled the hole then the wire melted and fried my amp. so i went to the around the door method.

 

None of my cars have the power wire anywhere NEAR the engine, and there's no way you're going to melt the insulation on a 4 gauge wire before you melt all the wires of your engine harness first.

 

well i was running a 10 guage wire not a 4. my system wasnt powerful enough to need a 4 guage wire. and the grommet to mine was behind my engine. they make cars differently. and i guess thats why my wires were wrapped in a heat shield. so far ive had to replace my alternator 5 times because some of my wires melted and shorted out. so yeah some of my wires did melt. i guess youre one of the lucky ones with a nice cool setup. oh well i love my IROC.

 

mine was right in there. (red area)

its hard to get a drill bit aimed down there, but it works.

then remove your kick panel where your fuse box is inside the car, and push your wires through the hole.

-fly

 

If your car gets so hot that it's melting wires, then you've either got some MAJOR overheating issues to deal with, or your wiring is where it shouldn't be. Texas or not, that crap shouldn't be happening.

Plus, all it takes is a wire tie or two to keep the power wire plenty far away from the motor. When I run it through the passenger side, it doesn't come within 3' of the motor. When it goes through the driver side, the closest it gets to the motor is maybe a foot away, right next to the clutch master cylinder. Neither is close enough to cause ANY sort of heat damage.

The point is, if you route it properly, you'll never have a problem. There's no need to go through the door jam.

 

thanks fly351, ill try that spot
bub

 

it doesn't have to get hot enough to melt wires, it only has to rub a hole in the rubber to hit the copper, then it will caught on fire.

-fly

 

It should never be in contact with anything that's capable of rubbing a hole (of course that is unless you stuff it through the door jam). If you secure it with wire ties and route it through the firewall through a rubber grommet, the wire will remain completely unharmed. This is the safest way to run the wire. Running it through the door jam will put a kink in the wire (which stretches the insulation) and will provide a constant pressure point where wear can occur.

But hey... do whatever you want. It's not my car that's going to burn to the ground from half-assed wiring so I really have no concern.

 

do you own a car stereo store in nebraska? if so which one :-D thats the attitude of all the people round here. its not mine so why spend the time.

 

I am seriously wondering what kind of fuse, if you even had a fuse, di dyou have? personally i have my fuse about 1 foot from the battery, then i have a fuse box in my hatch just in case. i would never risk screwing up my stuff like that.

 

i dont think you have read my previous post earlier in this topic. there is a way to run it through the door jam witout putting a kink in it or rubbing the wire. i know i check mine about once a week. and yeah it is my car, but it wont be burning to the ground anytime soon. yeah, i did have some major overheating problems. dont know what it was, but im still fine with running it though the jam. and if it does happen to start wearing, theres a place called best buy, they sell amp wires of any length and any guage that you need. not that expensive either. trust me i want to keep my baby nice and working properly.

 

i read your post. if you recall im the person that ran his through his door jam too. i dont have a problem with it at all. but as soon as it gets warmer here im gonna drill a hole...

 

no i wasnt talking to you on the not reading. i was talking to the guy that called my wiring half assed because apparently he thinks he has come to my house and looked at the wire in my car and inspected it himslef. saying that the wire will get a kink in it. never has, i ran it real nice. that sucker isnt wearing or kinking anytime soon. and if i notice that it is, ill get some more wire.

 

That's not my point. My point is, I spend a lot of time explaining how to do it right, and I always get a bunch of know-it-alls arguing with me because they think their half-assed notions are better. I don't have the patience to argue with people for very long. I've made my point a dozen times, and there's nothing more that I can accomplish by arguing any more. After a certain point, it's time for me to bow out gracefully and let people learn the hard way.

 

in this instance i feel the need to quite the ever so popularly used saying that i see in chat rooms all too often

Arguing on a web board is liek running in the special olympics, even if you win your still retarded.

 

woah, my post turned into a gang fight! come on guys, lets just get along!

 

look where your steering column goes through the fire wall. If all else fails, go through the fender, behind the kickpanel, under the door railing, under the back seats into your spare tire well, into the trunk. Presto! instant power feed. Thats the way I did it.

 

man im tired of this fool calling my wiring half assed. im not a ****ing know it all either. youre pbobably some 45 yr old balding fat guy that has read a book or 2 about wiring and thinks he knows everything. but i actually install stereo equipment right now buddy. i work in the stereo businss and i did mine professionally. so dont sit here and tell me that im a know it all that does half assed wiring. because i know a lot but not all of it, and thats what im hoping to learn in this business. now if im wrong and you might actually do this kind of work, and arent some "i do it myself in my garage, and i think im the ****" stereo installer, i appologize, but i dont think you do, because a professional knows that there are different ways to do things and they do it right. so next time you wanna call someone a know it all, think before you speak, because youre gonna call the wrong person that to their face and theyre gonna kill you. its life and people do things over words. you know if you werent such an ***, and didnt have to be right all the time, i might actually consider you a cool person. its people like you that gives people like the rest of us a bad name. aggorant, ignorrant *******s. but im gonna end it on this. the best way is to go through the firewall, but if you do it right my way will work too. just make sure you do it right and dont be ghetto on things.

 

Maybe you're just not explaining it in a way for me to understand then. Your description gives me the impression that you're just wrapping it around the door opening behind the molding. If you're doing it differently, then I obviously misunderstood. If that is how you're doing it, then it's half-assed.

 

Remove the side panel on the passenger side (the lil one at the front looks like a odd pollygon with carpeting on it) you'll see a metal plate and a few holes cut out and a cable bulk coming in take you a pair of wire pliers and lube em up and push them in and spread it liek peanut butter then run your power cable thru then pull the pliers back out :| not so hard or you can take a drill and drill a hole...

 

I don't follow you. On the passenger side kick panel (the spot I think you're referring to), there's a bulkhead for the ECM wiring and an antenna wire. You can't stuff a power cable through the bulkhead for the ECM (unless it's drastically different on a carb/tbi car than it is on a TPI car). Forward of that the only bundle of wires is the bundle that goes into the door.

I don't understanding what you mean.

 

Ive watch a buddy of mine try to run it thru the door jam and into the car, when he shut the door to the car it cut the wire and arch welded his door jam, and could not open the door, i had to bare handed yank the 4gauge power from the door wedge, believe me its not something that i would care to do, i think i could be routed that way and done properly but i would rather put it thru the firewall unless seen and knew how to route it the other way safely.

 

ok guys thanks for the help....but instead of doing it myself i am having the guy who is painting my car right now run the wire for me. he knows what he is doing and it would be easier for him to do it then me. but thanks
bub

 

I love laughing at people who fight on web boards :sillylol:

Anywayz, I just found a kewl spot drilled a hole and very luckily it was a perfect spot.