Hey guys, I've not been shy to the work these cars require, yesterday I changed my antennae, removed the wheelwell, and put in my new AC Delco setup.. Anyway, I have been waiting as long as possible to do this, I have a sub (Jensen speaker with a small box that fits in my car) and an amp (An old Alpine) that I'd like to add. I can always upgrade later.. But where did you guys run the speaker wire to the trunk? I tried starting from the radio, and going back under the carpet but it looked like garbage.

Plus, does anyone have a wiring diagram to a standard Amp/Sub setup? Thanks, KP.

 

there is a plastic gromet in the passenger door frame area. if you take off the passneger kick panal and look up using a flash light you will see it, i used a screwdriver and forced it threw and then i pulled the power wired over the wheel well under the hood and it came threw there. then i removed the door sill and the back panal beside the back seats and ran the wires loosely over the metal there, and then i just tucked it under the back panals and then your done, just gotta put the panals back.

hth if not shoot me a pm and i will take some pics for you.

 

same thing i did with mine

 

Am I correct that you have a Delco radio and are using speaker wire as a signal into the amp? My recommendation is to splice the rear speaker channels and run your power wire under the car and come up in the trunk area behind the molding, use silicone to seal it and make sure it's clear of exhaust wires. It's by far not the best, but it's the easiest imo.

As far as wiring in the sub the amp has 4 basic connections, remote wire to turn it on, power, ground, and signal. The remote wire is usually blue and located near the power connections on the amp. You should splice your radio switched power wire or power antenna wire into this connection so that the amp will only turn on when the radio is on. Next is your power and ground. I'm guessing your application would be good with a 8ga. wire. The power wire connects to the battery, then into a fuse within 12" of the battery (the closer the better). Run the wire to the amp into the + terminal. The ground wire should be same gauge as the power wire and no longer than it needs to be. You can tie it in to any bolt in the body or use a self tapping sheet metal screw and make your own ground. If you use an existing body bolt, be sure to hit with a wire brush so you have good metal to metal contact.

Last is the signal wire, there are 2 types line-level (speaker wire) and RCA. I am not a fan of line-level inputs. If your radio doesn't have RCA's I would use a line-level converter. You splice a speaker wire into it and it converts the signal to RCA which you then run into your amp.

I hope this was right on topic and not too basic, if it was, sorry.

 

Run your RCA's on the opposite side from where the power runs. I ran my power (4g Rockford wire) on the passenger side with the remote line and on the drivers side I ran 3 sets of RCA's. In my car I wanted to hide ALL the wires so in the spare tire compartment I have two distribution blocks one for power and the other for ground and all power/ground have fuses for protection. When I wire a car I have but one chance to get it right and I take my time and do not use stock wiring except on the head unit and even that harness gets cut. Always route the wires in places they won't get bent, cut, stabbed, or stepped on because one short and it could be very expensive or burn the car.