I thought I would chime in on this thread since I just installed all my wiring on my fit. I used the same location as the OP for the 4 guage wire. I just stabbed a large flatblade screwdriver into the grommet and then forced the 4 gauge wire through it. I ran it down the passanger side as well, peice of cake. As for the speakers, I plan on running 75 watts RMS to them so I had to install some new speaker wire. A buddy of mine said 12 gauge would be best but I think he meant 14 because 12 gauge is HUGE. Anyway, we were able to get the speaker wire run through the doors original wiring rubber tubes but it was a bitch to say it lightly. A little trick I found for the front driver side is pull the grommet off the door jamb on the car and push the one on the through the hole so that the whole thing can move somewhat. I couldn't get it to move enough to find the end of the rubber tube because it extends into the car quite a ways. What I did instead was cut a hole in the tube on the inside portion of the grommet and ran the wire through it and into the door. I know I should have taken pics, I'm a photogrpaher and yet I didn't take hardly any. You will need to use some sort of lube to get bigger wires through. The 12 guage speaker wire I got off knuconecptz which is really one big piece of insulation with 2 wires spiraled inside so its a lot easier then dealing with 2 conductors that could split when routing. As far as the signal cable, not sure why nobody has dont this yet, but there are no electronics of any kind down the center of the car and the center plastic molding is held on by 2 screws in the back and 2 push plugs in the front. Taking it out is a joke and leaves you a very unobstructed path to run the signals back with no chance of interference. When I did the install I had the entire car gutted so that probably made my life a little easier. If you pull the molding off and the white round clips stay attatched to the car, remove them with a flat blade screwdriver and stick them back to the molding. You will never get it on otherwise due to the different directions they come off. I noticed the one picture that was posted shows the white clips still in the car and the molding in the OPer's hand. I'm sure thats how you got it back on but I wanted to clarify. As for the rear door speakers, you have to remove the seatbelt from it's housing and pull out the foam that's behind it. My friend and I found that closing the rear door with the front door open leaves you a good amount of room to work with for running the wire through the grommet. This is another tough spot, the grommet into the main pillar has a connector on the end of it taped to it. You have to remove the tape and pull the grommet off the connector for the bigger wire. Smaller wire would really make this a lot easier. If you unplug the connector it helps, just make sure you have some small hands available to reconnect it. If you guys want pics I can show you some without ripping all the modling off of everything. All in all it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. The fit comes apart so easily and the clips are not the kind that break real easy. I'd say this is a middle skill level car to work on as far as wiring and all that. Hope this helps anyone planning on running wires to the speakers. Just an FYI, for 50 watts RMS power, 16 guage wire is fine if its only going 20ft or less. I think the factory wiring is 18 so I would recommend changing it out. You won't regret knowing your speakers are not being limited by high resistance in the factory wiring.

 

I have a question I should have asked in my last post. This car has a small alternator on it and it appears that taking it out to replace it is not easy without taking the whole engine out. I don't want my lights dimming at night and I am using a Kicker 700 watt 5 channel amp with 2 12" subs. I'm pretty sure this is a moderate system with not a whole lot of current draw under normal listening levels. My question is, if you have a system already installed, do your lights dim? Should I use a cap? I found a Kole 20 farad cap with an amp and voltage readout built into it. Yes I know 20 farad is completely rediculous for 1 amp. It's $99 on ebay though so it's not like it will cost me a bunch. I had a 1 farad cap back in the day and it was $150 when I bought it. It sure seems that being able to see the current draw in real time would be very helpful wouldn't you think?

 

To help clear up a few things.

1: The fuel pump is in the center of the car. Usually the biggest noise induction device in a car.

2: Should have ran your power wires down the drivers side and kept your power wire as short as possible.

3: Your alternator is fine for that amp. You will get some minor dimming when cranking it. It's the nature of electricity, more load voltage dips. Same as when using power windows at night. Or when your rad fan kicks in.

4: To solve that a cap is not the answer. Uprgrade your engine to chassis ground as well as your battery to chassis ground to 4 guage onto bare metal. Factory goes into painted bolts so there is some build in resistance there.

What I did was ran a tap through the factory ground hole and wire brushed the paint off the bolt. and replaced the OEm little wire with a pair of 4 guage.

For the engine ground, I just pulled a intake manifld bolt and ran ran a 4 guage from there to the neg battery post.

Helps with dimming alot.

 

Good info. I ran the power wire through the passenger side through guidence from another member on these forums. I did not see a better place to run the cable through the firewall and if I had routed it back to the drivers side then it would have been even longer then leaving it on the passenger side. I'll let you know how the signal wires turn out, I won't have the amp for another 2 weeks. I did get high end triple shielded knuconceptz signal cables so I'm hoping noise won't be an issue. Thanks again for the info

 

anyone have instructions for the alternate method of splicing into the rears?
I know cuteboi has the photo and the description but any more info/how-to for this specifically would be great. Do I still use a high low converter or something else? and where does it go to from there on my amp? My past 2 systems had aftermarket headunits so wiring up RCAs was a no brainer, this time around I like my factory headunit just fine and hearing how much of a MFer it is to get out, I'd just assume go the easy route. I don't care if I only get one channel, it still adds some depth to the music.

Thanks!

 

Well ill add my input since that is the way i did mine because i didnt want to get the radio out of the dash.

I removed the rear driver side floor panel and i found the wire running into the door for the speaker. I removed the wrapping/insulation enough to see the wires. I stripped the two wires (i dont remember the exact colors, i believe they are mentioned somewhere in this thread) enough so that i could solder my line out converter on them. Since it was just one side and the LOC is for both, i just attached both the left and right positive to the corresponding positive wire. The same was done for the negative. So on the LOC both channels are the same one. Then i connected my RCAs to the LOC and ran them to the hatch area underneath the rear seat. They go into the amp just like if it came from the RCAs of a headunit. Connected the power wire that was ran on the passenger side and the gound. Hooked up my sub and i was finished.

One thing that i have noticed was that the low end bass is lacking from the stock h/u. Its weaker from about maybe 40hz and below (dont quote me on the exact frequency). I believe that the stock h/u filters out these frequencies as they would probably damage the stock door speaker that the signal is intended for. I would suggest a aftermarket h/u if you think this is going to bother you. I know it bothers me so i will be asking for a new h/u for Xmas.

Well i hope this helps you, if you have any questions, want anything explained better or pictures of something feel free to ask and ill gladly help

 

that helps. I've got the general idea now. Did you run a remote turn on wire for the amp? What fuse spot did you use? I think #10 was mentioned? And how? a fuse tap/add a fuse/line type thing?
I'll probably do this upcoming weekend or the one after so I want to make sure I have all the parts I need.

 

Yeah i forgot to mention that, i did use the add a fuse in the spot they mentioned (or another one that works, lol) if you want i can go look and see which number it was but i believe that #10 was right.

 

splicing in is fine as long as you solder the connection. Also with a sub its not really necessary to run power and rca's down opposite sides (however a good practice) the low pass filter should kill any engine noise, now if it were a 4 channel it would be a different story. Also when tapping in to speaker wires test them with a DMM for continuity before just hooking them up, as airbags are usually in twisted pairs as well. I've seen some freak accidents resulting in costly fixes

 

tagging an old thread cause i do not have wiring skills.

 

injundon, so you ran your engine ground back to the battery as opposed to chassis?

 

FYI the GE8 stock navi hits down to 20hz..

 

nice write up, great pics, bookmarked for when I get a fit