Hello all,

Thought I would post this little write up for anyone who is looking into installing a sub.

This is a long description of how I routed my cables down the side of the car for anyone who is unsure of how to do so in an easy, invisible and undo-able manner. (It can be reversed without any damage)

I have found that you can route cables down the passenger side of a Jazz/Fit in a way that means you only have to completely remove one (easy to remove) plastic panel.

I was growing quite concerned about how I was going to get my power cable (which runs from the positive battery terminal at the front of the car to the amplifier + input at the back) through the car without it being seen. My requirements for doing this job were that I would not damage anything, i.e. the car can be returned to it's unmodified state, and the install would have to be completely invisible. (Apart from in the boot area obviously where it would be most pleasingly visible :P )

The way I achieved this was...

Starting in the engine bay you need to locate a large grommet at the back of the passenger footwell. It is a two inch by three inch oval of rubber with a bundle of cables going through it. NOTE: At this point I should say I am working on a right hand drive Honda Jazz Sport 2002) Now you can either put your power cable through this rubber seal, or like me, put it round the side, because the existing cables were sealed in.



Moving into the passenger seat, and at a crazy angle which allows you to see where your feet would normally be, you will find a wide, contoured plastic panel that meets the carpet of the footwell. This is held in by two clips at the front (closest to you if you are sitting in the seat) and once un clipped (pull straight down) needs to be slid forwards, to pull two large plastic locator pins out of their slots. The panel will come away. You should see a large round plastic device (this is part of the ventilation tunnel) and more wires to one side.

Moving back around to the engine bay you will need to push the power cable through (or around) the grommet until you can see it poking out underneith the duckting in the footwell, then ease it through until you have the correct length on the engine side to make your connections.

Now at this point I will say that I only routed a power cable and signal cable. I did not route a remote cable - I plan to install a master off switch near the glovebox. For now I will only describe the power cable, the rest is just repetition!

You will be running the cables down the passenger side of the car under the plastic skirting panels. Looking down at the sill to the side of the passenger seat (upon which the door shuts) you will see a wide rubber seal. If you pull from either edge this will come up easily. It is not held in by anything. You will find a groove under this seal conveniently deep enough for a few cables!



Feed the cable down the vertically positioned plastic panel adjacent to the glovebox and towards this groove. Pull it through and lay it in the groove for now.


(In this photo the panel under the glovebox (to the right) has been put back on)

The next tricky looking section is the plastic panel at the base of the center pillar, to which the seatbelt is attached. I was worried I would have to remove this panel but can reveal that it is possible, and relatively easy, using a stiff piece of wire to seek out a route through the base of it by pushing the wire through from the rear passenger seat footwell. Obviously to do this you will have to have pulled up the sill seal for the rear door in the same manner as the front. Try a few times and you should be able to poke it through.


(Looking towards the back of the car - you can see the cable routed from the groove, around the clip at the end of the last panel and then disappearing past the pillar.)

Tie string or thin wire to the revealed end of the poked-through wire and pull it back through so that your string or thin wire is out at both ends. Tie the front end to your power cable - I found it best to tie it a fair way in to the length of power cable, making a loop, then pull the guide wire back through so that the long loop of power cable does not slip off. You will need to tug it.

At this point you can probably guess the rest of the route - continuing along the groove under the seal.

When I reached the final rear side panel (to which the rear seat belt is attached) I poked the wire in from the groove, then out roughly 20cm further on, almost in line with the rear folding seat hinge, at a point on the inside vertical edge of the panel where there is a small gap as the panel curves next to the carpet. From here you can make the small jump (but invisible when the seat is in normal position) to the edge of the carpet right next to the rear seat, then from there to the boot space.


(You can only see this short jump when the rear seat is upright. Neatly the wires go from here directly to the spare tyre area, under the carpet - they are not even visible entering the boot space)

Very long explaination, I hope you have understood. Any questions post them here.

Good luck - Do this at your own risk.


(My lovely custom enclosure!)

 

Nice! do you happen to have any pics to go with the walkthrough? I'm more of a visually oriented kind of guy.

 

Yea I'll be running cable next week. 2 aught better fit lol, cause I don't wanna step down to 4ga.

 

I would advise checking the route before you run it. Definitely pull up the door seal for a look.

If you get as far as the center pillar and get stuck you might just have to take it off

I'll post some pictures up later on!

 

Pictures added These were taken after I had finished but you get the idea.