I am rewiring my system a bit to accomadate an amp rack in the trunk. so originally , i wired my fuses in the trunk (seemed to look nicer and be easier). then my buddy told me that trunk fuses cause fires in cars because if the wire shorts, it can light anything on fire from the trunk all the way to the front, whereas if i throw the fuses in the engine bay, a small fire will be contained behind my firewall (seems like a cheaper fix, especially if i keep it in the protection of the battery bay).

so the current set up, 2 4 guage power wires running through the car to the back. with 2 separate ground wires also. I would like to use this distribution block
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TSUNAMI-TSDB...item2311d53e0d
for the grounding wires, to make it a little cleaner. would this block work? but my problem is that i will probably not have enough length on the power wires to take off the fuses, move them to the front, and pull the wires back to reach the amps in the trunk. i only need to gain about 1 -2 ft on each.

herein lies the problem. with 18 gauge wire.. i just solder them together. how do you connect 4 gauge wire? should i just buy a small distrubution block? and just use the 2 4 gauge sides and tape up the 0 gauge side? or do they make big crimps?

summary:
how do i extend a 4 gauge wire (a 4 gauge to 4 gauge connection of some sort)

will the ebay link i provided work as a block to connect my 2 ground wires and use them as one big ground (0 gauge to somewhre in the trunk area)

 

You have options - you can solder 4ga wire together. It never turns out pretty, but it can be done. You can leave the fuses where they are and add two more fuses under the hood. Not the most cost effective but probably the easiest. A third option would be to rip out the two separate runs and put in one bigger run (like a 0awg).

The number one rule of installing an amp in a car is the fuse MUST be within 18" of the battery - the closer the better. The fuse is to protect the wire from shorting out - if at any point between the battery and the fuse the wire shorts out your car will catch on fire and burn. The theory is if the fuse is within 18" of the battery there is basically no chance of shorting out.

 

As far as the distribution block it will work. Make sure you keep the grounds as short as possible and find a good solid place to connect the distribution block to the car.

 

If your amp wire can touch metal before it goes through a fuse, it's probably too long.