Please help - i'm intimidated after looking at that skinny rubber hose.

I have read other posts, but:

- do you cut the sheath inside the door panel in between the inner and outer metal door frame (by fiddling down where the woofer opening is)?

- do you cut into the sheath at the top inner panel where the molex connector is?

- what size wire can you fish through there? and can you fish 2 sets (for woofer and tweeter separately - so my humongous cross-overs don't have to fit inside there)?

*ANY* suggestions, pics will be greatly appreciated - install planned for this weekend (and I have a feeling it will take me the whole weekend).

 

Hi,
This is more of a question on top of your question.
I'm planing on upgrading my system also. Does the audio signal degrade that much to require a rewire? If i just used the stock bose amp wires out to the speaks, would i toast the wires? let say 80 watts rms per channel.

Sorry to cut in on your question.

 

I have a JL Audio 300/4 driving the front and rear speakers, and I am using the existing speaker wire up to the fronts, since I didn't want to go through the rewire to the front doors. Haven't burnt any wire yet...

Dave

 

I tried running 2 sets of 16 gauge speaker wires to each door and it kicked my ***. With the connectors they used to assemble the wires from the doors to the cabin, it's impossible to get wires into the cabin. I've read that a few people have been able to run their own wires and fish it through the rubber hose that connects the wires to the doors but damn. How do you get the wires into the cabin with the connector blocking the path? The only way of getting enough room to work with is by taking the doors off the hinges.

 

I hear your pain man! I took one look and I was like, no way - you gotta be kidding...

Well, I'm going to give it a shot - passenger side first. With some vaseline and some luck, hopefully it'll work. I plan on feeding from the door into the cabin. If I have to, I can cut the hose at certain points, and then seal it back when the job is done.

Will let you know how it goes...

 

RC, noticed you're from NC as well per a comment about CHill on another post. I've rewired my entire G, let me know if you're interested in a tip or three.

http://www.cardomain.com/id/amz11

Check out page 2, if you're curious.

 

Do share your tips man. I'm sure it will come in handy while I try to finish my wiring.

 

I ran a 12 guage Monster cable speaker wire in each of my coupes doors. I started by removing the kickpanel, door panel, and then the 6.5" speaker. Then un-snapped the rubber/plastic molex from the body of the car. The molex has small black plastic "lever" that pulled down to release. Once the lever is pulled all the way down, you may need to use a long flat head screw driver to pull the molex plug from the door jam because there is such little space for your hands, this is the hardest part. After you have the molex plug disconnected from the body/door jam, you will need to retrieve the other end of the molex that is still inside the car (under the dash). With a flash light you should be able to find it above where the kickpanel goes. The molex plug will also have two small push clips that will need to be pinched to remove. Pull the end out from under the dash. Now you have each end of the doors wire harness, but now it is outside of the car, much easier to work on. The next step is to remove the rubber boot from the molex plug(the end that was in the door jam). This can be done with a medium sized flat head screw driver and some pulling. Once the rubber boot is pulled back about 2", plug the two molex plugs together, outside the car of course. You will notice that Nissan did not use all of the holes in the molex plug to run wires. This is where you can run your new speaker wires, through the spare holes. I then drilled out two holes to fit my larger speaker wire through the two molex plugs, I did this while they were plugged togther. The plug is just plastic, it drills out really easy. After unplugging the modified molex plugs, run your speaker wire through the car/body side of the plug. Let's review what you have thus far. You should have your speaker wire ran though only the car/body side of the molex plug with about a length of 3ft. ready to run into the door. The door/door jam side of the plug should still be disconnected and loose. Ok, just making sure your on track. Now run the speaker wire from inside the car through through the metal hole in the door jam. You should have about 3ft. of speaker wire hanging our of the door jam ready to run through the doors rubber booted molex plug that is drilled. Push the speaker wire through the plastic molex plug, most of the slack should be pulled through. You will need a wire coat hanger to run the wire through the rubber boot. Tape the end of the wire to the coat hanger using electrical tape, tape it good. Spray some WD-40 on the taped up wire/coat hanger so that it pushes through the tight rubber hose (heehee..sorry). From here it should be straight forward. Pull the wire through the rubber hose and into the door. Push the molex plug that is under the dash back in place. While pulling the slack out of the speaker wire, push the door jam end of the molex plug back in place making sure that the black lever is locked in place. I know that this is VERY difficult to follow. I hope this helps. It took me about 40 min. per side.

that is a long freaking reply, 4080

 

4080, How much of a difference do you think it makes using the 12 gauge vs stock wire? Does it sound better?

 

I never did an A/B comparison. I have done a wire comparison on some home audio systems and it does make a diff., about 5% diff. Going 60mph down the highway is a diff. story. That 5% increase in sound quality is out the window. It more or less is piece of mind knowing that I have great gear (KEF mids and tweeters, Rockford P3 sub, and Rockford 4 channel amp). I would never put Wal-mart tires on my Ferrari, that's my analogy.

I would suggest doing it if you are running 70+ watts to the front speakers,

Forty Eighty.

 

Great write up 4080. I wasn't able to remove the molex plug from the door since the switch that holds it in place didn't want to go all the way down. I'll give it another try once I have some time.

 

Wow, now you confused me. What switch are you talking about?

4080

 

I was referring to the lever that held the molex from the door to the body of the car. I was able to remove that molex and drill a hole big enough to run two 16-gauge wires. The molex with the lever was a pain to remove and reinstall but I finally have one side through. I do have some pics so when I'm all done sometime next week, I'll post it for those interested.

 

Thanks 4080 and Espresso - I did not even get to it this weekend. Took me a full day to put in the AOEM-NIS2 behind the center console as well as replace the ribbon cable for my DW screen (I stripped it out accidentally - a long story).

It is a little difficult to follow without looking at it - will try to read again with the door panel off. The white molex plugs come all the way off, eh? Ok, will take a look for the black lever.

I must admit I am confused only when you mention the wire going through the metal hole in the body - it should be encased in hosing the whole way, no? (molex <-> hose <-> molex)? Perhaps I am misunderstanding what you mean by "door jam"???

 

After you remove the molex plugs and drill the hole to run the wires, everything will be encased in the rubber hose. The molex plug is a perfect fit for the hole in the door jam. I don't see a way to run the wires around the plug and have it fit in the same door jam hole. Due to the limited work space around the door jam, I don't have a pic of the hole where the molex plugs connect.