Juicing the inside

[Duster]

Some may want to add an amplifier to their system to power those brand new speakers, subwoofer and stuff.

OK...but these things need power, right? Well...you can use the fuse box if you want, each his own, but I prefer to do it in a cleaner and in a safer way.


So here're what I did to bring some power inside the car.

• 4' of 6 gauge "heavy duty" cable (I bought some welding cable as my main wire...this thing has a very thick rubber coating and is litteraly unbreakable)
• Street Wires distribution block
• Street Wires in-line AGU fuse holder
• Shrink tube
• Common tools

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll just post some pictures at this moment and I will comment later if needed.



Inside view of the clutch pedal assembly bracket dummy cover (Auto only obviously...) where I'll run my main cable.




Under hood view of the same cover, right beside the brake booster on the firewall




Inside view: cover removed




Under hood view: cover removed




The plain cover




The cover drilled (~1 mm narrower than the main cable for a tight fit, used WD-40 to slide the cable through), countersinked and filed to prevent wire cutting




Inside view: Cover bolted back with cable passing through




Under hood view: Cover bolted back with cable passing through




Appreciate the rubber coating thickness...this is serious stuff.




Main cable connected to the distribution block




Distibution block future location right under the knees panel, left side. The little black box with blue/red connectors is my remote starter transponder.




Marked and punched before drilling for an easy and nice fit.




Distribution block installed




Main cable connected to the battery + in-line fuse holder






P.S. I hear you...you're about to say "are you crazy powering these components directly from the battery?! Won't you drain the battery to death if you forget to turn one of this thing off?"

Well...don't worry, I thought about it. ALL the things powered by this distribution block are: 1. relay driven or 2. turned on by the signal lead from the deck (you know, this little blue/white wire). Nothing's gonna be UP without the key being at ON or ACCESSORIES position.

[chris15]

Exactly what I did, except I have a 0-gauge wire running from my battery. Basically had to use a 3/4" drill bit on that cover for the clutch.

For those who are reading this, it's not a good idea to run anything in line with your fuse box, and it's actually much more reliable to utilize a direct link to your battery.

On the same token, to reduce ground loop and interference through a car audio system, consider running a direct line using another distribution block from your ground terminal on your battery. It provides your amp, stereo, TVs, etc. with a good, solid ground.

[ADR]

Also, It's a good idea to always use a grommet to pass power wire through metal. Even if metal has been filed to remove the sharp edge, it's still thin metal that can saw into the soft jacket of the welding wire.

I understand that it's unlikely...but, it still makes me nervous and is bad practice. A hard plastic snap grommet is only a few cents and is one more layer of protection.

Thanks for the wright-up!

[Duster]

Originally Posted by ADR

Also, It's a good idea to always use a grommet to pass power wire through metal. Even if metal has been filed to remove the sharp edge, it's still thin metal that can saw into the soft jacket of the welding wire.

I understand that it's unlikely...but, it still makes me nervous and is bad practice. A hard plastic snap grommet is only a few cents and is one more layer of protection.

Thanks for the wright-up!

Yeah, I thought about it too. I looked around for a "grommet" but I found nothing in the right size so I choose to live without it at this moment.

I can live with the "risk" for now due to the overall configuration of the installation. Thick wire coating, no pulling force on the wire, "not that thin" metal cover, filed metal and the most important thing; fusing. Like you said, it's unlikely to happen in a short-term so...

But it's a a good general advice, thanks to you to point it out since I forgot to talk about it, and I'll continue seeking for one.


I also thought of using 2 coats of shrink tube over the wire coating where it passes through the metal cover if I can't find the right kind of grommet. I don't know if it will be enough but it's better than nothing and will makes me feel more comfortable if I need to. I'm using the kind of "glued" shrink tube that looks stronger to me than the "normal" stuff though.

[offspringrocks08]

Duster, Thank you so much for the help on this. This is the smoothest audio system I've ever hooked up because of you. Everyone that owns a pt cruiser should know about this before drilling through their firewall. Kind of hard to get to those two bolts to get that plate off, but its great!!! THANKS!

[Duster]

Glad I could help you

[garyerrol]

Can you tell me what the size of the nut is? I don't have a lot of deep sockets and guessing this might be metric, I don't really want to have to buy a whole set if I can help it.

[Hooligan]

Originally Posted by garyerrol

Can you tell me what the size of the nut is? I don't have a lot of deep sockets and guessing this might be metric, I don't really want to have to buy a whole set if I can help it.

Might as well buy a set, if you are going to work on cars, you'll need them. I have a standard set that I've used for a long time and still bought a inexpensive set, all you need are the sockets.

[garyerrol]

I have complete sets of both metric and inch sockets. This one is going to take a deep socket, I wanted to know what size it was so I didn't have to buy more than I needed to.

Some forty years ago I took a mechanics course and tried to work in a garage. However I soon figured out I had short stubby fingers that didn't get in tight spots so found a something else to pay my bills. I've worked on my own cars for all those years. However about twenty years ago I went through a divorce, moved into an apartment and didn't have room for all of the tools I had so I lost many. Now with cars being more and more complicated, many things have to be done by a garage so I have minimal tools now. I don't need a whole set of deep sockets that I may only use once for this when purchasing ONE socket will take care of things.

So again I ask, can someone tell me what the socket size is I need?

[Hooligan]

When I posted, I had forgotten you were asking about a deep well socket. My bad!!!!