Running New Cables In The Front Doors

[damuscat]

I'm soon to replace the stock front speakers in the line with some nice splits and I was going to replace the speaker cable too. However, I've had a quick look at the cable routing and it looks like it's going to be impossible to pull new cable through the rubber tube which joins the door to the chassis. Has anyone done this before? I'm hoping I don't have to pull the door off!

BTW.. if I were going to run the splits off the headunit I probably wouldn't bother changing the cable but I plan to run them off an amp

Any handy hints are much appreaciated.

Thanks

[Dahtone Racing]

i did it in my 32 all i did was pull the rubber channel out and run the wire through then push the rubbers back in once i was happy with it all

[heslo]

Easy done bud, you are right when you say you can't go through the rubber tube but if you look about 10-15mm above it you will see a hole that you can pass the cable through without any hassles. If I get the time tomorrow I will post a pic for you

[govich]

Why not try taping your new wiring onto the end of the old stuff and pulling it through.

[damuscat]

Thanks for the hints so far guys

The biggest problem about just pulling it through is that the tube has a big kink in it. But I reckon that plan along with 2GU UP's plan would work. If I pull the rubber out of the door I should hopefully be able to straighten it out and pull cable through easier.

heslo if you can post up a pic that would be great. Your idea sounds like a good backup plan

[RANDY]

I tried to do this... my rubber tube goes to a big wire-harness.

I unplugged the wire harness (on the a-pillar) and found a bolt holding the other half flush with the pillar. Undid the bolt, then lost the whole thing in the pillar hollow.

Pulled ECU and stuff out, but I can't see any way of getting in there. (got it back with my long finger, and lots of poking around in the hole...hehe)

Ended up putting it all back together and giving up on the idea... where would you run the speaker cable through? There are no other factory holes in my A-pillar.

[damuscat]

hmm... well we have the same car RANDY so I wouldn't be surprised if I end up with the same trouble. Though heslo said he got it through another hole and he's got the same car too! We shall see where this wire runs when he posts up his pic.

[parish]

I did this about a week ago... found I could not go through the existing rubber tube....

if you have a look about 10 - 15 mm infront (towards the front of the car) there is another little rubber gromet (think thats what they are called... i used that to pass the wire through...

(my bad if heslo and I are speaking about the same hole...)

[heslo]

parish, that's the same one I'm talking about! Easy to find, just have to look, even feel around with your fingers. As soon as you locate it, it will be easy for you to feed the wires through, you just need to know where to start

[parish]

cool cool...

here i took a pic you can't see that well.. but should be enough to help you find it ;-)

cheers...

[RANDY]

I will have to check my car for this rubber grommet!

[damuscat]

Mine has that.. just checked it. I only looked at the drivers side though. Mine also has a fairly firm black cable already going through it. Does anyone know what this might be for?

[rocketboy]

Not sure what the wire is for but I have fee 10g speaker cable through the factory loom and plug.

Very much a mission, but you basically unbolt plug in where loom goes through chassis. You can reach up under the dash to access that end of theplug, it simply clips into the chassis, then as you bolt the plug together from the door side, it holds nice and firm.

So after unbolting, you relocate a few pins (if using large cable, say 10-12g), so you can drill out plastic in bothends of the plugs. You then have a hole to feed your new wire. Then the rest is as usual.

Be careful not to pinch wire when bolting plug back up.

I have done this in both my skylines, very much a pain the ass, but worth it for the factory look.

I may have posted more detailed procedure on these forums previously, try a search if you want more info.

Hope this helps anyone wanting to do this.

[frx026]

I found the best way was to get a drill, pop in some new holes where required, custome make your own rubbers between car and door and run what ever you like through it.

My car is a s2 r33 and there was more than enough room for 2 x 8 guage power cable ( yes used as speaker wire) and a few other wires for "other devices" mounted in the doors.

If you do this, just remember to seal the holes around the rubber with some sealant, you dont want water getting into your ECU or anything..

[Fhrx]

Guys, in the R33 it can be done. It's a big job but we do it here all the time. You will need to get those white plastic plugs out and drill a small hole through the plug. You'll find there is space to run 16AWG through there.