The constant and switched wires on a radio both carry current to power the radio - it's not just a switch.

 

This is how I was going to do it. Does this look right?

Amp wired into the battery (red and black cables)
Head unit - Yellow constant power running to + battery terminal and black ground running to - battery terminal.
Head Unit - Blue signal wire running from head unit to amp
Head Unit - Red "switch source" running from head unit to yellow wire in harness for "switch" power.

My quick disconnent for the battery is on the negative post.

 

Haha, when the drawings come out we better hide the women and children.

This is what I get from this thread...

 

Here's an easy way to look at it.

12V Constant - Battery, pink harness wire, BAT alt terminal.

12V Switched - ACC position on fuse block, yellow harness wire.

Ground - Battery, black harness wire, birdcage.

 

I like mine better I should draw up wiring schematics for our cars, I'd put Doc Rebuild to shame.
Who listens to 89.7fm anyway...

 

You're both artists

I got brave and hooked up the battery so I have the wires squared away. I'm 90% done with all of the wiring. Next, I'm mounting the speakers and then putting the dash back together.

Looking good so far!

 

Funny you mention that.
Not to hijack but seeing as we both doing the same exact thing to the same year car we could both benefit from eachothers trials and mistakes. But no mistakes tonight!

I'll start out by saying I went to a few electronic stores such as best buy 6th Ave and such for an amplifier wiring kit and all of the kits are $50 and include 24ft of 10 gauge positive wire and 3 ft of 10 gauge negative wire. 3ft won't suffice for me since my amp will be under the dash. So I went to home depot and grabbed 20ft of 10 gauge red and 10 gauge black stranded. That should be good and my amp comes with the inline fuse which is included in the best buy amp kits. I can also go grab some nice high end rca wires from home depot or radio shack. I ran the 10 gauge pos & neg from the battery to my dash and the 12 volt pos & neg from the battery to center consol.

Then I got to work on my kick panel speakers. Durango Boy has been helping me with my speaker selection and planning. He has gone above and beyond the call of duty of even a best friend that lives right next door. I researched his recommendations and went with a 6.5" component kit from Cadence. They are on the same level as CDT if not a little more clearer. Kit comes with two 6.5's, two tweeters, two crossovers and all the hardware and wiring needed. Also ordered an amp that will feed those speakers perfectly. The speaker kit was cheap via their online ebay outlet, $85 shipped.
http://www.cadencestore.com/ProductC...idCategory=124
Here's what i got...http://www.cadencestore.com/ProductC...&idproduct=194

I looked into fiberglassing and angleing the speakers up but it would highly restrict the clutch area so I went with a simple "stock" clean looking mounting. I think it will work out very well. I picked up Poly-fill mat that I will line the birdcage with to help with the lack of rear speaker space. The poly fill tricks the speaker into thinking there is 30% more space behind it and prevents any resonating.

Well here's were I got to tonight.

The magnets on the 6.5's didn't clear the birdcage behind the kickpanel. It was recommended that I remove the rubber surrounding the magnet for added clearance but I noticed there was a lot of overhand of sheet metal around the #2 body mount so I took a hammer to it and just bend the edges over enough to clear the magnet with rubber on it.

Mounted the 1/2" MTF board to the plastic kickpanel and cut both out using a jigsaw and dremel to fit the speaker tightly. Then sanwhiched the kickpanel b/w the speaker rim and MTF board. Use the Cadence supplied screws. Very solid. I will take a few metal machine screws and put them thru the kickpanel, mtf board and into the metal birdcage to make it all solid and prevent any vibration.











Passenger side tomorrow.

 

Wow those look fantastic in those kick panels. Very clean looking. Great job on the install.

I'm a little confused though. Did you say you were running 10 gauge power and ground wire?

If you are using it for the amp I would be a little worried it's undersized.

 

Matt
Should be:
12V Switched - ACC position on fuse block, yellow harness wire.



Also, there is a 12V constant that can be used for memory- the courtesy circuit (orange)- to lighter, clock, etc.

 

Yeah that's fault, totally typo'd.

 

All the amplifer install kits i saw at best buy and other stores were all 10 gauge power and ground, they were just glorified with a clear sparkly cover.

You really think that will be a problem? if so I could double up the 10 gauge as I bought enough.

 

I agree that amp kits are glorified but they generally come with things you don't get with hardware store wire and components.

The biggest thing is all amp install kits use OFC wire, which is oxygen free. This means it won't corrode when there is a sudden change in current. You know all that white crap that builds up around battery cables and ground points? OFC guards against this.

The other things you get are RCAs, which if priced separately, for good ones, are gonna run close to $20. Then you need an inline fuse and fuse and terminals.

I would guess that amp would have a MAX wattage output of around 850 watts. Maybe more. Because you can't get 5 gauge very easily or cheaply I would suggest 4 gauge for that amp.

 

4 gauge huh? might as well just us a darn battery cable.
So even if i bought the amp kit I wouldn't be able to use the 10 gauge cables. I beleive the amp comes with the inline fuse and yes I'd still have to buy rca cables.

I'm still waiting on the correct amp as the shipping dept and sales dept are having problems communicating. When I get the correct amp I'll check it out and see whats included.
Thanks DB.

 

I just finished the install!

I used an amp wiring kit I got from Best Buy and it had everything I needed. Even enough speaker wire for the component speakers.

The CS130 alternator went in easily with Matt's directions and everything seems to be working as it should.

I am traveling next week for work so I don't have time to put all the trim back in, but i will post pictures on Thursday when I get back.

Matt and everyone - you have been a tremendous help so thank you for taking the time to explain the install to me and for all the advice and offers of assistance

one last thing - I seem to be getting a little feedback once the car is started and the radio is on. What's a possible solution to this???

Thanks!

Quentin

 

There are filters designed to help with that RF interference and it goes inline with the power wire. A more expensive option is Spiral Core spark plug wires. Taylor makes some very good ones.

 

I've also read where its recommended to run the RCA & speaker wires far away from the positive cable.

You should post pics before you leave for the trip so I can get rid of this extra saliva today.

 

Sorry! Already in Nevada...

My other concen is that my 6.5 inch speakers may be a bit deeper than the ones you went with - My kick panels stick out about an inch from where they normally sit (without the speakers mounted into them).

I think my only solution will be to make a couple of extensions out of MDF to push the speakers a 1/2 inch or so out from sitting flush with the kick panels. Is this a common problem with these speakers, Matt???

Q

 

Not that I have heard. Several people have installed various after market speakers in their kick panels and I have not heard of any pushing the kicks out that far.

Sometimes the magnet can stick on either the pocket or body mount bolt, and the basket may even be a tad to wide.

I would measure the depth of the speaker from the back of the mounting flange and then measure the depth of the body mount pocket. I can't imagine the pocket is shallower than the speaker.

If there IS enough depth and you're hanging up, maybe do like NJ Conv did and tap the flared edges down a bit with a hammer. You may just have a speaker hanging up when installing it.

 

My birdcage pocket is about a 1/2" shallower than the depth of the speaker. I still had to rollover the edges of the pocket to give me more room to get the magnet into the pocket. I didn't want to remove the rubber protector band around the magnet.
By bending the pocket edges I was able to get the magnet up against the rear wall of the pocket but again, still had 1/2" of space b/w the speaker mounting flange and birdcage surface.
I originally wanted to tuck the entire speaker behind the plastic kickpanel cover but seeing the 1/2" of space and that didn't include the speaker cover for protection it wasn't going to happen.
So I used 1/2" mdf board and made a solid mounting surface for the speaker then put the speaker mounted on the outside of the plastic kickpanel so it sandwiched the plastic kickpanel b/w the speaker mounting surface and the mdf board. This was very sturdy and even with the speaker cover looked very clean. This left me a bit of space b/w the magnet and rear wall of the pocket where I will stuff with Poly-fill matte to trick the speaker into thinking there is more space with less resonance.
I am also going to drill three holes thru the plastic kickpanel and mdf board for some long screws into the birdcage to secure the speaker from falling or vibration. Oh yes, I also used a heat gun to reshape those flanges at the door jam side of the plastic kickpanels to fit the door jam even thought the kickpanel is now a 1/2" further out.

I do agree with DB where the magnet will want to stick to anything and everything in that pocket. You really need to play with it and shift it around gently to make sure you're definitely at the back of the birdcage pocket. Every speaker is designed differently.