I have a 2007 base
cayman
with no
bose system
or amp. I am getting ready to install a JL 5 channel amp into the car. I found the location that it will fit nicely in and that is up against the back panel wall of the front trunk (frunk). But I am at a loss as to where to run the wires from that back wall to the battery up top AS WELL AS where are there openings in the firewall of the car interior to the front trunk area.
In short, trying to figure out if there are available openings to run the wires first from the amp in the front trunk to the battery location and then running wires from the inside of the car to the trunk to where the amp will be located. For those who have done this can you please chime in and provide me assistance. I am more than prepared to drill holes and openings if that is necessary. But maybe that will not be needed.
One last thing. I have a JL DX 700 5 channel amp. Running 6 1/2s in the door, 2 rear speakers in the speaker towers in the back as well as two 8 inch subwoofers. I was thinking of running the two small rear speakers straight off of the Double DIN
Pioneer
4200 NEX and the rest of the speakers off of the amp. This is my initial thinking off of the top of my head. If you guys believe there would be a better way to utilize my equipment please let me know as I am new to all of this and trying to learn as I go on
C
If you move the battery to the side you'll see a large grommet behind it. This is the easiest place to run the wires from the cabin through the firewall. As for the lead from the battery to the frunk - your best bet is to take all the plastic panels off and look for a logical route. It may work out to drill a small hole in the plastic, and buy a grommet to seal and protect. Make your life easy - look for the wire harness adapter to use the stock speaker wiring. I know for the
Bose system
they're described as amp bypass harnesses and go for about $40 on ebay.
This is correct, there is a grommet directly behind the battery into the cabin of the car. There is also a grommet from the frunk cargo area into the battery compartment on passenger side above/ behind the charcoal canister. There is a plastic retaining arm that holds the charcoal canister down that needs to be taken off (held on with allen bolts) to get access to the grommet (the arm can go back on once wiring has been run) and you will need to shave some plastic off the back of it if you plan to run a fair amount of wiring through there. I attached the only photo I've got handy of the frunk mid install with some arrows pointing to where the grommets are, for reference I have 4 4ga wires, 2 pairs of 16ga speaker wire and a full set of RCA's (6 total) running through the frunk grommet so it's pretty big, the cabin grommet is roughly the same size.
Thanks everyone for the posts and the pictures. I now understand what I have to do
@e30if
I am intending on doing something similar myself, and I need to create a mount for the amps in the frunk... ideally
next
to the carbon filter.
It looks like from one of your pics you made a mount out of wood. I wonder if you had any pictures of the mount itself. And how did you attach the mount to the car?
Thanks
To do a really clean amp install get ready to take a good portion of the frunk apart. The basic board the amps go on is usually just a piece of MDF or plywood with the edges rounded over, carpet glued to it. Be careful driving the screws to mount the amps, make sure it doesn't catch in the carpet and wrinkle it or rip a thread loose.
Mounting the board - to do it right find a few existing nuts welded to the car in the area you want to mount it, or an existing bracket you can slot something into/under. The best ones I've seen have taken the existing bolts out and used threaded rod with locknuts, washers, and spacers as needed with the nuts to mount the board to the car counter drilled into the board and hidden under the amps.
It comes down to - what can be seen when the amps are installed vs what can be seen when they are removed... This includes dressing the wires so they look neatly organized until they duck under a board. Good luck!
I'm puzzled by this approach. Pro installers tap into the existing (
Porsche
) harness and just run the power and ground to the battery. Why are people looking for bulkhead through access?
Most pro installers I have seen will run the separate line. Your BestBuy and such installers may not, but I also don't consider them "pro installers".
For larger amps (like the OP's) you need the extra current because those are drawing more current than most stock wires can handle. The JL 700 listed shows a 700W output... I'm pretty sure the stock system doesn't draw that much. The fuse on the JL is also a 60A fuse... again, pretty sure the stock fuse isn't anywhere near that, but I admit I haven't looked.
