install in my friends car

[missionpilot 10+ year member]

i have a truck and i installed all my stuff with no problems, but now my friend wants me to install an amp and 2 12s in his dodge intrepid, and i don't know what to do about running wire through the firewall, or were i should drill. Also how should i run the wires to the back, i don't know how to get through the seats. Thanks. Any help is highly appreciated. Please send pics if at all possible. John

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[davidfre21 5,000+ posts]

i ran my wires through the side molding on the drivers side bottom, all the way through... the wall i just got luckey and found a hole just big enough for my 4g wire to squeeze through

 

[AutoSoundGirl]

Continue running your power wire down the side of the car the battery is on. That will give you the shortest run back to your amps. You may have had to drill through the firewall with your truck. You may not with the intrepid. On the side you'll be running the power cord on go up to the front and pull back the carpet. You'll find it tucks itself under interior panels and such. Inspect the firewall. You may find numerous plugs that can be removed allowing the passage of the power wire. If not then you can start looking there for where to drill. The plastic pieces that anchor down the carpet to the vehicle body are removable. Just pop the front one off then there will be plastic attached to the carpet holding it to the metal. Lift this off and your in just as Teg Racer described above. You can now get under the carpet. I use a long piece of metal shaped like a 3ft wooden dowel. Bought at HDepot for a buck. Tape my wires to it and slide it under the carpet. go to the rear seat and remove the plastic molding/carpet clips and grab the wires you slid under. You'll have to find the right way to go thru the backseat. Usually it can slide behind the far left or right back seat cusion panels. Then into the trunk.

Once that is done repeat what you've done/learned for your rca cables which you'll run to the rear on the opposite side of the car.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Make sure you use some kind of rubber or plastic grommet whenever you run a power wire through a piece of sheet metal. The previous post mentioned removing a plug in the firewall and running the wire through the hole. This is usually the best method. You can even cut a small slit in the plug, put some Astroglide (this was its original design purpose) on the wire and run it through the slit you made, using the plug as the grommet. Using an existing hole is almost always better than dirlling a new one because there is no way to drill into something important if you don't drill at all.

Don't be afraid to remove seats, carpet and trim panels to make running the wires as easy and neat as possible. If you have everything ready to go, you can basically take out the interior, run all the wire, and put the interior back in in about an hour.