Wiring Stereo...

[MatthewDavid]

Yay I'm about to put in a new stereo in my 97' mark... I was just curious how hard is it to run speaker wire through the doors?... I was gonna run 12 gauge and wanted to make sure there's enough room... also should I pull the old wire out? and just chuck it?... or is it part of another wiring harness... also got any ideas where to hide the crossover?... it's an infinity cross over about 4 by 5 inches and about an inch deep... I was gonna put it in the trunk near the amps but then I'd have to run to wires...

oh yeah one other thing did you guys use the amp tray?... I'm kinda thinkin I want to just to keep it outta the way... but seams like a pain... what did you guys mount your amps to?... I got two of them goin in... both are pretty small... I was thinkin of just mounting everything to a piece of masonite and tryin to fit it into the tray... thanks for all the help!!!

 

[96hotrodlincoln]

I'm planning on putting my crossovers in the trunk when I finally get ready to finish my install. Yeah you have to run two wires for that but I like my stuff to look as stock as possible.

The drivers side door is going to be the hardest to run wire through just because there are more wires going through that wire boot. 12 GA may be a little excessive, depending on power rating of the amp, I would try to go a little smaller, but no smaller than 16 GA. I'm using 14 GA for a 300 watt 4 channel amp.

If you don't want the crossovers in the trunk then you'll have to get creative with hiding them, not a lot of room in our cars but if you don't want them mounted to the door panel, consider trying to find room under the side panels in the rear of the cabin, like below the factory speaker location, there may be some hidden room under there. I have seen someone install a car computer in that location before.

Remember, watch for sharp pieces of metal when running your wires!

 

[Smoke and Mirrors]

I mounted my amps to the box. I think i saw a couple of post on here about not using the amp tray and not mounting them upside down because of heat rising.

 

[MatthewDavid]

Yeah I was kinda concerned that there wouldn't be enough air circulation up there... but I am hoping to run the amps really cool... don't want them overheating... I got amps that are rated twice what I need so I can run them a little under... and the box I have for my sub... it's just one 12" it's not really big enough for both amps... maybe I'll just have to look for a better box!... I was thinkin of doin that anyways... I don't even know if this box will fit up there nice... be nice to find a good wedge type so It'll slide further back...

 

[chicken]

im runnin 2 old school mtx amps, both mounted in the stock amp tray right side up. i had a small computer fan also mounted up there, never overheated, even took the fan out, still ok running about 1000 watts out of the 2 amps. i have my crossovers in the trunk, gonna do a nice install as soon as i get my plexi back, and i also have a mtx old school powered crossover for my subs tucked in the door for the air ride switch, so i can play with her knobs