j.kenzie@sbcglobal.net

Hi,
Does anyone know an existing firewall grommet where I can pass a couple of 18 ga. wires from passenger to engine compartment? If not what would be the easiest or best way to accomplish this?
Thanks,
Dave McK.

cdbtx

There should be two, both are behind the fuse panel, (One large near the top of the panel where the wiring harness enters the engine, the other is small and to the lower right behind the fuse panel, not sure what the wire is, but it's a single wire) there's also a third behind and to the right of the steering wheel, but I think that you would have to remove the dash to access it.

There's also the hole for the 02 Sensor , which might be the easiest, but the wiring would have to be routed under the car into the engine compartment.

Ron_H

Be careful not to distrurb the grommet at all. I had some wires placed through a firewall grommet and then set out on a long trip across the country to Florida. Coming into Florida, I experienced an electrical fire that eventually crippled my shark and rendered it useless. It was made driveable after some work by a shop in Tampa, but only to drive back to California. Once back here, Devek set out to find the gremlin and found a cluster f**k of wires melted together. The conclusion was that the grommet through which the new wires passed on the firewall had fallen out along the way and the wires were rubbing on the metal and eventually melted together. After mucho dinero spent (4 figures X alot) we have still not found all the electrical gremlins, and I have installed a ground wire battery cutoff switch under the rear hatch. When I park the car for more than 3 hours, I cut off the battery so it won't drain dead from this gremlin. So the battle has reached a truce. I had zero electical problems before this grommet thing. Make certain that the grommet has not been compromised in any way by passing additional wires through it.

j.kenzie@sbcglobal.net

Thanks for the ideas and advice and the warning, Ron. If I use the grommet, I will be very careful that it is not moved or disturbed in any way. I think I will just pass one 18ga. wire which will be a switched ground only and I'll lubricate well before passing. I will look at the O2 sensor grommet as a possibility.
Thanks,
Dave

jpitman2

On this topic, is there a convenient switched 12V supply in the engine bay? I plan to fit electric radiator fans soon. I was planning to use power from the front condenser fan (ie its been turned on by its thermo switch) to fire a relay to bring in a 9" fan on LHS (carwise) rear of rad (main power from hot point in engine bay), but I want a separate switched relay supply for the main 13" fan on the RHS rear of rad, with main power from hot point also. I didnt want to have the big fan come on without key being at least at acc position, like the condenser fan.
Anybody know where to look please?
TIA
jp 83 Euro S AT 49k

cdbtx

I'm constantly looking for various connection points for testing, modifying, etc. So as a one shot task I simply ran two leads into the engine compartment from the switched power points on the fuse panel and terminated them to terminals strips. One strip contains switched connections for aux devices only, the other for switch engine related connections. I can then place in-line fuses between the terminal strips and device and eliminate the risk of a mod affecting anything else. I also did the same inside the car.

Chuck

83 Kiln Red 928S

AO

When I did my nitrous install, I had to not only get a wire up to the bay but also a nitrous line. I found the easiest way was to go into the "frame rail" channels that are easily accessable through the floor, and then drill a small hole on the inboard side near the engine bay. Of course I added a grommet, and sealed it with RTV to make sure no water got into the channel. Worked great for me.
YMMV.

Nitrous Thread with pics.

bd0nalds0n

There are, IIRC, a few grommets under the dead pedal that run into the left side wheel well, from which it's then easy to get into the engine compartment, which might be better than using some of the other grommets by the fuse panel.

Alan

I would not tackle the grommet behind the CE panel on my car...

Its stuffed very full already (tight tight tight) yours may not have so much - but its also curved and about 5" long so plenty of opportunity to do expensive damage..

Try the drivers side instead. There is a grommet just under/behind the wiper motor (under the bulkhead cover). Look for some thin vacuum lines going in there. Its hard to locate initially in the passenger compartment side but if you are careful there is a lot of room in the grommet - which is short (and high up out of splashes way) and you can see a brightly colored plastic rod from the drivers foot well with good illumination and a contorted back - right above the pedals. I found it quite easy to feed a 7 conductor loom though here... You will need long needle nose pliers...

From the footwell its an easy hop behind the console to CE.

I would always go this route..... no passenger compartment dissasembly required...

Alan

Randy V

Alan gave me one of his secret decoder rings:

CE=Central Electric=fuse panel.

Alan

Randy - er thanks - I get carried away...

CE always = Central Electric (fuse/ relay panel)

and

FWM always = Factory Workshop Manuals

There are many more acronyms but I just always forget to explain these 2....

One of these days I'll finish writing the electrical decoder doc. that has all this stuff & more in excruciating detail...

I do keep revising it (now at revision #14) and 140 pages currently... still not ready for prime time... but I should probably send it out to some of my faithful reviewers for some liesurely Xmas reading...

Too much real work and too much travel recently ...but long plane flights = document writing & reviewing...too...

Alan.

j.kenzie@sbcglobal.net

Alright, I tried all your suggestions and looked at ideas from the archives. The big grommet behind the fuse panel was way to tight, I probed it with a zip tie, and no way. I looked for grommet above the steering column and found the passageway for the HVAC vacuum lines; again too tight to take any more wires.
Finally, I pulled the dead pedal and even though I missed it the first time I looked I saw a picture by Porken showing the grommet for the hood release cable and the unused euro headlight adjusting system. There were two grommet available under a 2"x4" piece of soundproofing. Each has two or three nipples which can be cut to provide a one or two wire passage depending on wire size. This leads to the area behind the rear splash shield of drive's front wheel. From there you will find two wheelwell to engine bay grommets to share with existing wires, tube or cables.
It's a long way around but does not disturb any critical wiring.
Thanks for all the advice.