skids

I've read old posts and gotten lots of advice but I have 3 unanswered questions.

1. Would someone enlighten me on how to get two head units into an '87 944 with stock 4 speaker, no eq option? The dash -looks- like it is dual DIN but it really isn't . Because the mounting screws to console stick up into the lower part of the lower DIN hole, it looks like dash is only intended for 1.5 DIN (head unit plus 1/2 DIN eq). Anyone know how to get two full DIN head units into dash?

My goal is to supplement my Eclipse 5303 CD head unit on top with a Nakamichi TD-800 tape deck below (to listen to language tapes and my old superior cassettes made on Naks- No, cassettes are not dead). But as is, the two mounting screws just over the switches are in the way and do not appear dispensable.

I have an Eclipse 21010 EQ/ crossover with A/B switch that once it is set I will only need to access it occasionally to switch from CD to Tape or back.

2. What switch or wire can I splice to get illumination? My harness now has only 3 wires: Red -Constant Power, Green – ignition or ACC power, and Brown – ground. I hooked up illumination to ACC but they are on all the time and bulbs will burn out in next 12 months or so. There must be a button on the A/C or maybe the lighting for the mirror or roof switches that I can splice to so my stereo only lights when headlights come on. Or maybe there is a another circuit, wire or fuse in the kick panel I should know about that is intended for this purpose?

3. I am going to run a fresh 4 gauge wire from battery through the firewall to power my amps. Any good holes in firewall already I can go through? I notice that there is a rubber plug in firewall right behind battery that is in perfect location. Is that what this is for? Do I just yank it out and replace with a bulkhead to ensure water and windtight fitting? This will got a capcitor under the seat to feed two amps. Then I am going to ground the capacitor with a 4 ga wire to the seat rails after scraping to bare metal. Is this ok? Will it ground well? Caraudioinnovations suggested this for 911, I'm pretty sure it's good but am checking.


Thanks in advance for any help.

Zero10

Hrm... 2 decks in the factory location.
Even if you got the 2 screw holes out of the way, the mounting depth available is very shallow, bad news but I don't think it will work. Sorry.
I think you get something like 4 1/2 or 5 inches mounting depth before you hit the bracket. Too shallow for any decks I have.
Although, I took the opportunity to mount my 300W power inverter in there, then made up a little plastic plate to cover the hole, and installed 2 outlets and a switch in it.
Can you tell I use a lot of 120V things in my car?
At one point I was hosting a 15 player quake 3 game from my car... routers, switches, laptops.. ugh, had to get out the second inverter (700W).


For illumination, there is a wire going to an ashtray light. On one side of the light, there are 2 wires, and 1 on the other. Tap into either of the 2 on the one side (if that makes sense), IIRC they are grey.
If that's no good (i.e. all your wiring is messed up, like mine is), you can go off the back of the clock, but I can't remember off hand which wire it is.

I ran my #4 through the same hole you speak of. However mine did not have a rubber plug in it.
The #4 is a pretty snug fit. I gave it 4 wraps of electrical tape, and slid the wrapped area into the hole, it makes a very good seal. It didn't seem like there was enough room to fit a grommet around it.
It's very convenient though, it drops through right overtop of the glove box, you don't need to remove the glove box to route the wire. I just ran mine across, and through the rocker panels on the passenger side.

Now, onto the other things...
mounting a cap under the seat... hmm..
I would stay away from that. Too many things fall under the seats, that's providing there is even enough room.
If you have so many amps, where are they mounted?... do you have an amp rack in the back? If so, that's the best place for it. If not, you might get away with mounting it under the seat if you properly protect it, and maybe mount it to the seat itself, so it doesn't risk getting bumped when the seat is adjusted.

Just in case you don't know (which it seems like you do know), remember to use a seperate ground for your capacitor, and fuse BEFORE the cap, not after.
I think the seat rails would give a sufficient ground for the cap. How many farads is it? If it's more than 2, I doubt it'll fit under the seat.

skids

Ah. very good point. I had better insert a ruler and examine the mounting depth. I may be attempting to do something that can't be done, for a reason I had not attempted. I figured once I got the square peg in the round hole I would then solve the next problem encountered. If all else fails I know I can put the eq in the dash and the cassette deck in the glove. TD-800 deck 7" deep and also has a tuner section that is a separate on a 12" DIN style cable.

Yes. the ashtray light. Perfect & easy, it didn't occur to me while looking in <day light> the socket is even easy to get to.

The plug in my firewall is about 1.0" diameter. It will take a bulkhead for sure. I just didn't want to peel it out and break the factory paint without one stupidity check on rennlist first.

I was going to put the 1 Farad digital status RF cap and one amp under seat mounted on a plywood board and the second amp under the dash, which as I have learned here is a common solution to mounting amps. The room is there for the cap and one amp (they are relatively small) I just need to position the cap in front so I can see the voltmeter display when I peek my head over. I also need to take the set out and carefully run the 4 and 10 ga wires around the seat rails and under the carpet to avoid them getting crushed as seat moves. Fortunately these run pretty cool since they are only 200 & 280 W. If I ever get a McIntosh MC440 or 431 on ebay for under $400, or god -willing an MC4000M under $800, then I'll need to worry about cooling and people sitting on it.

Got it on the cap and fuse wiring. Thanks to Rockford's website. I picked up a 3 fuse 4 ga >8 ga fuse distribution block that will be mounted in engine compartment with less than 8" to battery as recommended.

uh , you drive a quake server with 240,000 km on it? OK, I like fragging as much as the next guy but this is way over the top. What do you guys do ? Bring your laptops and plugin to keep busy while waiting for your next run or turn corner working? If so this is an autocross series I want in on ! Does king of the hill get a points bonus for TTOD?

Zero10

LOL that's a good way to see the car.. a mobile quake server.
I keep the router and switch in the cubby in the back while it's not in use. I just grabbed a wireless router for the car. That should help out. Make them plug in somewhere else.
That's my kind of autocross.
Can you tell I'm a nerd?
We don't play at lights, but all the time I pull up in the loading zone at the university and we play a few games. Or play some Red Alert 2, or Unreal, good times.
Anyhoo.. Just make sure you cover up the terminals on the cap, I've never seen that specific one, so I don't know if it has a plastic cover or something on it.

Sounds like your hole is bigger than mine... wow, I don't want to say that again.
Nah, mine just fit the #4, which sucks, because I wish to upgrade to #1/0 or maybe just #0, when I finish my amp rack/sub box project in the hatch area. I will be driving 1400W of amps, 4 subs, plus at least 6 speakers, maybe 10 or 12 (depends how the door panels come out), so I need some mighty big power wire. It's getting a 5 farad cap as well (just as much as the 3 farad).

Hrm, a distro block. Now that will be interesting. I don't know how you are planning to wire that. But if you are going to split it to 3x#8 before the cap, then you could just run a #8 the whole way. And if you put it between the cap and the amp(s), then you are breaking the rule about fusing between the cap and amp. If you are planning to split it to 3 #8's, and run 1 to the cap, 1 to each amp... well I think that's breaking the fusing rule as well (Depending on where it is fused), but that is a pretty long run of wire between the cap and amp.
I have 10" of #4 between my 1 farad cap and my Alpine mrd-500M. When I upgrade my system, the 1 farad cap has to go though.

Hopefully I saved you a bit of trouble with the second mounting position. I don't mean to shoot you down.
Mounting a deck in the glove box isn't a bad idea, just keep it clean, and make sure it won't get damaged in there.
Hrm, amp under the dash?.. Where are you going to mount it? I have heard of people doing this, but I never knew exactly where. Post some pics if you can.
Is it on top of the glove box?

In my last car, I stashed an amp in each front seat (mmm.. heated seats), but after a while, I had to cut some holes, install some trim rings and 2 fans to keep the amps cool. Really great hiding place though.

As to the wiring in the seat... it depends how you mount them. If it's to the seat, or to the floor.
If it's to the floor, just pop the wires down in the middle, and follow the factory wiring for the heated seats, should run under the carpet, clear of the seat rails.
If you're mounting to the seat, just remember to leave a loop longer than the seat can move, right in the middle if possible.


hehe... autocross series... everybody off the track! it's quake 3 time!

skids

I didn't describe the fuse block well. It will be mostly unused. Of it's 4 30 A fuses I will only use one. A single 4- 8" piece of 4 ga wire will go from a ring terminal on battery to fuse block. Then about 4-5 feet of 4 ga (stripped on one end down to 8 ga to fit in block) to go from block through fire wall to cap under seat where it connects via another ring terminal. On same + terminal of cap, two more power cables via ring term. screwed on post to feed two amps in parallel. These will be either 10 ga wire or, if I have extra, 4 ga that I strip down to 10 ga. One of the amps (the Audio Art by NXS) takes spade connectors while the other (A/D/S) takes direct wire screwed in, both are designed for 10 ga max. It's not ideal on the connection where it enters the A/D/S amp, but I don't see how else to make 4 ga wire work. Local stereo shop who sold me phoenix gold power cable said "just strip it down" Alternatively, the wattage is low and given the short cable run , 10 ga is ok on crutchfield chart.

I may use extra fuses on dist. block to run a fresh power wire to head units to eliminate the very minor clicking I get on AM radio when windshield wipers are on.

As for mounting under dash, I am going to have to figure this out, it will be directly over (and exposed) to passenger's toes. I'm thinking of using some 10 x 1/2" metal mounting bars and seeing what I can screw into (dash and footwell boards come to mind). Then mount amp on these. Photos may help others.

peter_euro

anything can be done... just a matter of time and money... Not sure about the cap though... just get another battery and feed 0 wires all the way to the rear... If you are thinking about a real system, start looking for a decent alt, the stock unit is a true POS...



http://www.sounddomain.com/id/peter_euro

Zero10

Hmmm.. skids, I don't know about the advice you were given.
Personally I would run #4 to an inline fuse holder (the clear plastic ones, with a round fuse), then keep the #4 to the cap, put a ring terminal on, then split your 2 #10's off of there.
I get a little worried every time I hear 'just strip it down to fit'....
I would be very interested to hear how mounting the amp under the dash goes. I might consider that =)