Having never finished the last install I was doing in my old saloon and now having my estate back I'm determined the same wont happen to this one and that this one's ICE install WILL be finished.
I started this install near the end of last year just before the really bad weather kicked in and haven't touched it again since due to the weather. So, with beautiful sunshine and clear blue skies today, it was time to start again but if the first few pictures are familiar to you, it's because I did post some of these at the end of last year when I originally started this, that thread went somewhat off track so I asked for it to be removed a while back knowing I'd be doing this one as soon as I got the chance.
As I'm planning a much more powerful system than the last one, I decided to run two seperate four gauge cables direct from the battery to the dedicated fuse box in the boot. Unfortunately when I bought the second cable, I underestimated how long it needed to be and ended up having to buy more and joining it together. On top of this, because of where the front fuses are being mounted now (I changed my layout) the existing cable I'd already run last year also wasn't quite long enough and I also had to extend that one, these won't affect the quality and I'm happy that the connections are good enough on the joins.
So, today's work (and some from the end of last year)...
The large grommet behind the glove box I'll be routing the power cables through.
First cable through the grommet.
Cable run cover off and first cables started to be run through. The red power cable and thin blue amp signal cable which will route to the head unit to turn the amps on when the head unit is on.
First cables run through in the front and tidied up.
Now for the back.
First cables run through in the back and tidied up.
Running up behind the rear seat bolster.
And through into the boot.
Mounting the new fuse box for the amps.
And the first power cable connected.
Passenger side speaker cables run back down for front and rear doors.
Starting to run the second power cable.
Second power cable also connected to the fuse box.
All cabling tidied up under the rear seat bolster.
Second power cable then fed back through the car to the front.
Shows the front speaker cable through and where I underestimated the length needed for the second power cable.
Starting to work under the bonnet for the second cable and fuse holders.
New fuse holders bought as my old one was for a single cable only and I couldn't find another matching one and wanted matching ones.
I've opted to mount the fuse holders in the front of the battery compartment.
The amount of junk you have to remove to run cables down the side of a Vectra front to back.
All metal coupler joining the two lengths of cable together (this is actually a battery connector that I hacksawed the ring off as I couldn't find anything else in local shops that would be big enough for 4 gauge cable).
And sealed up and insulated with about 10 layers of tape.
Same on the old cable that needed extending.
I ended up routing the power cables under the ABS pump, down inbetween the battery compartment and the main fuse box into the front of the battery compartment where the fuse holders are mounted, then continuing a loop, back up the other side of the battery compartment and round behind the battery and up to the connector.
And finally connecting the battery end to complete the power connections.
I'd fitted my head unit last year when I got the car back off my ex, so that's already in place, the aerial connection is split to feed both the radio and the TMC traffic warning system part of the Satnav.
The actual satnav aerial itself is mounted under the centre speaker vent and just sits on top of the centre speaker (the satnav has two aerial connections, one satellite aerial and the TMC one mentioned above for traffic reporting which is tied into the standard radio aerial).
I've also fitted a dual 12v/5v power supply under the centre console which powers both the USB hard drive which sits in the rear of the centre console and the brodit cradle for my HTC Desire. In addition to this, I've removed the old cigarette lighter push in button and replaced it with the spring loaded cover fitted on the accessory sockets (it's still the original socket underneath the flap) and fitted the accessory socket surround with the cut out for your finger to open the lid.
Overall, I'm happy with this as a start, new subs are on order and should arrive next week, so I just need to fit all the speakers and crossovers in the doors and get the speaker cables run through the door looms and then mount and cable up the amps (there will be four initially).
Comments and thoughts appreciated
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