Back again with more questions! I'm installing a 4-channel amp under my drivers seat. First I need to know if there is any problem drilling through the floor there. There doesnt seem to be anything under the car around that area but does anyone know if there are any supprises in the floor there that I might need to know of? I also need advice on where to run the power cable. I wanted it to run under the car (there are some protected areas under the chassis for it to follow) then up through the floor under the seat but there are a lot of very hot areas around the engine bay and I'm not sure of a safe path to take to the underside of the car. I dont want to drill the firewall unless I absolutely have to.

I was thinking: From the battery, around the outside of the air filter, around the suspension, following other cables over the brake fluid, turning down just after the clutch fluid, running down the engine bay wall past the right of the small universal joint on the steering and then behind the large brace (appears to contain some of the steering mechanism) to the underside of the car. Is that good enough? I'll use cable ties with cable tie anchors pop-riveted to the chassis (rather than the sticky pad they come with) to secure the cable.

i don't ahve a 2nd gen so i dunno about hot stuff in the engine bay. But...why on earth would u want to drill a freaking hole in ur floor?! its not like you're running 4 runs of 000 gauge cable or something lol

The cable should be safe from most things in the engine bay, just keep it away from belts, pulleys, and things that are obviously hot. I think someone posted up a good place to shove ur cable thru on the firewall.

I'm sure u can route teh power cable under ur centre console or down the side of ur door to the amp without drilling holes. Drilling holes is evil and only ever a last resort. Grounding should be easy- bolt it onto ur seat bolt.

you can never use too many cable ties.. thats my motto when it comes to cable control in the car :D ive prolly used up around 150 -200 i reckon

Fine then, does any one know where theres a good spot on 2nd gen v6 firewall where the cable will go through without drilling? Thanx.

Still gotta drill the floor to secure the amp... Unless I leave it loose or tie it down.

I think some ppl slid pieces of mdf n stuff under teh carpet, and screwed their amps thru the carpet onto the mdf piece under it....if u know what i mean :nuts:

firewall stuff (http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14537&highlight=firewall)

I mounted amps under both seats by using MDF cut to the shape of the floor around seat posts - this stops the amps moving around. Screw amps to the MDF and use velco to fasten MDF to carpet. I find the amps don't move at all using this method - and no holes in the car to rust. Also by mounting directly on MDF helps cooling as the amp isn't buried into the carpet

http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=354&highlight=drill+firewall

u dont drill through the firewall.. they're called grommets (rubbery panels that allow cables to be fed from engine bay to cabin console) , so you wont need to drill. if you cant see that, you can feed it through your steering wheel grommet which might be easier to access. but yersh... search function is great :)

with regs. to stablasiing your amp..i really duno much about it and what you might hit in the process, so ill leave that to someone else. id prolly prefer to liquid nail a piece of mdf to the floor (under the carpet), chuck the carpet back on top to cover the mdf, screw the amp into the mdf :) would also provide a stable base to chuck a fan or something on to circulate the air under the seat...

out of everywhere i wouldnt want a fire starting, would be under my ass whilst driving :\

I mounted amps under both seats by using MDF cut to the shape of the floor around seat posts - this stops the amps moving around. Screw amps to the MDF and use velco to fasten MDF to carpet. I find the amps don't move at all using this method - and no holes in the car to rust.

omg
hate u
>.< u know how long that took me to type

Thanx all. I'll probbably just tie it down. Its sitting there loose at the moment and hasnt moved so all it really needs is something to hold it down and stop it from bouncing when driving over bumps. At the moment I cant even afford to buy a piece of mdf. Ill check out the grommits on my firewall and see what I can find.

Thanx all. I'll probbably just tie it down. Its sitting there loose at the moment and hasnt moved so all it really needs is something to hold it down and stop it from bouncing when driving over bumps. At the moment I cant even afford to buy a piece of mdf. Ill check out the grommits on my firewall and see what I can find.

dude...a piece of mdf that size would be merely 10 dollars...maybe even less!!! haha, u can't be that poor can u?

U could try velcro, but thats a little dodgier, and u can't be sure it'll stick to carpet anyway.

Yeah I am. After I buy the cabling for this the only money I'll have left is reserved for bills and petrol. I earn it fast enough but cbf going to get the board by the time Im paid. I'll engineer something with what I have...

We used Velcro strips to stick down an Amp mounted under the seat..
It came with a sticky Backing and we used it so the Amp was removable and didn't affect the re-sale of the car.. nothing worse then having rust develope cause the under side of the car got wet..

I have one under the drivers seat of my car, just teck (F7) screwed it straight into the bottom of the car. Nothing's going to move it now. Fed the cabling from the battery, round the box, past the suspension, to the firewall, then to the middle and through the grommet. All I had to do was cut the rubber tube that held all the wires, poked the 4g wire through, and smothered it in silicon after. then from the grommet, under the console to the gear stick where I have a splitter. From the splitter I went down the inside of the centre console, cut a little hole in the carpet and poked the wire out just behind the handbrake and fed power on the amp! Works a treat now! :D No problems at all!

That is on a 3rd gen btw, would be pretty similar for a 2nd gen I presume

I mounted amps under both seats by using MDF cut to the shape of the floor around seat posts - this stops the amps moving around. Screw amps to the MDF and use velco to fasten MDF to carpet. I find the amps don't move at all using this method - and no holes in the car to rust. Also by mounting directly on MDF helps cooling as the amp isn't buried into the carpet

a much neater look is to do exactly that, but place that peice of MDF INSIDE the carpet, with small bolts (measured out with your amp) facing UP, which can then be punched through the carpet. Then, your amp slots straight onto the bolts poking through the carpet and you can tighten a nut onto them for extra secureness :)

i might post a pic when i get home

Got home today with amp wireing kit and realised I forgot the speaker cable :doh: . Half way installed the amp. Ill have to finish tomorrow (and drive to work 2nite with half my dash in pieces). I found that grommit and got the cable through fine. Might move the amp under the passenger seat because thats the side of the car the power cable comes out of.

Im getting a lot of engine noise from my amp. Strange because not only is the power cable on the other side of the car from the signal/speaker cables but also because the problem is intermittent. I can go for ages with no noise then suddenly I get huge amounts of engie noise, then it goes away again. I though it would be a constant problem... The amp is grounded to the front right bolt of the drivers seat. It may be that the amps power input is right next to the speaker output so I'll try to bend the power and ground cables as far away from the speaker cables as possible but no where else on the car do they come close to each other. I think its mainly on the rear speakers. Any ideas?

Im getting a lot of engine noise from my amp. Strange because not only is the power cable on the other side of the car from the signal/speaker cables but also because the problem is intermittent. I can go for ages with no noise then suddenly I get huge amounts of engie noise, then it goes away again. I though it would be a constant problem... The amp is grounded to the front right bolt of the drivers seat. It may be that the amps power input is right next to the speaker output so I'll try to bend the power and ground cables as far away from the speaker cables as possible but no where else on the car do they come close to each other. I think its mainly on the rear speakers. Any ideas?

what amp is it? condition? how are the terminals on the amp and the rca's?

Pioneer GM-4000F (http://www.pioneeraus.com.au/car_entertainment/amplifiers/gm4000f/index.html).
Brand new.
Terminals clean and wired strongly.
RCA cables very long and coiled up (will shorten them later) but far enough from power cable.

hmm, go thru the usual...clean the ground, sand it back, clean terminals, resistance, re-route the rcas along another path and drive around to see if u get noise....

pooped rca tracks?

The terminals are clean because the amp is brand new. All of the cabling is brand new and so is the head unit. Might try shortening the RCA cables, cleaning the ground point and checking the power cable position.

It might be the ground point because the sound is different to power interference. I originally had the power cable about 4" away from the rear speaker cable (was only a tempory thing due to time constraints, fixed now) and that made a distorted static engine whine while this is more of a clean high-pitched whine, kinda like a turbo. Maybe I need a new ground point. Any one else grounded to the driver seat?

I know I'm a bit late, but I am really suprised no 2nd gen owners has replied in this thread. There is a very nice big grommet you could go through on the passenger side of the firewall, goes straight behind the glovebox, which you can access by removing the plastic underpanels. Unfortunately the battery is on the drivers side, so there would be criss cross'ing of some cables. Anyway you've installed the cabling, so I'll quit rambling on about it.


Not sure about your interference, I assume its the alternator whine? The one that increases in pitch as you accelerate?

Yeah it is altenator whine which is why I think its my ground point. Problem is there isnt many places I can ground to without having to vross my signal cables to get there, unless I make a really long ground cable.

test it with a multimeter. if the probles aren't long enuf, grab some speaker wire or something to extend them, and just minus the resistance of the speaker wire from the end value...

though, my multimeter is too dodgey to measure resistance. With the probes touching, it reckons it has 0.03ohms or something lol