How to run 1/0 guage in a Hatch

[87DXHatch]

Alright folks, we've got a How-to here.

I ran 1/0 guage in my hatch the other day and I figured I would write a How-to on it.

NOTE: this how-to calls for you to run the cable up through the bottom of the car, NOT through the firewall. Also, I had a second person helping, so I don't know how much harder just one person would be.

I used a Stinger 1/0 guage kit, and I have a hatch... so I don't know if this would work in other body styles (Hatchs are better for sound anyway :p)

First, remove the bottom part of your back seat. The seat is held in place in the front by two hinges, so don't just grab it and start wrenching. To remove the back seat, lay your passenger side back seat down. There is a single bolt holding the back seat down; it is either a 10mm or an 8mm (I am pretty sure 10). Anyways, it is a huge pain to get out. It is wedged between the back of the back seat and the chassis. You have to jam your hand down with a wrench and slowly get it off (I haven't attempted to get it back on... maybe someone could have a tip about this?).

Once that is off, you can lift up on the back seat (on the part nearest to where you just took up the bolt) and pull it up and forward far enough to totally remove it (when you are doing it you will see what I mean by hinges on the front part). Once that is out, you will have clear access to the back carpet.

Next you need to get underneath the car by jacking it up or whatever. Look around by the area underneath where the front passengers feet would go. You should see a black grommet of considerable size. If you pop this out (down) then you should be able to poke your finger up into the carpet. This is the point that the wire is going to enter your car.

Tape up one end of the thick thick 1/0 guage power wire, so that it won't get hung up underneath your carpet. Next, start threading it through the back of your carpet. I started in the middle of the passenger side back seat area and just started jamming the crap down the carpet. Threading it through is tough. I just stuck my hand under carpet and jammed it forward towards the middle of the front passenger seat. At some point in time under the passenger seat it came out of the carpet (I believe at the metal hump). I then grabbed it and shoved it down another hole in the carpet, still concealed by the seat.

Around here you need to remove the trim piece near the door. I was not lucky enough to have the 6-sided star bit you need to totally remove it, so I had to deal with just the phillips screws.

Remove enough of the trim to be able to lift the carpet up. Now brace yourself, you're in for some pain. I just jammed (boy, I sure love to jam ) my hand under the carpet (in the process scraping my hand and arm on something) and stuff far enough to grab the cable. I then had to tear a hole in the insulation carpet stuff to get to the cable (it was inbetween the top carpet and this insulation crap). After I got ahold of the cable I threaded it down through the hole that I made by taking the grommet out.

If you made it this far, congrats, the worst is behind you.

Next, I took the grommet and dremeled a hole in it. It is pretty doggone thick so it took quite a while to dremel a hole of the proper size and shape. Thread this onto your wire.

Feed enough wire through to make it to the battery. Now you are presented with a new challenge; how to make the wire not hang down. I wrapped the wire around the frame once, and then brought it up to the battery. Mine hangs down a little bit as of right now, but I plan on making a trip to Ace hardware or NAPA and picking up some clamps I can then use to properly secure the wire to my car.

Now you are done with the front and have to move on to getting the wire to the back. I cut a slit in my passenger rear seat back covering material that I then threaded the wire through. I also popped this material loose by pulling on the clips that secure it to the seats.

Then thread it all through into the hatch so that its nice and snug all around (Make sure you can put your seats up and down and there is enough slack to get your back seat back on).

Congratulations, you have power!

Now put the back seat back on by tilting it up at around a 90 degree angle and sliding the hinges back in. The passenger side one will be the more difficult of the two because it has the added thickness of the wire to overcome. Once the hinges go in, you just jam it down. Mine is a little loose right now because I haven't bolted it down yet (still planning on running 3 sets of 17-foot stinger RCA cables), but I don't think it should be a problem.

I think, if you're running 1/0 guage cable, that you probably know how to ground it and all that. I have mine running to a Distribution block for power and for ground. Right now it splits off into one 4-guage.

Other than that... just put the rest of the car back together. The piece of trim by the passenger door, The grommet underneath the car back in place, and tidy up.

NOTES:

There may be other clips here or there that I forgot about. There were a bunch of them.

You WILL have a bulge of wire underneath your front passenger's feet and your back passenger's side passenger's feet.

I'm sure you could put the wire underneath all the carpet in the back to make it even more concealed but I didn't do that. I may try that in the future.

HUMOROUS OBSERVATIONS:

The inline fuse that came with the Stinger kit is a 250 amp fuse. The amp I have right now is a 70X4 watt amp... I think my odds of blowing that one are reeeeaaal slim.

I have 1/0 guage going to my hatch... but the wires going from my chassis to the battery ground, and from the alternator to my battery, are both 8 guage! So the extra thickness for my amp power cable, I cannot effectively use! But I am going to upgrade the cable from my alternator to my battery, and from my battery to the chassis, and from the battery to the electrical systems in the near future. I'll write a How-to on that too.

I just spent 30 minutes of precious study time here in the lab at college, so you punks better be appreciative

Also, if there's anything I missed (fundamentals), please let me know about it. Or if anyone has any suggestions.

[POS carb]

1/0 gauge for 70x4?? damn, talk about room for improvement! Are you going to be running one of those 1000 watt monoblock class-D amps?
Yea, upgrade those grounds but also think about this. Your chassis-to-battery ground may only be 8 gauge but it is also under a foot long. You gan use 4 gauge (maybe even 2) on it and it would flow about the same as your 15-20 foot 1/0 gauge cable. Get yourself a good ground at the amp.

[shepherd79]

i think the major rule is to use the same gauge wire for the ground as you use for the power.
so i will say run 1/0 just for kickers.

[87DXHatch]

Well the thing is, I am setting my car up to be a demo vehicle of sorts for this company. I just installed the 1/0 guage so I could do it once and never need to do it again.

And yes, I was planning on upgrading my wiring to and from the chassis and battery and alternator and electrical systems.

[bobafett]

sorry to be a newbie, but what is this gauge for? and can ya post some pics!

[87DXHatch]

I didn't really think you were a newbie...

1/0 guage is just really thick cable... the Stinger kit rates it and being able to handle up to 3400 watts.

I could post some pics of the completed project, like where it goes in under my car, where it goes throught the engine bay, and where it comes out in the hatch... but my dad's camera has some stuff wrong with its software right now... maybe some time in the future, but I would need someone to host them (I know there is like a million members who could do this).

[shepherd79]

so is the company paying for the wiring or what? because when i was buying my 4G and i looked at 1/0 and the price was way there in the sky.
plus if you have this wiring, ask them to sponsor you to run serious system in your car. like 1500- 2000Watt

[87DXHatch]

Yeah, they payed for everything. New battery terminals, distribution blocks, etc, etc. I checked, and the Stinger kit they gave me retails around $125-$150.

It would be soooo sweet to be sponsored, and the rep I talked to said they were looking into sponsoring a car next year... maybe I can persuade them to use mine. My car is really really clean, but there is a dent in the drivers side door that I should fix. Shoot, a sponsored 3gee, that would be the SHIT!

[POS carb]

Originally posted by bobafett
sorry to be a newbie, but what is this gauge for? and can ya post some pics!

It's not a gauge like a boost meter or something, "Gauge" refers to the thickness of the cable. The smaller the number the thicker the wire. It goes 24, 22, 18, 16, 10, 8, 4 ,2 etc and then when you go thicker it goes 1/0, 2/0

[lostforawhile]

wanted to add something, ithought about using water tight electrical conduit,the rubber covered kind,with fitttings, this gives mechanical protection to the wiring.

[87DXHatch]

Bumping a five-year-old thread? Really?

There is no need for "water tight electrical conduit,the rubber covered kind,with fitttings" unless you're using wire with extremely thin jacketing, which is extremely unlikely with 0-gauge wire.

As long as it isn't passing over, through, or next to sharp and/or moving parts, the wire will be fine, and if it does pass through some semi-dangerous zones of the vehicle, grommets and repositioning will work much better and easier than the aforementioned tomfoolery.

I haven't been here in forever.

[87DXHatch]

I swear I wrote another tutorial after doing this... I thought it was that one.

There's a grommet in the firewire that you can run a 0-gauge wire through, somewhat in the middle of the driver's side (on American/Left-seated drivers cars). You have to slit it and run the 0-gauge through there, but it was ridiculously easy, especially compared to the insanity that was running the cable underneath the car and up through the floor.

I miss my Hondas, I miss my sound systems, and I suppose I miss 3geez a bit too.

[lostforawhile]

Bumping a five-year-old thread? Really?

There is no need for "water tight electrical conduit,the rubber covered kind,with fitttings" unless you're using wire with extremely thin jacketing, which is extremely unlikely with 0-gauge wire.

As long as it isn't passing over, through, or next to sharp and/or moving parts, the wire will be fine, and if it does pass through some semi-dangerous zones of the vehicle, grommets and repositioning will work much better and easier than the aforementioned tomfoolery.

I haven't been here in forever.

i wasn't bumping it i was adding something to a technical thread,and one more reason to do this is to make sure that nothing will cut into the wire and cause a short,thats a lot of current that is capable of being at a short, even with a large maxi fuse or a breaker at the battery, the wire can get very hot instantly possible starting a fire. the thousand or so amps generated at a direct battery short,can heat the wire inside the jacket almost red hot in the fraction of a second it takes for the breaker to trip of the fuse to blow.

[lostforawhile]

i will be adding to this thread after i get some pics later. i am running two gauge,but same thing.