How can I run new wires into the front doors?

[808MGuy]

I was trying to get started with my install today by test fitting my new adapter rings and running all the wires from the trunk to the speaker locations when I ran into a major roadblock. The wiring going into the front doors is terminated with a large connector right at the point where it exits the footwell. The connector totally blocks any other wire from coming through the rubber tubing. I need to get 2 speaker wires into the front door. Has anyone else ran new wiring into the door?

Since I ran into that roadblock, I decided to just try to prep the trunk for the amp install. Here's some pics of the connectors I installed on the factory wiring so I can tap the signal and run it into my Zapco amp. It very similar to what was posted by another user using 4-pin disconnects to tap the front HU out signals.

Disconnects installed with OEM wiring reconnected:



Closeup of disconnects with OEM wiring connected:



OEM wiring disconnected and adapter with Zapco Symbilink connector plugged in:

[quality_sound]

I can't see your pics from work but with a molex the easiest thing to do is look for an empty area and drill it out on both halves of the molex then run your wires through. That's what I did on my GTI. Not too bad a job, just time consuming. The other option is to tap into the OEM wiring from the trunk. With the amount of power your mids and tweeters will actually draw you don't need anything larger than the OEM wiring anyway. That's what I'm going to do.

[808MGuy]

Originally Posted by quality_sound

I can't see your pics from work but with a molex the easiest thing to do is look for an empty area and drill it out on both halves of the molex then run your wires through. That's what I did on my GTI. Not too bad a job, just time consuming. The other option is to tap into the OEM wiring from the trunk. With the amount of power your mids and tweeters will actually draw you don't need anything larger than the OEM wiring anyway. That's what I'm going to do.

The pics actually aren't of the connector in the door anyway. They just show the molex connections I installed in the trunk to tap the pre-amp signal from the HU. As far as the connector in the door, its not really a molex connection. It more like the type of connector you'd find at the back of an OEM HU. Very small slots so not really possible to drill through without destroying about 4-6 pin outs. VP Electricity has had some success getting wires into the door so I'm waiting for a little more info on that from him. Taping the speaker wire in the trunk won't help me because that only gets me 1 wire into the door (OEM speakers run off a common channel with passive crossover components in line on the tweeter feed). I need a second wire going into the door so I can run the mids and tweeters active. Sounds like once I get some additional info from VP, I should be in business

[kmarei]

Originally Posted by 808MGuy

The pics actually aren't of the connector in the door anyway. They just show the molex connections I installed in the trunk to tap the pre-amp signal from the HU. As far as the connector in the door, its not really a molex connection. It more like the type of connector you'd find at the back of an OEM HU. Very small slots so not really possible to drill through without destroying about 4-6 pin outs. VP Electricity has had some success getting wires into the door so I'm waiting for a little more info on that from him. Taping the speaker wire in the trunk won't help me because that only gets me 1 wire into the door (OEM speakers run off a common channel with passive crossover components in line on the tweeter feed). I need a second wire going into the door so I can run the mids and tweeters active. Sounds like once I get some additional info from VP, I should be in business

no way to squeeze the crossover in the door?
that way you can take the single pair as an input
and run short wires to the mid and tweeters

[quality_sound]

Originally Posted by 808MGuy

The pics actually aren't of the connector in the door anyway. They just show the molex connections I installed in the trunk to tap the pre-amp signal from the HU. As far as the connector in the door, its not really a molex connection. It more like the type of connector you'd find at the back of an OEM HU. Very small slots so not really possible to drill through without destroying about 4-6 pin outs. VP Electricity has had some success getting wires into the door so I'm waiting for a little more info on that from him. Taping the speaker wire in the trunk won't help me because that only gets me 1 wire into the door (OEM speakers run off a common channel with passive crossover components in line on the tweeter feed). I need a second wire going into the door so I can run the mids and tweeters active. Sounds like once I get some additional info from VP, I should be in business

That's exactly how my GTI is. Just look for some unused space and drill. Yes, you'll destroy some pin locations but if they're empty you're not using them anyway.

Bummer there's only one set of wires into the door though. It would be so much easier if they ran it active from the factory. Curious to hears what he says though. Once again I'll be using what you find to my benefit.

Originally Posted by kmarei

no way to squeeze the crossover in the door?
that way you can take the single pair as an input
and run short wires to the mid and tweeters

He's running an active setup.

[808MGuy]

Originally Posted by kmarei

no way to squeeze the crossover in the door?
that way you can take the single pair as an input
and run short wires to the mid and tweeters

Like QS said, I'm running active which means no passive crossover network. All the crossover duties will be handled by the DSP in the Zapco amp.

[808MGuy]

I managed to get the car fully wired to the trunk including squeezing 2 new speaker wires into the doors. As VP mentioned, there is room under the factory connector to squeeze the wires in. Since I was concentrating so hard on getting it in, I didn't even think about taking pictures of how I got it in there. I just wanted to share that it is possible. I used standard CL3 16-2 speaker wire from home depot since that is the wire with the thinnest jacket I could find. I don't think you would be able to get a standard car audio speaker wire in there since the insulation tends to be a lot thicker than typical home audio speaker cable.

Now the last thing to do to complete my install is to modify the sub enclosures to accept the SWS8s and install the front door speakers. Then there is the whole other can of worms called tuning that I need to explore. But I will have some help from an experienced friend with that one.