jstkilntim

I will try not to take the above comment personal since I know how frustrating things can be. As stated in an earlier post, there are no shortcuts when you want things done right. This applies to just about anything, not just car audio.

I appologize if between forbidden's original write up & my couple of comments that I though made it easier, it isn't descriptive enough. I have no idea how long it took forbidden to write that up originally. I know it took me about an hour to transfer it. I know it was a tremendous help to me and I don't know how any more pics would have helped. Unfortunately now, it has been a while since I have done mine & would not be able to be more specific.

The above pics show the speaker wires that came w/ the Eclipse 3-way that I installed. Obviously the size that they recommend. However, since then I have installed 16 gauge twisted pair through the same holes w/ no modifications. I removed the outside shield about three feet back, untwisted the two leads & ran them to the crossovers. I would be interested in knowing what size wire you are using that you could not run them through the side holes that forbidden mentions. If you are trying to get 12 gauge twisted pair through there, you may be right. You will need nothing larger tha 16 gauge for any component unless you are going crazy.

I am far from a professional installer. I have been involved w/ car audio since about 1986, but have been tearing mechanical & electrical devices apart all my life. There are some people that definitely do not want to tackle this project, but it is not out of reach for anyone w/ a few tools (don't forget the seal pick) and some patience.

Jst.

firebirdude

iTrader: (3)

Thank you. Surely wasn't directed at you personally, just extremely frustrating. The fact that a seal pick is a must/nearly a must proves my point. I don't see that noted anywhere.

Not that it's your guys job to make sure the walkthrough is perfect. Anything posted is time you took out of your day to help others. Thanks. Just saying that it's no where near as easy as it's made out to be. A newb can breeze over it and just go at it.... he's gonna be doing everything on the fly anyway. Can't get the two pieces apart? Figure it out because there's nothing in the walkthrough. Can't get the boot back over the molex? Figure it out. That's all I was getting at. Anywho.... to anyone thinking of doing this, just allot three times as much time as you would hope.

Astral

OK, I just did this myself. I ran two pairs of 18ga. It did take me twice as long as I planned, 2 days (well could've fit into 1 day if I started 8am instead of 1pm Saturday). No, I am not a professional installer.

Allocate lots of time if you attempt to do this if you're new to this.

Here are my notes:

1) The space is VERY tight in the RX-8's door. Taking the door off WOULD NOT help because almost everything that's a royal PITA requires the door to be back on.

2) Connecting the molex parts back together is a PITA. The space is super tight, the connector from the body wants to face perpendicular to the door, and there is no space to face the door molex perpendicular and plug it in. Instead, I managed to pull the body molex part enough to angle it just enough to fit. It took me a looong time to do this on both doors.

3) I should've drilled the holes without disconnecting the molex. Yes trickier, but not as tricky as dealing with disconnecting and reconnecting it.

4) In the end, I pulled the wire through with the molex reconnected. If I ran the wire with the pieces disconnected, I couldn't see a way for the wires to not get in the way as I attempted to connect things back together.

5) I don't know how a seal pick could've helped get the seals back on, any description and/or link? I had some picks, but they looked like they would just puncture my seals to all heck. But yes, putting the seals back on is a major pain. Be sure to put the seal back on the molex before plugging it back into the door, or it will be even harder to put back on (almost impossible to get the other side on/snug).

6) My 16ga wire didn't fit through the drilled holes! I used a 7/64 drill bit. When I went to 1/8th, it seemed too big and looked like it was bulging out the slot and I was afraid that it would interfere with the neighboring wires. I bought some JL Audio 16awg speaker wire, and I guess the insulation is too thick. I think most 16ga speaker wire would have this problem. I had to switch to 18ga, which did fit.

6.1) Maybe if I ran twisted pair 16ga (where the outside insulation for the pair is thicker and the individual wires have thinner insulation), it would've fit once I stripped out the thicker outside insulation.

6.2) The same 16ga could not fit via the outside holes in the molex (not pins).

7) Running wire into the body is a pain. It's worse to catch it from the inside on the driver's side than it is on the passenger side. Get your hand deep in there and feel for where the bundle of wires goes to the molex... hope that as you wiggle the wire inside you can catch it. I taped each pair of wires together and that helped have more bulk to catch. On the driver's side, remove the dead pedal so you can remove the kick panel cover.

8) To pop out the molex, you have to push in the tabs that are on the top and bottom corners facing away from you. To reach there, I used an L-shaped wire-hanger-like thing (except stronger, it was one of those Ford radio removal tools). Once I got the top of it disconnected, I pushed in the bottom front tab and while maintaining some pull on the molex, pushed in the bottom rear tab.

There are probably other things I forgot.

It took me way too long this. I probably would've saved considerable time if I didn't try to run the wire using the outside holes and drilled the molex connected instead. If I also had a long run of 18ga ready, it would've saved me time as well. Instead, I had only a limited supply of 18ga, literally enough to run from inside the body to just outside of the molex. There, I used a butt connector to switch to 16ga and finish running it into the door.

I would have loved to see a professional do this, as I'm sure that there are probably little tricks that would've saved me massive time (like the person that took only 45 minutes a door!) E.g. I would've loved to see how to use a seal pick to get the seal back on.

jstkilntim

Astral,

Great write up. You should also copy this to the "forbidden's molex thread".

I have posted similar comments to yours in a few other posts. Luckily, I didn't find this as hard a a few people have. I am far from a professional installer, but have been involved in car audio for quite a while. I do work on electrical controls etc. everyday & having small hands probably doesn't hurt.

I used 3 seal pics for this whole evolution. (small 90 deg, large 90 deg, & small combination). The small ones work great for unseating the molex and the large one had a blount tip that is safe for the seals.

Kind of wierd, but on the passenger side I had to run the wire with the molex reconnected and found it easier while disconnected on the driver. Probably makes a big difference on how far you can pull the wire harness out. I'm sure it is different on each car and I know an extra inch or so is huge.

Thanks for taking the time to post!

Jst

Astral

Jst, I didn't have as hard of a time taking off the seals as I did putting them back on.

Is there a search term or something I could use to locate this "large blunt tip" seal that you're using? (or a proper name for the tool?)

Thanks for the suggestion, I will post on the other thread.

jstkilntim

Here is a link to the set that I have. http://www.napaonline.com/MasterPage...+%26+Pick+Tool