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extra power cabe through auto filewall
How do I run an extra power cable through a 1996 dodge caravan's fire
wall? I really do not want to drill a hole through the file wall for obvious reasons. I have looked all over the firewall and cant seem to find an obvious place to run the power cable. I want to run a high power ham radio and other equimement. Thanks Chip Blach |
hi chip,
Most of the time you can follow the hood release cable through the firewall and it will pass the battery on the way to the hood latch. You can fish the power cables one at a time through the same gromet the hood cable uses. Little silicone sealer will finish the job. If you get rid of the car, easy to remove the cable for use later. Not sure how many amps you will draw, #6 thhn is the minimum that I use for my two meter rigs. Be sure to fuse them accordingly. Ralph wrote: How do I run an extra power cable through a 1996 dodge caravan's fire wall? I really do not want to drill a hole through the file wall for obvious reasons. I have looked all over the firewall and cant seem to find an obvious place to run the power cable. I want to run a high power ham radio and other equimement. Thanks Chip Blach |
hi chip,
Most of the time you can follow the hood release cable through the firewall and it will pass the battery on the way to the hood latch. You can fish the power cables one at a time through the same gromet the hood cable uses. Little silicone sealer will finish the job. If you get rid of the car, easy to remove the cable for use later. Not sure how many amps you will draw, #6 thhn is the minimum that I use for my two meter rigs. Be sure to fuse them accordingly. Ralph wrote: How do I run an extra power cable through a 1996 dodge caravan's fire wall? I really do not want to drill a hole through the file wall for obvious reasons. I have looked all over the firewall and cant seem to find an obvious place to run the power cable. I want to run a high power ham radio and other equimement. Thanks Chip Blach |
Roy,
Thanks Chip roy wrote: hi chip, Most of the time you can follow the hood release cable through the firewall and it will pass the battery on the way to the hood latch. You can fish the power cables one at a time through the same gromet the hood cable uses. Little silicone sealer will finish the job. If you get rid of the car, easy to remove the cable for use later. Not sure how many amps you will draw, #6 thhn is the minimum that I use for my two meter rigs. Be sure to fuse them accordingly. Ralph wrote: How do I run an extra power cable through a 1996 dodge caravan's fire wall? I really do not want to drill a hole through the file wall for obvious reasons. I have looked all over the firewall and cant seem to find an obvious place to run the power cable. I want to run a high power ham radio and other equimement. Thanks Chip Blach |
"Ralph Blach" wrote in message ... How do I run an extra power cable through a 1996 dodge caravan's fire wall? I really do not want to drill a hole through the file wall for obvious reasons. I have looked all over the firewall and cant seem to find an obvious place to run the power cable. I want to run a high power ham radio and other equimement. Thanks Chip Blach Chip, Take a *close* look at the rubbery seal/"boot" where the steering shaft comes through the firewall. On my 2003 Ford Explorer, there was *plenty* of room to cut a small slit with an x-acto knife well below, and out of the range of motion of the steering shaft. I then made sure it was secured out of the range of motion of the shaft on *both* sides of the firewall, going to the driver's side under the hood to the battery (with 25A in-line fuses in BOTH positive and negative leads) and under the carpet to the driver's side wiring channel that runs under the door "thresholds" (which simply snap in/out on the Explorer (the body of the FT-857 is located under the rear, driver's side seat and the control head is mounted on the center console in a good operating position using a Panavise mount I got from HRO ...) One more hint ... to check out clearances on BOTH sides of the firewall, I used a long, heavy needle probe (about a 3" needle in a plastic handle about 6" long) to probe the spot I thought looked good from a beforehand visual on both sides (the needle punches a small, self-sealing hole, but allows you to see exactly where you are on both sides of the firewall). Then, when satisfied, I used about a 1/2" wide x-acto knife blade to cut a slit (not a hole) that I could push 2 #8 insulated wires through ... a red for positive and a black for negative (it's actually a very heavy-duty "zip cord" that I got from http://www.powerwerx.com/category.asp?CtgID=1002 (they also have the in-line fuse holders for automotive type fuses, etc.) Now, this worked just fine on my Explorer ... on your vehicle, YMMV, but I hope the suggestions are helpful. 73, Carl - wk3c |
One would think that with all the high power audio, the car manufactures
would make this easy. Chip Carl R. Stevenson wrote: "Ralph Blach" wrote in message ... How do I run an extra power cable through a 1996 dodge caravan's fire wall? I really do not want to drill a hole through the file wall for obvious reasons. I have looked all over the firewall and cant seem to find an obvious place to run the power cable. I want to run a high power ham radio and other equimement. Thanks Chip Blach Chip, Take a *close* look at the rubbery seal/"boot" where the steering shaft comes through the firewall. On my 2003 Ford Explorer, there was *plenty* of room to cut a small slit with an x-acto knife well below, and out of the range of motion of the steering shaft. I then made sure it was secured out of the range of motion of the shaft on *both* sides of the firewall, going to the driver's side under the hood to the battery (with 25A in-line fuses in BOTH positive and negative leads) and under the carpet to the driver's side wiring channel that runs under the door "thresholds" (which simply snap in/out on the Explorer (the body of the FT-857 is located under the rear, driver's side seat and the control head is mounted on the center console in a good operating position using a Panavise mount I got from HRO ...) One more hint ... to check out clearances on BOTH sides of the firewall, I used a long, heavy needle probe (about a 3" needle in a plastic handle about 6" long) to probe the spot I thought looked good from a beforehand visual on both sides (the needle punches a small, self-sealing hole, but allows you to see exactly where you are on both sides of the firewall). Then, when satisfied, I used about a 1/2" wide x-acto knife blade to cut a slit (not a hole) that I could push 2 #8 insulated wires through ... a red for positive and a black for negative (it's actually a very heavy-duty "zip cord" that I got from http://www.powerwerx.com/category.asp?CtgID=1002 (they also have the in-line fuse holders for automotive type fuses, etc.) Now, this worked just fine on my Explorer ... on your vehicle, YMMV, but I hope the suggestions are helpful. 73, Carl - wk3c |
On Mon, 28 Jun 2004 14:51:22 -0400, Ralph Blach
wrote: One would think that with all the high power audio, the car manufactures would make this easy. They really don't think to make things easy for DIY installations. Happy trails, Gary (net.yogi.bear) ------------------------------------------------ at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom |
On Mon, 28 Jun 2004 18:43:25 -0000, Carl R. Stevenson hath writ:
"Ralph Blach" wrote in message ... How do I run an extra power cable through a 1996 dodge caravan's fire wall? I really do not want to drill a hole through the file wall for obvious reasons. I have looked all over the firewall and cant seem to find an obvious place to run the power cable. I want to run a high power ham radio and other equimement. Take a *close* look at the rubbery seal/"boot" where the steering shaft comes through the firewall. On my 2003 Ford Explorer, there was *plenty* of room to cut a small slit with an x-acto knife well below, and out of the range of motion of the steering shaft. I then made sure it was secured out of the range of motion of the shaft on *both* sides of the firewall, going to the driver's side under the hood to the battery (with 25A in-line fuses in BOTH positive and negative leads) and under the carpet to the driver's side wiring channel that runs under the door "thresholds" (which simply snap in/out on the Explorer (the body of the FT-857 is located under the rear, driver's side seat and the control head is mounted on the center console in a good operating position using a Panavise mount I got from HRO ...) One more hint ... to check out clearances on BOTH sides of the firewall, I used a long, heavy needle probe (about a 3" needle in a plastic handle about 6" long) to probe the spot I thought looked good from a beforehand visual on both sides (the needle punches a small, self-sealing hole, but allows you to see exactly where you are on both sides of the firewall). Then, when satisfied, I used about a 1/2" wide x-acto knife blade to cut a slit (not a hole) that I could push 2 #8 insulated wires through ... a red for positive and a black for negative (it's actually a very heavy-duty "zip cord" that I got from http://www.powerwerx.com/category.asp?CtgID=1002 (they also have the in-line fuse holders for automotive type fuses, etc.) Now, this worked just fine on my Explorer ... on your vehicle, YMMV, but I hope the suggestions are helpful. As well, I found an existing rubber gromment/wire harness pass-thru about dead center on the firewall that had plenty of extra "skirt". I was able to use an awl to poke/punch a hole in this extra "skirt" next to the existing wire harness. After pulling 2 10 ga. wires through my "new" hole, I slathered some RTV on both sides to (re)weather proof it. HTH 73 Jonesy -- | Marvin L Jones | jonz | W3DHJ | linux | Gunnison, Colorado | @ | Jonesy | OS/2 __ | 7,703' -- 2,345m | config.com | DM68mn SK |
Ralph Blach wrote in message ...
How do I run an extra power cable through a 1996 dodge caravan's fire wall? I really do not want to drill a hole through the file wall for obvious reasons. I have looked all over the firewall and cant seem to find an obvious place to run the power cable. I want to run a high power ham radio and other equimement. Thanks Chip Blach Its not normally a problem, except for running your drill through something important - go to your auto parts store and buy the appropriate size grommet to fit the hole you are drilling, and at the same time buy a blank grommet so you can fill the hole when you sell the vehicle. There is probably some legal reason why you shouldnt do this (structural integrity of motor vehicle regulations) but, hey, does it really matter? 73 de VK3BFA Andrew |
"Andrew VK3BFA" wrote in message
om... Ralph Blach wrote in message ... How do I run an extra power cable through a 1996 dodge caravan's fire wall? I really do not want to drill a hole through the file wall for obvious reasons. I have looked all over the firewall and cant seem to find an obvious place to run the power cable. I want to run a high power ham radio and other equimement. Thanks Chip Blach Its not normally a problem, except for running your drill through something important - go to your auto parts store and buy the appropriate size grommet to fit the hole you are drilling, and at the same time buy a blank grommet so you can fill the hole when you sell the vehicle. There is probably some legal reason why you shouldnt do this (structural integrity of motor vehicle regulations) but, hey, does it really matter? 73 de VK3BFA Andrew Never been an issue - with all the cars I have installed radio equipment into I can't remember any that I couldn't get power and antenna cables through an existing hole just by adding another 'hole' to the grommet. There's usually plenty of space in existing holes for wiring, etc, to add a few more cables - hardest part is getting the cables through the grommet but a little common sense and this isn't a problem. Although I'm sure that if all else failed your suggestion would be the next best option - if you use a blank grommet as you suggest upon removal, I doubt anyone would even know the hole wasn't meant to be there. Cheers Martin, VK2UMJ |
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