6 replies to this topic

[Vinay-RS]

Hi everyone, 

 

This might have been answered before and I might just be searching badly, but I was wondering how to route wires for a simple speaker/radio install.

 

I recently purchased these two shelf speakers, which have detachable speakers inside, so I can swap them out if the speakers are blown. They were a factory option back in the day, so I was hoping to wire them and an old school radio into the car. (and maybe modify the radio with a Bluetooth module and aux port, so that I can hook up my phone for some music. 

 

 

Here is a picture of the radio unit.

 

I was wondering how people who are fitting new audio systems to their Minis run the wiring for the speakers and radio unit and if you had any pictures to show the path of the wiring? 

 

Thanks :) 

 

Vinay

Edited by Vinay-RS, 12 October 2019 - 06:02 PM.

[Curley]

Are those rear or door speakers?. Factory loom runs up the C pillar along the top of the doors and down the A pillar to behind dash. In the 90's you could get a plastic hanger to place the stereo under the passenger front parcel shelf/glovebox.

[Vinay-RS]

Are those rear or door speakers?. Factory loom runs up the C pillar along the top of the doors and down the A pillar to behind dash. In the 90's you could get a plastic hanger to place the stereo under the passenger front parcel shelf/glovebox.

They're rear shelf speakers. Right, that would be tricky to do with the headlining in place. I'm guessing the wiring was done before the headlining was fitted on factory cars. Is there another option to safely run the wiring? 

 

I was hoping to find one of those hangers/brackets to place the head unit under the passenger side lower dash rail, but I figured someone might know how to make a bracket to make it all fit snugly there. 

[Curley]

Correct, the wiring loom is added before the headlining & glass. It is possible to peel back the headlining but it requires you to remove the front and rear screen. Any version of along the floor would require holes being drilled as you'll need to run the speaker wires front to back. The rest of the wiring should be pretty simple.

[Spider]

When building from scratch, I've done as Curley has suggested, but when retro-fitting, I've run the wires under the carpet next to the tunnel on the passenger's side (as that had less traffic). I used 50 mm cotton reinforced tape to cover them. Getting up under the dash was usually easy, depending on the heater, and then at the back, I drilled a hole in the base of the sear seat support more or less in the middle, then went through in to the boot space. 

[Vinay-RS]

Thank you! I think running them along the tunnel is the best plan, since I'd rather not have to pull out the headlining and remove the screens. There is some carpet there, but that's a lot easier to remove. At the moment, the car doesn't have a heater, so there is a decent amount of space under the dash to play around with wiring. 

[BaronVonchesto]

I ran my wires on the floor pan along the passenger side. . A bit of glue holds it to the corner. Once the carpets are on they're completely unnoticable.

 

Didnt want to pull down the roof liner as there's no way Id be able to put em back on neatly