Power wire options in an '04 XLT

[bamnq6]

Hello all-

I'm finally getting around to re-installing my system into my new-to-me truck. I spent some time crawling aroung the truck today looking for a good location to run a 4 gauge power wire and 2 10 gauge power lines into the cab and then onward to the cargo area.

There's seems to be a pretty decent amount of space inside the door sills down each side. But there aren't many gromets on the firewall. Where have you guy run wires into your passenger compartment?

There's the main wiring loom gromet/boot on the drivers side, but I haven't figured out exactly where that appears on the interior side of the dash. Most likely I simply can't get my hands up there...

There are a couple options on the passenger side, but I'm not sure running a power wire across a hot engine bay is a good idea as the desert heat really cranks up underhood temps. .

 

[DMacLennan14]

you can always drill a hole and use a plastic grommet with some silicone to seal it. on a side note, why are you running 3 power wires from the bay all the way to cargo? why not just one 0 gauge to a distribution block in the cargo area, then a 4,10,10 coming off the distribution block?

 

[bamnq6]

I ended up running out the side of the engine bay, into the inner fender area, and thru the door hinge area into the space behind the kick panel. It's all sheathed, grommeted, and siliconed. I'm not too worried about it...

I'm running multiple power wires for 2 reasons:
1) I'm powering a 600W system, an on-board air compressor, and running a spare line for (something in the future?). I don't want to induce any noise in the system's power lines.
2) I already owned the 4 gauge wire. I pulled it from my totalled Grand Marquis.

Any tips on getting from the drivers side 2nd row up into the cargo area? I can't get one of the bolts outta my rear seat. It just goes 'round-n'-'round . I'm thinking I may just be able to fish the wires if I'm careful...

P.S. System installation in 3rd gen's is a MAJOR PITA!!! I could have installed 3 or 4 systems in honda's or full-sized ford in the 6 hours it's taken me to simply get power leads to the rear of this beast...