All right, many have asked this, and I've done it on my last 3 cars, two of which were dsms, a 95 2gnt, and a 99 gsx. So here ya go...
Pick up (2) 20' lengths of 4-ga cable from your local stereo shop. The better the cable you get, the higher strand count and better conductivity. Color is your choice; I used stinger and lightning audio (silver and blue respectively). Also pick up a 4 or 8 pack of 4 ga ring terminals from your local stereo shop. The crimp on kind... be sure you have the tools to properly crimp these suckers on. Pick up either a circuit breaker or an ANL style fuse holder with the biggest fuse they have. I used a 200amp in my last car. Its your choice, but pick up some new battery terminals as well. Some nice gold plated ones with the ability to really clamp down on some 4 ga. And finally, pick up either a 2 or 4 fuse distribution block. Not all stores have a 2 fuse, so the 4 will work fine.
As far as drilling holes through the firewall... it's been 3 years since I did an install in a 1g, so another one of you guys will have to help him on this part.
Run both the 4 ga leads along the side of the car, (or underneath if you know what you're doing) to the back of the vehicle.
On a 2g-turbo car, run these down the passenger side, and drill your holes low on the firewall. I can take pics of mine. Be very careful on this part because you have a large group of wires going through the firewall there, and you have brake lines on the other side of the firewall as well. Check, double check, and then have someone else check again for you. Once you have the cables ran through, use some 3M strip caulk to seal around the hole so the cables don't rub against the newly drilled hole.
On a 2gnt, I ran the 12v on the driver's side. You can drill through right where the clutch cable runs through. Its never pretty, but it works. On the passenger side, you can drill through pretty easily if I remember correctly. This is where I ran the ground cable.
Obviously double-check your cables running from the battery to the front of the car. Make sure there's no kinks or places where the cable's sheathing could be rubbed down and arc. Dont hook the cables up to the battery until everything is all done.
Under the hood (we're assuming you've drilled, and have 3-6'+ of 4 ga wire under the hood now), take the ground cable, and run that directly to where the factor ground mounts to the starter. (You can trace the factory ground to make it easier) you can remove that factory ground. Make sure you crimp that ring terminal on there solid. Now, you probably have 2-5'+ of grounding cable left...you should. Now, make another grounding cable to run from the starter, to the firewall. I'm not sure what the 1g has, but the 2g has an exposed ground cable that was around 6" long and bolted to the battery terminal. Again, make sure those ring terminals are tight. Now, depending on how much cable you have left, you may need to buy more. By now, you know how to handle this stuff, and you're sufficient with crimping on the ends. Find every factory ground under the hood, and replace it with your own. Ya know those grounding kits that sell for $89 bucks... you're now making your own for a fraction of the cost.
Now for the 12v cable, once you have it through the firewall, you need to find a place to mount your 2 or 4 fuse distribution block. Youll run the main lead into this block, and then run the lead from the starter, into one of the side ports of it, not through a fused end. If you can, replace that cable to the starter with your own 4 ga one with nice ends. But if you can't, that's okay. Now you've got probably 4 white wires and another black or red one that need to be hooked up. I just paired up the white ones and put 2 in each of the fused leads. I had 2 left after that, and used one for the fuel pump, and the last one was open. Just make sure you have them all hooked up somewhere on the fused side of that block. As far as fuse sizes. I just used 60's and never had a problem.
Now check all your connections... then check em again...
Now back at the battery, ground it directly to the battery, for the 12v side, use a circuit breaker or a big ANL style fuse holder with like a 200amp fuse, and mount that fuse as close to the 12v battery terminal as possible... I've seen what can happen when people don't do this part properly...
Make sure the battery is secure. Either make your own battery box, or buy one, just be sure it's secure and the battery cannot move around. I would highly suggest using a dry-cell battery for the project. Like an optima red top. Putting a lead-acid battery in the back means it must be in a sealed enclosure, and that enclosure must be vented to the exterior of the vehicle. Not a super-hard task, but just get a dry-cell and don't think about it. Regardless it's still a good idea to seal up that battery compartment and vent it to the outside.
Now for those of you with big stereos that think, hey now my amp's only like 2 feet from the battery, super... wrong... you now have more fun ahead of you. You can mount the amp back there and have it >2' from the battery, but you also have to run 12v, and ground leads directly from the battery to the radio in the front of the car... unless of course you like the sound of bees coming through your stereo in unison with your rpm needle. Running direct wires to your headunit will alleviate that wonderful thing we call ground loop noise. Also, be sure the radio isn't grounded or touching anything metal where it's mounted, or guess what, now your radio has become the path of least resistance for several of the little gadgets and gizmos under your dash...let there be noise! Like I said, a whole lot more fun for ya...
If I missed or overlooked anything, please PM me and I'll address your ?s individually or add to this post. Im on my 5th bag of M&Ms this morning
For those of you who want to argue that 4 ga is too small, I did it... with a yellowtop (not the greatest starting battery in case you didn't know) in 10 below, and it remote started every time. I don't know what a better test would be...
Pick up (2) 20' lengths of 4-ga cable from your local stereo shop. The better the cable you get, the higher strand count and better conductivity. Color is your choice; I used stinger and lightning audio (silver and blue respectively). Also pick up a 4 or 8 pack of 4 ga ring terminals from your local stereo shop. The crimp on kind... be sure you have the tools to properly crimp these suckers on. Pick up either a circuit breaker or an ANL style fuse holder with the biggest fuse they have. I used a 200amp in my last car. Its your choice, but pick up some new battery terminals as well. Some nice gold plated ones with the ability to really clamp down on some 4 ga. And finally, pick up either a 2 or 4 fuse distribution block. Not all stores have a 2 fuse, so the 4 will work fine.
As far as drilling holes through the firewall... it's been 3 years since I did an install in a 1g, so another one of you guys will have to help him on this part.
Run both the 4 ga leads along the side of the car, (or underneath if you know what you're doing) to the back of the vehicle.
On a 2g-turbo car, run these down the passenger side, and drill your holes low on the firewall. I can take pics of mine. Be very careful on this part because you have a large group of wires going through the firewall there, and you have brake lines on the other side of the firewall as well. Check, double check, and then have someone else check again for you. Once you have the cables ran through, use some 3M strip caulk to seal around the hole so the cables don't rub against the newly drilled hole.
On a 2gnt, I ran the 12v on the driver's side. You can drill through right where the clutch cable runs through. Its never pretty, but it works. On the passenger side, you can drill through pretty easily if I remember correctly. This is where I ran the ground cable.
Obviously double-check your cables running from the battery to the front of the car. Make sure there's no kinks or places where the cable's sheathing could be rubbed down and arc. Dont hook the cables up to the battery until everything is all done.
Under the hood (we're assuming you've drilled, and have 3-6'+ of 4 ga wire under the hood now), take the ground cable, and run that directly to where the factor ground mounts to the starter. (You can trace the factory ground to make it easier) you can remove that factory ground. Make sure you crimp that ring terminal on there solid. Now, you probably have 2-5'+ of grounding cable left...you should. Now, make another grounding cable to run from the starter, to the firewall. I'm not sure what the 1g has, but the 2g has an exposed ground cable that was around 6" long and bolted to the battery terminal. Again, make sure those ring terminals are tight. Now, depending on how much cable you have left, you may need to buy more. By now, you know how to handle this stuff, and you're sufficient with crimping on the ends. Find every factory ground under the hood, and replace it with your own. Ya know those grounding kits that sell for $89 bucks... you're now making your own for a fraction of the cost.
Now for the 12v cable, once you have it through the firewall, you need to find a place to mount your 2 or 4 fuse distribution block. Youll run the main lead into this block, and then run the lead from the starter, into one of the side ports of it, not through a fused end. If you can, replace that cable to the starter with your own 4 ga one with nice ends. But if you can't, that's okay. Now you've got probably 4 white wires and another black or red one that need to be hooked up. I just paired up the white ones and put 2 in each of the fused leads. I had 2 left after that, and used one for the fuel pump, and the last one was open. Just make sure you have them all hooked up somewhere on the fused side of that block. As far as fuse sizes. I just used 60's and never had a problem.
Now check all your connections... then check em again...
Now back at the battery, ground it directly to the battery, for the 12v side, use a circuit breaker or a big ANL style fuse holder with like a 200amp fuse, and mount that fuse as close to the 12v battery terminal as possible... I've seen what can happen when people don't do this part properly...
Make sure the battery is secure. Either make your own battery box, or buy one, just be sure it's secure and the battery cannot move around. I would highly suggest using a dry-cell battery for the project. Like an optima red top. Putting a lead-acid battery in the back means it must be in a sealed enclosure, and that enclosure must be vented to the exterior of the vehicle. Not a super-hard task, but just get a dry-cell and don't think about it. Regardless it's still a good idea to seal up that battery compartment and vent it to the outside.
Now for those of you with big stereos that think, hey now my amp's only like 2 feet from the battery, super... wrong... you now have more fun ahead of you. You can mount the amp back there and have it >2' from the battery, but you also have to run 12v, and ground leads directly from the battery to the radio in the front of the car... unless of course you like the sound of bees coming through your stereo in unison with your rpm needle. Running direct wires to your headunit will alleviate that wonderful thing we call ground loop noise. Also, be sure the radio isn't grounded or touching anything metal where it's mounted, or guess what, now your radio has become the path of least resistance for several of the little gadgets and gizmos under your dash...let there be noise! Like I said, a whole lot more fun for ya...
If I missed or overlooked anything, please PM me and I'll address your ?s individually or add to this post. Im on my 5th bag of M&Ms this morning
For those of you who want to argue that 4 ga is too small, I did it... with a yellowtop (not the greatest starting battery in case you didn't know) in 10 below, and it remote started every time. I don't know what a better test would be...
