revisited: stereo woes

[Eric_R_Kissell at email.whirlpool.com]

I have never looked at a 4kq, so no BTDT. I suspect that trying to pull new
wires with old wires will be difficult if not impossible due to the way the
original harnesses are made and attached. Audi usually tapes wires together
with other wires and Audi tends to use wire ties at various points that
will restrict movement.

There are a couple of things that make running new wires easier. First, I
usually remove the relevant seats when I do any stereo wiring because it is
really easy to remove most seats and it makes things much easier. Second, I
remove any trim pieces that will make things harder. My goal is to sneak
the new wires under the carpet using a coat hanger and or other means to
pull and push the new wiring where I want it. Any place I can free the
carpet and pull the carpet up makes the job easier. Once the new wiring is
run I make sure it is laying flat and then put the carpet back into place.
Usually the is no evidence that the new wiring is there.

I found two paths to be relatively clean and easy for my 1986 5000cstq and
various VW's over the years.

1. Down along the center tunnel under the carpet. This worked really well
for my 5000cstq. Once I had the passengers seat, rear seat, and the panels
under the dash removed it was very easy. Plus I was able to clean a lot of
places the vacuum usually cannot reach :-)

2. Down the sides under the carpet. Not on top of the sill, but down lower
on the vertical surface, sometimes clear down to the floor. This is what I
have done on several VW GTI's. You probably would want to remove the door
sill cover, lower seat belt mounting point, front seat, and lower rear
seat. Then it is just a matter of freeing the carpet somewhere up under the
dash and snaking the wires under the carpet clear to the back.

Again, no BTDT on a 4kq. You might find that you can use the stock wiring to
pull the new wiring, but I doubt it.

HTH,
Eric Kissell
1986 5000cstq, 1.8 bar (SJM)
1989 200q Avant, 1.8 bar (QLCC)
1987 VW GTI 16v, 1984cc

______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: RE: revisited: stereo woes
Author:  James Hanson <jhanson at westmont.edu> at INTERNET
Date:    7/4/2002 12:56 AM


Ok... another silly question...

I've got 4 new speakers and a head unit to install, and I figure that I
should probably run better speaker wire than what's there (87 4kq).  Front
speakers should be no problem, but what about the rear?
Would it be possible to tie new speaker wire to the old ones and just pull
it through?  Just leave the old wires there and run new wires under
the carpet?  What's the cleanest (not necessarily the easiest) way to do
this?

Thanks,
Jim