Part 2 - Amp kit installation (with pics)

13944 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by salcarollo84, Jan 28, 2013

accelerus

Discussion Starter · May 16, 2012 (Edited)

So got to drive 4 hours and visit my family for mothers day, bonus is the fully decked out workshop of my dads with multiple bays and every tool possible.

Got to install my Amp kit and amp yesterday. With great results.

Tried to remember to take as many pics, it's by no means a 100% step by step but shows the important parts for this car.

First hurdle was finding a place to go thru the firewall. There is a large (about 1.5-2") grommet that all the existing wires pass though. It has some space to punch through and run a 4AWG power cable. Pics below.

This is basically a two man operation - I used a punch get through the two layers of rubber (make sure to have someone on the other side under the dash to feel where it's coming through and guide you to not punch or knick any wires. Once you know you can push through without damaging anything you need a wire pull tool.

Since the power cable is thick, you will need to use some super fine braided steel cable to loop around/through the power cable and pull it though. Again, i did it as a two man operation. I was on the engine side pulling, my dad was under the dash pulling.

With this combo - you get it though without pulling the entire grommet out of it's set position (and keeping everything nice and sealed)

Once you have it through its just a matter of pulling as much slack as you need to route the cable around to the battery terminal (will post pics of how/where I mounted the fuse tomorrow, it's dark outside now)

I ran the 4AWG amp power cable down the passenger side running board, under the drivers seat, and around the back of the center console to the amp under the passenger seat.

The wires will all be hidden right under the center console lip -- I wanted to make sure everything works first before I started making everything clean and pretty.

Grounding point is the passenger side front left bolt that holds down the seat. Taking the bolt out (10mm socket wrench) i used a wire brush wheel to grind/polish off all the black paint. This point has proven to be a solid grounding point into the chassis - and I get a good power through this point.

Will post more pics tomorrow. But once everything was hooked up it worked perfectly the FIRST time. So glad I went super slow and labeled everything when I was tapping the head unit and running my line out converter in my part one thread, link here: http://www.kia-forums.com/3g-2011-rio/78061-part-1-work-progress-adding-amp.html

Sadly -- tonight I had a mishap due to my own stpidity of not applying the parking brake and my carport in the apartment complex getting some nasty face time with the inside of my door. results (with pics) here: http://www.kia-forums.com/3g-2011-rio/78234-less-than-one-month-ownership-my.html#post421145

luckily it should be a $20 fix. Which makes me super happy as this car seems WELL engineered. Even hyper extending the door an extra foot to the point the checker assembly breaks, the door itself, panels, and paint are all flawless

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Bullxyz

· #2 · May 18, 2012

First of all I want to wish you the best regarding your door mishap. Hopefully it all works out with the minimal amount of cost and effort.

Secondly, I felt bad because this post has been up over 48 hrs. and no one had added to it. I am following your install and have been copying all to a WORD document for use down the road. I have never modified a system before and visually seeing the process makes me less uneasy about attempting it myself.

I am not sure which Rio trim line and stock radio you replaced. Did you take any pics of the stock unit. I am curious if there were any RCA jacks or lines out of any kind. I am also curious if there was any manufacturer info or model numbers, or anything that would possibly help me search the web for specifications of the stock unit?

Thanks for your efforts in sharing your install.

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accelerus

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 19, 2012

I posted a few pics in my part 1 thread of the head unit connectors.

here: http://www.kia-forums.com/3g-2011-rio/78061-part-1-work-progress-adding-amp.html

There are no RCA or pre-amp outputs which means you have to go thru the trouble o mapping and wiring your own cables to a Line out converter. I got a PAC model that accepts line level inputs and has RCA outs (along with a remote amp turn on line)

It's not hard, just time consuming to do all that work while sitting in an awkward position in the car. It's better to go slow and get it done RIGHT than to rush though.

Kia's global info system site has all the information you need on wiring diagrams, voltages, connectors, and specs of the stock hardware here: https://www.kiatechinfo.com/

you gotta make an account (it's free) but having owned a Mazda RX8, and a C6 Z06, kia putting all this info online in easy to read/access/print format is really a step up in service for the end user.

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