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Old 03-28-2007, 10:52 AM   #1
ozwolfbane
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Exclamation Tutorial for running speaker wires in a 98 318i E36

Hi,

I have searched long and hard but cant find a tutorial/write-up on running wires from the headunit (aftermarket) to an amp in the back.

I would be running 6 RCAs and speaker wires for the front splits.

Now everything in the BMW is bolted down like a mother with no free space anywhere to shove wires through !! In my Honda Prelude i just ran it on the passenger side carpet but carpet is too thick in BMW....

Now is there a full write-up, as to where to run the wires exactly , what to remove and how to remove it as i don't want to break anything.

plessssse help
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Old 03-28-2007, 10:11 PM   #2
Rich
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There is loads of space under the carpet, just take out the passenger seat, and rear bench. Under the carpet you will find wiring ducts, plenty of space.

here are some pictures (click for bigger)>

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Old 03-29-2007, 11:44 PM   #3
318iS
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having dismantled and put together a saloon interior 3 times a coupe 2 times i can tell you its not easy as some cars out there but its still pretty straight forward...

i guess you have a saloon since you said 318i ?

the plastic along the door pops out so does the rear bench... run the cable to the radio under the carpet at the glove box and through the dash...
the power wire that runs to the battery is goin to create you a bit of trouble tho... what i did was removed the battery and the top of the fuse box and ran the cable in where there a hundred other cables going into the car... you'll know what i mean when you see it....

anyway i am way too lazy to post pics or do a full write up...
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Old 04-01-2007, 09:11 PM   #4
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Hi, the following was written by myself when i had an e36 saloon, so if you have a saloon, it will work, otherwise, most of it will apply to the compact.

I wrote it cos i had a water leak and the carpet needed to be removed so i could dry it and find the leak. Which i did on the 3rd attempt, hence my familiarity with the interior removal of a beemer.

Right, now onto carpet removal. ( its long in text, but quite detailed)

Depending on how much water is in your car, you may unfortunately have no choice but to get the whole carpet out in order to successfully dry it. Having done it twice ( or was it 3 times) i would say its quicker to get the lot out, and dry it in your house, than mess around lying in all sorts of positions trying to dry the carpet in place.
I would definitely get your best mate round to help out, as the carpet is one piece (bulkhead, to base of rear seats ), and the front seats are heavy as well.

To give you an idea of timescale, I could strip the car,get the carpet out and car refitted in a morning no worries. ( but i have done it a few times now, and no i dont have a dodgy past time)
I also suggest laying out a polythene sheet in the garage and put the pieces of trim on this, in order, as you remove them. Keep note of what screws came form where as well.

First, remove the rear seats, they are push fit, and respond to a sharp tug at the front on each side of the seat base, then pull forward and out. Then, give a sharp tug in the top of each side of the back rest, then lift up and out. You will see why you do this later on.

Next, you have to take out the undersides of the dash. you may have to pull off a section of the door rubber to do this. The steering wheel side has 2 screws on the front and 1 or 2 screws on the underside. It slides towards you first, and then manouvre it out ( you will have to look for yourself for anything catching. Unplug the connector going to the speaker in this panel ( if you have it, i think mine makes the gong noise when its icy, or a problem occurs). On the glovebox side there is a panel underneath that comes out first, 1 or 2 screws.Then the glovebox, which has 6 screws. One in each airvent, and two on either side of the opening with the flap open. Again, this slides out first and you have to disconnect the light and the torch power before removing it.
Behind the glovebox is a whole bunch of wiring and relays in my car. This also makes running cables for the headunit easier.

the trim panels on the base of the door openings have to come out. They should slide forward, so try it first. but i found them very stiff, and resorted to gently prying them off with a flat screwdriver. they use about 4 of the panel clips (if you are familiar with them) and are a tight interference fit. This is where i put a small crack in the trim panel, and broke several of the clips, but the clips are replaceable.

Now remove the speaker grilles in the kickpanels. 1 fastening on passenger side and a screw and fastening on the driver side ( the screw is in the bonnet release).Next, you take out the centre console. Pull out the two ashtrays, undo the screws underneath them, and it should be free. You will have to wiggle it about to get it over the handbrake, but it does come and with no material damage ( push the handbrake gaitor through first) disconnect any wires as they come apparent.

Next, onto the front part of the console. Remove the on board computer ( or clock ) the computer is a pain in the backside to get out. Apparently, a thin rule is good. Basically on the lower edge is a tab, which runs the width of the computer, and this needs to be pushed upwards to pull the computer out. There is a slot in the recess below the computer, which allows you to feel it, but i couldnt get it to work. No tricks of the trade from me, just patience. ( perhaps other forum peeps may have a tip on this.)
With the computer out, remove the cigarette lighter and alarm l.e.d panel, again disconnecting the cables as you need to.
Next, undo the screws on either side of this new opening to allow the removal of this big part of the console. There is also a nut at the back just behind the hazard light button, remove it.
The electric window switches need to come out as you remove the console, they are quite easy to do, just push one end in and up through the console.
Now the heavy bit. remove the front seat headrests, put the seat height up to max, slide the seat forward, undo the bolts on the runners, then slide the seat back, and undo the nuts on the runners. Then carefully lift the seat onto the rear bench area. DONT put your hands underneath or near the seatbelt retainer (the bit with the red button), cos its got the tensioning mechanism in there, and you dont want to be around if that thing fires (cos your fingers wont be if there in the way).then repeat for other front seat.
Watch the side trim panels on the B posts when you do this, cos they are easy to scratch. Its not necassary to remove the seats from the car and this saves you undoing the belt mountings etc. I have manual seats, so no wiring to disconnect.

With your car in pieces, the carpet is almost ready to come out. You have to split the throttle pedal in two. At the top, where the pedal meets the arm, the arm has a 90 degree bend in it and a small nodule that stops the pedal sliding off. Well, i chose to file of the nodule and slide the pedal off. It doesnt actually slide of, more need a lot of persuasion to get it off. Again no damage should occur. Just watch the throttle pedal return spring at the top. The other option is pushing the carpet down at the base of the pedal and trying to release the pedal from here. In the manual i use, it said if the pedal is removed in the latter way, then you should only fit a brand new pedal in its place. The choice is yours. then undo the throttle stop and remove. Make a note of the position but i found it hard to adjust accurately afterwards. Wind it in and drive!
When you replace the throttle pedal onto the arm, use a zip tie to replace the nodule although i dont think it would ever come apart naturally.
Now remove the black cappings from either side of the heater. They just pull off, and are there to put air into front and rear footwells.
As the carpet is in one piece, you have to cut the carpet to get it out. This is worrying, but if you think about where you cut, you wont know its ever happened, because you only need to cut underneath where the front console goes. the cut goes from the front to the back of the heater box, and you can do it on one side, real close to the box. THINK TWICE, CUT ONCE. A few other small cuts where some of the cables go through, will also be required. Just watch how deep you cut, cos there are cables under here. Slowly but surely with the stanley knife.
And out comes the carpet!! LOTS of wriggling, and huffing and puffing will get it out, It is difficult the first time but it will come out.and again with no damage, it is really stiff and formed in both footwells, which is by far the hardest part to get out. Start by pulling backwards from the bulkhead area, a hand by the heater box, and the other by the kick panel. YOur mate should be able to do the same on the other side. By doing it with tweo people, you can keep moving the carpet steadily and evenly and look out for any problems with two pairs of eyes. To get it over the handbrake, i think you pull the handbrake up full, and get the middle of the carpet up to just about clear the lever.

Thats it.
You may have read through that, and thought " no way, i am not gonna do that", or of course, you may be up for taking apart your car, in which case, it wont be a problem, good luck and let me know how you get on.

Nige
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Old 04-01-2007, 09:14 PM   #5
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oh yeah, i take no responsibility for anything that happens as the result of the above. It worked for me, but you should definitely take your time and double check everything.
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