>Has anyone successfully installed an amp into a VR6-GTI yet?
Yes (twice)

>Where did you put the thing?
The driver's side wall of the trunk.  I made a "platform" out of 3/8 "
plywood covered
in black velvet, which I then mounted to  the trunk wall, then mounted the
amp on to that.
below is a simple top view of that platform
___________
|__|

And the most important question of all:
Under your hood pop out one of those two top gromets, (I think the one most
towards the drivers side) and slide it up along the cable.  If your power
wire wouldn't fit with the other cable,get an X-acto knife and open it up a
bit, slide your cable through the gromet and into the fire wall, you'll
either have to pull the carpeting back or drop your fusebox, to get to the
cable, but if you shine a light through the hole you should find it fast.
once  you've pulled the cable through, pop the gromet back into place - if
the two cables together don't seal , you might want to dab on some silicone
caulk....

most other people I use  those gromets to pass the f-wall too.

See replies below:

----------
> From: Dave A. <sasakikojiroearthlink>
> To: gti-vr6dev.tivoli
> Subject: Hlp with amp install in VR6-GTI!
> Date: Wednesday, January 21, 1998 8:45 PM
> 
> Hello!
> 
> Has anyone successfully installed an amp into a VR6-GTI yet?
> If you have, I've got a few good questions for you:
> 
Yes

> Where did you put the thing?  The only place I could find room for it
> was just behind the driver's seat, under the floormats-  yup, not my
> choice place to put the thing, though it's the only placer I could find
> 'disposable' room for it, as the trunk space may be needed one day, and
> no one can sit behind me anyways.
> 
Mine's in the left side nook of the hatch, my amp fit very well there
mounted on the side, with a crossover mounted on the floor of the nook and
the power block mounted on the rear wall. Works out very well, as the power
can come up from behind and through the carpet. Of course you may find out
differently with a different sized amp.

> And the most important question of all:
> 
> How did you route the power wire through the firewall?  I mean, WHERE
> did you route the power wire through?  We found two nice looking
> grommets towards the top of the firewall, though there's no way to get
> to them at all from the inside.  Any attempts to try to get the power
> wire through via the steering rack area failed too-  it's too tight down
> there on the other side!  THis is like an 8 gauge power wire, but I'm
> sure at least one of you high-end enthusiasts have done it before...
> 
I popped out a plugged hole in the firewall (I'll see if I can describe it
a bit better in a later message) and "created" a grommet from the plug (cut
out the middle). There are many unused holes in the firewall, so pick a
nice one. I ran wire through this and down to the rocker panel, where you
will find cable routing nirvana. Large reclosable cable guides are waiting
within. BTW, my power wire is a 4 guage, so you should have NO problem with
an 8 guage. 

Also, if you are going with a Clarion 6 disc changer, I found yesterday
that it will fit nicely under the passenger seat. I prefer this over the
trunk area. 

> Thanks in advance for any help you can give!
> 
> -Dave
> 
> --
> For info on: how to subscribe & unsubscribe, the list's mailing errors,
>     list archive, etc.  see:   

On Wed, 21 Jan 1998, Dave A. wrote:

> Hello!
> 
> Has anyone successfully installed an amp into a VR6-GTI yet?
> If you have, I've got a few good questions for you:

Yes!
> 
> Where did you put the thing?  The only place I could find room for it
> was just behind the driver's seat, under the floormats-  yup, not my
> choice place to put the thing, though it's the only placer I could find
> 'disposable' room for it, as the trunk space may be needed one day, and
> no one can sit behind me anyways.

Mine is not exactly mounted, but it stays in place.  It is in the trunk on
the left hand side when you open it.  It hasn't moved at all,
surprisingly, even though it is not screwed down (because there is nothing
to screw it into except a spare tire!)

> How did you route the power wire through the firewall?  I mean, WHERE
> did you route the power wire through?  We found two nice looking
> grommets towards the top of the firewall, though there's no way to get
> to them at all from the inside.  Any attempts to try to get the power
> wire through via the steering rack area failed too-  it's too tight down
> there on the other side!  THis is like an 8 gauge power wire, but I'm
> sure at least one of you high-end enthusiasts have done it before...
> 
I had a local shop install the wires for the amp.  But I have a 4 gauge
wire going to my trunk area!  They ran it through the firewall just to the
left and a little lower than the coolant reservoir tank.  After that, it
runs along the drivers side and ends up underneath the rear seat, goes
underneath the rear seatback underneath the carpet on the left side of the
trunk and comes out right at the back of the trunk.  They had to drill a
new hole in the firewall to route the wire.  I wasn't about to take my
chances drilling anything (let alone routing a 4 gauge wire!)

Bryan Schmidt
95 Black GTI VR6

This routing of wires in a VW is standard:  power wires direct from battery
(positive is fused very close), through the firewall (have to pull the
fusebox
out and pull back the carpeting) and along the door edges (simply unscrew
the sill covers - VW always does this to route their wiring leaving lots of
room just in case) and back to the trunk through a little gap left open
between the rear seat backs and the side of the car.

Speaker wires and RCAs run on the PASSENGERs side through the
same basic kind of routing.  This gets them away from the power wires
so they can't pick up interference (limits alternator whine, among other
things).

Some shops ground locally to the amps - some run another ground wire
direct from the battery back to the amps.  I like the latter.  4 gauge is
best
since resistence in a wire is directly proportional to the length of the
wire,
while diameter reduces resistance by the square.  (Oh, hell, am I screwing
this
up folks?  Been a while.)

Jud.







bryan%cae.uwmnips.acec on 01/22/98 12:09:34 AM

To:   sasakikojiroearthlink
cc:   gti-vr6dev.tivoli (bcc: Judson Main/CS/TELCOMM/ACECOMM)
Subject:  Re: Hlp with amp install in VR6-GTI!




On Wed, 21 Jan 1998, Dave A. wrote:
> Hello!
>
> Has anyone successfully installed an amp into a VR6-GTI yet?
> If you have, I've got a few good questions for you:
Yes!
>
> Where did you put the thing?  The only place I could find room for it
> was just behind the driver's seat, under the floormats-  yup, not my
> choice place to put the thing, though it's the only placer I could find
> 'disposable' room for it, as the trunk space may be needed one day, and
> no one can sit behind me anyways.
Mine is not exactly mounted, but it stays in place.  It is in the trunk on
the left hand side when you open it.  It hasn't moved at all,
surprisingly, even though it is not screwed down (because there is nothing
to screw it into except a spare tire!)
> How did you route the power wire through the firewall?  I mean, WHERE
> did you route the power wire through?  We found two nice looking
> grommets towards the top of the firewall, though there's no way to get
> to them at all from the inside.  Any attempts to try to get the power
> wire through via the steering rack area failed too-  it's too tight down
> there on the other side!  THis is like an 8 gauge power wire, but I'm
> sure at least one of you high-end enthusiasts have done it before...
>
I had a local shop install the wires for the amp.  But I have a 4 gauge
wire going to my trunk area!  They ran it through the firewall just to the
left and a little lower than the coolant reservoir tank.  After that, it
runs along the drivers side and ends up underneath the rear seat, goes
underneath the rear seatback underneath the carpet on the left side of the
trunk and comes out right at the back of the trunk.  They had to drill a
new hole in the firewall to route the wire.  I wasn't about to take my
chances drilling anything (let alone routing a 4 gauge wire!)
Bryan Schmidt
95 Black GTI VR6

>Where did you put the thing?

I took a board and cut it to the shape of the left side of the trunk, in
the area behind the trunk light.  If you pull the carpet back there is a
metal plate behind it.  I painted the board black, mounted the amp and line
converter to the board then mounted the board to the metal plate.  I've had
no problems with it moving around or getting in the way when I load up the
trunk.

>How did you route the power wire through the firewall?  I mean, WHERE
>did you route the power wire through?  We found two nice looking
>grommets towards the top of the firewall, though there's no way to get
>to them at all from the inside.

I used 4 guage wire.  The line from the amp go under the carpet behind the
left back seat then under the door sills. I popped the rubber piece you
mentioned and fed the power cable straight to the battery.  I recall that
there was plenty of space there for the wire to go through.


I can take some digital pictures of any portion you need to see if interested.

Regards,

-Attila

At 05:45 PM 1/21/98 -0800, you wrote:
>Hello!
>
>Has anyone successfully installed an amp into a VR6-GTI yet?
>If you have, I've got a few good questions for you:
>
>Where did you put the thing?  The only place I could find room for it
>was just behind the driver's seat, under the floormats-  yup, not my
>choice place to put the thing, though it's the only placer I could find
>'disposable' room for it, as the trunk space may be needed one day, and
>no one can sit behind me anyways.
>
>And the most important question of all:
>
>How did you route the power wire through the firewall?  I mean, WHERE
>did you route the power wire through?  We found two nice looking
>grommets towards the top of the firewall, though there's no way to get
>to them at all from the inside.  Any attempts to try to get the power
>wire through via the steering rack area failed too-  it's too tight down
>there on the other side!  THis is like an 8 gauge power wire, but I'm
>sure at least one of you high-end enthusiasts have done it before...
>
>Thanks in advance for any help you can give!
>
>-Dave

Hi Dave,
I mounted an amp on the right hand side of the trunk on a board screwed to
the rear shock tower. It's pretty much out of the way and makes running all
the cables easy.
Getting the power cable through the firewall was a real PITA. The grommets
you mention do in fact go through but it's really hard to find them from
the inside. I spent so long trying that it ended up going dark and that was
how I eventually found the hole. Get a flashlight and shine it into the
grommet hole from the engine bay. If you pull away the fuse box and stick
your head up by the pedals you can see the light. Get someone else to push
the cable in from the engine side and grab it. Simple as that.
You really should avoid putting an amp under either of the seats as there
are heater vents under there to keep the passengers feet toasty, not the
best thing for an amp.
Good luck.

Andy N