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How To: Add a sub and amp to a 2013
06-19-2013, 03:44 PM
#91
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 3
what gauge power lead
What gauge power lead did you use and who is the manufacturer?
Ok, first off some of this is similar to other years but when I asked in another thread, there was not much info, so I decided just to document my doing it and put it up for you guys to see.
Tools needed:
Cross-tip screw driver
pliers
wire cutter / stripper
electrical tape
scotch locks
Wiring diagrams
http://www.iihs.net/fsm/?dir=710&vie...Navigation.pdf
Quick note on scotch locks: Some people do not use them ever. I use them sometimes but only if a few criteria are met. Is it easy to get to if I ever had to repair? (for example I would not bury it in the dash.) Aside from that, the worry is that the lock is going to cut through your wire over time, so that leaves my next two points. Immobilize the wire going in and out of the lock as best you can (electrical tape them together and to the edge of the lock so it won’t jiggle and cut your wire.) Never cover up the scotch lock. If I ever did have a break, even though I am not anticipating one, it would be the first thing I looked at. I don’t want to go searching for them.
Enough about that. If you really don’t want to use them, then pick your own method.
I start my install with some prep to make it easy to run our power wire. With my install I did not even lift the car or remove the wheel. Start by turning your wheel all the way to the left. This will make some room for you to work. I'm a big guy and was able to install it this way. If you for some reason can’t get your arms at the right angles then go ahead and jack your car and remove your passenger side tire. My way is easier, but you have to be willing to deal with the space.
With your wheels turned, look in your passenger side fender well. We need to remove the cabin side plastic fender well liner. There are 4 pop in retainers holding it in place. Simply take your cross-tip screwdriver and turn them counterclockwise to pop them out. Once they pop, pull them out.
With this piece loose, we are easily able to see everything you need to make this install happen. I have to say, someone at Ford was really thinking, and adding this electrical was very easy. This next pic you see a rubber nub on the grommet for the wiring harness. Simply cut this nub. I did not cut it all the way through. I did this for two reasons, one to make it tight. Two, so that if I ever pulled everything out I could still close that hole.
I then took advantage of a hole already going through the fender, up to the battery area. I did not pull the battery, simply angled the wire and pushed until I could fish it up the rest of the way from the engine bay. Once I had some slack pulled up by the battery, I pushed the wire through the grommet I had just so nicely cut. Pro tip here. Use your favorite lube (so long as it is rubber safe) to make your cable slip through with ease. Even spitting on it will make the wire fly through the grommet. Also, don’t worry about the back side of the grommet. Ford has already nicely opened that for you and once you get your wire to feed, it will come right out your passenger side floor board. Once I have the wire through the firewall I pull all the slack I can get, then wrap the wire with some wire loom and push some extra loom through the hole under the battery, as that is a metal ring were pushing power wire through. Finish it off with some electrical tape to hold it all in place.
With the “post fuse” section in place, I like to fit the fuse section of the wire to finish up under the hood. DO NOT INSTALL YOUR FUSE. You do not want to have a live wire while you are working, I never put the fuse in until the last step. That said, here is where I mounted the fuse holder. Also, I there is a post on the positive terminal with a 8mm nut. This is where I attached my ring terminal for power. It is self-explanatory so I did not get a picture of that.
Now the next part is hiding your power wire in the cabin. My goal with a system I install is that I do not want you to see a wire unless I intend for you to see it. Attention to details like that is the difference between looking hacked in and professional. My method takes a little bit of finger strength but no tools. Lay your wire in your cabin along your floor to approximate its position. Then I simply start from the front, with the passenger kick plate, stick your finger under the bottom edge and pull up slightly. While doing this, use your other hand and push your wire under the seam. You can do this for 90% of the molding you need to get under. Once you get the hang of it, you can “run the seam” with your finger and the wire flies in. I have done this up to 4ga. But even some 4ga with some thick insulators may not work. In that case you will have to pull the door sill up and run the wire along the carpet, but if you can get it in and all hidden at the seam, try that way first.
Once you get to the rear seats you will see this:
Simply grab the edge and pull it out. You will need it out to hide your wire going under the rear seat.
Next step is to pull the rear seats. This is easier then it sounds. All you need to do is find the two push in holders. They look like this:
Push them in while pulling up on the seat. The seat will tip up, once tilted up about 30 degrees, pull out the whole rear seat.
This is where I noticed a nice bundle of wire already running under the seat. I love stuff like this, easy to attach my wire to and everything stays hidden:
I did not take a picture of my ground going in, but if you notice the nice shiny non painted screw going into the child seat lock. I used that as my grounding point. The bolt is very thick and goes directly into the body through a non-painted welded and re-enforced nut. I did test it with my meter and got VERY low resistance, I like it.
The only thing left for power is the remote. I pulled my remote from here:
No seriously I did. The antenna on our cars is powered. You can easily steal you switched 12v right from here. It's the BLUE wire:
This is what it looks like tapped. You can see how I do the scotch lock. This is also why I said pliers, you can squeeze the crap out of the lock, but it is just easier to get pliers on the post and squeeze. BE WARNED, if you do use pliers, make sure the wires are lined up or you will cut them in half.
All that is left is to get your signal. I stole it right the rear speakers. Shaker equipped cars can get it from the shaker signal, I however have a BOSS that comes with the base radio. This way does also work with the shaker, its just not a dedicated woofer signal.
I ran this into a line level converter. You can see it here in a test fit picture I took for my new box. It is taped on the top of the cross member.
That should be everything you need to complete your project. Here is what mine looks like completed:
Thanks for having a look!
Here is a few tips I have picked up over the years.
Have a plan:
Seek professional help when appropriate:
And always make sure your box will fit.
Tools needed:
Cross-tip screw driver
pliers
wire cutter / stripper
electrical tape
scotch locks
Wiring diagrams
http://www.iihs.net/fsm/?dir=710&vie...Navigation.pdf
Quick note on scotch locks: Some people do not use them ever. I use them sometimes but only if a few criteria are met. Is it easy to get to if I ever had to repair? (for example I would not bury it in the dash.) Aside from that, the worry is that the lock is going to cut through your wire over time, so that leaves my next two points. Immobilize the wire going in and out of the lock as best you can (electrical tape them together and to the edge of the lock so it won’t jiggle and cut your wire.) Never cover up the scotch lock. If I ever did have a break, even though I am not anticipating one, it would be the first thing I looked at. I don’t want to go searching for them.
Enough about that. If you really don’t want to use them, then pick your own method.
I start my install with some prep to make it easy to run our power wire. With my install I did not even lift the car or remove the wheel. Start by turning your wheel all the way to the left. This will make some room for you to work. I'm a big guy and was able to install it this way. If you for some reason can’t get your arms at the right angles then go ahead and jack your car and remove your passenger side tire. My way is easier, but you have to be willing to deal with the space.
With your wheels turned, look in your passenger side fender well. We need to remove the cabin side plastic fender well liner. There are 4 pop in retainers holding it in place. Simply take your cross-tip screwdriver and turn them counterclockwise to pop them out. Once they pop, pull them out.
With this piece loose, we are easily able to see everything you need to make this install happen. I have to say, someone at Ford was really thinking, and adding this electrical was very easy. This next pic you see a rubber nub on the grommet for the wiring harness. Simply cut this nub. I did not cut it all the way through. I did this for two reasons, one to make it tight. Two, so that if I ever pulled everything out I could still close that hole.
I then took advantage of a hole already going through the fender, up to the battery area. I did not pull the battery, simply angled the wire and pushed until I could fish it up the rest of the way from the engine bay. Once I had some slack pulled up by the battery, I pushed the wire through the grommet I had just so nicely cut. Pro tip here. Use your favorite lube (so long as it is rubber safe) to make your cable slip through with ease. Even spitting on it will make the wire fly through the grommet. Also, don’t worry about the back side of the grommet. Ford has already nicely opened that for you and once you get your wire to feed, it will come right out your passenger side floor board. Once I have the wire through the firewall I pull all the slack I can get, then wrap the wire with some wire loom and push some extra loom through the hole under the battery, as that is a metal ring were pushing power wire through. Finish it off with some electrical tape to hold it all in place.
With the “post fuse” section in place, I like to fit the fuse section of the wire to finish up under the hood. DO NOT INSTALL YOUR FUSE. You do not want to have a live wire while you are working, I never put the fuse in until the last step. That said, here is where I mounted the fuse holder. Also, I there is a post on the positive terminal with a 8mm nut. This is where I attached my ring terminal for power. It is self-explanatory so I did not get a picture of that.
Now the next part is hiding your power wire in the cabin. My goal with a system I install is that I do not want you to see a wire unless I intend for you to see it. Attention to details like that is the difference between looking hacked in and professional. My method takes a little bit of finger strength but no tools. Lay your wire in your cabin along your floor to approximate its position. Then I simply start from the front, with the passenger kick plate, stick your finger under the bottom edge and pull up slightly. While doing this, use your other hand and push your wire under the seam. You can do this for 90% of the molding you need to get under. Once you get the hang of it, you can “run the seam” with your finger and the wire flies in. I have done this up to 4ga. But even some 4ga with some thick insulators may not work. In that case you will have to pull the door sill up and run the wire along the carpet, but if you can get it in and all hidden at the seam, try that way first.
Once you get to the rear seats you will see this:
Simply grab the edge and pull it out. You will need it out to hide your wire going under the rear seat.
Next step is to pull the rear seats. This is easier then it sounds. All you need to do is find the two push in holders. They look like this:
Push them in while pulling up on the seat. The seat will tip up, once tilted up about 30 degrees, pull out the whole rear seat.
This is where I noticed a nice bundle of wire already running under the seat. I love stuff like this, easy to attach my wire to and everything stays hidden:
I did not take a picture of my ground going in, but if you notice the nice shiny non painted screw going into the child seat lock. I used that as my grounding point. The bolt is very thick and goes directly into the body through a non-painted welded and re-enforced nut. I did test it with my meter and got VERY low resistance, I like it.
The only thing left for power is the remote. I pulled my remote from here:
No seriously I did. The antenna on our cars is powered. You can easily steal you switched 12v right from here. It's the BLUE wire:
This is what it looks like tapped. You can see how I do the scotch lock. This is also why I said pliers, you can squeeze the crap out of the lock, but it is just easier to get pliers on the post and squeeze. BE WARNED, if you do use pliers, make sure the wires are lined up or you will cut them in half.
All that is left is to get your signal. I stole it right the rear speakers. Shaker equipped cars can get it from the shaker signal, I however have a BOSS that comes with the base radio. This way does also work with the shaker, its just not a dedicated woofer signal.
I ran this into a line level converter. You can see it here in a test fit picture I took for my new box. It is taped on the top of the cross member.
That should be everything you need to complete your project. Here is what mine looks like completed:
Thanks for having a look!
Here is a few tips I have picked up over the years.
Have a plan:
Seek professional help when appropriate:
And always make sure your box will fit.
05-19-2014, 08:44 PM
#95
3rd Gear Member
Join Date: May 2012
Location: DC
Posts: 642
it was helpful to me as well.
Ironically I was posting back at the beginning saying "hey I checked off shaker pro, good enough for me."
Now I'm going to be close to $2500 into my stereo upgrades. but I lasted two years before digging into it.
Deck replaced, front components installed, stock front door midbass, and upgraded rears and a 5-channel amp. Subwoofer and door midbass to be replaced when the money tree grows back..
Sort of funny when you start something and say "nah I won't do that" but you do eventually.
Installed a Hifonics Brutus Series BRX5000.5 5-channel amp over the weekend, and surprisingly the stock door "midbass" when put thru a low pass w/ a max freq of 150hz down to 70hz with a steep roll-off really punch nicely. that's on channels 3 and 4. Polk Momo 5.25" components with a passive crossover for the tweeters on 1 and 2, HPF down to 150 w/ a slow roll-off so the jump to the mid bass isn't so sudden.
This is just the front door so far.
Then out back, I have the OEM Shaker Pro subwoofer @ 30-100hz w/ a steep roll-off in testing, but won't be able to really test until I replace it. Distorts and clips so quickly that it just cuts off the amp entirely. In normal use it'll barely last a minute before sending the whole system into protection mode. So I currently have it disabled in the deck.
"rear" 5x7's which are Polk db571's are on the factory rear channel, and still run through the stock shaker amplifier, though they, as the sound stage is currently set, do little than just fill the back end. I'm limited on controlling it's EQ, so it's essentially on the stock Shaker front amp's EQ.
Deck is a Kenwood DNX-891HD which does pretty much everything, and I'm quite happy with it, along with the fine control over the sound I have.
Currently since the rear sub is out of commission, I have the door 8's cranking out the full 30hz-150hz range, and they actually handle it no problem at all with no distortion or clipping, and honestly for most people, if they weren't going for a full build like this, would be sufficient.
Going to be awesome when I get a new sub in back, will be using a ZenClosure w/ a single 12" DVC Dayton Sub running at @ 1ohm, and on a lower priority, I will eventually replace the door 8's with matching Dayton 8's, but with regards to those, I'm not in a rush since the OEM is actually impressing me when you have it run a much narrower range than stock.
Some good stuff to know:
If you at least have the Shaker system on a 13+ car, the front six speakers all go through a single amp in the same location as prior years.
Front doors do have factory component speakers, and until you properly amplify the system, they aren't that bad auditory wise on an aftermarket deck.
I'll include some pictures from when it was all torn apart.
never took pics of the finished amp mount, but it's in the otherwise empty spare tire well.
Ironically I was posting back at the beginning saying "hey I checked off shaker pro, good enough for me."
Now I'm going to be close to $2500 into my stereo upgrades. but I lasted two years before digging into it.
Deck replaced, front components installed, stock front door midbass, and upgraded rears and a 5-channel amp. Subwoofer and door midbass to be replaced when the money tree grows back..
Sort of funny when you start something and say "nah I won't do that" but you do eventually.
Installed a Hifonics Brutus Series BRX5000.5 5-channel amp over the weekend, and surprisingly the stock door "midbass" when put thru a low pass w/ a max freq of 150hz down to 70hz with a steep roll-off really punch nicely. that's on channels 3 and 4. Polk Momo 5.25" components with a passive crossover for the tweeters on 1 and 2, HPF down to 150 w/ a slow roll-off so the jump to the mid bass isn't so sudden.
This is just the front door so far.
Then out back, I have the OEM Shaker Pro subwoofer @ 30-100hz w/ a steep roll-off in testing, but won't be able to really test until I replace it. Distorts and clips so quickly that it just cuts off the amp entirely. In normal use it'll barely last a minute before sending the whole system into protection mode. So I currently have it disabled in the deck.
"rear" 5x7's which are Polk db571's are on the factory rear channel, and still run through the stock shaker amplifier, though they, as the sound stage is currently set, do little than just fill the back end. I'm limited on controlling it's EQ, so it's essentially on the stock Shaker front amp's EQ.
Deck is a Kenwood DNX-891HD which does pretty much everything, and I'm quite happy with it, along with the fine control over the sound I have.
Currently since the rear sub is out of commission, I have the door 8's cranking out the full 30hz-150hz range, and they actually handle it no problem at all with no distortion or clipping, and honestly for most people, if they weren't going for a full build like this, would be sufficient.
Going to be awesome when I get a new sub in back, will be using a ZenClosure w/ a single 12" DVC Dayton Sub running at @ 1ohm, and on a lower priority, I will eventually replace the door 8's with matching Dayton 8's, but with regards to those, I'm not in a rush since the OEM is actually impressing me when you have it run a much narrower range than stock.
Some good stuff to know:
If you at least have the Shaker system on a 13+ car, the front six speakers all go through a single amp in the same location as prior years.
Front doors do have factory component speakers, and until you properly amplify the system, they aren't that bad auditory wise on an aftermarket deck.
I'll include some pictures from when it was all torn apart.
never took pics of the finished amp mount, but it's in the otherwise empty spare tire well.
Last edited by TheDivaDanielle; 05-19-2014 at 08:46 PM.
10-14-2014, 04:06 PM
#98
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Texas
Posts: 1
Sub and Amp install
Not sure if anyone is still following this thread but I wanted to thank everyone for their posts. I am a complete novice and would not have tackled this project without the posts and pictures on here. I have a 2014 V6 with the shaker 500. I replaced the four 6x8 speakers prior to this project. I did my install just like everyone explained on these posts and everything works great. The 2014 wire colors for the front door subs are the same as the diagram for the 2011-2012 models. I used the front sub wires at the ford amp output and like TheDivaDanielle stated all of the speaker wires are connected here. I did not test this but it makes me wonder if all the speakers are amplified and I could have just tapped in to the rear speakers. I would have preferred to use the rear speaker wires if I had known for sure whether or not they are amplified and could have gotten the appropriate signal for my new amp and here is why. When you put the sub in the trunk and use the front sub wires to go to the amp then when you use the fader controls at the stereo deck the volume level of the sub is controlled with fader for the front subs, meaning as you move your fader to the front of the car your sub gets louder and as you move the fader to the rear the sub gets softer. It is a minor deal but I thought it was worth mentioning. This is a very doable project even for a novice like me with all of these great posts and pictures, thanks!!!
01-23-2015, 08:53 AM
#99
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3
In the process of installing an amp in my car now. I'm not certain that I understand precisely where you connected your ground. I assume you're talking about one of the two large unpainted bolts connecting the black child seat bar. Is that correct?
01-24-2015, 12:01 PM
#100
If I can remember it right, I believe it's a giant torx bolt
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