So I have now searched until my head hurts.....

I have read about why the molex plug in a 2008 (same as 04-08) Ford F150 was in some trucks and not others. I have read about how to CAREFULLY drill out the blanks slots in the molex plug to gain entrance to your doors for the purposes of wiring your new aftermarket speakers.

Call me lazy, call me crazy, call me anything you want, but I want to simply drill a new pathway for my speaker wires. I have three sets of speaker wires (using Stinger SHW514BC HPM 14 Ga Twisted Blue) for EACH door. I am kind of doubting that I will be able to drill out that much of the molex.

So I am creating this thread to ask if any F150 owners in this model, have performed this task and if you have any advice, tips and possibly photos?

It may not seem new thread worthy to post this, since some may say...aww shucks just drilled the damn holes. But I am a newbie and you really dont want to see me with a drill on a new $40k pickup!

I am a belts AND suspenders kind of guy and I appreciate your insight.

Thank you ahead of time.

 

I am dealing with the same issue on my 05. I am also considering to bypass the molex and drill my own holes. At which point I would get 2 "x" diameter grommets to seal both holes made. I am mainly trying to decide what type of wire looming or protection to use there. But odds are I am going to go this route and just try to keep it as clean as possible.

 

I have a build tread going on over at the DIYMA forum if you are interested.

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/...w-install.html

 

Wow that thread is a ton of help. I was wondering about how much 1/0 did you use to get the power to the d block? I am running mine soon and would like to know how much I need to buy. And what type of clamp are you going to use to hold the wires to your mounting board? You said that the zip ties were only temp, which I am much the same in my installing as you are. I would rather have it clean, and secure no matter how many times I have to start over or how long it takes.

And a side note I would trade ya my rear defroster window for your power slider with the motor. That would free up a ton of space for ya worth a shot. But seriously great install thread. I am doing similar except I am doing fiberglass work as well. I am halfway through my speaker pods and getting ready to start the sub box. I am subscribing as well

 

Would love to see the fiberglass pods. Make four and I wlll pay for em!

I purchased 17 feet of 1/0 both power and ground.

I am using these clamps:



I choose to get one bag of 50 of each of the following: 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2"

They are cheap....the whites ones are like 2 dollars for 10 at Lowes....this is 3 dollars for 50!

 

I used adhesive mounts and zip ties from partsexpress to hold wires to my mounting boards. Super cheap and easy to use.

 

If you look at my build thread you will see the adhesive mounts and zip ties are what I used to my final mock up. But for some reason my screws keep slipping through the center of the mount and they keep falling off. It is a problem with my screw not the mount. They also allow more slump in the wire than I like and of course that can be fixed with more mounts.

So I have a choice of mounts and I have not really decided. The zip tie way allows more wires to be secured at any one spot. The clamps discussed above, if I am guessing correctly, are pretty much one (4 ga.) wiere per clamp. So it may get busy looking on the amp board.

I forgot....I did not pot pics from yesterday just yet...so you would not be able to actually see the adhesive mounts yet. Oopps!

 

Start high for the hole in the truck, then drill lower into the door for the other.

What kind of DP's are you looking for. I need a job to re-remember how to do it. (havent played with glass in 6-8months.)

 

I am using the gray panels out of the truck and building the pods off them. I am sealing them and they will have approx. .25^3 ft as per recommendation of Diamond Audio for my hex s600 components.
They are not bad at all and if you are capable of doing everything that you have done in your dyi thread then you can handle making them. If you go to fiberglassforums and check them out you will see just how easy it is. That place has tons of info on how to do anything with fiberglass and then they have lots of examples of great vehicles they have done. There is one really impressive F150 there. I would post a link but you have to be a member to view it.

Here is the gray panel I used:



Here is the general idea of mine (even though the only thing that is the same is we used the same location )




And here is Jason Ellis's Truck complete:



I know it doesn't show much but it is a sweet build thread. Not my style but still cool it was feature in a couple magazines.

 

Arc:
How are the rear vents treating ya? I know you put in that little air vent after sealing them to get rid of the whistle. Did it solve the issue, I am considering doing this but I do not want to do it if I am going to have an annoying whistle. Thanks

 

Wow those door pods are cool. I am going to install my speakers in the factory locations and then in the summer explored other options. I really want a three way front stage, but finding real estate in the doors is hard!

The small vent did nothing to stop the whistle. In fact I found out that the truck requires minimum 25 square inches of vented area. The OEm vents are about 30 square inches. So you are best to leave them. I ruined my vents....they are impossible to remove without breaking. So I am going to open them back up and then form a custom made "funnell/tunnel" thina majig to allow air in but discourage sound transmission.

The whistling is pretty bad when the fan is on....whew!

 

Lnk? im a member and would like to check it out. I never really post over there but lurk around for whatever info i need for my project at the moment.

 

Mission Accomplished.

Tonight I drilled a new hole for the new speaker wires. Some of you say that the molex can be drilled....pins replaced etc. Many solutions. But I have six wires that need to make their way into that door jamb. So I am not sure if that is possible, especially when pushing 75 watts to the tweeters, 75 watts to the midrange and 210 watts to the midbass, using 14 ga. wire. I just dont trust that kind of power to the factory wiring.

I took photos of tonight effort, the cuts into the truck, the grommets...etc. To be honest, it was not that tough. The hardest effort was to carefully study the correct path. After looking at it for a while, it came to me pretty easily where my chosen path would be located.

If looking at the drivers side molex my path exited the cab to the lower right hand side of the molex on a flat portion of the metal. My hole was 1/2" in diameter. My path entrered the drivers side door, by utilizing the ample room in the existing rubber boot (which connects to the molex). The wiring located in this boot from the molex is bundled and is about 1" in diameter total. The rubber gasket/boot is oblong in shape and there is more than enough room either above or below this 1" diameter bundle to enter through the gasket and into the door. No drilling of the door was required.

Sorry there is no pics to show my work. I took several but my USB transfer cable is at work.

I will post this in my install thread ( http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/...w-install.html )

 

Here is that link its a little long but if your building an f150 it has some good ideas. I am more into lifted trucks but the guy does a nice install:

http://www.fiberglassforums.com/show...ht=jason+ellis

 

That is good to know thanks a ton I was all gung ho about ripping those things out.

Sounds like your door wiring is the route I am going to take. I am on the way over to DYI to check out the thread to see but I am definitely going that route. And Finding room in the door for three ways would not be to bad if you did some glass work and just made you own location. I swear if I can do it you definitely can do glass work. It may seem scary at first but there is nothing to it.


Here is what my door pods are going to look like:


That is the drivers side one and I am still in the process of sanding it but you get the idea. Sorry for the crummy pic quality but it was late and all I had was my cell with me to take the picture.