I am quite lost installing an amplifier in my 240z

[Wade]

- after i connected the power cable to the battery in the hood, how do i get it into the inside of the car? what hole do i use?

Unless you have something available, drill a small hole and use a grommet, can do this to the right of the battery and have the wire feed thru firewall and come in behind the heater blower, careful not to drill into heater blower. This is where you can run your inline fuse also.

- where will the power cable then enter into the inside of the car? by the glove compartment on the passenger side? or somewhere on the driver side?

Same as for the other power feed, another option is to just run a single larger gauge wire thru and install a fuse panel behind the heater blower where you can then route separate power feeds to the amp, head unit, ect. This would be cleaner than running multiple wires thru firewall.

- from there, where exactly do i go with the cable to get it to the amp behind the seat in a stealth way? through the middle console?

You can do that, I dont like it tho, I have pinched wires there before, not sure if the series 1 console sits tighter then the later ones but I just dont like cramming too many wires under there. Can just run it cleanly behind the radio, up over the steering column area, down into the corner where the antenna wire is running, then down the body under the vinyl. Or do the same thing but on passenger side, some people do not like running speaker wiring along the same route as the power feed, but in a system like your doing I do not see why you would have any issues.

- from the amp behind the seat, how can i get cables to the speaker panel in the back in a stealth way?

Can pop the dog leg off, run fish them thru the body around the pillar and out the back, the same routing that the original antenna uses. Or just keep them under the carpet if that suits ya.

- from the amp behind the seat, how can i get cables to the kicker panels?

Same thing really, dog leg then pull the vinyl up along drivers side. Or just down and under the vinyl, the antenna runs that way, body clips along that area to hold the wires down, glue vinyl back down and reinstall scuff plate. Some run wires under the center console but I dont like that idea, especially on the series 1 with different console, the wires may get pinched and short out. I would just take the drivers seat out, more room to work, and I do not think you even need to pull the scuff plate, you should be able to just pull the vinyl up far enough to get the wiring positioned correctly.

- how can i ensure the amp turns off when i turn off the car? what do i have to solder exactly? and where? i have no knowledge about electronics.

Blue (remote) wire needs to go to an ignition source, a power feed only active when key on. Different options available, if not running electric antenna maybe run it to the existing antenna power. If not running electric pump maybe run it to the electric fuel pump power feed which is found to the left of the head unit (black/white with green wire next to it, check on this cant remember exactly if thats the color scheme). Or tie it into the white/red at fuse box. But I do not see why you cant just use an existing power feed not in use and save yourself any altering of the existing wiring, the remote wire to amp does not draw much power at all and existing wiring should be fine.

I understand that you want to keep the stock radio in place, but I would agree with others that posted about your sound quality using just the ipod to the amp. I mean, your already tossing in amps and speaker panels and such, I do not see the harm in replacing the head unit as well and making the sound quality go up. That amp is way overkill. Headunits are much better nowadays, a decent head unit running to them speakers would be fine. There are plenty of head units that will fit into the existing slot with no alterations of the console. And you can revert back to putting the stock head unit back in at any time if you choose to go back. Guess what I mean is, you want original looks but you got other un-original items scattered thruout the car, just makes it more of a hassle I would think. But Im with ya if thats how you want to run it, how I listed everything should work out nice and be a clean look.

Jackbox's idea of installing the head unit directly into the speak box is another great idea to consider, looks very clean, very clean indeed.

Edited January 26, 2012 by Wade