MrGlass

Has anyone ever moved the fuse box and BCM that's behind the driver's side kick panel? I'm ready to try it myself, but I'm wondering if anyone has already tried this and maybe has any advice? Maybe Bing (16psibrick)?

Here's why I'm asking the question:

I have 7" Peerless 830883 in the doors right now, tweeters up on the dash/a-pillar. I have purchased some B&C 8NDL51 drivers to replace the Peerless. The B&C have a big sensitivity advantage over most car audio drivers out there, and I think they'll provide me with the volume and impact that I'm interested in. Plus, they model well in small boxes.

So... my thought is to put the 8NDLs in small fiberglassed sealed boxes in the kicks. Things look good on the passenger side; you can kinda stick them back into the fender.

MrGlass

However, the driver's side is more complicated. As I'm sure many of you know, the fuse box (and the BCM) is behind the driver's side kick panel. If these things weren't in the way, it would be much easier.

KPierson

iTrader: (1)

I've never heard of it done, but they are only wires. You may want to consider buying a new harness for the BCM and splicing it in to the old harness to make all the wires long enough and to maintain OEM wire colors for troubleshooting.

revvenue

Do an install with build pics man! Looks interesting I'm curious now!

THEDUKE

iTrader: (24)

Contact Bing, he has build quite a few kickpanels for the Z's and I believe he never has to relocate the fuse box or BCM.

16psibrick

iTrader: (10)

i have seen this done on a few occassions. if you have the patience and the wiring skill, it isnt extremely difficult. just very time consuming.

you have to move all the modules to somewhere further away, such as dash area. extending any wires along the way. the main wiring bundle you may be able to get away with leaving.

then cut the outter metal whcih gives you a nice cavity, you may also want to cut a vent to the outside and do AP membrane at the same time.

then what i have seen done basically is an enclosure glass into that area, attached as a permenant part of the car, and then an outter grille, using part of the stock kick panel, to go over it.

its a lot of work. and i dont do it because of possible issues and liability, i mean if something is faulty with the car's electrical, imagine going to the dealership and they see that... i also dont like to do anyhting permenant to cars that you have to cut out with a cutoffwheel if you ever want to remove it

but it certain is doable.

Paul350Z

iTrader: (1)

That's a crazy amount of labor and risk for speakers and too much for anything but a show car in my humble opinion. I'd much rather see you using door pods. Some cars have room down there or on either side of the console (or both) for 4-5.5" speakers but the Z isn't one of them.

MrGlass

Thanks for the input from everyone, both for and against. I went ahead and did it (back in July; I'm just getting around to posting it now). The car has been running perfect since doing it, no problems. Here's how I went about it:

Under the floor mat, there's a cavity that's filled with styrofoam. I figured this would be a perfect place to relocate the fuse box. As you can see everything appears to fit tine.

MrGlass

For your reference, here's the styrofoam piece out of the car, with the dead-pedal as size reference. After putting the BCM and fuse box in this cavity, there's still room for other things, if you wanted...

MrGlass

Time to start cutting.

(I would highly suggest labeling each wiring bundle before continuing. You can see some of my labels here. One thing I didn't anticipate: two wires with the exact same color & stripe, on the same harness. Please watch out for this and label appropriately. Once I re-wired everything, it didn't seem to matter which way I wired it, so maybe it doesn't matter...)

Oh. My. God. What have I done?

No turning back now.

MrGlass

Here's a couple of shots of the extensions, during soldering. I shrink-wrapped each solder joint. Unfortunately, I only have shots of the soldering I did at my workbench. For every solder joint at my workbench, I had to make a corresponding solder joint in-place, while contorted sideways in the footwell.