Installing power amp - uncovered a wiring nightmare...

[Paul Huryk]

I picked up an Alpine 4 channel amp to add a sub and more front speaker power in the GTA. I've done about 15 of these cars, so being a perfectionist is not such a hard thing to do.

But as I was under the driver's dash to run the power wire through the firewall, I found a mess of alarm spaghetti that is both scary and impressive at the same time - not to mention a whole bunch of additional dead wires under the hood.

The wire nest includes every sensor known to man (at least back in 1989) - shock, ignition kill, pager module (quite useful today), radar sensor, and even a glass sensor - probably $750 back then for the sucker.

When i bought the car, the previous owner mentioned that there was an alarm and it was non functional (he gave me the brain in a glad bag). Never had any problems with the car - everything electrical works well, no problems so far.

Question - should I spent the time to disconnect the sucker and reattach any cut OEM wiring back to stock, or should I leave it alone?

I'd hate to have electrical problems, although I'm sure the remaining attached components are energized and if they crap out, the car is going to give me problems.

[Rob WS6]

Get rid of it. My convertible was much the same way... was driving with a group of people one night, went over a bump and suddenly lost my dash and tail lights. No biggy, put a new fuse in and popped right away. Got it home and went to town the next day, was a total nightmare under the dash. Got it all out and back to factory and wouldn't ya know it, the problem went away. Did the same thing to my 98, though it wasn't nearly as bad. Get that crap out of there and you'll never have to worry about it again. And the car will lose like 10lbs! lol

Also, most times when they install alarms, they tap INTO the wiring, very seldom do they actually cut and splice the wires, at least in my experiences its always been like that. Returning to stock is surprisingly simple.

[deadtrend1]

Originally Posted by Rob WS6

Get rid of it. My convertible was much the same way... was driving with a group of people one night, went over a bump and suddenly lost my dash and tail lights. No biggy, put a new fuse in and popped right away. Got it home and went to town the next day, was a total nightmare under the dash. Got it all out and back to factory and wouldn't ya know it, the problem went away. Did the same thing to my 98, though it wasn't nearly as bad. Get that crap out of there and you'll never have to worry about it again. And the car will lose like 10lbs! lol
.......

It was impressive. Didn't it fire over faster when we were done?

[maroman88]

i've always removed any aftermarket alarms from any car i bought, no need for all that extra mess

[Paul Huryk]

Next week the alarm and all extra wiring associated with it are coming out. Car running after the surgery might be another story...

[Paul Huryk]

About 12lbs of wiring and sensors later, we are alarm free...

[WildBillyT]

Good lord.

[The_Bishop]

It's amazing, the amount of spaghetti wiring that's involved with most alarm installs.

[PolarBear]

Does the car run now? lol

[deadtrend1]

Looks about right. Under dash panels should fit now and not be squisshed against wiring

[Paul Huryk]

Originally Posted by deadtrend1

Looks about right. Under dash panels should fit now and not be squisshed against wiring

Hopefully!

Those poor screws holding the panel were hanging on for dear life...

[Paul Huryk]

Originally Posted by PolarBear

Does the car run now? lol

Going to fire it up tomorrow...

Don't jinx me!!!

[sweetbmxrider]

Throw it on ebay

[Paul Huryk]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

Throw it on ebay

I probably should.

The last owner also gave me another alarm brain and another pair of sensors, like I needed extra pieces to an alarm that probably hasn't worked since 1997.

Might be eBay gold!!!

[WildBillyT]

Think of the scrap value of all of that copper!

[Rob WS6]

Hah yeah, that looks all to familiar!