A Variety of BMW E34 Questions

[Gabe]

Where are the door sensors located on each door?

What is the best way to route a power cable from the engine bay through the firewall to the rear of the vehicle?

When looking under the hood, what is to the bottom right of the air filter (another large tube) that hangs lower and close to the engine, right above the alternator.

More complex issue:
Where does the factory amplifier come into play with the factory speakers? I have the BMW wiring harness for installing my aftermarket headunit. It has all the speaker leads accessible also. I figured I can run the rear speaker cables directly to the amp considering the short length. With the front speakers, however, I am not sure how to wire them up to my aftermarket amplifier... I purchased components for the front, 5 1/4s in the door, and the tweeters I put in the dash (not the pillars) How do they wire together? Also I have a short segment of cable which needs the resistors for the tweeters, I assume I will just install those through the top of the dash. If I connect speaker cables to the harness adapter, will the amplifier still kick in? Is it smarter to get the connector off the factory amp and get the front speaker outputs from there?

Any other tips and tricks on getting the RCA and power cables across the length of the car as efficiently as possible?

Having fun working with this car;

Thanks

[borderchris]

The other tube is your alternator cooling pipe, and as far as routing a wire, the easiest is through the main grommet / seal that carries the accelerator cable- just be sure to re-seat the grommet properly. If you straighten out a metal hanger, tape the end of your wire lead to it and feed it through.

Not sure on the door switches....


Chris

[DaveVoorhis]

When looking under the hood, what is to the bottom right of the air filter (another large tube) that hangs lower and close to the engine, right above the alternator.

Do you mean the tube that connects to the back of the alternator? It's the alternator cooling tube.

[stargazer_61]

Gabe - Fill out your profile. Forum members need to know the year and model of your E34 to better answer questions.

[Paul in NZ]

the door "sensors" (switches?) are located on the latches,a little switch pad about the size of a match head

[shanek]

I'm going to presume you have an early 525I same as me. There is power under the rear seat so you don't need to go through the firewall.

[Gabe]

I'm going to presume you have an early 525I same as me. There is power under the rear seat so you don't need to go through the firewall.

Does that apply for the M50 engine? Is this connection adequate to power ~600 watts?

[Gabe]

Gabe - Fill out your profile. Forum members need to know the year and model of your E34 to better answer questions.

Thank you for the 411, did I do it right?

[shanek]

I think all e34s are wired for a battery under the rear seat. I presumed thats why the power connection was there in mine. You should be able to hook up any amp you want.

[Gabe]

I think all e34s are wired for a battery under the rear seat. I presumed thats why the power connection was there in mine. You should be able to hook up any amp you want.

Ugh, I just found it, after running a power cable the whole length of the car

In essence though, with a stronger alternator, I'd be able to have two batteries?