Running wire through car roof liner question

[movi3king]

Hey guys was just wondering if anyone had any tips on how to run wiring for a smart siren or any light through a car fabric roof liner. Just want to ask the question before I venture off to figure it out myself.


Tips are always a good thing!

 

[Alboy29]

Hey guys was just wondering if anyone had any tips on how to run wiring for a smart siren or any light through a car fabric roof liner. Just want to ask the question before I venture off to figure it out myself.

Tips are always a good thing!

Well try to find any factory wiring, and piggy back off of that..steer clear of any place you may plan to drill in the future, and its pretty straight forward.


Generally, along any Pillar or part of the Frame that you cna place the wire behind a panel, and then up into the headliner..


What kind of wire do you mean by Smart siren? The control head wire? or Power/Ground for Lights mounted inside a vehicle?

 

[movi3king]

Well try to find any factory wiring, and piggy back off of that..steer clear of any place you may plan to drill in the future, and its pretty straight forward.

Generally, along any Pillar or part of the Frame that you cna place the wire behind a panel, and then up into the headliner..


What kind of wire do you mean by Smart siren? The control head wire? or Power/Ground for Lights mounted inside a vehicle?

Thanks for that.


Well the power and ground would have to get to the trunk. Figuring to do that through the frame foot panels.


And headliner would need to be for control head. Customer would probably want it mounted center front roof between seats...

 

[HILO]

Take your time. Disconnect the battery if you have post air bags. Remove sun visors, overhead consoles and lights, and all post trim (which involves removing B post seat belt anchors), and try not to bend the headliner. If I do not have a helper, I've used pillows (cheap dollar store ones) as braces when dropping the head liner.

 

[movi3king]

Take your time. Disconnect the battery if you have post air bags. Remove sun visors, overhead consoles and lights, and all post trim (which involves removing B post seat belt anchors), and try not to bend the headliner. If I do not have a helper, I've used pillows (cheap dollar store ones) as braces when dropping the head liner.

Thank u! So your saying that the entire headliner literally drops down upon removing all trim etc?

 

[mike001]

Thanks for that.
Well the power and ground would have to get to the trunk. Figuring to do that through the frame foot panels.


And headliner would need to be for control head. Customer would probably want it mounted center front roof between seats...

How would you mount the control head to the headliner?

 

[movi3king]

How would you mount the control head to the headliner?

Velcro or custom bracket.

 

[firefighter112]

I ran all the wires for my system (no siren) thru the headliner. Like it was said, remove A,B, and in my case C pillar covers, visors, and any clips holding it up (I had two front and two back) that also needed to be removed. For easier working area remove carefully from the vehicle. Mine was easy to get thru the passenger door after moving the passenger seat back and reclining it. I used wire ties to piggyback off the existing wiring loom for the map lights then came down the C pillar.

 

[tvsjr]

The headliner is not meant to support any sort of load. It's just a decorative piece. At the least, over time, the headliner will sag/buckle where you have the control head attached. At worst, it will become a projectile in a crash situation. Not to mention it would totally suck trying to operate that thing overhead, unless you either wire up the horn ring for tone change or are one of those set-it-to-wail-and-forget-it guys.


If you insist on doing this, look at one of the overhead shelves that mounts where the sunvisors go. Otherwise, you need to find some way to mount the head to a hardpoint.

 

[Jamey@NNE]

We've done plenty on undercovers. Chargers work great and trucks too most of the time. We recess the control head into the headliner and put a backing plate to clamp it in.

 

[Alboy29]

In regards to mounting the Control head, a Good idea is to use the Sunglasses compartment that many cars have. Some can fit a control head, while others you can at least fabricate, or buy an L bracket, or any bracket to mount one end to the control head and the other end to the screws holding in the sunglass holder..


Lets see pics when you get rolling!


Good Luck!

 

[firefighter112]

I thought the OP was just wanting to run the wires, not mount the entire head!

 

[EMT-BLS]

I thought the OP was just wanting to run the wires, not mount the entire head!

I'm assuming his goal is to set up the control head for the SS to be on the ceiling, and have the cable for it run under the headliner. It's a common setup, or at least it is here.