Chevy Astro and GMC Safari Forum banner

a safe, convenient place to drill a hole in the firewall

1K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  JaxSPL 
#1 ·
I don't know if this has been covered, but since I located a good spot to run a wire or cable, here it is. Looking under the dash, I saw an area of the firewall right above the wire tray where there was no insulation (a round, half inch diameter area of bare metal), so I drilled a one-eighth inch hole in the center of it and pushed a wire through. It came out under the hood in a nice, roomy, bare area right behind the battery;
Here is the underhood shot with the battery out:



Here is the underdash shot with a #4 cable run through the enlarged hole (circled in red):



The cable was in a perfect spot to run right into the wire tray to the left of the driver's seat.

Here is the finished, fused install:



If this should be in another forum section, feel free to move it.
 
See less See more
3
#2 ·
You might want to put some zinc primer on that hole to keep it from rusting, then put a grommet in it, to keep it from wearing through the insulation on your cable. :2:
 
#3 ·
rev_les said:
You might want to put some zinc primer on that hole to keep it from rusting, then put a grommet in it, to keep it from wearing through the insulation on your cable. :2:
:goodpost:

But great job :)
 
#4 ·
yea you really really need to put a grommet of some kind in that hole. I've seen too many vehicles burn down due to lack of a simple grommet.

Now if I could get 4/0 run properly through that area, hehehe.
 
#5 ·
There is a grommet around the wire; I just didn't get a pic of it. Several pics I snapped were so bad that they weren't helpful at all, so I ditched'em. I even deburred the hole. I had tears in my eyes at the beautiousness of the job afterward. The only reason for the post here was to show the "area of free drilling", so to speak.
 
#6 ·
Good info and thanks for posting it. I should have said that in my earlier post instead of going off about the grommet. That's one of my pet peeves though.

"area for free drilling" = sure ain't the gulf of mexico.. Sorry, for some reason I couldn't resist that.

I think I am going to see just how big of wire can fit in that area. I'm getting tired of my cable running under the van. I have to keep fixing the mounting tabs and such so the cable doesn't fall down. Doing it this way would let me get the cable into the van and probably down by the step for the doors. hmmm.. Ideas a brewing again.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top