DIY - Routing Cable Through Door Boot

[AtlasMick]

You need these things:

Large Screwdriver
Medium Screwdriver
Needle nose pliers (angled ones help a lot, both in picture)
Something to cut through rubber boot
Flashlight
Metal Hanger
Electric Tape
Lubricant of some sort, I stole my gf's lotion
Something to chill you the FUCK OUT, this can get very frustrating



Take the hanger and bend the whole thing straight. You'll be able to use the hanger for a number of things around the garage, including attaching a magnet to the end and picking up loose nuts/bolts hiding in the engine bay or holding things out of the way.

Next take the twisted end and cut the two strands to equal length. Finally bend both ends down into each other so that while you are fishing it through you wont catch and tear any wires.


Might look something like this... mine broke at the end because this is actually the one I use all the time, if yours breaks tape up the ends so it doesn't scratch up your paint.


1. Take your kick panel cover off. (You'll find pictures about halfway down this page)http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32452
2. Take your door card off. http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12520
3. Remove the door speaker.

Should look like this now. Notice the boot we intend to go through just to the left of the camera flash reflection.


4. Remove the door weather guard, that is attached to the door by starting at the top where it meets the window. Pluck out the small round plug you see next to my finger in this picture. Then there are small white and pink taps that you will pull slightly to the RIGHT /UP and then to the LEFT to remove it.


5. Disconnect the connectors coming through the door. There are (3). Two white and one yellow. The white ones are simple and a simple flat head screw drive will get them. The yellow one only requires your finger as it uses a SLIDING latch to pull it off.


6. The white piece within the wall of the car now needs to be removed. You will use a flat head screwdriver to wedge the bottom clip out first, then the top one. Push the wires out of the car through the piece and then start pulling the white slider out of the hole into the car. It is attached to connectors that are more trouble to remove then they are worth so just fight it a bit and get it out of there to have a clear view to the outside of the car.

7. Using the flat head screwdriver push the 3 tabs of the body boot so that the white piece will come out of the car with the rubber boot.

8. Remove the top rubber boot from the door, it just pulls out without issue.

9. Fish your wire first through the white piece removed in step 6. Then through the wall of the body out through the boot hole. It should look like this. Notice in the left of the picture the wire is through the white piece, if you forget this part you will be very upset with yourself, and you will likely need many more of these or end up beating the family cat.

10. Take two sets of pliers and grab the bent down ends with one and twist the hanger a couple more turns to look like this.

11. Insert the wire into the hanger and continue twisting until its REALLY not coming out of the hanger.

12. Pull the boot out so that you have a full straight boot to fish through, none of that angled funny business.

13. Lube up about 4-6" of wire and coat hanger and push it from the bottom up through the top of the boot. On these cars the boot coming out of the door is one peice all the way through to the car. The top part of the boot that wedges into the car door only goes about halfway down and just keeps the weather from getting into the door or the boot from getting cut on the metal as you open and close the door.

14. As you get to the top as the boot begins to turn you will see the hanger bulging through. Maintain pressure and make a slit with your knife so that it is now poking through.

15. Continue pushing the hanger through and when you have enough grab the top and PULL the rest of the way. Should look like this now. Gongrats, thats the most difficult part.

16. Re-install the top boot after putting the wires into the door.
17. Ensure the bottom boot is fully engaged around the white plastic piece and then return it to the car interior after putting the wires all the way in.

18. Pull the wires back through the white retainer as you put it back into the wall of the car and plug the connections back in.

19. Re-install the door weather strip starting from the bottom. It will be difficult as you'll need to put one side on and then put pressure on the opposite side to get the second side on. After you finish that you're all done!