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Subject: How to run wires cleanly between door and footwell. Author: eaglecomm : member since March, 2006 : 4077 posts Posted on: 2006-05-04 13:07:01

So I searched for a while and couldn't find any instructions on how to get my wiring for my mirror blinkers to go from the door to the footwell (or to the front fender for the side marker wires) without showing any of the wires when I open the door (from inside or outside). So these steps are my attempt to give back to the forum where so many of you have made my day (and nights until 4am) easier. Here is how I did it and pics to go with it. I would also like to thank and reference //Aleki because his post
'How to Install Mirror Indicators' saved me a ton of time.

Fun tip: My tool of choice for the wire fishing was a 16 or 18 gauge wire with the rubber casing shaved away. I left between 8 inches to 16 inches of open wire available depending on the step I was at. This wire was used for the WHOLE process and besides my regular tools that were made to certain jobs.. this was a lifesaver. A coathanger may have done well in some instances but I found the thin wire with the strength of the gauge to be perfect.

So here goes. What I will start with here begins from where the wires are 'ready' to be passed through the door. This assumes you have taken off the inside door panel as well as you have taken off the footwell kickplate (plastic lining above the pedals).
Inside the hinge of the door, you will notice the rubber wire caddy going from the door to a 'boot' type rectangular object lodged on the frame. There is a bolt that needs to be removed, I believe it was an 8mm and then the whole boot housing can slide out about an inch. Granted you don't have a lot of room to work here. This is a connector FIG.1 as shown below and you need to slide the top UP to release the connectors and then slowly move the boot that is still attached to the door out of your way. Understanding that neither of these 2 items will go far.. a few inches at most.
I then ran a wire from the connector end through the boot (outside the connector) and into the door. Pulled back a very minimal amount of black sticky rubber and grabbed the wire with needlenose pliers in the circle available when you pull back some of the rubber. This is shown in FIG.2. Next I had to figure out how to get the wiring through the other side (the hardest part). The next 3 photos FIG.3, FIG.4, and FIG.5 are my attempts to get the wire through the hole in the doorway. Somehow my camera squeezed in between the door and I could take a couple of photos of what is inside there. There was no way I was taking off the door at midnight. :-) In FIG.5 you can see my wire trying to poke through the only hole I thought I could get through. The reason I am telling you all this is so that you don't try it. It was futile. I spent about 2.5 hours trying to do just this part. I had looked at the inside of the car to see if there was a way to go in from there and had no luck.
Then I caught a break. It turns out that hole you see in FIG.5 where the large black wiring is snaking through and the hole that I was trying to get my 18Gauge wire through was actually AVAILABLE from inside the car. I just got so tired of snaking it through from the outside that I spent 10 minutes searching around with my hands to find the hole. I actually found it when I saw the little bit of wiring that you see in FIG.5 on the inside and the holes seemed to match the approximate area. BINGO. I grabbed a small philips head screw driver (FIG.6) and slowly pushed my way through this hole and found that it was the same hole. YEAH! So I fished the wiring through and was able to get the wire through the opening in the door pretty easily as seen in FIG.7. Next was to snake the wire through the connector so that there was nothing showing when I put everything back together. The way I did it was to put the wiring through the very top of the connector. Basically when you slide the connector piece up in the very beginning to allow the connector to separate, it leaves a large gap (that is obviously closed when you reseat the connector), but is not tight enough to do any real damage to a thin wire. Now if you have a larger wire like a thick speaker wire or something else, you will just have to judge the safety of the wire and how you run it through the connector. The pic of it running through the connector is in FIG.8. Last but not least is to reseat the connector and put the housing back in the hole in the door as seen in FIG.9. As I said earlier, getting the connector out.. and now in.. was a slow and tedious task. But you can do it.

Now I have the wire in the door and in the footwell. The last part for me was the fact that all this was for mirror indicators (which look great by the way) :-) and I have the wire in the footwell, but not in the quarter panel where the side marker indicators are. Now someone who has more knowledge than I might have found some wiring inside the car under the dash that would send the proper signal.. but not I. :-)

So I pushed the wiring through one of the few rubber grommet wire tunnels (FIG.10) that I saw and ran the wiring up the side to the edge of the fender. Then there is small gap between the engine body area and the lining of the quarter panel that is just big enough for my wiring. (I had to add additional by the way that you can see as the white wiring. All this will be taped up black so it is not as noticeable when I make a run to the auto shop. I spent awhile trying to figure out an alternate way, but this was the method I chose as seen in FIG.11 and FIG.12.

And now for the pictures.


FIG.1 : The connector after removing the boot. Notice the release pulled up at the top.



FIG.2: Wiring through the rubber housing. Notice the round hole in the metal behind the rubber matting.


FIG.3: Pic of inside the small area in the frame. See the small hole and the yellow padding.


FIG.4: Me trying to poke around blindly for the hole the larger black wires were going through.


FIG.5: I found the hole with the wire, but could get it to go through.


FIG.6: I have the screwdriver through the inside footwell area to make sure I can get through. I found the hole it is in with my fingers after pulling away some wiring and other stuff. IT IS THERE I promise you. :-)


FIG.7: EUREKA. The wire is through piggypacked with some tape.


FIG.8: Fishing the wire through the top of the connector.


FIG.9: Last picture before reseating the connector to the metal using the bolt removed earlier.


FIG.10: Getting the wire from the footwell to the engine compartment through the rubber wire tunnel.


FIG.11: The wiring coming up from the rubber tunnel and the spot I found to fish the wiring in to the fender area.


FIG.12: A closer shot of the wiring going through the fender area.

And that is all folks. I hope I have helped at least a couple of you as much as you guys have all helped me in the past 2 months since I bought my 7! Thanks and good luck.

2000 740iL Black on black.
MKIII with 16:9 widescreen, Angel Eyes, Mirror Blinkers and a bueatiful wife to sit inside!
Next mods coming later this week: Clear signals all around with Silvervision bulbs.

• How to run wires cleanly between door and footwell. (pic) (url) - eaglecomm 2006-05-04 13:07:01 (7064 views)
  • Nice writeup. It's been added to e38.org (nt) - DavidC 2006-05-05 13:11:33 (343 views)
    • Glad to give back for once! 8-) (nt) - eaglecomm 2006-05-05 14:25:10 (358 views)
  • Good job on the install and post with pics - cleanride740il 2006-05-04 22:18:56 (326 views)
    • eaglecomm take a look at the crome mirror covers on a Alpine white E38 (pic) - cleanride740il 2006-05-05 13:05:14 (629 views)
      • Re: eaglecomm take a look at the crome mirror covers on a Alpine white E38 - eaglecomm 2006-05-05 14:24:22 (384 views)
        • Thanks for the kind words (pic) - cleanride740il 2006-05-05 14:35:48 (529 views)
    • Re: Good job on the install and post with pics - eaglecomm 2006-05-05 08:07:44 (348 views)
      • Oh.. and thanks! (nt) - eaglecomm 2006-05-05 08:08:05 (335 views)
  • How to run wires cleanly between door and footwell. (Embedded pics) (pic) - eaglecomm 2006-05-04 13:12:02 (835 views)
    • I did this for my side mirror covers. See link from my signature (nt) - zigor911 2006-05-04 13:46:48 (429 views)
      • Re: I did this for my side mirror covers. See link from my signature - eaglecomm 2006-05-05 08:10:31 (362 views)
    • Re: How to run wires cleanly between door and footwell. (Embedded pics) - eaglecomm 2006-05-04 13:28:21 (460 views)