So, I had some free time today and got sick of staring at my TomTom and Phone charger wires so I decided to make some custom passthroughs into the dash for cables and retract them when I wasn't using them. Here is the result. The cables you see there are a micro-USB and the TomTom traffic receiver USB cable. I added velcro to the ends to prevent the cables from falling back through but allowing them to almost be hidden when not in use. I basically added a 12V outlet by the OBDII port under the steering wheel column and added an add-a-fuse to the cigarette outlet fuse (15AMP) to power it. Works great!
Absolutely. In fact, i'll be adding cable recoilers inside soon. I used a dremel to make a rectangle opening, sanded the cut, then added a rubber grommet to finish the cut. I'd say I probably have about 1ft of cable pull still. It's all zip-tied in a conduit going from the steering wheel fusebox,
this is what I was just thinking about on my drive back to work on my lunch hour... I'm planning on doing something similar, except perhaps in a different location, if I hit any snags, may I PM you for any words of wisdom?
Sure thing. If you go the route of drilling, just make sure you have a rubber grommet that you can use to dress it up when its done.
I went through the main rubber grommet in the firewall. I taped a sharp knife to a stick and made a slit in the rubber. I taped the wire to a wooden dowel, with a Bic pen cap over the end to give it a bullet shape. I sprayed the rubber with WD-40, and I forced through. I reached under the dash, found it and pulled it off the stick.. The cable recoilers which are common in patch-cords nowadays are easily modified so that they don't lock. Take the label off and the screw out carefully, and pry it apart, careful not to uncoil the spring. Remove the small plastic piece that engages the cogs and put it back together.
