07 Full audio system install (updated as I have time)

[xxfrozen]

Ok I need to give major credit do xtv-sidecar's DIY. Thanx man it helped me a TON. I have a few things to contribute. Today was DAY 1 of my install project on my 2007 civic.

Here are the parts I ordered.

Crutchfield Part List
Honda Civic 06-Up Amplifier Bypass for Premium Sound (Item # 120701727)
Honda Antenna Adapter Motorola Male to OEM Female (Item # 12040HD10)
PAC SWI-X Steering Wheel Radio Control Interface (Item # 127SWIX)

In addition to the amp bypass you'll also need a radio wiring harness if you don't want to tap into your factory harness. Do a search for Scosche HA10B or a Metra 1722. I'm using the scosche in my install.

Honda Part List
Center Panel Gray (Part # 77250-SNA-A01ZA)/Center Panel Tan (Part # 77250-SNA-A01ZB)
Passenger Side Radio Bracket (Part # 77255-SNA-A00)
Driver Side Radio Bracket (Part #77256-SNA-A00)
DIN Pocket (Part # 08B60-SCV-100)

First a stock photo of the HU.


First off disconnect the negative connector on the battery. (10mm socket)


Then start at the bottom left corner of the steering column panel and pry towards you, (move the steering column panel as far up and out as you can). Once you get the first clip off off your set the rest.




This is the back of the under steering wheel column panel.

Using a flat head screwdriver pop out the panel under the stock radio near the shifter.



Ok the next part is a PAIN IN THE ASS!!!!!!!!. At first I used a philips screwdriver but then I realized using a 9mm socket worked better. There are 2 screws at the top of the front console pocket hole. You have to get on your hands and knees and manuever you head so you can see what I'm talking about. There are 2 screws use a socket don't use a screwdriver as mine were really hard to get out and you don't have a lot of room to work with.

Underneath the steering column there is another screw take that out as well. Now your ready to take the drivers side dash off. Again start from the bottom left once you pop the first clip your set for the rest. Don't pull it, give quick shark pulls till each clip gives way.
Make sure you disconnect the side mirror harnesses.

Now your ready to pull off the audio console. Same thing start bottom left and work your way up and around. You'll end up disconnecting 5 harnesses I believe, 3 of which are in the radio itself. Tuck these 2 wires away for later.


Now put your 2 audio consoles side by side and remake the new console with the old parts.
The vent will be the LAST thing you put on because you need to have access to the screws for your new radio bracket. Be carefull taking the lightrings off. I used a flat head screwdriver. First put in the AC/Heating component.

But be gentle, turn your rings as far to the left as you can so it will be easy to allign to the other console.


This is the full assembled audio console - the aftermarket radio.


Put your radio in with your new brackets and your DIN.


This is my Alpine IVA-D100 DVD player in the new audio console.


Now we need to find the factory amp and unplug the damn thing. It's located right under center console below the dash pocket.

I'm sure it's the same basic removal instructions for a stick, start by prying the area around the shift up and out which will release the center console. Since your battery is disconnected there is a small tab that if you press it in with a key or w/e it will let you shift down or move the shifter out of the way. I'll take pics of this tomorrow for everyone.

You can see your factory amp disconnect the larger harness on the right. Leave this unplugged.



Now since I plan on putting a sub in the trunk I need to get a power wire from the battery to the trunk. I looked for a long time to find the best position to drill through the fire wall. Pull up the carpet on the passenger side. Near the center console you will see a hollow pipe looking thing (not sure what this does but you can pull it off it goes back in easily by squeezing the sides and shoving it back through the hole it goes to the outside of the car) right next to this piece of piping drill a hole straight through the first piece of metal and then through the fire wall. I had to go to home depot and get a 1/2 gauge titanium bit and it went through very easily (price was $14.95 on the bit)


Solder your wires for your speakers. Or cap them w/e you choose.


Pull the very back of the center console off, should come off easily if you removed the 2 screws on the inside where the CD holder is. This will allow easy access to the carpeting.


Fish the power wire under the carpet.


Now pull up the back seat, there are 2 clips on on either side of the seat locking it into place. A good tug will release the clips. They're metal so don't worry you won't break them. Fish the wire under the seat.


After fishing the power past the back seat, lower you're back seat using the trunk seat release. Finally pull the wire through to the trunk.


Remove the trunk latch panel and take out the carpet panel covering the spare tire.

You will see a nice set of grounded wires perfect for you subwoofer or w/e use you have to ground your other wire.


It's a 10mm socket to remove the bolt.


Run your ground wire to where your amp will be I ran mine along the sides of behind the carpetting




Connect your amp and box and get that thing in the trunk and make your appropriate connections.


Use a votage meter to test your harness some Scosche HA10B have their power and grounds backwards. Be careful the wires.

Connect up your radio using your manufacturer instructions.


Make sure it works...

Now it's time to hide the mess of wires all over your car.


I hid everything under the the factory amp. It requires some kama sutra skills and some patience but don't half ass it. This step is really the most important of all as people will notice lol.

Put your dash back together and marvel at your job well done.







I have to take a break, I'm tired and it's easter and I'm missing some screws, damn cat -.-.

When it warms up I'll do the PAC programming for video bypass and steering wheel controlls :).

EDITS
4-1-07 Added Part List.
4-1-07 Day 2 sub woofer set up.
4-8-07 HU installed.

[mhuynh]

What radio harness are you using? It looks like you're using 4ga wire. You'll probably want to run that down the center console since the door sill hardly have any room for anything.

[xxfrozen]

I'm using a factory bypass on the amp, no radio harness. I haven't connected it yet but I assume it's just rerouting the speaker wires directly to the head unit itself totally avoiding the stock radio harness. I'll be updating again today. Soon as my camera batteries charge =P.

I have the part list at the top now.

Yea the 4ga wire is running under the center console, going to figure out how to run it under the carpet then pull the back seat out and run the wire through the trunk to the distribution block.

[mhuynh]

How are you not using a radio harness? How are you going to get the radio's power, ground, remote, etc...?

[xxfrozen]

Power from battery, ground to the body of the car, atm I was trying to tap into the power window fuse for the remote turn on. But honda has some wierd fuses I can't get the wire into so looks like i'm going to tap into the radio harness for that, just need to find a 07 diagram for it. I just tested the system and it works if i connect the remote right to the battery. But I need the radio to turn on with the car. Frustrated at the moment, if anyone has a diagram or can suggest anything on what to connect the remote to let me know asap ><. Running my final connections now.

[mhuynh]

Why not just buy the radio harness? Scosche HA10B or Metra 70-1722
They're not much and would make the wiring alot easier.

[xxfrozen]

Well from what I read about others hooking a system up, the factory amp needs to be bypassed so I just assumed thats all I needed. I'll probably wait a few days for that Scosche HA10B to come in, I guess I still will need to use the factory bypass but I wont have to tap into any wires.

Thanks for the info.

[mhuynh]

I bypass the amps by not touching them. I left them alone to start with.

[xxfrozen]

And you dont get noise coming from your speakers? I've read that a ton of people after installing an aftermarket HU get noise from the factory speakers. Hence why the bypass. I don't even plan on keeping the factory speakers. I plan on ripping out the whole crappy system and getting my own speakers in. This is just a temporary set up.

[mhuynh]

I guess I forgot to mention I put in a component setup in the front powered by a jl 300/2 amp. I just ran new wiring for everything.

[chylld]

absolutely brilliant write-up so far! well done, great pictures... i like how you took only the back off the centre console, rather than taking the whole thing out (which is a bit of an acrobatic manouevre if the front seats are still in place)

+1 rep!

[xxfrozen]

Originally Posted by mhuynh

I guess I forgot to mention I put in a component setup in the front powered by a jl 300/2 amp. I just ran new wiring for everything.

Eventually my set up will be:

HU : Alpine IVA-D100 (with PAC video bypass)
Steering wheel controls (PAC-x remote)
Subs = MTX 2x12" (I think I have the 5000's I dont remember they were from my last car) + I want to get a little woofer to replace the stock woofer since it's going to be a paper weight after this install
Subwoofer Amp is MTX I forget the model #

Then I will get a 4 channel amp and run RCA from headunit to amp to 4 aftermarket speakers.

But like I said this setup is temporary, I don't have the money for everything all at once.

My radio harness should be here tomorrow, so as long as the weather isn't crappy I'll have the rest of the DIY as far as I can get tomorrow :).

My fear is that I'm gonna get my harness tomorrow and the amp bypass is going to clash in some way with the harness. Just hoping for the best right now lol.

[mhuynh]

Oh i see now. How much was the amp by-pass harness?

[xxfrozen]

28$ on crutchfield.

[xxfrozen]

My harness came today, good news is the harness and the amp bypass do not interfere with each other at all, i ran into problems however because alpine makes their products a pain in the ass to hook up. I just have to hook up the remote wire and it should work. The weather is terrible right now, it's snowing and my garage isn't big enough to get down and wire atm. So I'll have to postpone this for a while. But to all those ppl who dont want to splice into anything on their EX, you must get the amp bypass and the HA10B wire harness. My HU turned on no problem.

Big problem I had was my dumb ass left some wires exposed and I think I blew a fuse somewhere because my locks and my interior lights just shut off immediately when i turn the key from ON to ACC. Any ideas? I gotta manually go around and lock the doors before I leave my car now ><. Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction. TIA

[DSMKLR]

I salute your use of solder! No body every does that anymore and then they complain when the butt connecters come undone. Great work! Install looks clean!

[mhuynh]

Oh damn i forgot to mention this to you. I had the same problem. The ground and yellow wire on the scosche harness are reversed. Switch those two around. And the fuse you blew is under the hood. I forget which one it is. I also blew this fuse and was going crazy because my car was acting weird and my H/U was not working. So switch the black and yellow wires.

[xxfrozen]

OMG MHUYNH I LOVE YOU!.

If anyone has this problem it is the fuse you wouldn't expect to be a problem at all. Open the fuse box under the hood and check fuse 23 (Back Up); it's a 10A fuse and there is an extra one under the fuse cover. I guess "Back Up" means back up power and not back up lights. Will continue asap!

[fiji06si13]

Looks good man good Job!

[mhuynh]

No problem man. I was in your shoes when installing my stuff.