DIY-Mounting Sirius Starmate Receiver

OldNBold · 07-04-2005

I just aquired my White 02 Civic LX a couple weeks ago. (no pics since it's completely stock at this point). After checking out this forum I decided to go with the Sirius Starmate Satellite receiver instead of wasting time with a factory CD player...and I couldn't be more happy. Anyone who has the Starmate knows the one downside is that it's not exactly designed for easy permanant mounting.
I figured it might help a few of you to see how I mounted mine using some crap I had laying around and parts from the suction cup mount that comes with the starmate.

1. Finished Install Pics (to see if it's worth the trouble)

2. Top View

3. Back View

4. Front Side View of Mount

5. Basic Instructions
(Assuming some knowledge of Civic plastics removal and at least a little common sense)
a. Remove dash piece with electrical jack and 2 switch sockets.

b. Remove switch socket covers. Modify them as follows; Cut a small notch in one just large enough to allow the antenna and power wires to pass from behind the dash. I used a razor knife to cut the excess plastic below the clips that hold the cover in place on about half the switch cover. I the drilled a small hole on the lower half of switch cover for a single screw to pass through.

c. Disassemble the suction cup mount that comes with the starmate. You'll need the mounting clip and the various washers, or some washers from the hardware store to build up a bit of space.

d. Get a plasterboard screw with an expanding nut, and use this to mount the clip to the switch cover. Insert the switch cover back into the dash. I needed to use one small screw in the top of the switch cover to hold it into place. The lower part was held in place with the overhang of one of the washers. If you have any problems you can always glue it into place. Insert the second switch over with the wires routed through it.

e. If so inclined, cut the socket adapter off and solder the wires to the back of the plug adapter. Be sure to solder low on the connector so you can reattach the connector. also be sure you have the wire polarity right. The center conductor on mine was the striped wire and I soldered that to the center conductor of the plug.

I hope this makes some sense, and that the pictures explain more clearly what the words do not.

It took about an hour and the finished mounting lets me remove the starmate easily for bringing in the house, and is rock solid when driving about.

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coop · 07-05-2005

I have last year's JVC "PDA" style unit - I used half of a belkin iPod kit + modding the JVC car mount kit to make something that would stay in the cupholder....

One thing that XM has that Sirius doesn't is receivers with a small form factor...

AggressiveAdam · 07-05-2005

looks pretty clean, just make sure you can either remove it or cover it because a unit like that is a target for theives. Even though it has to be activated, to an amateur theif it looks like "one of dem pooolice deetektors" or "doz phat ass satellite gds navviagation systems yo!"

Taffy · 07-05-2005

Sweet setup, it looks really good. About 2 years ago when I had Sirius I had the old ass Panasonic FM modulator unit (wired directly to the CD player) and I mounted it in a similar way.

...Wow this was a really old setup I had...

OldNBold · 07-05-2005

Thanks for the theft warning. The car is garaged every night, and when I do drive it to work in Chicago it's parked in a private highrise garage with cameras and security. If I go someplace with questionable security I generally take my trusty old 92 towncar. Nothing in it worth stealing and there's almost enough room in the trunk to park the civic.