Rep Power: 0

anyone every tried installing an aftermarket headunit into any other location besides the stock stereo location. i would love to keep the stock stereo there as a theft deterrance method while installing an aftermarket headunit into another location lower down the dash, maybe where the 12v adapter is??? or behind the cupholders? any ideas on how to do that would be appreciated. also, how would the wiring work with two decks. since the original wire harness is used by the stock stereo, how do i hook up the aftermarket one? do i just branch a second set of wires off the original wires??

 
Rep Power: 0

second set of wires... correct.... but have you ever pulled the plastic around that area off to look if you can install it there? ugly amounts of metal... if you dont care for looks really, you can always just throw it inside the glove box...
but if you really were a hardcore mothaF**ka, then youd build some sort of compartment in that area, maybe in the lower pocket, where theres an aftermarket HU, and you can slide a piece of plastic down and it hides it... oooh.... i could market that... fun fun fun... wanna get crazier? throw linear actuators into the equation and have it motorized... the pocket under the stock HU will look like a flat piece... hit a switch and the panel flips up and slides back into the dash between the 2 units, then the aftermarket unit slides out a half inch or so to look like its at a stock height... if you did that i would jock your stereo... maybe ill do it...

 
Rep Power: 0

im not sure if a second set of wires will solve the problems tho. i asked and i heard that u can split the power and ground but u cant split the speakers output wires and antenna. also, how can u prevent both units from feeding power to the speakers at the same time? if its me i would install my aftermarket HU where the cigarette lighter is or the compartment below it.

 
Rep Power: 0

I would just use the stock wiring and connect it to the new HU unit in the alternate location. No reason to keep the stock unit working, right?

Yea, I have thought about the panel with the power outlet as well. Imo, it would fit right in. I don't see the metal as a probleme because it will be used to secure the sleeve or the unit itself. I have not test fitted a unit though. I think it would be very easy to do. It would just be more complex to make it look all professional and fancy. Otherwise, a little snip-snip on that panel should give a decent looking install.

 
Rep Power: 336

I don't know why you would want to keep your stock unit in the dash just for theft detterance and put another deck in there???[IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/IMG] Just replace the deck with one that has a theft detterance device in it and remove the faceplate...

 
Rep Power: 0

usually if a thief sees a stock stereo he will move on but if he sees a stereo with a face detached he knows it gotta be something expensive. so if he sees a stock deck he would automatically move on thinking thats the only deck. its all mental [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG] anyways, i wanna keep the stock deck to play cassettes.

 
Rep Power: 338

 
Rep Power: 0

nice install but how did u do it?

 
Rep Power: 338

the ugly truth: everything in my car (as well as your house) is built based on teh principle of "eh, they're never gonna see it"



that clip at teh very top holds the wood that is directly attatched to my radio cage



the trim ring fits JUST so that the top of it sits level at teh surface. the rest is filler and then the whole thing is fiberglassed over with carbon.



first couple coats of clearcoat. any GOOD clearcoat job will have 1/16th to 1/8th an inh of a good clearcoat on it. I used 1.5 cans of clearcoat on this piece alone.



i left it unfinished for a long time because i liked the texture. this is what that looks like, with no lustor, same with the first pic WAY up there. all texture, no shine.



all texture, no shine



look at that shine!



and this of course is the panel i started with, the one that went out and that i rebuilt from scratch.

 
Rep Power: 0

nice pics but how does the wiring work for two HUs?

 
Rep Power: 338

i ran cheapy door speakers that wired to my stock radio. I had ghetto kickpanels wired for my aftermarket. different speakers for different radios.

 
Rep Power: 350

Damn, rabbit, that looks good, man...did you fiberglass? How much did you spend altogether?

 
Rep Power: 338

nothing. i had all teh stuff lying around from other projects.

 
Rep Power: 350

Did you ever think of covering the ebrake handle with carbon fiber? I bet it would look saweet!

 
Rep Power: 338

its already got faux carbon on it. same with the doors

 
Rep Power: 0

Hey I noticed before someone mentioned the wiring of the stock harness- Do not, repeat do not leave the original wiring to the stock harness in place. There are some modifications you need to make, in order to protect the factory head unit. I haven't done a dual head unit setup with the new 7th gen civics but the the same electrical principles apply. You can seriously and permenantly damage the factory head unit and even the aftermarket head unit. Without getting to technical, picture each unit as a power source. If you connect two power sources against one another, the one with the higher power will flow current backwards into the other. This means you could possibly flow current in a way not designed and damage the transistors in either head unit. There is also problems in general with the impedance of the other head unit. There is a resitance of the output stage (Zo if you are into electrical theory) and that as well can throw off the other head unit by lowering the resistance as well (like having two speakers in parallel).

To use a dual head unit setup, you should be able to just pull the wiring harness from the factory and connect it to the other unit by way of extending the factory wires or with an harness. If for some reason you would like to keep the head unit for you can leave all the basics wires connected but make sure you remove the speaker wires from the factory wiring and connect them to the aftermarket deck. You can parallel all the other wires over to the new unit with the exception of the power. I would run a relay or other switched power source and a non-switched source as most aftermarket units consume more power than the factory head unit. Also you could possibly blow a fuse by exceeding the current draw rated.

Anyways lots of luck with the wiring and make sure you post some pics of the end result and where you mounted it.

 
Rep Power: 338

noticed i mentioned it, but didnt notice apparently that what i mentioned was running isolated systems.......

 
Rep Power: 0