Alright, so I've had my 97 EX Sedan for about a year now and I'm just getting around to installing my head unit from my old car (Xplod CDX-F7000). Yes I know once i remove the stock receiver my keyless entry won't work anymore and I need to stash it behind the dash. I've been reading over past threads on HAN and looking at installdr.

From HAN threads I learned to buy a T-harness from Best Buy or Circuit City, and installdr basically told me to rig my own T using a reverse harness. Problem is that I can't find any place that has a pre-made T-harness or a reverse harness in stock (and I don't exactly feel like paying for one either).

I want to hook the white standard harness to the new unit and the 2 green security harnesses to the OEM unit. Then I want to splice 2 or 3 wires (only those I need to make keyless entry work) off of the standard harness and rig some way to hook them to their correct pins on the back of the OEM unit. I think I'll be able to figure out which pin is which on the OEM from looking at the harness.

Questions:
1. Has anyone ever done it like this before?

2. How many and which wires do you think I'll need to send to the OEM unit? I'm assuming only 3 (red - Ignition/Acc , yellow - Batt/Memory, black - ground) do you know of any others i'd need? In my Haynes manual wiring diagram it seems like I may also need to splice a red and a red/black wire off the harness too? In the book they are marked "interior lights" and I'm not sure which of the 3 harnesses they will be on.

3. Does anyone know where to buy or how to rig up a good wire terminal for connecting to single pins on the OEM unit?

4. Is it common for the OEM head unit to have the security control unit piggy-backed on it? I was under the impression that it was just one unit until I pulled it out of the dash.


While I was buying a miniplug to RCA y-adapter at the car audio place (after they didn't have a T or reverse harness), i explained the situation to the guy and I think he said that he never even had to stash the factory receiver when installing on a 97.... maybe he's only worked on ones w/o keyless entry?:shrug:

5. For anyone that has previously installed an aftermarket head and hid the OEM behind the dash: What about the Program/Disarm/Valet button on the OEM faceplate? Did you do anything to make it accessible without ripping the dash apart again? Mine has had problems in the past where it reprograms itself (so my remotes don't work), unlocks the doors, turns my car into a rave with the dome light and then activates the alarm as soon as I open one of the unlocked doors. It hasn't done it in a couple months now, but i want to keep that button accessible in case my alarm goes off or else my neighbors will be pissed.

Thanks so much, please send some suggestions!:bowdown:

 

i have the same car as you and have had a few setups with anew hu
from the pics it looks like you have the keyless entry AND the alarm system, is this true?
i only have the keyless, which is built into the cd player, the extra box is the alarm portion, and i dont know offhand how to wire that

i need to pull mine and add a wire in anyhow so if you need more pics or anything let me know, i can do it tomorrow
good luck, sounds like you will do fine

i have my stock stereo in place, and an alpine hu down in the lower pocjet, this allows me to keep a stock look, have a permanent clock, and also reduces glare on the faceplate, so you should think about that as well

i will write up the wiring config later if you cant get it figured out, its basically what you said though, power, acc, ground, maybe one more
i know on mine i need to add one more wire so it dims when my lights are on

 

Yep I most definitely have the alarm system as well. they go hand-in-hand in my mind so I thought they'd be the same unit.
I have thought about the whole stock look thing. I was driving around a little today with the new hu indash but not hooked up and i was getting some glare (the light was coming through my sun roof, which i can just close the cover when that happens). I have the Alpine changer mounted under my passenger seat and the main reason i want to change it is b/c its a pain in the ass to change cds. My ultimate plan is to replace it with a sony mp3 10 disc changer so I can load mp3 discs in the changer and just forget about it, then stick my audio cds in the dash.

looking at the back of the stock head it has 3 extra pins that aren't on the harness I bought. The more I think about it I might just go to a junk yard and rip the harness out of an old one and splice wires to it

any suggestions for attaching wires to pins without using a harness?

 

when i had the stock hu behind the dash i ran wires for
gnd
acc
b(back up)

now that its in the stock position i am running all those plus
light
illumi cont (i still need to wire)

as far as getting a harness i got my t harness at "car toys" it was like $15 and made it really simple
a junkyard one you could tear apart would be fine as well
you could also probably go down to radio shack and find some kind of plug that would wire into the stock stereo one wire at a time, since you only need 3 it should be fine to do this, but kind of a pain

here is a wire guide in case your stereo doesnt have one on it, i cant see the other side of your hu in the pics
also here is my setup, alpine hu below, stock above, and ipod hookup behind stick
i love the stock clock, slightly hidden stereo, and ipod setup
good luck

 

Ha I never even realized my radio had a wiring diagram on the underside.

I tried the sony hu on for size in the lower DIN before but it stuck out too far and the cup holder lid wouldn't open all the way. I see that you just removed your lid... I didn't think of that, but def look into it. :thinking:

As for wiring the stock hu, I'm gonna try using sawed-off butt-connectors (see pic). the connectors slip onto the pins, now i just need to figure out how to secure them (ha, probably electrical tape to the housing)

My Aux/in set up is shown below (had to get something set up to go deliver pizza). I think i want to hook a retractable cord under the armrest or something and cut a hole in one of the blanks for the cable to come out.



Back to the cup holders. Thing I absolutely HATE about this car is the cup holders. I like the little pop-up lid and the semi-hidden storage DIN (good for mp3 and phone), but the holders are so short and wide that my drink always flies around the car when i make turns or hard acceleration. While I'm dismantling the lid i'm gonna figure out a way to make the cup holders better.

 

trying to get the alpine hu to fit correctly down there took some creativeness
i had to try around 5 different trim pieces and also do some fancy work with duct tape
the cup holder lid was broken when i got the car, it wouldnt snap shut, so i just took that off long long ago
do you have any other left over wiring harnesses from other installs?
i pulled an old one from an eclipse hu apart and the wires have nice little prongs on the back that would work perfect for the honda wires to connect with
i put my cell in the holder next to climate controls and stereo up above
ipod goes between e-brake and stick (just barely) so i dont mind losing the din pocket
i hear you on the cup holders, they arent amazing but they are better than some cars i have been in
im pretty anal about having stuff in the car though, so they arent used much anyway

 

Its funny, every time i try to work on my car i find myself scrambling to put the dash back together before i have to go to work or class.
So at this point the sony hu is in the upper slot and the sock hu is sticking out of the spot where the lower din would be, above the cup holders. I have power, acc and ground wired using my modified butt-terminals, so everything that should work does. Now i just have to add the 2 illumination wires and get everything where its supposed to be.

A setup like yours seems to be the best option, I just need to get my hands on a router or a dremel to make the lower din big enough for the sleeve of my stereo. I practically threw my arm out last night trying to do it with sandpaper.

I got the lid off of the cup holder and stored all the parts. Hopefully in the process I didn't damage it so much that i can't put it back together again if i want later.

 

My installation is complete!

I have my setup like yours with the stock hu in its original spot and my sony hu in the lower din. This is definitely the way to do it if you have the security system installed, so you have access to the disarm button. To get the sony in I used the DIN sleeve that came with it, but the slot was < 3mm too small for the sleeve, so i used a rotary saw with a conical sanding bit to make it tall enough. My expansion job wasn't perfect so there were a lot of uneven edges around the slot but the bezel for the hu covers all the imperfections so the install looks very clean. Once i got everything together, the hu with the ant and RCA cables and the wiring harness on the back seems just a little too long for the space behind the cup holders, but i forced it in there and it works. (had to yank on some wire conduits to make them go beside the stereo instead of behind it)

After goofing around with my modified butt-connectors to hook up the factory stereo, I remembered that I had a $50 best buy gift card in my wallet left over from christmas:doh: , so I bought a reverse harness for 20 fricken bucks. I spliced the acc, mem, gnd and illum cables from my other harnesses to the reverse harness and snipped off the rest.

The problem is that none of the harnesses i found included the illumination control wire (so the stock hu dims with the pot on the dash). I made one splice to the car's wiring to get the illum cont wire. I took the other end of my spliced wire and shoved it into the empty pin slot on the reverse harness and secured it with epoxy repair putty. It makes the connection and seems to be holding up well.

So mission complete. Thanks for the help and suggestions! :goodjob:

 

glad i could help

looks nice

 

I am trying to hook my wife's car up with a new hu and realized that it is going to be some work if I replace the factory stereo. So, I came across this thread and thought this setup would be a good thing. I just need to ask what all I need before getting started.

I'm assuming I'll just leave the factory wires mentioned (GND, acc, b, light, illumi cont) connected to the factory hu and run all the other other factory wires to the aftermarket unit in the DIN. I also have a six disc changer in the trunk that I'll need to connect to the new Hu. So, I am trying to figure out what type of harness I need to finish off the job.

What all needs to be removed (screws) to access the DIN removal to place the HU there?