just got a 2003 Civic EX Sedan. i'm looking at the CD player in it and i have a feeling this won't be a fun install to get it out of there. when i did the stereo in our 96 Civic, that was bad enough. i'm just planning on putting a Kenwood or maybe an Alpine in the dash, single DIN. any hints/help on removal? how big and ugly of a gap am i going to have post install around the new CD player?

door speakers - anyone know what size stock ones are and what else will fit? i'm planning on a separate set. nothing extravagent, but something that can handle some power. not worried about rear speakers.


the rest is just the standard stuff...pair of 12s and 2 amps. run all wires. etc. just looking to see what info i can pick up on the head unit and speakers here before i get started on this project.

 

just went to check out the car a bit more. i have no clue how i'm going to get to the head unit or run the 8 gauge through the firewall. doesn't look like this install is going to be fun at all.

and the doors....gotta remove the entire door panel...i am not looking foreward to this.

on the plus side, i don't have to rebuild my sub box, as the 2 PPI 12s will fit in nicely and still leave room in the trunk.

 

I don't know how much the civic has changed in 9 years, but I imagine its not a huge amount different.

Look on the firewall around the accelerator pedal, find a circular rubber piece and pull it off, there's how you get through.

You'll want to ask Circuit City, Best Buy, a local sound shop as to how to get the radio out, they're all different. but basically what you do, is pull the face off and any trim going around it. Push the keys in, and you're set. If its a stock deck thats in there, then ask a shop.

Door panels on a civic are some of the easiest around. Hopefully this hasn't changed either. Locate any screws you find, on my car, theres a screw behind the handle, in the grab handle, and one real obvious one at the front that can't be seen when the door is closed. Try sliding the grab handle and the door handle to get it out once the screw is removed. Beyond that, the door panel should just pop off with some muscle.

Edit: Window cranks too, if you have them, need to be removed.

 

i wired up a 96 civic and it looked a lot less complicated than this. all i wired in that car, however, was 2 different CD players (one died) and a set of separates in the doors. that actually turned out to be a pretty clean install. couldn't use the stock grills on the speakers, but i had grills for the speakers and it looks pretty clean. still havn't mounted down the tweeters perminetly. they're held in place right now by some velcro (got distrated by life's events, need to finish that job).

but the 96 civic was a piece of cake compared to how this one looks. i was looking for a hole in the firewall, and i might have to jack the car up to get under it and find one. i'll look around the accelarator pedal, as well as in the passenger's side. the engine is pretty close to the firewall, making it difficult to reach around from up top.

don't wanna pull the door panels off until i know what fits in there for certain so i can do it all at once. i can either do a pair of 4x6s or 6 1/2s, as i have each on hand. i just hate pulling door panels so i only want to do it once. power windows, so no cranks to remove. no screws visable either.

the head unit is stock, and that by far will be the worst thing to do, because i see no room to work to even get to what's holding it in place.

i'm going to try to hit a local sound shop this week. no best buy or circuit city around me though. should have some time tuesday and maybe can pick their brains a bit. hopefully they've done a newer model civic before and know exactly where everything is.

Audiobahn speakers going in the front. 4x6s or 6 1/2s, depending on how much room i have to work with. separate set, so tweeters on the A pillars.

rear speakers will remain stock for a while.

2 PPI C1 12s. they thump the hell out of my blazer in a sealed box. should sound good in the civic's trunk.

2 Kenwood amps - 4x25 and a mono sub amp which runs 1x300 @ 2ohms. probably wire the rear stock speakers to the amp and turn them down big time so they don't get blown out by the head unit being fully cranked up while i'm cruising.

 

Give Crutchfield a houtout for giving you measurements:
Front Door:
Size: 5 1/4", 6 1/2" (I guess either size will work?)
Depth: 2"
Height: 13/16"
As far as the head unit goes Crutchfield also makes good master sheets and mounting brackets and such. Shoot them an e-mail tell them your receiver and your car and ask them what you're gonna need, they'll be happy to sell it to you, hehe, and include extremely detailed instructions on removing your head unit and toll free phone support.

 

dude, excellent advice. free instructions too, that rocks!

i'm kind of skeptical about removing the stock head unit at this moment, mainly because i want to do this install dirt cheap and don't want to buy any mounting brackets to clean up the gap that will arise from putting an aftermarket head unit in place of the factory one. well, i can't really pump any money into the stereo because i have car payments to make now, but luckily i have everything already.

i think i might go and run the line level inputs on the amps instead of swapping head units and running RCA cables, at least for now. if i do it this way, it will be a VERY clean install. the only thing anyone will see is the tweeters on the A pillars (or elsewhere, depending on where they sound the best).

i need to contact a honda dealership and find out what i need to provide to get the code for the radio. i'm glad i was looking through the manual for the car and saw that or else i'd be completely screwed when i went to hook up the amps to the battery.

gf is already prepared for me to take the audiobahn 6 1/2s out of her doors and put my 4x6s in. i know they'll fit, i just need to make a spacer or something to fill the gap between hole and speaker. no problem there really.

running wiring, whether i do line level or swap head units, isn't going to be fun. i did not enjoy running the speaker wire for her tweeters. i've already felt around that area in my car, and since i have power windows and locks, i've got a lot more wires in that rubber "tube" to contend with. joy.

 

It cost me $25 I think to get the wiring harness converter thing, mounting shit, instructions, and free phone help for my EG when I bought a new HU. I consider that pretty much dirt cheap to make the install a lot easier and cleaner if you go with an aftermarket HU. I'm talking bout buying this stuff from Crutchfield if you didn't figure that out already.

 

how's the whole thing look in your car? what year/model did you install in? have pics? i want this as clean as possible, so i'd like to see what it's going to look like if possible. her civic i didn't use a mounting kit. there's a slight gap, but nothing major, and i'd say overall it looks pretty decent with the Aiwa in there.

i'd LOVE to throw an older Alpine unit i have in the car (pure Tuner), but i need an Ai-Net changer or i can't play CD-Rs. stock unit plays CD-Rs, which is nice for now.

$25 is about what i'd expect for a wiring harness and mounting kit. wonder if i can find one locally. i'd much rather use a wiring harness than be clipping wires. i've done the clip and connect deal before all because i was too cheap to buy a wiring harness.

anyone ever run line level inputs on an amp before? i'm considering doing this, but have never done it, so i don't know how it's going to sound. it's a last resort, of course, but if it comes down to it, that's what i'll do.

 

Got a Panasonic CQ-C9800U in my 93' Civic DX Coupe. I'll get you some pics if you want but if you've already done an install on a 6th gen then this isn't really gonna help you with your 03 Civic.

 

not sure of the generations, but i assume that the 96 is 6th. never really paid much attention to that.

peeled back the passenger's door panel today to see what i could do. i saw why they say 5 1/4 - 6 1/2 speaker for that car. there's a 5 1/4 mounted in there now with a spacer that comes up about 1" from the door frame. that spacer is kind of wide and thick, and looks easily removable, so you could remove it, make a new spacer, and mount a 6 1/2 in there. i won't know for sure until i get the door panel completely off, but that's what it appears at a glance.

still searching for a hole in the fire wall, but not in a "do or die" way. i'll get that nailed out eventually. got some time before install, just gathering info piece by peice til then.