Adding A radio from scratch to dx.

[Vitaliy93]

Hey clubcivic. I have a 94 dx without a radio. My question, whats the quickest/easiest way to add a radio to my dx. Right now it has no radio, no speakers, no harness... nothing. lol

 

[lethal6]

I have done this in just about every vehicle I have owned because I just don't trust other people's work. I have experienced some terrible jerry rigged s**t in my day. I bought a vw bug once that almost burnt to a crisp while I was towing it home because the idiot kid that owned it before me wired the head unit without a fused lead and it came off during the tow. This caused the wire to heat up, melted the coating, melted the carpet, and started a fire. Luckily I had a fire extinguisher in my Silverado and noticed it in time. Lost the rear seat, the battery, half of the carpet, and the passenger side front and rear door/side panels to that kid's mistake. That is one reason you use a fused link on a power wire.

Anyway, it is pretty easy to do. First you find a constant power (or make a new one from the fuse box), then you find a keyed wire, ground it, then start running your speaker wires. The hardest ones can be the the front doors because some vehicles don't give you much room in the boots that go from the cabin to the door. Speaker wires aren't that much of a chore for me because I always have external amps and need to run rca wires and power to them anyway so I do the speaker wires at the same time.

 

[Vitaliy93]

Good news. today i took the plastic cover off... where the radio is suppose to be. and i found a plug. And i also found plugs in the doors with fake speakers and plugs in the rear for speakers. This means that all i need is 4 speakers and a headunit. and my car will have sound. ALL THE WIRING IS ALREADY THERE. haha.

 

[ImThaBean]

Yeah, thats honda for you. Most everythign is prewired, just not installed. Same goes for the dash clock, its wired, but theres a blank plate there instead of the clock on most models.

And for the LOVE OF (higher power here)... Make sure you do the install right. you have the stock wire harness, either find a OEM (tape) radio, it'll be plug N play, or if you go with a aftermarket radio, buy the adapter harness. There are even adapters for the speaker connectors, Look at Crutchfield.com for all the needed connections. You have virgin wiring, do it right the first time.

I have hacked up wiring in my car and its hard to fix/ track down issues cause everything is cut and spliced.

 

[Vitaliy93]

Yeah, thats honda for you. Most everythign is prewired, just not installed. Same goes for the dash clock, its wired, but theres a blank plate there instead of the clock on most models.

And for the LOVE OF (higher power here)... Make sure you do the install right. you have the stock wire harness, either find a OEM (tape) radio, it'll be plug N play, or if you go with a aftermarket radio, buy the adapter harness. There are even adapters for the speaker connectors, Look at Crutchfield.com for all the needed connections. You have virgin wiring, do it right the first time.

I have hacked up wiring in my car and its hard to fix/ track down issues cause everything is cut and spliced.

Yeah no doubt. I will get an adapter harness and solder all the wires and put heat shrink on all the connections. It will be super clean. Do i need to upgrade my alternator since im going to be using a radio? lol

 

[Wax Hands]

Good news. today i took the plastic cover off... where the radio is suppose to be. and i found a plug. And i also found plugs in the doors with fake speakers and plugs in the rear for speakers. This means that all i need is 4 speakers and a headunit. and my car will have sound. ALL THE WIRING IS ALREADY THERE. haha.

All the harness's in the Civic's are the same regardless of their options. The plugs will be there fro your to add the options later on. However some OE equipment comes with extension harnesses sometimes.

To add the radio is straightforward, buy the adapter harness you require and what ever radio you want.

 

[lethal6]

Do i need to upgrade my alternator since im going to be using a radio?

Nope.

 

[Vitaliy93]

Ight sounds cool. Ill update here once i buy and get everything in place. What headunit and speakers do you guys prefer? I was thinking maybe pioneer for head unit and either pioneer or sony speakers. Im not trying to build a super loud system. Im trying to stay on a budget with decent sound.

 

[lethal6]

I have always been happy with Kenwood's eXcelon line. Currently I am running a flip out touch screen model and have had no problems.

For speakers, if I was buying, I would fork the money over for a set of Focal components.

My civic came with Fosgates in the door and rear deck and they sound decent for what they are. They will do for now.