Civic Type-R Owners Club & Forum

figured i'd post how i did it to help others..

Disclaimer: This was done for the GT model FK2R, with the garmin satnav unit. i'm not familiar with the non-garmin unit but would expect Honda to use their standard 24pin connector..
Anything done is your responsibility, always double check your work etc etc etc.. you don't wanna blow up the honda unit by wiring 12v to something that shouldn't have it..

Resources:
- metra 70-1729 (car side connector - semi loaded) - USA sourced, but could probably swap this for a second autoleads cable for a UK source.
- metra 71-1729 (radio side connector - fully loaded) - USA sourced
- Autoleads PC2-110-4 - accord 2008>/Jazz connector (semi-loaded). Just find the cheapest available with at least 10 small wires in it. Wires will be used to fully load the 70-1729 cable.
- heat-shrink tubing
- LOC/Line-Out Converter; i used 'Vibe Matrix Delta box' which is an active type with remote-on.

The TL;DR version is to make an extension cable and tap into this cable for the LOC feed.

Since you'll have a fully loaded connector then all features of the factory unit will be kept and can easily be removed if you sell.

solder the 70 and 71 cables together, nice and simple; colour to colour and seal the heatshrink over the joints. You can also see each of the parts i bought to do this quick project.

once done, connect the LOC into the wiring. The Vibe LOC connects into the front speaker pair, ACC 12v+, and ground. blue wire to be left unconnected as that goes to your amp (unlike my picture!)

Since the Autoleads PC2-110-4 cable was a donor cable, i butchered the connector to get the wiring out. while it does have a slot to release the connectors, many probably wont have the right tool for it. certainly a paperclip wasnt strong enough.

peal the connector back to the lowest point which will release the lock mechanism on the wires.

each smaller wire will look like the following. note the pin is slightly offset. In this picture, fit the top edge facing the outside of the connector. it will only latch in one way around and will be fairly easy to click in. **keep note of these wires so you dont confuse the colours with the wires you've already soldered** I group wrapped them in electrical tape to keep them seperate.

metra 70-1729 cable - it's now fully loaded so the ECU radio security system will continue to work (it wouldn't on the standard 70-1729 cable)

Since the colours will be different on each side of the metra cables, make sure you get the pins wired correctly; pin 5 should go to pin5 on the other end. Note the electrical taped bundle which are the ones from the autoleads donor cable. Dont forget the heatshrink tubing..

the final product. a fully loaded extension cable with the vibe LOC connected in.

now all thats needed is to wire in this cable into the back of the factory unit, and wire in your subwoofer&amp as per normal.


Finally, 9thcivic forums pinout info incase it goes missing. Since we have the typeR with a different radio unit, the 'not used' pins could actually be used - theres currently very little info on the FK2R about this. I opted to wire in all 24 pins rather than leave a few disconnected only to find out the typeR version needs them. (taken from http://9thcivic.com/forum/threads/2012- ... adio.5916/)

Brilliant, thanks for this.

As a bass head I'm going to have to do this myself, so may order the leads shortly.
Have you tried the LOC yet and are you experiencing any whine or other with it?

Ian

not fitted yet but part of the reason i went with the vibe is it's a known brand, active type and 3v pre-outs. £35 i think. I figured it'd be the best option over passive units with unknown brand/quality.

plan is to fit it over the weekend (weather permitting). biggest issue i have atm is getting the amp power wires through the bulkhead. a few holes that are easy to get to on one side, but not easy on the other side to pull it through i was hoping to poke the power wiring through the rubber bung on engine side next to the heater pipework, but cant get to it at all/easily as the heater assembly is in the way. there are a few more rubber/plastic bungs around, but likely need the car jacked up on the front to get to the engine-side of it.

any searches for amp wiring on the 9th gen civic (USA civic si sedan in search results) is going through the wing. typeR wing is different and will require cutting if i go with this option.

Hey Buddy.

Yeah, I have searched on eBay and the LOC is £35 as you say, didn't read the 3V lineout which is always good to help avoid distortion when pushing the amps gain on lower voltage line level inputs. It's also got the remote turn on output which is handy, a single box mounted away from the main radio wiring making it easy to reach with the remote turn on also available.

Ah, I can imagine it being a right PITA to run the main power cable through into the car. Another idea could be to run under the car? WIth the amount of flat panels on the underside, the power cable sleeved in some plastic conduit would/should be well protected under there. With the fuse up front close to the battery all should be safe.

Ian

Added in 20 minutes 2 seconds:
Just ordered the two mains leads through Amazon, came to £23.xx with delviery and import fee.

http://www.amazon.com/Metra-70-1729-Wir ... B001JT3NZK

http://www.amazon.com/Metra-71-1729-Wir ... EX0PK2XNJG

Will get a donor connector from the UK if need be, as may have some spare Auto-Leads plugs/pins from my past ICE days

Ian

going to have to double check the 3v claim now. nothing about it online, maybe i read it on the back of the box? i'll check to be sure

running it under the car is an option i have considered. Not sure if it's more or less work than running it inside the car. It does means pulling the covers down to run the cable and find a bung to poke it through (aswell as the carpet up). I am avoiding drilling more holes at any cost..

cant find any reference to RCA volts on this vibe unit - i have no idea why i have 3volt in my head.
got bored last night and fitted my cable. everything went well, with the 24pin connector on the passenger side of the HU. The vibe LOC wiring poked through one the of holes in the metal frame work and will be zip-tied to the air vent duct thats above the passenger glove box. Nice and easy to connect RCA's then; wont need to pull the HU out if i ever need to.

it is a bit tight around the glovebox area, but the vibe LOC is perfect size to be mounted around that location without interfering with anything.
just wait for the weekend so i can get the car up in the air to find a better solution for the amp power wires.

We got bass!
...well, we would if i didn't have a failed subwoofer (12year old thats been sat in outdoor storage for 8yrs) and a failed LOC
New subwoofer bought, just need to wait for the RMA to be agreed to actually get a signal down the RCA's.

The aforementioned rubber bung can be used. Since i was the guinea pig with this, i removed the air filter and ECU to get to the rubber bung easier. I'm not sure if the ECU bracket will need to be moved to get down there well enough or not. here is what i did though:

Air filter base has 2x 10mm bolts at 10/4 o'clock as you look down on it, and then a firm pull upwards to release it from the locating pin.
ECU is then accessible. if you haven't already, disconnect battery. Remove the top 2 main wiring harness connectors, and then the wiring harness that is clipped on along the bottom edge; 10mm bolt and a clip to release it. There is a 10mm nut across the top scuttle, and I think 2x 10mm bolts across the bottom of the ECU frame to hold it onto another bracket; it can then be moved forward enough to get your arm down there.

You can now get to the rubber bung to poke the power wire through. The end of a coat hanger with the 12v power wire taped to it got through it easily. There is a section of the rubber bung (membrane) that is thinner than the rest so that also made it easier to poke through - you can kinda see it in the following picture; it's on the side face of the membrane, rather than where the existing wiring goes through.


General location of the rubber bung; behind the airfilter and ECU.

The wire will then come out in the passenger footwell, about 6" above the bottom edge of the heater assembly, towards the left side; plenty of room to get your hand up and grab the cable between two fingers.

12v can then be ran along the interior sill, under the rear seat and up the side of spring-loaded cover that covers the seat hinge area.
Ground can be taken from an unused bolt hole (m6; 10mm bolt) in the boot; just cut through 3 of the 4 sides of the pre-cut carpet to find the thread there:


hope that helps everyone get a bit more rounded audio in their FK2R..

Brilliant, well done on finding that grommet, looks to be ideally placed for the purpose.

One bass pumping FK2R nearly ready for the sound off

Ian

having issues with this now audio cuts out on that channel when i connect either the LOC, or go for high-level input signal to the amp.
HU cuts the signal, then no sub action.

... it's acting like i'm shorting the speaker wires to ground with either the amp or LOC.

Hey buddy.

Oooh, not good. Do you have a GT spec car?
Reading the other Forum where you pulled the pinout detail from, some cars have an amplifier fitted and the GT I think has one doesn't it?
Could it be the LOC or even the amp output killing the line?

Does it only happen as you connect the LOC to the wiring loom?

With an AA cell you could check you have the right speaker lines by pulsing the lines with 1.5 volts and hearing the speaker pop.

Ian

happens on both LOC and amp High-level input usage. i have a feeling the HU is very sensitive to whats connected on the speaker wires.
yes GT, but i don't think any FK2R has an external amp - a standard civic option only. I cant find an appropriate connector where the standard civic external amp is, so very possible we have a different wiring loom.

I'm going to pull the radio unit out again sometime in the next week (weather/daylight/work permitting) and try the standard civic's 8pin connector which is apparently for subwoofer pre-out usage on that model. Dont know if the typeR pinout is the same, but if so it will involve cutting/splicing the car wiring as there is no female connector available online. it's the 'connector E (8P)' in the 9thcivic link in my original post. AC volt check should show something on the wires if this 8pin connector does have subwoofer pre-out.

Honda dealer have no info specific on the typeR, as of yet.
the dealer did a VIN search on their tech info, and is coming up with the tourer and non-typeR models only, for my vin.

We have different wiring than the std civic. that 8pin connector only has a single brown wire, and not any sub pre-outs.
PlanD now. cut my custom Metra cable to allow a 4ch amp to power the car speakers. LOC goes on that amps output side so the HU doesn't see it.

what a ball ache.

we got bass!

planD worked; extend the 4 speaker channels from the HU to the boot and connect to a 4ch amp. Return these amped wires back to front and into the car wiring towards the speakers.
parrallel connect the LOC onto the 4ch amp front channels (as per LOC instructions).
subwoofer runs from the LOC.

car trim came up pretty easy too; interior side sill trim panels simply lift upwards. the trim behind front seatbelts unclips towards the middle of the car, from the top first. plenty of room for all your car audio needs down each side of the car.

had to tweak the system a bit. my car is electrically noisy so spent about 4 days figuring this out tied in with a bad ground issue, and my kit doesn't like high/speaker level input to the amp also causing noise. yep, 3 sources of noise is not fun to figure out with only amateur-level car audio experience.

what i found out
- cant run speaker wires down the sides of the car. both sides inflict noise; the drivers side being alternator whine, passenger side had speedo noise (0mph was fine, 1mph+ caused noise!). Ended up sending the output side of the amp down the middle of the car. RCA's were ran down passenger side along with the 12v power wire as it was less noisy (in terms of volume) than the driver side
- speaker/high level input caused noise from tweeters as a whistle. Testing it with RCA inputs removed the noise so i've had to re-wire the LOC from the boot, to the back of HU again.

current setup is as follows:
- stock HU, with speaker outputs converted to RCA using a LOC.
- LOC RCA to a 4ch amp (this amp has with a pair of RCA outputs)
- 4ch amp out RCA connects to mono amp for subwoofer.
- 4ch amp speaker outputs back to the rear of the HU and into the factory wiring to factory speakers.
- fully functioning electronics on the car; no loss of function from factory setup.

Evening Mate.

Sorry I am still around and following your progress on yoru install.

Strange you're getting some whining, as you say it's normally a rubbish earth and the alternator is feeding back into the system. Any power lines running down the side of the car will add interference to any signal lines, so should be kept apart as best as possible. You could try some ferrite rings on the signal wires to help stop any interference from reaching the main audio items.

Mines at the dealer, but I'm not collecting until March, so won't be working on mine till a few weeks or more after. I used to be heavily into my ICE so should be able to offer some extra help once I'm having to tackle it myself. Not looking to add an extra amp to the system apart from the sub amp if I can help it, but if I do have to, I may go for one of the small stealth Alpine 4 channel amps that is used to boost the Alpine head units.

Ian

the HU certainly didnt like wiring in the LOC in parrallel to the speakers on mine. hence the 4ch amp. it's just the cheaper JBL GX-A604 amp so nothing too special and more than enough power for my needs even with 0 gain.

i assume it's am ohm issue; HU expecting 4ohm load only (or whatever ohm speakers are in the CTR), and the LOC changes that so the HU cuts out thinking theres a problem.

if i were doing it all again, it'd be a 4ch LOC behind the dash (Rockford Fosgate do one), into a 4 or 5 channel amp. if 4ch, then make sure it has RCA-out to wire to a subwoofer amp.
glad it's all done now though - started to feel like it wasnt worth it, but the result is good

some are saying the system isnt that good but with a sub in there to give the sound some depth, it's the best system i've owned.