[scorrpio]

No idea what happened to pictures,
So here is the album link.

Honda Pilot 2013 audio overhaul

16 new items · Album by Igor Obraztsov

photos.app.goo.gl

Inspired by DMG's remake, this is my overhaul. We had an older car where I replaced the stock audio with an Alpine ILX-207. We recently traded it in for a new Subaru, but I swapped out back to original audio. Sop now I had a 2013 Pilot with an outdated system and a nice $600 Alpine head gathering dust. I decided to combine the two. Following is the process, with pictures. I am going to add all the wiring detail/pinouts in a separate post.

Since stock head unit is too integrated to be removed, I decided to do what DMG did and put it where the screen is. Which required serious dash redo. Rather than tear up my Pilot's own, I found a screen unit (with housing) on ebay for about $50. Also got a sheet of 3/16" ABS plastic with nice carbon fiber texture.

Removed the display, cut away the clear plastic leaving a rim (it is needed there cause it got retaining tabs). Glued in the side supports.

Painstakingly created a cardboard pattern, trimming it with scissors till it was right, then cut out the panel from ABS on a bandsaw, cut out opening for the unit, and bent it using a heat gun.

Front panel glued in place.

Drilled holes in side ribs, put Alpine ILX-207 in place, secured with screws, attache the front bezel frame. There is a whole bunch of dust there.

My dashboard, all torn apart.

When your car looks like this, it is hard to believe you will ever put it back together. What is going on here: Passenger seat removed for access. I ran brand new speaker wire into all the doors and sub location, ran an 8AWG to battery (50amp fuse). In doors, I installed Focal Integration ISC-165 speakers (Crutchfield threw in the adapters for free) Instead of the anemic factory sub, I put in a shallow-mount Kicker 43CWRT81, with voice coils in series for 2 Ohm impendance.
All of that was to be powererd by a Rockford Fosgate 5 channel R600X5 amp. Hush mats applied in doors and as speaker baffles (sorry did not take pictures of those)

I thought about using Pilot's existing USB cable that goes to the display unit. But Android auto is very picky about cables. Cutting into a cable at the display might have messed up the shielding. So I opted for a 6-ft USB 3.0 extension with a mountable socket. Looks practically factory-installed

For backup camera, I needed to tap into a reverse wire. Best place to do so is at under-dash fuse box. The official name of the position is 'E15', it is an orange wire pointed to by an arrow. I tapped into that and routed the wire to head unit location. Gotta be very careful to follow the harnesses there, so wire does not get to snag on various moving parts.

At the dash, I needed to cut away some plastic to accommodate the head unit and to make wiring easier.

In order to use factory microphone and phone-related steering wheel buttons, I needed to tap into the HandsFreeLink unit connector. It is on the right side of center console, pointed at by an arrow. The grey 32P connector you see is unplugged from its underside. The wires I needed to cut and route to head unit area were : position 2 (white) - to Maestro. And positions 14-16 (grey/brown/yellow) for the microphone. I used shielded 20/2 to route it. More on this in subsequent post.

Things starting to get in shape. After routing all the cables and plugging in various harnesses. (most of it had to be soldered up meticulously), I am able to put the factory head back in.

Trimmed and tidied up all the wires going into the amp. The place still needs a thorough vacuuming (which I did right after) Also cannot see, but I got some blocks glued to car floor under the carpet there, and I screwed the amp to those blocks.

Finally, new unit mounted, passenger seat back in, battery reconnected and I got some Android Auto going on here!

Rear camera works too!

And so does navigation. The blue LED thingy below climate controls is bass adjuster control for the amp.

Sounds really great, new USB works, Microphone works, all steering wheel buttons work too. Some additional wiring details in the next post.

 

[cintocrunch]

Nice job! I'd love to upgrade ours but I think if I did anything it would be the apple carplay NavTool setup...

 

[scorrpio]

To facilitate wiring, I ordered Metra male and female primary 24P for Honda. Unfortunately, it only provides wires needed to wire aftermarket head units, not so serve as pass-through. So I needed to move some pins.
For any connector, if you look at the plug from the wire side, with retaining tab facing up, pin numbers go left to right, first row then second row.
Main connector:
Rear speaker pins (6 and 7) moved to position 2 and 3 on both connectors, and wired direct.
Rear speaker pins 10 and 11 on harness side moved to positions 5 (brown) and 16 (pink) and routed to Maestro SW connector.
I had a crazy idea to continue using stock unit for some functions (more on that later) So front speaker pins (18/19 and 22/23) on HU side were routed to a special 'AUX' cable
pins 14 (ACC, purple), 12 (GND, black) and 24 (B+, white) - connected through with branches for Maestro, AUX (GND and ACC only) and Alpine.

Power considerations: since neither HU is expected to actually drive speakers, and amp is the biggest power hog, I figured I was ok on power. At worst, I would get a blown fuse.

Audio unit connector E(16P, roughly in the middle), I disconnected the sub pins 1 (white) and 9 (red)

Audio unit connector G (small one, antenna), I branched G3 (separate unshielded wre) to power antenna lead (blue) on Alpine. THe shielded wire was connected to a typical AM/FM plug I had leftover from older car harness.

USB - in Pilot, USB goes from center armrest to the display unit. I though initially to use that, but USB cables are a capricious affair. So I opted to just run a new cable there. I used USB3 since it has higher data throughput spec.

Microphone: HandsFreeLink unit is on passenger side of center console near the floor. It got a 32P connector. Pin 2 needed to be removed and routed to Maestro Pins 14 (shield), 15 - Mic+ (brown), 16 - Mic- (yellow) also disconnected and routed using a 20/2 shielded cable to head unit area. There, shield wire grounded to chassis.

Steering wheel controls: I thought about using Maestro RR, but decided I don't really need all that stuff, so I went with Maestro SW. After programming via website, it gave install instructions asking for pins 5(brown) and 16(pink) from main audio connector, a tap into GND and ACC (pins 12 and 14 on main) and pin 2 from HandsFreeLink unit.

Camera:
First, tapped into orange wire at E15 in under-dash fuse box (see a pic in first post). To use the factrory camera:
It goes into the display unit that I was removing. Part of the 32P connector there. The relevant wires are:
Pin 10: shield - this one needs to connect to chassis.
Pin 25: +VCC (8VDC)
Pin 26: GND
Pin 27: Video signal
Pin 28: Video signal ground.
Now Alpine provides a +6VDC for Alpine cameras, and I tapped into that, it worked fine. Video signal/video ground is a yellow composite video (yellow RCA plug) If your unit does not provide camera power, you might need to get a 7808-based voltage regulator that drops 12VDC (tapped into ACC) to 8 volts.

AUX: this part is not done yet. I first though to use center armrest AUX socket. If you decide to go that route, the pins are ion the 20P 'D' audio unit connector:
3(white) : aux ground, 4(grey) - aux shield (ground to chassis), 13(black): audio left, 14(red) audio right.

Instead, I just routed the AUX RCAs to center console storage. I can use that if needed.

 

[scorrpio]

Nice job! I'd love to upgrade ours but I think if I did anything it would be the apple carplay NavTool setup...

ILX-207 fully supports Apple Carplay as well. Thing about NavTool is that it plugs into factory screen, which is behind glass - so you don't get a touchscreen. It is a less invasive method, and yes, I did look at NavTool thoroughly. But in the end I decided it did not give me what I wanted. Besides, I had a perfectly fine Alpine unit already.

 

[cintocrunch]

ILX-207 fully supports Apple Carplay as well. Thing about NavTool is that it plugs into factory screen, which is behind glass - so you don't get a touchscreen. It is a less invasive method, and yes, I did look at NavTool thoroughly. But in the end I decided it did not give me what I wanted. Besides, I had a perfectly fine Alpine unit already.

And your installation is extremely thorough and well thought out. I lack the time with our current family schedule to take on such a project, it would take me 3-4 weekends and my wife would not be without her car for that long.

The main reason I wanted Carplay was mostly to be able to use the navigation on our phones when we go on trips. Right now I end up putting the phone in front of the screen on the little ledge. Am I willing to pay $500+ for that convenience? Well I haven't done it yet, so that's the answer.

You are getting way more out of your entire interface than my wife would ever want or need.

 

[Cloveh]

Thanks for such a thorough well written tutorial!! I was wondering if any of the audio buttons like the volume knob or skip buttons in their factory positions still works. This is the only factor preventing me from doing a project like this as I still want those buttons to be functional.

 

[scorrpio]

Factory unit fronts go into Alpine's AUX. So I can use it still to play CDs... which I did not use in years. All control otherwise is via Alpine buttons/screen and steering wheel.
If you hope to put new head unit in place of screen and then be able to control it via factory dash controls, such arrangement I am afraid is impossible.

 

[sactoguy]

your audio overhaul looks great! I have a couple questions, Where did you run your power line and ground for the amp? Also for the sub, did you just put the Kicker in the OEM enclosure or a custom box? Thanks.

 

[scorrpio]

I bought 8 AWG power cable for the power line.

https://www.amazon.com/InstallGear-Gauge-Power-Ground-Touch/dp/B01LY5N276/ref=sr_1_3

This cable is quite soft and very easy to work with. For ground cable, I just taped a small piece of this same cable black.

I also got this (50A version)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H3DKGA0/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I got these for hookup:

Amazon.com: InstallGear 8 Gauge AWG Tinned Pure Copper Lugs Ring Terminals Connectors with Heat Shrink - 10-Pack: Car Electronics

Amazon.com: InstallGear 8 Gauge AWG Tinned Pure Copper Lugs Ring Terminals Connectors with Heat Shrink - 10-Pack: Car Electronics

www.amazon.com

It is a circuit breaker that trips on the overcurrent rather than burning out a fuse.
I mounted it to a support strut next to the battery, and routed the cable along the front and passenger side of engine compartment using 1/2" wire loom. (I also ran a pair of 12AWG power lines for the add-on seat heaters parallel to this) I got it to the main firewall grommet and fished the wires through that. It took some contortion exercises to get hold of those cables in the inside. From there I ran the power line along the base of the center console. and under the carpet.

There is a small cutout in the carpet for the passenger seat harness next to front right seat mounting point. And right next to that cutout is a grounding point for the seat. I enlarged the cutout a tiny bit (you can see this in one of the pictures) and hooked the ground cable to the seat ground point. The ground cable total length is about 6-7 inches.

Now, about the sub: I used the existing box, which is plastic and quite flimsy, so improved it a bit. I bought a pack of HushMat 10200. For every door, I put a HushMat on the inside of the door body behind the speaker, and also a HushMat on the speaker baffle. For the sub, I put one mat on the car body itself behind the sub box. One HushMat went into the box onto its rear wall, and one mat went on the front as baffle reinforcement. I also filled the box with fiber stuffing:

Polyester Fiber Stuffing (1-pound pack)

Make your subwoofer think it's in a bigger box

www.crutchfield.com

 

[Ddeg10]

So when you do this type of upgrade my understanding is that you do you lose the factory controls on the bottom in dash. Any other limitations or drawback?

 

[scorrpio]

The factory audio head is still in and still powered, but yeah, its controls don't do much. The fronts from it are routed via LC2i into 'AUX' input on the Alpine. So technically, I can use factory audio to say, play CDs.

 

[Ddeg10]

Do you lose res on the ex when you do this?

 

[scorrpio]

EX does not come with RES (at least mine didn't). But if one were to make this sort of upgrade on an RES-equipped car, I am quite certain factory RES would remain fully functional.

I could actually build RES around my head unit by using Alpine DVE-5300 DVD player and pretty much any overhead screen that accepts HDMI.

 

[Ddeg10]

Do you think a specialty car audio shop could wrap their head around this kind of thing, since it's pretty unconventional? I am in the market for a 2013-15 Pilot, but am slightly reluctant because this does seem like a bit of a headache. I am not interested in Navtool. I'm in the Seattle area. I thought about maybe contacting some local shops about this before I buy the car, as Android Auto/Carplay via touchscreen is important to us.

By replacing the screen at the top, what do you lose? It seems the new head unit would replace most of the features displayed in that screen if I'm correct?

 

[scorrpio]

Only thing I 'lost' is 'trip computer' - a display mode showing range, trip mpg, oil life, and current rate of fuel consumption.
But all that info is available via a small LCD on the instrument cluster. Heck, if one goes with Maestro RR rather than SW, they might get those readouts via iDataLink.

I am sure that an audio pro shop can do an install like this and likely even better, once you explain the concept.

 

[Ddeg10]

You're a lifesaver. I've been reading your posts and you know a lot on this topic. I really appreciate your help

 

[MKBMotors]

What a great write-up! I will be installing an android 10.5 or 11.6 inch screen, single din headunit in the top location in my 2012 EXL without navigation. Will be referring to your write up. Thank you!

 

[rgnage]

No idea what happened to pictures,
So here is the album link.

Honda Pilot 2013 audio overhaul

16 new items · Album by Igor Obraztsov

photos.app.goo.gl

Inspired by DMG's remake, this is my overhaul. We had an older car where I replaced the stock audio with an Alpine ILX-207. We recently traded it in for a new Subaru, but I swapped out back to original audio. Sop now I had a 2013 Pilot with an outdated system and a nice $600 Alpine head gathering dust. I decided to combine the two. Following is the process, with pictures. I am going to add all the wiring detail/pinouts in a separate post.

Since stock head unit is too integrated to be removed, I decided to do what DMG did and put it where the screen is. Which required serious dash redo. Rather than tear up my Pilot's own, I found a screen unit (with housing) on ebay for about $50. Also got a sheet of 3/16" ABS plastic with nice carbon fiber texture.

Removed the display, cut away the clear plastic leaving a rim (it is needed there cause it got retaining tabs). Glued in the side supports.

Painstakingly created a cardboard pattern, trimming it with scissors till it was right, then cut out the panel from ABS on a bandsaw, cut out opening for the unit, and bent it using a heat gun.

Front panel glued in place.

Drilled holes in side ribs, put Alpine ILX-207 in place, secured with screws, attache the front bezel frame. There is a whole bunch of dust there.

My dashboard, all torn apart.

When your car looks like this, it is hard to believe you will ever put it back together. What is going on here: Passenger seat removed for access. I ran brand new speaker wire into all the doors and sub location, ran an 8AWG to battery (50amp fuse). In doors, I installed Focal Integration ISC-165 speakers (Crutchfield threw in the adapters for free) Instead of the anemic factory sub, I put in a shallow-mount Kicker 43CWRT81, with voice coils in series for 2 Ohm impendance.
All of that was to be powererd by a Rockford Fosgate 5 channel R600X5 amp. Hush mats applied in doors and as speaker baffles (sorry did not take pictures of those)

I thought about using Pilot's existing USB cable that goes to the display unit. But Android auto is very picky about cables. Cutting into a cable at the display might have messed up the shielding. So I opted for a 6-ft USB 3.0 extension with a mountable socket. Looks practically factory-installed

For backup camera, I needed to tap into a reverse wire. Best place to do so is at under-dash fuse box. The official name of the position is 'E15', it is an orange wire pointed to by an arrow. I tapped into that and routed the wire to head unit location. Gotta be very careful to follow the harnesses there, so wire does not get to snag on various moving parts.

At the dash, I needed to cut away some plastic to accommodate the head unit and to make wiring easier.

In order to use factory microphone and phone-related steering wheel buttons, I needed to tap into the HandsFreeLink unit connector. It is on the right side of center console, pointed at by an arrow. The grey 32P connector you see is unplugged from its underside. The wires I needed to cut and route to head unit area were : position 2 (white) - to Maestro. And positions 14-16 (grey/brown/yellow) for the microphone. I used shielded 20/2 to route it. More on this in subsequent post.

Things starting to get in shape. After routing all the cables and plugging in various harnesses. (most of it had to be soldered up meticulously), I am able to put the factory head back in.

Trimmed and tidied up all the wires going into the amp. The place still needs a thorough vacuuming (which I did right after) Also cannot see, but I got some blocks glued to car floor under the carpet there, and I screwed the amp to those blocks.

Finally, new unit mounted, passenger seat back in, battery reconnected and I got some Android Auto going on here!

Rear camera works too!

And so does navigation. The blue LED thingy below climate controls is bass adjuster control for the amp.

Sounds really great, new USB works, Microphone works, all steering wheel buttons work too. Some additional wiring details in the next post.

This is a really nice job that you did and really great of you to share. I have a 2015 EX and I replaced all factory speakers including the sub (not in factory location) and that was a huge pain for me, but i did get help from the piloteers site for it. It sounds so much better than factory which may have been the worst sound in a car i have ever had.
I kept the factory head unit because i figured it would be a huge pain to change (your write up pretty much proces that to me) and I really do not think i am willing to put in the time and the car would probably not be drivable for too long for me. Also, probably not willing to pay a audio shop to do it.
Really nice write up and kudos to you for a really good job!

 

[edyy6619]

No idea what happened to pictures,
So here is the album link.

Honda Pilot 2013 audio overhaul

16 new items · Album by Igor Obraztsov

photos.app.goo.gl

Inspired by DMG's remake, this is my overhaul. We had an older car where I replaced the stock audio with an Alpine ILX-207. We recently traded it in for a new Subaru, but I swapped out back to original audio. Sop now I had a 2013 Pilot with an outdated system and a nice $600 Alpine head gathering dust. I decided to combine the two. Following is the process, with pictures. I am going to add all the wiring detail/pinouts in a separate post.

Since stock head unit is too integrated to be removed, I decided to do what DMG did and put it where the screen is. Which required serious dash redo. Rather than tear up my Pilot's own, I found a screen unit (with housing) on ebay for about $50. Also got a sheet of 3/16" ABS plastic with nice carbon fiber texture.

Removed the display, cut away the clear plastic leaving a rim (it is needed there cause it got retaining tabs). Glued in the side supports.

Painstakingly created a cardboard pattern, trimming it with scissors till it was right, then cut out the panel from ABS on a bandsaw, cut out opening for the unit, and bent it using a heat gun.

Front panel glued in place.

Drilled holes in side ribs, put Alpine ILX-207 in place, secured with screws, attache the front bezel frame. There is a whole bunch of dust there.

My dashboard, all torn apart.

When your car looks like this, it is hard to believe you will ever put it back together. What is going on here: Passenger seat removed for access. I ran brand new speaker wire into all the doors and sub location, ran an 8AWG to battery (50amp fuse). In doors, I installed Focal Integration ISC-165 speakers (Crutchfield threw in the adapters for free) Instead of the anemic factory sub, I put in a shallow-mount Kicker 43CWRT81, with voice coils in series for 2 Ohm impendance.
All of that was to be powererd by a Rockford Fosgate 5 channel R600X5 amp. Hush mats applied in doors and as speaker baffles (sorry did not take pictures of those)

I thought about using Pilot's existing USB cable that goes to the display unit. But Android auto is very picky about cables. Cutting into a cable at the display might have messed up the shielding. So I opted for a 6-ft USB 3.0 extension with a mountable socket. Looks practically factory-installed

For backup camera, I needed to tap into a reverse wire. Best place to do so is at under-dash fuse box. The official name of the position is 'E15', it is an orange wire pointed to by an arrow. I tapped into that and routed the wire to head unit location. Gotta be very careful to follow the harnesses there, so wire does not get to snag on various moving parts.

At the dash, I needed to cut away some plastic to accommodate the head unit and to make wiring easier.

In order to use factory microphone and phone-related steering wheel buttons, I needed to tap into the HandsFreeLink unit connector. It is on the right side of center console, pointed at by an arrow. The grey 32P connector you see is unplugged from its underside. The wires I needed to cut and route to head unit area were : position 2 (white) - to Maestro. And positions 14-16 (grey/brown/yellow) for the microphone. I used shielded 20/2 to route it. More on this in subsequent post.

Things starting to get in shape. After routing all the cables and plugging in various harnesses. (most of it had to be soldered up meticulously), I am able to put the factory head back in.

Trimmed and tidied up all the wires going into the amp. The place still needs a thorough vacuuming (which I did right after) Also cannot see, but I got some blocks glued to car floor under the carpet there, and I screwed the amp to those blocks.

Finally, new unit mounted, passenger seat back in, battery reconnected and I got some Android Auto going on here!

Rear camera works too!

And so does navigation. The blue LED thingy below climate controls is bass adjuster control for the amp.

Sounds really great, new USB works, Microphone works, all steering wheel buttons work too. Some additional wiring details in the next post.

Factory unit fronts go into Alpine's AUX. So I can use it still to play CDs... which I did not use in years. All control otherwise is via Alpine buttons/screen and steering wheel.
If you hope to put new head unit in place of screen and then be able to control it via factory dash controls, such arrangement I am afraid is impossible.

I know this is old but i followed almsot all your ateps but when i connect the factory plug to my original radio im getting alot of statics if i disconnect it my aftermarket radio works fine but dint have ac control display.

 

[scorrpio]

Not sure what steps you followed... I created a custom harness where the only pass through wires are power and some security-related wires. The wires going to speakers are left disconnected. On head unit side, front speaker wires go to the LC2i. Unless your harness still connects head unit to factory speakers, I don't see how you can get 'static'.