No idea what happened to pictures,
So here is the album link.
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 Sop now I had a 2013 Pilot with an outdated system and a nice $600 Alpine head gathering dust.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.
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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.
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Front panel glued in place.
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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)
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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
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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.
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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.
So here is the album link.
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.
