Alright, so I'm 90% sure that I'll be going with the AVIC-F90BT as my in dash DVD/Navigation/Bluetooth etc.

One of the draws of this system seems to be the endless number of modifications that can be done to the system.

Unfortunately, I'm not the most mechanically inclined person so I'm going to have to take this in to a shop and have them do it for me. I'm sure this will have some sort of limit on what I can do afterward since I don't have the intention of going back under the dashboard and messing with the system.

So what type of stuff should I have prepared for the installer? I'm in the preliminary stages of my research of the potential mods that can be done but I'm certainly interested in bypassing the E-Brake, adding an external hard drive, maybe some visual mods, any bluetooth updates, and anything else that people find interesting. So here are my two questions:

1. What are the most interesting and commonly used mods for these systems?

2. Which of these do I need to address from a physical standpoint (gaining access to the unit from under the dashboard?)

3. What extra stuff do I need to buy to get all this fancy stuff to work optimally?

Thanks in advance for all the help. I'll be price shopping this unit shortly and pulling the trigger within the next few days. Anyone have any advice on where to buy from as well?

Gave it a day.

Thought I'd check back to see if anyone had any comments or suggestions.

If you think you might want Sirius or XM radio, go ahead and purchase the appropriate tuner and BUS interface if applicable. Get an iPod if you don't already have one and pick out a backup camera if you want that little luxury item. Also run the wires for a subwoofer and extra monitors if that's something you're into.

Luckily, I can pull my F90 out in under a minute, so I'm adding each item as money allows.

So far I have:

SIRIUS SC-C1 Universal Tuner

Sirius CD-SB10 Bus Interface

Boyo VTL420 Backup Camera

1st gen iPod Touch

Later on I'll maybe add a 10" sub.

Good luck. I really enjoy my F series.

What about some sort of USB extension cable? Isn't the only way to access this by getting to the back of the unit? If I got an extension cable then I'd be able to access it while the unit was still attached.

I'm not looking for a backup camera or any type of amps and subs.

So an ipod cable, possibly a USB extension cable, and Sirius? Anything else? I'm definitely planning on doing some software mods, maybe changing the skin and definitely reading up more on bypassing the e brake feature.

Hey CGHitman14, I own a 2007 civic si 4dr and the dashboard on all 06+ civics is technically the same. You'll be surprised how easy the dash comes out and goes back in, there are no screws at all just hold the middle part of the dash (radio ac area) from the right and pull it outward towards the drivers seat. It literally takes 1 min to take it out and put it back in. So you shouldn't worry about adding stuff afterwards. If you need more help just ask and ill make a video how to take the dashboard apart.

--tonton

I'd love to see a video, or even just a few pictures.

Curious to see how one of these in dash units looks in a Civic. Also would be nice to see how to take the dash off. Brand spankin' new car, only about 350 miles I don't wanna scuff up anything with the dashboard by pulling to hard or something...

Sure bro Ill go ahead and record a video and ill upload it an hour or so.

Wow, this is like free customer service here, haha.

I'll eagerly be awaiting....

Hehe I'm just helping a civic fella out.

BTW I dont have the f90 I have the Avic-D3 .

I was actually considering doing it myself with a little bit of guidance from a nice set of directions from crutchfield....but then I stumbled across this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cigarjohn/ ... 652539484/

and freaked at the idea of having my brand new car look like that and worrying I wouldn't ever put the pieces back together.

Im having trouble exporting the video from my videocamera im installing the driver. dammit it doesnt even detect as a mass storage.

Hmm, that's not good. Not just a basic plug and play?

Well keep me updated.

OK man got it I'm uploading it to youtube as we speak.

Excellent....link me when ready.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xnZnno_6AE

There we go. Just give it couple of minutes for it to process.

Alrighty......keep clicking and waiting now, haha.

Thanks again for the help.

hehe no problem bro.

Still waiting...

"This video is unavailable"

Come on youtuuuuuube

yea man the icon of the video is showing on my youtube account. Give it 10 mins and it should be ready, its a 182mb file.

What about some sort of USB extension cable? Isn't the only way to access this by getting to the back of the unit? If I got an extension cable then I'd be able to access it while the unit was still attached.

 

I'm not looking for a backup camera or any type of amps and subs.

 

So an ipod cable, possibly a USB extension cable, and Sirius? Anything else? I'm definitely planning on doing some software mods, maybe changing the skin and definitely reading up more on bypassing the e brake feature.

I'm not sure about the hard drive, but the F90 has a USB cable already connected and long enough to reach into my arm rest/center console. (That's where I keep my iPod) If that's how people are connecting their hard drives, then you just need to figure our where you want to run the wire to. You probably won't need a USB extension.

The bypass was cake. I had no experience with car audio before doing mine and it came out perfect.

Ok its up now hitman.

Ok its up now hitman.

Thanks a ton man. (nice shout out too)

Now I can confidently get access to the head unit.

I really appreciate it.

Yea man. But I wouldn't recommend you doing the whole install on your own unless you have some experience. Tweeter quoted me $500 for the install, circuit city $130.

Tweeter? $500? Crazy!

$130 was much more of what I expected. Seems to be comparable to what I paid to get my AVIC-N1 installed years ago on my 01 Cavalier.

Yea man 500 was absolutely crazy, $130 was a reasonable price a 2 - 3 hours job.