I started with a Soundgate SNHOND3 adapter from http://store.yahoo.com/logjam/sounsnhond3.html and modified its cable with the female end of Honda part # 08A31-0E1-010:
The end result is a Y assembly that allows the SNHOND3 to plug into the radio's aux connector while keeping the navi unit (which had previously plugged into this aux connector) connected.
I tried to put the xm antenna inside on the back deck, but the reception just wasn't quite good enough. So I settled for the trunk lid. I need to get some really thin felt and cut some out in the shape of the bottom of the antenna to protect the paint. My Civic's paint got all scratched up from its magnetic xm antenna. (I wasn't very careful with it. I don't plan on repeating that mistake.)
The hardest part of all of this was arguably bringing myself to drilling a big hole in my new car. Luckily it is almost impossible to see it once everything is put back together. This is the sunglass holder that is normally in the ceiling.
Behind the storage bin and "not an ashtray"... The SNHOND3, ground loop isolator (audio transformers to eliminate engine noise due to ground loop between head unit and xm tuner), and new custom wiring harness (above) all go under the radio in this next picture. You can see the 2 blue connectors for the factory amp in this pic. I tapped into one of these wires for constant +12v power for the xm tuner. Switched power came from the wire going to the front "cigarette lighter" outlet.
Update 2004/06/27 - Here's a pic of the SNHOND3 and the GLI in place. Just above the GLI, you can see the white connector where the modded cable to the head unit connects to the navi system. I had rattles after the initial install, so I've since shoved a bunch of foam around the SNHOND3 and the GLI. I hope that takes care of it.
Center console with the cupholder/trim removed. You can see the center storage bin's 12v accessory outlet sitting out from where it goes.
This is under the dash, above where the glove box goes. I initially put the xm tuner up under here, velcroed to the bottom of the air vent tubing near the top of this pic. It looked like it was going to fit ok, but once I got the glove box back on, i discovered that the top of the glove box scraped along the tuner as you opened and closed it. So, out came the tuner.
This is on the ceiling in the center right behind the windshield. This is where the sunglass holder, front dome lights, navi microphone, and homelink (builtin garage door opener) go.
Here is the passenger side front pillar with the cover removed. Top is before, bottom is after. This is where I ran the xm control unit's cable up to the sunglass holder. Note that the wire is completey out of the way of the airbag.
Here is the center console storage compartment with my addition of two RCA jacks. These are for a PDA, MP3 player, etc... I was also going to add two small jacks for switched and constant power (using the accessory outlet is bulky for something like a semi-permanent PDA charger/power cable) but I ran out of time.
Ok, I forgot to take pics of the XM Commander's tuner module mounted prior to putting the cover back on. And it was too much of a PITA to get it back on to take it off again just for a picture. So here is the xm tuner, all velcroed in to the side wall under the dash... with the cover over it. Use your x-ray vision and/or imagination :-)
Update 2004/06/27 -- I took the side wall cover off again to troubleshoot some XM audio issues, so I snapped these pics while I had it off
Here is the xm control unit in the reassembled sunglass holder. I still haven't found a good way to mount it up to the foam.
Here I tried round velcro and that worked really well.. for about 20 minutes until the velcro's sticky came off of the foam. I need to find a way to secure the velcro to the foam so it won't come off. I'm thinking super-glue, but I don't want it to be TOO permanent.
Here is the heads up display showing CD-C for CD Changer.. This is the newly accessable mode that the SNHOND3 adapter enables. Note all of the controls available on the navi screen and the +/- buttons on the steering wheel. All of these send a signal to the SNHOND3 and the SNHOND3 converts them into Sony Unilink protocol. I need to find a way to interface with that so I can make these do something. It would be really nice if I could transmit IR codes to the xm to tell it to do channel +/- with the steering wheel controls. That's a project for another day... hmm, I should have run an extra pair of wires up to the sunglass holder to use for an IR emitter. oh well... it wasn't THAT hard to take the pillar cover off.
And here is an iPAQ attached to the RCA jacks in the center console. The sound quality is really quite good.
Ok, so yes, I did just attach the center console RCA jacks in parallel with the xm tuner's line out and hooked it all up to the SNHOND3's input. Normally, this is a bad idea. But, I did put a ground loop isolator right at the xm tuner's output to eliminate some nasty engine noise (and other electrical noise) in the audio. So the xm tuner's output and the RCA jacks are electrically isolated (the GLI is just a pair of transformers, right?). To use the RCA jack input, I just turn off the xm unit. To listen to xm, I disconnect whatever is attached to the RCA jacks (turning it off isn't necessarily sufficient). It seems to work fine and I can't hear any loss in audio quality. I was all prepared to build a line level switcher/preamp, but it didn't end up seeming to be necessary.
Contact: tsxmodjason8282@truedesign.org