CBL9

I Bought a 1998 Civic EX with the OEM AM/FM headunit a few days ago. I wanted a CD player so I bought an OEM 1999 Civic SI CD Player headunit. When I went to install it, I flipped down the cup holder cover in the lower DIN and noticed that the OEM external CD player option was already installed. The cup holder thing was open and hiding it the entire time. Could I run both? Will the external CD player in the lower console act like a CD changer would? That would plug into the CD changer port on the back of the 1999 Civic SI CD player headunit correct? Might as well have two CD players

Malakai

y? theres no point. leave the factory one up top and put in an A/M one in the bottom. That way ppl think u have a factory deck and dont try to jack ur ****.

Hittnthebz

^^^I agree. Seems pointless to me. You will still have to change cds in and out unless you only have 2 cds. The point of a changer is to have multiple cds loaded and ready to go.

CBL9

Well technically I would have two CDs in at once. And the one down there sucks because I can't load a CD if i havea drink in the cupholder.

h2392si

Just leave well enough alone.

Hittnthebz

If that cd player is so useless, just take it out and put the default panel in and install the radio/cd payer you bought. Pretty simple.

CBL9

I guess I will just leave it the way it is since I bought the 1999 SI one for like $20 and they are selling on ebay for around $50 I will just sell it.

Maybe I will buy an OEM Cass Headunit that I run my IPOD through.

Syndacate

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CBL9 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well technically I would have two CDs in at once. And the one down there sucks because I can't load a CD if i havea drink in the cupholder.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Nah, it's a bit tricky, the OEM head unit is made to run off of a signal from a separate reader (the one by the cup holder) while the Si's is made to run from an internal signal since the reader is one unit with the rest of it.

I wouldn't be surprised if you have to do some heavy internal board modifications as well as re-write the chip's command lines to get it to work as I'm pretty sure the Si's will have no digital input processes that include scanning an external CD reader through X port on the back.

So you'd have to modify the command script and the programming of the CD player's e-prom, find a way to hack the input jack of the OEM CD player into the Si head unit. Modify the board with either a parallel resistor or a switch resistor (depending on how you reprogram the circuit board and whether or not you're going to have an external switch, obviously a parallel resistor with an internal command line to scan both would be the best, but do note that you'd also have to modify the input options list to switch between the two.

Or maybe it'll scan for external inputs through the '96-'98 jack so you won't have to do any mods - but it may be optional (if it was optional) so you might have to re-enable it through the command line - I don't think it'll have the external scan diagnostics stock, but I could be wrong.

Now that I think of it, you can also modify the AUX input (if it has one) to the secondary CD reader and simply switch it to AUX input and it would work - unless the signal is different (as the input signal's probably in straight speaker format (forgot the technical name) and the wiring is probably in individual channel format).

Thanks for the idea though, I just might forward this to the EE department, maybe they can use it as a project or something. I wouldn't mind doing it, but I have too much **** to do already. It'd be fun for ***** and giggles, but do I think it's worth it to play 2 CD's at the same time? Absolutely not.

Go buy a 6 CD changer or something man, I could be all wrong about this and it could be just a simple re-wiring on the board to utilize the AUX input, but if you want it to be clean you're gonna have to edit the e-prom to scan for additional CD player signals. The reprogramming shouldn't be as difficult as it is to get a chip reader that you can actually read that chip with.

Or maybe Honda made them all the same and it'll just plug right in...but I doubt it.

Either way, good luck.

NOFX

Here, I'll make it simple.

The '96-'98 OEM CD slave will not plug into the '99-'00 Civic Si CD player. The plug is wrong.

Hittnthebz

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by NOFX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Here, I'll make it simple.

The '96-'98 OEM CD slave will not plug into the '99-'00 Civic Si CD player. The plug is wrong.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I guess that ends it all then, without all the technical mumbo-jumbo.