YumVTEC

well, after months of having the in-door equipment for power everything, and having to manually adjust my JDM mirrors... I finally buckled and installed it all. Man, I thought installing the stuff in the doors was going to be the hard part. Was I ever wrong!

I wanted it be clean and as OEM as possible and so I realized I would need to get a new dash harness from a 99-00 Civic that had power stuff. So, I nabbed every piece of harness that I could out of a 00 Civic Si front clip and went to town this past weekend with my bro disassembling my car, removing the old harness, and installing the new one...

I was only going to replace the cabin harness as that seemed the easiest way, until I realized that my CX dash harness didn't have lots of wires that needed to be there, and since I already had the dash out anyway, I just did the whole thing.

Lessons learned:

1) Si/EX engine bay harness has one plug that is different on the driver side ('cause it has the cruise wires running through it), so if you plan on using an Si/EX dash harness make sure you get that plug off the engine bay harness and splice it in to your current harness so you can plug everything together nicely. Or I guess you could get the whole Si engine bay harness too...

2) Si/EX brake pedal switch is different than non-cruise equipped Civics... you'll need the brake pedal switch from an Si/EX if you plan on having your brake lights work, 'cause the plug on the Si/EX dash harness won't fit onto the non-cruise brake pedal switch. Oh, and if you're planning on ever adding cruise, there is a cruise disengage switch on the clutch pedal as well that you would probly want to grab. You don't need the whole pedal assembly, just the two switches, as they'll fit right onto your stock pedals.

3) My Si cabin harness was cut as it was from a front clip, so I had to splice it together with my CX cabin harness. Hatchbacks have three extra wires (green, light green, light green/black) coming from the back of the car up the driver side underneath the door sill... They are for the rear wiper motor, which your Si dash harness won't have leads for. I have a CX hence no rear wiper motor, so not a problem, I just taped them off and forgot about them.

4) You will need to remove the A/C core and Fan assembly boxes after you take the dash out so you can pull the part of the dash harness that goes through the firewall back into the car. Oh, this means that you will have to unplug it from the engine harness, and the bottom of the fuse box.

5) All 6g Civic fuse boxes (under hood and under dash) are the same. The Si under-dash fuse box had the power window relay I needed so I got it along with the harness I bought from the junkyard. Heh, I also got the power door lock/keyless control computer, the cruise control computer, and the optional OEM alarm computer with my harness. That means I can get an OEM keyless entry remote and use that with my hatchback.

6) Oh, don't bother disconnecting the winshield wiper motor plug as part of the dash harness. Just cut it and splice in the Si/EX one you get, much easier than disassembling more stuff under the hood.

7) Don't go crazy pulling every bolt you can find out to get the dash out. Just look at which ones are securing the metal skeleton and vinyl skin of the dash to the firewall and chassis. I don't think there are more than 5 or 6 that really need to be removed to get the dash off (the skeleton and skin come out as one big piece).

8) The radio, cluster, and climate control unit harness is one piece that can be disconnected from the fuse box and the heater box and just left on the dash so it comes out easier.

9) I learned that the cabin harness is the one that has most of the wires for the power windows, mirrors, locks, speakers, & tweets. It actually runs under the carpet behind the little hump with the holes in it where the front of the seat rails bolt down to the floor.

I'm sure there's a million other little things I'm forgetting, but you can e-mail/pm me if you do it and get stuck somewhere...

Last weekend when I had finished putting the harness in, the car wouldn't start 'cause the PGM FI relay didn't click on, the windows/mirrors/locks didn't work, my headlights didn't work, nor did my reverse lights. I was pretty pissed and just left it alone all week as I went to work and school. Tonight I was able to spend an hour or so with it referencing the Honda 96-00 Civic ETM (electric troubleshooting manual) and I got a lot accomplished.

It's been a pain, but it's definitely been worth it. I have OEM power everything, done the right way, and it was very exciting to see my JDM power mirrors work for the first time, my windows come down and go up with the switch, and my locks will unlock with the switch (no they don't lock yet, still have a few bugs to work out, and put my car back together).

Why? 'cause it's not that much added weight, and the added convenience is SOOO... nice. Hell, EK9's have this stuff, why not my car?

Lastly, why the hell did Honda of America curse all USDM Civic Hatchbacks from the beginning of time to not have power windows (until the 7g Si)?

Just thought I'd share...


[Modified by YumVTEC, 11:18 PM 9/8/2002]

Halo

very interesting to read, I learned allot. I have been wanting to do this for sometime, but always heard it was a nightmare, but it doesn't seem that bad

YumVTEC

I'm not too mechanically inclined, but this wasn't terrible. So if I can figure it out, anyone can. Just have to find the time and motivation.

EddieHatchBlack

great review, i'll be doing similar in the near future for my DX hatch.