$60 Acura TSX double din radio install

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07-07-2019, 11:18 AM

TSXMark

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$60 Acura TSX double din radio install

Used the radio faceplate bezel as a trim template. I used a 4” grinder.

Trial fit bezel with faceplate.

Bondo wire mesh trimmed to cover button and knob holes. Due to my hardener mishap I ended up scrapping this mesh but I did use the mesh as a pattern for my aluminum plate fillers.

Bondo attempt. I aborted this because I didn’t use enough Hardner so it wasn’t curing right. Wiped it off and went with some thin aluminum strips cut in the same shape as the wire mesh.

Finished! Good nuff for who it’s for! (My son)

Finished product, backlight set to red.
I’ve got a high mileage TSX that my teenage son drives which recently had the radio fail. Of course it’s undrivable without a radio per him so I had to do something. I discovered this is pretty common for TSX radios so I didn’t want to get it fixed or purchased a used one. I tried the metro kit with the aftermarket hvac but I didn’t like the way it looked (especially for over $200) and was worried about it failing so I sent it back. Instead I did a double din radio install using the stock HVAC for around $60 installed.

Parts used:
Boss 470BRGB mechless double din radio $33.85 Amazon Scoche HA08B harness adapter. $4.99 eBay
1/16 aluminum sheet 6”x18” $8.95 TSC
Mini fuse tap 10 pack $5.95 eBay
Rustolem semi gloss black $4.95 Walmart

That Boss radio works great because it’s not only dirt cheap but there’s nothing sticking off the back of the faceplate so it’s easy to mount in front of the Acura hvac/ radio board.

The rest of the boss radio attaches to the back panel which includes a small circuit board that protrudes about and inch and a half from the back panel. A ribbon cable joins the faceplate and rear panel.

I trashed the CD player but reused the CD player mount brackets to hold the back panel of the boss radio.

I also trashed the boss radio housing. I’m using only the faceplate and rear panel.

After using the Boss faceplate trim bezel as a guide, i removed all the radio buttons and knobs and ground out the area from the Acura faceplate.

I started applying bondo to some mesh to fill in the areas where the buttons and knobs were but I didn’t add enough hardner so it was taking too long to cure. I decided the bondo route was going to be too hard so I just wiped it all off and went with the thin aluminum fillers.

After the bondo fail I just wanted to be done. The aluminum was very easy to trim and bend to the Acura faceplate contour.

I thought about gluing it but in my haste I just used four small stainless screws and shot it all in semigloss.

I wired the speaker wires from the Boss radio to the amp output with the HA08B adapter. For the key-on and always-on power sources I used two of the mini fuse taps attached to the fuse panel in the driver footwell. 33 is an always on empty slot.

There’s probably a better way to wire it as the Acura clock doesn’t work nor do the lights on the hvac but i wanted to be done and the radio has a clock and the hvac is easy to figure out based on what’s coming out the vents.

I hope this helps someone as I was searching the internet for guidance before starting and saw finished examples but none with a parts list. Also most of the finished examples either used part of the $200 metra kit or spent untold hours making a custom faceplate which to me isn’t worth it for a high mileage, teenager driven car.