This is a documentation of my second DIY upgrade journey; taking a car from stock to unique.
Finally got around to creating this thread after over a year of laziness and procrastination.

While thread is also intended to serve as a guide to others looking to do the same, It is primarily in preparation for the sale of this car in a month or two.
project spanned about 6 months; from order of parts and tools to completion( first quarter of 2019)

Total spend was about $2700- $2800 (excluding wheels which were sourced locally @N170k).

fun fact. . . . half of the items in this upgrade were procured before the car was even purchased.

Project bordered the following areas:

-Sound/Entertainment,

-Illumination,

-Suspension & control,

-Windows (tint)

-Backup Camera.



1. Sound/Entertainment upgrade entailed :

-headunit replacement
-speaker replacement (all four)
-sound deadening
-subwoofer installation

2. Illumination upgrade entailed

upgrade of all interior & exterior Lighting bulbs to High-quality LED alternatives..
.daytime running lights, fog lights, brake light, turn signal, reverse lights, cabin lights , door lights, HID xenon headlight bulbs everything

3. Backup camera install
this entailed the installation of an aftermarket camera from the Brand Motion company

4. Window tint :

Yeppp I shipped my own tint film in the specific brand and tint percentage I wanted and installed myself. This entailed the installation of the Geosheild 20% Nanoceramic film from tintzoom . details on this choice later.

5. Suspension/Control :

this entailed
-A brake rotor upgrade. : replaced the standard brake rotors with some drilled and slotted performance rotors from Powerstop.

-Ride Height upgrade: installed 35mm front strut spacers and rear coil spacers from the Tema4x4 brand, to increase ground clearance and make room for larger, wider tyres: resulting in a sportier, more agressive appearance, better road grip and wider stance.

I will be following with process pictures and details of parts used/installed

Arrival of Some Supplies:

Kenwood Excelon DDX9904s

Rockford fostgate PUNCH P300-12 Powered subwoofer

Stinger Amplifier kit

Noico Sound deadening Mat. 80 Mil 36 sqft

Geosheild pronano ceramic tint film

Infinity kappa 62.11i speakers (by Harman Kardon) for the front doors

JBL GTO 629 speakers also tuned by Harman Kardon for the rear doors

harnesses, speaker adapters, flex tubing, plastic trim piece (for headset), harnesses, etc

.

First Step . . . . Replacement of the headunit.

One of the most challenging part of this project was installing the headunit.
My MDX came with the ELS surround sound sytem which is setup with a factory Amplifier and subwoofer) and because of this, changing the headunit wasnt a simple matter of swapping stereos and connecting with a harness. You have to find a way to send audio signal to the speakers while bypassing the factory amp.
After hours of research on Acurazine and MDXers forums , I got some insight into tapping into the audio feed... pre-amp, and running wires from there to the head unit harness (FOR ALL FOUR DOORS). this would have resulted in a very ugly job of cutting and joining , but for the blessing of T-taps.

As mentioned before Head unit of Choice : Kenwood DDX9904s ( about $750-800 at the time)
fantastic stereo, fantastic sound , Carplay, Android Auto, great audio customization, too many great features to list.

The below is a guide to the colour code for the amplifier wiring in second Gen MDXs.

Amplifier is located in the pasenger side kick panel. ( Arrow points to the Amplifirer feed harness . ) which I had to disconnect and tap into

Following.

-shows the harness disconnected
- shows head of T taps attached
- shows final tapping
- T taps, kenwood stereo harness, connectors and sundry items

the choice of blue for all cables and flex tubing is to distinguish my wiring from stock/factory

pic 1 - the arrow in the picture below shows the cables attached to the knenwood harness ( goes into the rear of the radio) with red connectors.

pic 2 - shows the labeled end of the cables. labeling is necessary as the cables which have no colour coding are first fished from the stereo location down to the kick panel before the female part of the T-tap is attached .
so you have to know which exact wire/channel you're connecting to, at both the stereo harness end and the pre amp end ( following the Amplifier wiring diagram above)

common sense should tell u to first of all show us the full pic of the car u r transforming before showing us all this craps!

T B C

obiekunie2:
common sense should tell u to first of all show us the full pic of the car u r transforming before showing us all this craps!

commonsense is not common at all

bizzle2:

commonsense is not common at all

undiluted truth!

you proved it beyond any doubt!

obiekunie2:
common sense should tell u to first of all show us the full pic of the car u r transforming before showing us all this craps!

Because na you buy the car for am na. Or because you dey pay am to make this thread.

Some of una go just carry phone dey type rubbish.

obiekunie2:
common sense should tell u to first of all show us the full pic of the car u r transforming before showing us all this craps!

Oga, please rest.
Car no be your own.
Upgrade no be for you.
Money, no be you spend.
Yet you are here dishing instructions?

Go and hide please.

HeavenlyBang:


Because na you buy the car for am na. Or because you dey pay am to make this thread.

Some of una go just carry phone dey type rubbish.

Lol, what an id!ot. Serious laughter catch Me.

Don't mind the bomboclat talking about common sense, just continue with your post.

obiekunie2:


undiluted truth!

you proved it beyond any doubt!

Right! ... but I'll show what the fok I want to show, whenever the fok I want to show it , Now fok off.

MARKone:
Don't mind the bomboclat talking about common sense, just continue with your post.

I don try for today jare. Already put a TBC

Amplifier is located in the pasenger side kick panel. ( Arrow points to the Amplifirer feed harness . ) which I had to disconnect and tap into

adebankole74596:
Amplifier is located in the pasenger side kick panel. ( Arrow points to the Amplifirer feed harness . ) which I had to disconnect and tap into

oh really?

and u didnt tell us this before now?

oya open ur own thread make u tell us

no pour sansan for this one

tenk!!

bizzle2:
This is a documentation of my second DIY upgrade journey; taking a car from stock to unique.
Finally got around to creating this thread after over a year of laziness and procrastination.

While thread is also intended to serve as a guide to others looking to do the same, It is primarily in preparation for the sale of this car in a month or two.
project spanned about 6 months; from order of parts and tools to completion( first quarter of 2019)

Total spend was about $2700- $2800 (excluding wheels which were sourced locally @N170k).

fun fact. . . . half of the items in this upgrade were procured before the car was even purchased.

Project bordered the following areas:

-Sound/Entertainment,

-Illumination,

-Suspension & control,

-Windows (tint)

-Backup Camera.



1. Sound/Entertainment upgrade entailed :

-headunit replacement
-speaker replacement (all four)
-sound deadening
-subwoofer installation

2. Illumination upgrade entailed

upgrade of all interior & exterior Lighting bulbs to High-quality LED alternatives..
.daytime running lights, fog lights, brake light, turn signal, reverse lights, cabin lights , door lights, HID xenon headlight bulbs everything

3. Backup camera install
this entailed the installation of an aftermarket camera from the Brand Motion company

4. Window tint :

Yeppp I shipped my own tint film in the specific brand and tint percentage I wanted and installed myself. This entailed the installation of the Geosheild 20% Nanoceramic film from tintzoom . details on this choice later.

5. Suspension/Control :

this entailed
-A brake rotor upgrade. : replaced the standard brake rotors with some drilled and slotted performance rotors from Powerstop.

-Ride Height upgrade: installed 35mm front strut spacers and rear coil spacers from the Tema4x4 brand, to increase ground clearance and make room for larger, wider tyres: resulting in a sportier, more agressive appearance, better road grip and wider stance.

I will be following with process pictures and details of parts used/installed

There is something that stands out in your threads.

You do your homework.

Following

Following

Lol all of these for a crappy honda . In 2021 dem go dey sell am 2m. Why waste money on a crappy honda SUV why. Acura mdx na very useless suv

2cribz:
Lol all of these for a crappy honda . In 2021 dem go dey sell am 2m. Why waste money on a crappy honda SUV why. Acura mdx na very useless suv

Oruvwe. E better pass your CRV wey no get AC.

I drive an avalon 08 model . I go buy u .u no reach half of my money.

HeavenlyBang:


Oruvwe. E better pass your CRV wey no get AC.

2cribz:
I drive an avalon 08 model . I go buy u .u no reach half of my money.

Lol, you gats learn how to talk. Maybe you go see your helper for this Nairaland.

My guy go sleep,most of u guys in reality are wothless and gpt nothing to offer. Na nairaland dey give una prestige,hopeless broke fucksz

HeavenlyBang:


Lol, you gats learn how to talk. Maybe you go see your helper for this Nairaland.

2cribz:
My guy go sleep,most of u guys in reality are wothless and gpt nothing to offer. Na nairaland dey give una prestige,hopeless broke fucksz

Jobless yam.

2cribz:
My guy go sleep,most of u guys in reality are wothless and gpt nothing to offer. Na nairaland dey give una prestige,hopeless broke fucksz

the irony inside this post ehn

how far the ML?? u don obtain am?


.

2cribz:
My guy go sleep,most of u guys in reality are wothless and gpt nothing to offer. Na nairaland dey give una prestige,hopeless broke fucksz

Best thread in a while here.

But we'd ruin it as usual

BamBamK:
how far the ML?? u don obtain am?


.

That one no get shishi. Na to smoke igbeaux, then come Nairaland dey misyarn.