Hi everyone,

Hope everyone is doing okay with the pandemic going on. I had a project in mind and I wanted to know your suggestions, tips, ideas, anything that could help. I have a 2017 Honda Accord LX with the standard stereo (no touchscreen) and wanted to purchase a EX variant of the stereo (touchscreen-car play) version from eBay to install in my car. Is this something that is doable? I made a grave mistake by settling for the LX - the carplay technology is simply amazing. Please let me know what you guys think and how I can go about starting this project if its doable. I understand it won't be a direct plug and play type of thing and I will need to change the frame to fit and may need additional harnesses .. let me know what you guys think.

Thank you
S

 

Welcome. Sorry for the response delay. The short answer is that it is totally possible (as i've done the same with my 2014 Sport by fitting a 2015 Hybrid touchscreen) but it is a major PITA and you will have to custom-build harnesses and permanently alter the car's wiring. The issue is that the push-button radios have all aspect internal (FM tuner, HFL, BT, Amp, etc) and the touchscreens have all of those items external. This means that you would not only have to buy the radio but also the FM tuner, BT/HFL module, Amplifier, and ANC module. The touchscreen model has several additional harnesses (due to the external components) that your car won't have. That means custom harness building. If you're lucky you could source all of the components (and main head unit) with factory harnesses cut-off so you only had to solder every wire. Sadly, it's hard to find those components with harnesses cut off so you'd then have to source the OEM harnesses and pins and build your own. I took me a few years to figure out the HFL harness and make my swap work (no FM or XM but I have BT/HFL).

I'll share schematics with you for the 2017 model year with both trim levels so you can compare the schematics.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ap4dXrMqgeWbjjXm...4_fts?e=Mgbam7