Adding Bluetooth to Vintage Factory OEM Honda Stereo 

This is real cool. EE guy here. If you wanted to keep the tape deck functional, you could have installed this through a small multiplexer chip, or switch chip. You could hook one of the select lines to memory button 6, or another infrequently used frontpannel button, and use that to switch between the two sources. There's a lot of room availible in the CRX radio housing, you should have enough room.

SICKEST MOD IVE EVER SEEN! I wonder if this works with my jdm beagle wagon cassette player.

I like that you still need to insert the cassette to play music. Cool to have modern technology in a retro way

you've done plenty of cool shit before. but this one was next level. Bravo! Love the OEM+ vibe of your channel.

Just the way he wanted to keep it OEM as possible on the interior its so cool to watch. im one of those who try to stay OEM but it's hard sometimes lol

I did it a bit differently with the factory delco unit in my 86 monte ss. I put the bluetooth module between the tuner and preamp input to the amplifier section of the head unit. Then i added an audio relay and an external switch to switch between tuner and bluetooth.

Excellent video, I wish there was a tutorial like this when I did the same mod to my AW11's tape deck. I would highly recommend to anyone doing this mod to power the Bluetooth module with 12V that is only live when a tape is inserted. I pinched the supply for the tape drive motor, which solves two problems; 1. Don't hear the noisy motor whirring away anymore 2. You won't miss any phone calls when you're listening to the radio while driving. If you're like me and always forget to turn Bluetooth off on your phone...

I did something very similar in my 91 PP1 Beat, bought a Honda radio harness and wired in a similar bluetooth adapter and it works flawlessly!

I love this mod. Works on ANY radio with cassette, since cassette is all analog. I did this exact mod in my 03 Silverado. Factory radio with bluetooth built in is the coolest thing you can do to an older rig.

I think the cassette detection should be some sort of switch and the signal must be together with the same flat cable you cut. You might be able to use a switch on that pin, so you could use Bluetooth without inserting a tape. And with some extra work, even retain the tape functionality if you manage to disconnect/reconnect the signal pins together with that switch.

This has to be the coolest OEM mod ever. I will most definitely watch this over and do this to my crx as well. Thank you for the step by step breakdown.

Love your videos man. What about a full walk around of the crx explaining everything it has done like this radio/Bluetooth mod man? It is the cleanest one in all of youtube! Thank you for all your hard work!

As a fellow car audio enthusiast, I have to say DANG! Simple and straight to the point but you tackle something that could very easily be a SCARY task for 90% of the world out there. You literally took something a lot would be embarrassed to ask about (why? stoopid world!) and made into a very short user friendly DIY vid! The audio and JDM world are blessed to have ya my friend!

Great mod. Keeps the stock look of the interior while also not being stuck only to FM radio or cassette. I wanted to do something similar on my '89 BMW and my '90 Renault but both have period correct stereos that came from factory with AUX (or CD-IN as they labeled it back then). But my '87 AE86 does not have that so I will defenetely to this mod. Thanks for the great video, you just gained another subscriber :)

Now I have a reason to put that radio back in my car! Thanks!

Hats 🎩 off to you. That is slick. Tape to make it play 👍🏽 probably the best solution to maintain the factory radio 👏🏽 Knocked it out the park!!!

I ordered the module, got Sunday installed it Monday in my GM factory Delco radio. I believe I lost the cassette function but, I DO NOT CARE. I love the Bluetooth function. Thanks dude.

I did this a year back to my Prelude which still works flawlessly. But i got my power from the fuse box and now I want to redo mine for a cleaner approach after seeing you tapping into the ACC from the radio itself!

really cool trick, did the same on a old 1980's boombox, but tape input were not identified, I had to trace down the main chip i/o. But at the end it works. Since the boombox tape is activated with a play button, I was able to use the BT and Tape input in parallel and add a switch to stop the little motor to turn. So I can use either the original tape or BT

This is the easiest mod ever in old car cassette stereo, i almost plan to buy new car stereo for my 1998 mitsubishi van. With this i was able to play bluetooth on vintage stereo, thanks

Sorry, you answered my question super fast and I forgot to comment. Awesome video, I'll see if I can do it to my Ford radio. Thanks a lot for your help!

Definitely need to make a custom CRX Seth sticker for that blank tape.

At first i thought it was a lame idea but near the end i was hooked. Keeping that original look is pretty dope.

I did the same with a factory CD player but not nearly as clean as yours! Mad props! After market units just doesn’t look right.

This was dope! After I first watched this, a friend (out of the blue) gave me an OEM 95 Civic radio. You have given me some ideas.

So many people overlook Hondas factory radios. The older ones (like before 2001-ish) sounded pretty decent and had decent equalization. They just need more power and better speakers, which you can easily do with a 4 or 5 (4+sub) channel amp. I love this mod, only downside being the noisy tape deck mechanism. If you we could trick it to read the audio input without the motors running. For my Honda radios I have been using the external CD changer modulator/ aux adapters as an auxiliary input which a JL Audio MBT-RX Bluetooth receiver is connected to via RCAs to receive the signal. Clear, loud sound, automatically connects and the tape deck is silent. The down side to my mod is all of the modules and wiring needs to be hidden under the dash and console. USA Spec DF-HON and Blitzsafe HON / AUX V.1 are what I use and both are awesome but they are discontinued and getting hard to find used or new old stock. To top it off I replace my radios back lighting with LEDs to match whatever interior color lighting theme I have in my car, usually sticking with factory options like amber, red or green, with some cheap Amazon automotive T3 neo wedge 12v dimmable LEDs. Couldn't ask for a nicer set up.

Thank you so much for this clip! I've been wanting to do something like this for my older cars but everyone seems to default to an aftermarket system. Will definitely be using your video as inspiration for when I do my units! Also thank you so much for attaching the BT module link too! We don't deserve you! 🙌

I did this on a 2003 Volvo s60, but instead of a Bluetooth device I added an auxiliary jack. It sounded great, but you definitely need a ground loop isolator so you don't get the engine noise while charging. Cool video tho and Very clean installation.

This is a DOPE mod!! I wish I saw this earlier. I have my first gen CRV stock radio, and purchased an Anker Bluetooth cigarette adapter to the car radio. It all looks oem but love how yours blends well

Did this over the weekend to my 99 Ford truck! Thanks for the info.

I agree. This is a really sick mod. To keep it looking OEM while enjoying your tunes via BT.

I tried this about a year ago and my 91 radio just had this obnoxious hissing I couldn't clean out of the audio even with replacing most of the components. I eventually ran power to the radio and hid a modern radio underneath it where the cubby would be and ran the speakers to that. Definitely not as clean an approach as this module. Top notch.

Too clean Seth. You the CRX MAN of RU-vid !

Seeing a tape deck that clean is heaps nostalgia, thanks fella

That is cool, I always change out the factory Radios and I have about 6 Honda radios somewhere in the garage. I like sound systems in cars so the factory radios don’t offer anything for that. Plus I can have CarPlay on my aftermarket radios which make it easier for todays phones and what not. Not a bad idea but when i worked for Honda I saw too many factory radios fail.

Wow when I thought I’ve seen it all. I absolutely love this and will be my next mod. Thank you ❤

I was looking at doing this. Searching parts and stumbled upon a Bluetooth Cassette. Only negative is you have to charge it like any Bluetooth device…which isn’t too bad of a thing. But something for the not so technical savvy people or people without soldering irons

Next level stuff man love the innovation part of this channel

Nice. OEM headunits are much less busy than standard aftermarket units.

Nice video. I did this on my hyundai radio , but more complicated , like no need for a cassette inside (to much mechanical noise) , the bluetooth only has power if I select Tape so the phone is not connected when I listen to CDs or the radio or when i turn of the unit , and some hacking on some buttons for next/prev track and play / pause in bluetooth mode . Because it is also a cassette sensing and auto reverse deck , it whas a super pain to do this , and the unit did not die after many trial and errors :)) . And just like you , all this work just for the love of that OEM look . :)

Excellent! Now on to my 86 Reliant

Wish I could do this to my Del Sol, too bad the previous owner took out the old head unit. Love the videos, keep them coming!

If you have an old bluetooth speaker laying around. You can do this too. Great video.

Nice, but here's another way that I used in a Miata radio. You can buy bare audio BT boards that run off 5V. I'm pretty sure that radio has a built in 5V regulator for its uC. If not its also not too hard to fit a 7805 in there to get 5V from the 12V. The BT receiver board will have L and R outputs for the radio.

Dope write up! This is legit AF! Thanks for sharing, about to do this myself as well!

Totally trying this in my truck. 😁

Its working perfect

Excellent i like that bring olds to new

That's sick i never new about that dope

Congratulations very nice work 👍🏾

Nice vlog dude preety awesome 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 the bluetooth circuit is designed directly in pnp can be used on a car tape deck can also be used on a vintage sony home theater the important thing is that you understand the current source circuit on a pcb board and know how to solder it ... I've tried it and managed to connect

Dude that's slick man can't wait to do it on mine.

Well done, have the original radio in my 1985 CRX and was thinking of ways to add Bluetooth.

Nice man, very elaborate! I just got a $6 transmitter on ebay and it's been working for like 6 years now :)

Holy shit its me. That's definitely something I'd do. Cool video.

Very ingenious mod. I have a couple OEM radio headunits laying around, so I might just have to do this little project sometime.. 👍

Excellent work man. This is getting done on my GSR

that's impressive way to keep factory OEM stereo's modern

Wow! My first two cars was CRX))

I've intercepted the L R from the CD player optional that came with this radio to a baseus BT adapter thru a P2 cable soldered to them. A mute áudio disk and voila!

Been wanting to do something like this for my Evo. This didn't look too bad at all. Hoping the Mitsubishi head unit has their inputs labelled like yours did

Woooow.. fire!! ima install my oem radio again

Thanks mate. Been thinking of a solution for my OEM cassette player as well. My OEM unit is very different down here in Australia. It’s a Pioneer system so I’ll check out whether your method will work. Much appreciated.

I agree with Dana! Definitely gonna do this to my two 1G crx's

Simplistic and impossible to notice I like it

That is freaking genius!! Good job!!

Excelent work, all original classic Honda

you can use a certain crv radio too to get the oem look

This is really awesome.

Love the idea but I personally prefer having the tape Deck still work maybe a switch to switch between the Bluetooth and tape deck audio

tommyfyeah going mental with this mode

the Crx Gurru ... this guys is the best

Love the ingenuity!!! Some gold ole mods/builds.

That's some cool mod you made. Sick car too.

Very cool. I managed to get an adaptor wire for the cd multi changer input on my nissan head unit. But I think this is defintly the way forward. Much cleaner. 😎👍🔰

What the actual...bro you clever!

I've installed it in the same way but instead of putting a blank cassette inside, I've just pushed the thingy that cassette sits on it forward (in the radio itself) so the player thinks there's a cassette inside, And also removed its spring so it wont be able to move it back (since there's actually no cassette in it). And whenever I want to listen to radio I just hit the button and switch to radio. Great vid

This is so cool. Thanks for the video👍

yea this is pretty cool

Bro I this is the most cleanist dream crx ive seen brother I love it.

ok now I need to do this to my restomod

Well I'm impressed man. That's That's sweet mod to keep OEM in play. And let's be honest...Honda has a really nice tape deck radio anyways lol.

Wow, you've a steady hand ✋ sir, fantastic hack boss, and I've always and will have the upmost love for aCRX. blessings brother 🙏 nice vid

Impressive. I'm going to do this!

Neat, but I wouldn't desolder the old cables. I would put them right on the pins from the back. That way I could use old cassettes and have BT. I would also use flux and use protective goop over the exposed soldered cables. The loose BT module could be a problem vibration wise, I would secure even more.

Man that is awesome!

So glad you popped back in my feed. I already loved the crx video but this is awesome and I definitely subscribed after this authentic video.

So stoked you made a video about this!!!!

if you would have just piggybacked the signal from the bluetooth to the back side you could have maintained both the tape deck and had bluetooth, so long as you dont play anything through the bluetooth a normal tape will still play :P

I love when you play your own videos on these car stereo videos lol. Cool mod!

CRX is my favorite car ever!

You should sell these modded head units. Great work!

Broooo!! O.O!! Loved it! Thanks!

Such a good idea i wish people would add a cd slot conversation as well so people still can keep there classic style radios with out having to swap for some tacky after market one

This is super dope! Very ingenious!

This is real cool .

Should look at those ff and rw buttons and see if you can program them to skip tracks.

crazy brilliant 🔥

I should do this to my Jeep!

Cool Hidden upgrade. 👍