I did this modification to my 1998 Honda Prelude, but I didn't take pictures of the steps along the way. At the time I should have, but didn't realize so many people would be interested in this modification. The stock 5th generation Honda Prelude comes with an open pocket underneath the CD player. I'm sure other vehicles have a similar setup or at least many Hondas so this could be applicable to other makes and models. I wanted a place I could put my APEXi VAFC to keep it hidden and out of thieves way so I went to the Honda dealership and looked at the cars they had on the lot. The Honda Accord looked like it had a nice little tray under the CD player that had a tray that could open and close. I went ahead and bought one at www.slhondaparts.com for under $20 and hacked away at it. If you can't find it through their site, give them a call. Ask for a 1998 4 door Accord tray.
Since I did this such a long time ago hopefully the following description will help guide you when you have the actual tray in front of you. Installation wasn't too difficult. One tool that you will find very handy is a Dremel. If you don't have one already it wouldn't be a bad idea to invest in one now. It made the install go easily as I was able to cut plastic like butter. The first thing you want to do is to take out your radio and the stock tray. An easy way to do this on the Prelude is to open your glove box and feel around the back. You're looking for any of the tabs that are holding in the plastic trim around the CD player. Once you find the right tab you can push and it should pop right out. This is much better than using a screwdriver and risking damage to your plastic trim.
Next there are four phillips head screws holding the metal bracket that the CD player and the tray are screwed into. Remove these, but be careful not to drop them. Once these screws are removed you can then pull the entire unit out far enough to unplug the radio. Be sure to unplug all the wires.
Now you can remove the stock tray with your screwdriver and have a look at what needs to be done to your new Accord tray in order to make it fit. It won't fit without some modification, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what needs to be done.
The first thing that I cut was the side of the tray where it sticks out. These poles were obviously too big to fit in the metal bracket for the Prelude. The middle hole is what you want to keep for the screws to screw into.
Next I cut the trim around the head unit and tray area. This is the bordering piece of plastic that holds the two metal brackets. The bottom needs to be cut in two places where the tray needs clearance so it can open. When you have the tray you can put in and see why this needs to be done. Test fit it and make your cuts. The two rectangle cuts are where the hinges are on the tray. Don't cut all the way through you trim though!
Next I just cut a hole for the VAFC to fit. You can do this in a couple of different ways, but I chose to expose most of the VAFC since it's so pretty. You will also need to cut a hold in the back of the tray for the wire to feed through to your ECU. This makes it a very stealthy install.
Now in order to keep the VAFC in place I bought a 90 degree bracket from Home Depot that fit perfectly. I lined it up exactly how I wanted it and drilled holes in the tray to screw the bracket down. I also used some 3M double sided tape to keep it place as well. Finally I taped the VAFC to the bracket and voila!
As I stated before it is almost required that you get a hold of the tray beforehand in order to test fit and make the proper cuts. Now you don't have to worry about any thieves stealing your VAFC!
i have purchased an apexi vafc but i dont no how to set it up to get the best performancde for the car. please tell me some parameters i could use to get the best performance out of the car. email me Abid.chaudhry@wlv.ac.uk
thanks
Posted by abid on 2/14/2006 2:06 PM
What kind of car do you have? In order to find out the best parameters you should take it into a shop to tune it. Settings will be different depending what mods you have.
Posted by James on 2/14/2006 9:14 PM
i had a civic si 00 and i dont now haw to tune up mi vafc II
please help
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