I am helping my girlfriend upgrade the stereo in her Insight. She doesn't use tapes at all and would like to swap a Honda Civic CD player head unit in and take out the Honda tape player it came with. (She prefers the stock look and doesn't want to risk theft in San Francisco.)

Will the single CD stereo from a 2001-2005 Civic fit the insight without extensive modification? I have some experience with car audio installs and am hoping this is straightforward...especially hoping the Insight and Civic stereos use the same wiring harness.

I am not sure... but one way I found to see what the back of a radio looks like (including the plugs/wires connections) is to search out the radio on E-Bay. Liely somebody is selling a radio from a 01-05 civic, and likely the ad will include pics of the backside. If the connectors look identicle... should work?
Spence

If you're willing to do a little wiring, most aftermarket head units should fit just fine in the Insight. Just head to an electronics store like Best Buy and pick up a wiring harness adapter for the car and wire that to the harness that came with whichever new head unit you chose. Most car audio places should be able to do this installation for you if you want. I currently have a JVC Kameleon in my Insight which I installed over 2 years ago, its never had any issues and sounds great. My car originally came with the basic tape deck.

To do an radio install you will have to remove the plastic shroud on the shift tunnel and then remove a few screws on the plastic panel surrounding the radio. The panel will then pull free with a little work. Be careful pulling the panel off because the clips can snap, it is best to work from one corner first and then progressively unsnap each clip one at a time. Once you have uncliped the panel carefully unclip the power cord for the lighter.

I have a 2005 Civic hybrid and an Insight. The stock CD player in my Civic is shaped like |--/ Maybe the older 01-03 CD player would fit, but an 05 won't.

What about getting the 6 cd changer the plugs into the back of the tape player and hides under the seat?

If you get something aftermarket and don't want to cut any wires you can get a Honda plug adapter.

I wish to install a new head unit / speakers in my Insight.

Is the stock tape deck hard to remove?
I see some directions below.
Any additional / specific directions would be helpful.
Thanks in advance.
-John

Doing a radio install in an Insight is a fairly easy task for anyone who can handle a basic Phillips screwdriver. It usually takes about 10 minutes at most to remove or replace plus about 10 minutes to half an hour to do the wiring harness (depending if you've done any electrical wiring before).

Tools:
Phillips screwdriver
Wiring harness adapter (available from any electronics or car auto store)
Electrical tape or electrical crimp connectors
Wire cutter/crimper/stripper

Directions:
1. Remove everything from the glove box
2. On the passenger side, under the glove box there should be two screws, remove both
3. Now unlatch the glove box and gently turn it sideways and slide it out
4. Next, there are 3 to 4 screws on the side of the center console beneath the radio, remove all of these (note: you do not need to remove the center console where the shifter and cup holders are)
5. Make sure that all the screws are removed, now starting from one corner of the console piece (I usually start from the top right), gently pull the plastic console piece outwards (it will take a good amount of force to remove, but be careful because the plastic and metal clips on the back of it can break) if any of the clips break its not a huge deal there are lots of them and unless you break more 4 or so it will reassemble just fine.
6. Once the console is loose, remove the electrical plug connected to the back of the cigarette lighter
7. Now you should be able to see the radio unit and brackets.
8. The radio is held in place by two brackets with 4 screws anchored into the dashboard
9. Remove these 4 screws and slide the radio out
10. Unplug the wiring harness and antenna cables
11. Note where the brackets are screwed to the old radio, find the same holes on your new radio and swap the brackets onto it
12. Now wire the new radio's wiring harness/plug to the Honda style harness that you bought (usually this is simply a matter of matching wire colors and then twisting/crimping them together, most wiring harnesses come with a color guide to help you)
13. Plug the harnesses together and then into the radio, then attach the antenna cable
14. Turn on the ignition and test that everything works
15. Reassemble everything in reverse order

-When you put the center console back in place, check the metal spring clips which fit over each of the plastic pins on the back of the console, make sure they are centered and secure before snapping it back into place. Also, it can sometimes take a bit of force to reattach, use your hands or a very soft mallet to tap it into place if necessary.

-I wrote these instructions from memory so some items like the number of screws in each step my be slightly off, also, my Insight had the stock tape deck without CD changer, if you have a CD changer there will likely be an extra plug on the back of the radio to detach and reattach.

Here's a link with how to and photos for Insight head unit replacement.

http://www.qagh.com/insight/howto/sh...ck&showall=yes

FWIW Crutchfield lists several head units that will "fit", albeit with bracket modifications.