Is it hard to install alarm yourself? Is it pretty straight forward or not? I'm looking at the Clifford Matrix alarm....

 

The OEM install is very straightforward, everything just plugs into existing sockets buried under the dash. It still takes several hours because you have to remove the driver's seat, center console, pull up carpeting, and so on to run all the wiring.

Anything aftermarket will require some cuts and splicing of the car's wiring. If you don't know how to make secure wiring connections, this is one of the things that can haunt you down the road. Also, a better quality alarm will have built in relays to drive various outputs to control your car's doors, lights, etc., but a cheap one may require you to wire in your own relays externally - that's more connections to make and more stuff you have to find space to hide.

Now, if someone has cooked up an install kit for an aftermarket alarm that would plug into the OEM sockets, that would be great.

 

I have the 2.5 installed and the guy who did it at the place took him about 6 hours. He does this for a living.

Said it was one of the hardest units he's ever put in. He had said it would take 2.5 or 3.. He got hurt bad.

 

I was looking into building this. We would need only two connectors. the 17 pin connector for the Keyless entry system, and the 6 pin connector for the ignition switch harness.

Unfortunatly the plugs required are made by Sumitomo Electric, and they aren't sold directly to customers. I read a thread where some guys on another board did end up getting a group buy for a different set of connectors, but the minimum order is 1000 pieces.

I haven't had any luck finding any suppliers for the parts. Honda will sell you the female connectors, but not the males, which is required if you want a truly "cutless" alarm harness.

 

Holy crap...6 hours. What did he do, stop and take a 5 hour nap?

Other than the tight space constraints, which are easily solved by removing the drivers seat to comfortably do the alarm install, the S is one of the easiest cars there is to do...all the wires needed are less than a foot away from each other, and easily accessible. Besides the siren and hood pin switch, the wires are at the keyless module and off the ignition harness, doesnt get much easier.

Everything mobile wise in this car is easy.

The plug and play is a good idea, but the cost doesnt justify the 45 minutes it takes to do any alarm (in the S), except for maybe the avantgaurd line from clifford, that one would take about 2-3 hours in the S.

6 hours is ridiculous though.