so I finally picked up a used IC-2300H and figured putting it in my 2019 Civic would be pretty straightforward. Yeah, not so much. Finding a decent mounting spot that doesn't block anything or look completely terrible is way more of a challenge than I thought it would be. I've seen guys run the radio under the seat and just put the head unit somewhere on the dash but I'm not totally sold on that setup - feels like a lot of cable to manage and I'm worried about heat under there during summer.

Also the whole fusing situation on the power run to the battery is stressing me out a little, I know you're supposed to fuse close to the battery but the firewall grommet situation on this car is kinda tight and I dont want to mess anything up. Anyone done an install on a newer Honda or really any modern car where everything's kind of crammed together? Would love to hear how you handled the cable routing especially.

I did a similar install in a 2020 Corolla last year and yeah newer cars are just not friendly for this kind of thing. What I ended up doing was running the power cable through an existing grommet on the passenger side - had to use a pick tool to poke through without damaging it but it worked fine. Fused right at the battery with a 30 amp inline fuse, kept it within about 6 inches of the terminal like you're supposed to.

For the head unit I used one of those RAM mount setups on the dash vent. Looks pretty clean and the mic cable isn't too crazy. The control head on that Icom is small enough that it doesnt really obstruct much. Under seat for the main body works great in my experience, I was worried about heat too but honestly in a year I haven't had any issues. Just make sure theres a little airflow and you're not stuffing it right up against carpet with no gap at all.

oh man I went through this exact thing when I got my first mobile rig. I actually gave up on doing it myself and had a local shop that does 12v stuff look at it - not a radio shop just a car audio place - and they were actually really helpful with the routing even if they didn't know anything about ham radio specifically. Might be worth it if the firewall situation is really stressing you out, just have someone who knows that car's layout take a look before you go poking around.