OK, I drive a little Mazda P5, which I love. I’m not really into moding my primary transportation, so the only upgrades I really have installed are a high performance air filter (look out) and window tint. (Which isn’t much of a upgrade, but more of a necessity in the desert).

I do, however, have the desire to listen to my MP3 player in the car, which is the stock radio for the Mazda Protege5. I tried using FM modulators, and they suck. I did know that the factory radio in my P5 has an “expansion bay” which allows one to purchase a cassette deck or MD deck that can be integrated into the form factor. Actually a cool idea. I had speculated that one could use this bay, and it’s associated connections to supply an Aux input for the unit. After searching periodically for information on connector type, pin-outs, or a how-to file somewhere in the internet, I came up empty handed many times. I mostly found postings on various fourms and discussion groups expressing the same problem.

Well, I think I finally found what I need to make the factory radio in my Protege5 work the way I want. As it turns out the radio in my 2002 P5 is virtually idetical to the units Mazda put in the Miata. Take a look at Stephen Fosketts collection of photos and pin-outs. The radio in my car is close to the 4262, and as it turns out, the differences are mearly cosmetic.

Heres the thing I had been looking for, the Pin-out and photo of the connector in the expansion bay.

Upon futher snooping, I also discovered that a little company called Sylfex is manufacturing a plug-in circuit board for expressly this purpose called AuxMod!!! It doesn’t appear that there are many avaliable, but the second generation stuff looks really cool, and may have the ability to interface with an iPod or CarPuter using the radios front panel interface. You can find pictures of the installation process and an installation guide in pdf format.

UPDATE 7-17-2005:

So I’m on the wait list for the SuperAuxMod. #1150. I’ll update again when I have one in my hot little hands.

Other Resources:

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Geek My Ride by Auri Rahimzadeh with a foreword by Steve Wozniak. Pretty interesting, and the car used in the book (although I don’t think it’s stated anywhere) appears to be a Mazda Protege5.

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Car Hacks and Mods for Dummies by David Vespremi.