I bought a Honda Element in 2003. It’s a great vehicle for ham stuff, dog events, light camping, etc.
Here’s how I mounted my VHF between the seats. It’s a great place for it: Out of the way, easy to reach, and easy to run power to it. Not so easy to run the coax, and the radio’s not in line of sight while driving. A mobile with a remote head would work better.
Here’s the final installation. These pics are pretty old, I did this in 2004. It’s still running strong.
I used a drill, some L-brackets and bolts from the hardware store.
1) The center console is removable. Little plastic clips hold it to the floor.
2) I gently pried it up, careful not to break the clips. I’m sure you could buy more, but with a little care one can avoid that.
3) When it’s up, there is a wiring harness and e-brake assembly.
4) Notice the sheet metal near the front of the car. That’s where I wanted to mount the L-brackets. Those holes have to be left clear, they’re where the console snaps in.
5) I positioned the brackets just to see where they wouldn’t be in the way of the console’s clips, and to get an idea of where the brackets would stick out. I also needed one of the bracket’s holes to be over a flat area of the sheet metal. I also checked the fit of the mobile’s mounting bracket on the L-brackets, to make sure that would work out (not pictured).
6) I marked one of the holes for each bracket.
7) Drill…careful not to get near the wiring harness. I also checked under the sheet metal to see if anything was hidden underneath. Don’t want to drill into something other than that sheet metal…
8) Fasten with bolt, lock washers, and nuts. Locktite might be a good idea here.
9) Snap the console back in place. I didn’t need to make notches in the console for the L-brackets, the fit wasn’t that close.
10) Mount the mobile’s bracket and then the bracket itself. The toughest part was screwing the radio into its bracket, the passenger seat was in the way.
Next I had to run power and coax. I don’t have photos of those.
For the power, I ran large diameter power cable from the battery, through fuses, and through a hole in the engine firewall. If you look very carefully in the firewall, you’ll see a spot that looks like it has a “punch-out” hole. I think this is where the clutch cable runs for standard Elements. It was a pain to drill through, but it made a great location to run the power cable from the engine compartment into the passenger compartment. I then ran the cable under the dash behind the flooring, and next to the subwoofer. It exists right in front of the sub, a few inches from the mobile rig. The power cable goes into a mini 4-way Anderson Powerpole splitter.
The antenna run: I have a Thule roof rack, so I just mounted a luggage-rack type antenna mount to it. I ran the cable under the plastic strip on the roof, and have it exit near the passenger rear door hinge. The cable is taped into place. It runs down the door jamb, and then under the plastic sill. It exists the plastic sill under the passenger seat, and then is routed along the side of the passenger seat to hook into the mobile rig.
Done! It’s worked out great.
