New headunit wires cut...do I still need harness?
 

I bought a used Pioneer head unit and the wires were cut already. Do I still need a harness or can they just splice to factory wires? Also, I got the Metra kit coming and spacers for the speakers. Is there anything else I need? Speaker wire harness as well?? Thanks all...just want to make sure I have everything before I take it in.

You don't really ever NEED the harness, it is just there so you don't have to figure out which wires do what and so you don't have to cut the factory harness up. The metra harness' wires are labeled and come with a sheet that also tells you which wires do what. For the speakers I unclipped the wires from the factory clips so that I could put the stock ones back in and no one would ever know that they were taken out.

Hi… I’m not sure exactly what you mean, but it sounds from your description that you have a H/U with a bunch of dangling and cut wires, and you don’t have the Pioneer harness-connector. Is that correct?

The idea with a Metra harness is it connects to your H/U’s harness with a multi-line plug, and connects to the car with a second multi-line plug.

If that’s the case (you have a H/U with a mutilated harness), do what 350z 6sp recommends. Purchase the appropriate Metra harness, and solder (yes, do it correctly… solder the H/U’s dangling wires to the Metra’s wires, and shrink wrap the connections). When you finish connecting the Pioneer’s H/U wires to the Metra’s harness, connect this to the car’s harness.

As 350z 6sp states: “The metra harness' wires are labeled and come with a sheet that also tells you which wires do what.”

Forgive me if I have missed the question. :o

--Spike

Thanks guys. Yes, there are a bunch of dangling wires on the back of the HU. So I assume I will also need the Pioneer's wire diagram to properly connect the right ones to the Metra harness? I don't believe they are labeled. And the speakers...I see Metra has speaker harness as well that will just clip to the factory wire and to the new speaker. They have two options for the Z though...would this depend on which type of speaker I buy? Thanks again fellas....

If they are not labeled then you would need Pioneer's diagram. You should be able to find that on Pioneer's website. When I installed my h/u the pioneer and metra colors almost all, if not all, of the colors matched up, but I would just find the diagram on their website to be safe. The difference in the speaker harness may be bose vs. non bose but I'm not sure. I remember the connectors for my old car with bose looked similar to my 07 w/o bose but I never checked to see if they were exactly the same.

^^ Good answer... and your advice is all correct.

--Spike

unless you got like a 15 year old pioneer head unit where the wiring colors were different, then you should be able to match the pioneer wires directly to the color wires on the aftermarket nissan harness...definitly try NOT to cut off the factory harness...especially since the metra harness is so cheap and will save you tons of time and make for a more clean cut and professional install...

oh one more thing the only differences you should find when matching up to the metra harness is a black/white amp ground wire (not needed) an orange/black wire -dimmer i believe, also not needed. You will see a blue and a blue/white wire...and on the pioneer head unit only a blue/white....this is the amplifier remote turn on wire if you have the bose system you will need this to turn on the factory amp and the solid blue is for a power antenna which we dont have so this is not needed as well...good luck