Hi guys,

I recently finished installing an Alpine ILX-W670 headunit in my 04 350z. Love the headunit and finally having built in navigation and Android Auto. The one thing I dont care for is the lack of physical buttons. It's pretty difficult to hit the capacitive volume or mute buttons while driving without looking at the screen. My Z also didn't come with any steering wheel controls.

Is it possible to add on the stock controls and have it interface with an aftermarket head unit? Would I have to source an entire steering wheel or just the control inserts?

I'm quite handy with electrical stuff so I don't mind if custom wiring is needed to make it work.

Thanks!

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It looks like this Metra ASWC 1 kit is an optional installation accessory when I set the vehicle to 06-08 350z on Cruchfield's site. Has anyone used that before?

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_120ASW...l-Adapter.html

 

I just installed one for a Kenwood. Works great. Just follow the instructions. Read them fully/Carefully.

The wiring instructions changes between Bose and Non-Bose equipped Zs.

Before starting to program, make sure to upgrade the firmware over USB using the Axxess utility.

The small plastic cover door over the USB port rattles, recommend putting some tape over it before buttoning things up in the dash.
Cheers!
-Icer

 

Does the OEM steering wheel controls use resistive outputs? My alpine w670 can actually be programmed directly with resistive signals from the vehicle. It sounds like an adapter isn't needed in that case.

Do the early model Z's lack the harness on the steering column to plug the control into? I'm wondering if it's worth sourcing that as well or if I should just run some wires from the wheel to the headunit.




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Yes, the OEM controls on 350Zs use a resistive output, but there are still 3x Wires in a Non-Bose Z that need to be adapted to work with your Alpine, one of which is simply a ground wire. My understanding is that all 350Zs have the harness plugs required for adding steering wheel audio controls, there might be some differences in the early models for cruise control (not 100% on that one). I highly recommend sourcing the OEM controls if you can, but I've also seen aftermarket options.

There's a detailed thread covering this:
https://my350z.com/forum/audio-video...oem-parts.html

Cheers!
-Icer

 

Thanks for clarifying. My alpine uses a 3 wire input. The swc programming manual actually says an adapter isn't needed for most asian cars that use resistive controls:

https://support.alpine-usa.com/hc/en...e-Instructions

 

Looking into your iLX-W670 manual. It looks like you just need to tap directly into the 3-wire Brown Plug for SWC on the 350Z's dash harness. This is actually a really nice feature for Alpine to include, no messy adapter box to convert to a 3.5mm jack (which is what I had to do for my Kenwood). Instead you have a nice touchscreen menu on the Headunit itself for programming/testing the buttons.

Here's the Wires from the Alpine side:
SW1 (Black/Brown) Steering Wheel Control
SW2 (Black/Blue) Steering Wheel Control
SWG (Black/White) Steering Wheel GND

Here's the Color Code for the Nissan Side (Brown Plug with 3 wires):
Orange - Steering Wheel Control
Red/Green - Steering Wheel Control
Yellow/Green - Steering Wheel GND

Now what's not clear are the signal wires. There's not enough detail to judge which pin goes to where (SW1 vs. SW2), so you have a 50/50 chance to get it right the 1st time. Not a big deal.

Source: https://manuals.alpine-usa.com/produ...LX-W670_EN.pdf
Check Page 51 for wiring definitions.
Check Page 31 for SWC programming/setup instructions.

My suggestion:
Alpine SW1 (Black/Brown) connect to (Orange) Nissan
Alpine SW2 (Black/Blue) connect to (Red/Green) Nissan
Alpine SWG (Black/White) connect to Chassis Ground - You can use the shared ground for Headunit.
Nissan (Yellow/Green) connect to Chassis Ground - You can use the shared ground for Headunit.

Give that a try and see if all works, if something is off, simply swap SW1 and SW2 connections and it should work.
Cheers!
-Icer

 

Wow thanks for looking all that up! Ya it's pretty great that an adapter isn't needed. I had just emailed crutchfield for wiring instructions for 06-08 350z's and was gonna ask if I could get a discount on the adapter module since I just bought my headunit. It's weird that their vehicle guide recommends the metra adapter for 06-08 if you want to retain SWC.

Now I just gotta source the steering wheel controls piece. Really hoping my steering column has a harness already installed. My base model doesn't have cruise or bose.

 

hey man I was wondering if you ever tried tapping into the brown plug with the three wires like the guy above mentioned? I’m currently in the process and tapped into both the swc wires from my Atoto head unit but the swc is unresponsive. I wonder if I have to take into the ground wire as well. Any help will be appreciated!

 

Hey Jon,

Please provide more details...
Which wires on your headunit are for SWC?
How are things currently connected?

As I mentioned earlier in this thread. The factory harness (Brown plug) has 2 control wires and 1 Ground.

You absolutely do need to connect the Yellow/Green wire from the factory harness to chassis ground if you're using OEM steering wheel controls. How you do this ground connection is up to you. You can splice it into your Headunit's ground (bundling/sharing), or you can splice into the Yellow/Green wire and run it to a separate ground location. To keep things more flexible/cleaner on my Z. I believe I ran a dedicated ground wire from the Yellow/Green wire with it's own ring terminal. This way I had enough wire harness slack/length to pull only the headunit out without having to mess with SWC adapter I'm using.

I hope this makes sense.

Good Luck!
-Icer

 

Hey Ice,

I actually figured it out! I tapped my two swc wires to each wire on the brown plug (orientation/color does not matter). I then tapped the yellow/green wire with a T tap on one end with an extra gauge wire and put a terminal on the other end then mounted it to the chassis. Everything works smoothly now. Thank you!

 

Awesome! Thanks for following up!
-Icer

 

idnt read the whole thread, but i have successfully added a 2006 st wheel audio control assembly, and a 2006 clock spring.. and was able to wire directly to an aftermarket android head unit that allows resistive programming. no adpaters to buy or install.. works flawlessly.