rouxeny

So, this is a continuation of my previous thread, detailing the parts required for a aftermarket nav install. That thread is here

Pioneer Nav Install Part I

As that thread describes, I decided to have my installation done at Custom Car and Stereo in Plaistow, NH, better known here as Nazar's. That shop has done a number of Z installs and Nazar is active on this board. There is also going to be a meet there in late April. I decided to go there primarily because I didn't have much confidence in the shops around me (New Haven, CT).

I tried to take a lot of pics, but in the end, I don't have that much to show for it.

I woke up today at 4:45 AM, a little early even by my standards. Actually, I woke up before the alarm, because I was pretty excited. Kind of like when I was a kid and I knew we were going to Disneyland. I made it to Victor's (vics350) house by about 5:50. He said he'd be up after 6:00 so I drove around the neighbourhood a little and finally pulled into his driveway at about 6:10. I didn't even shut the engine off by the time he stuck his head out the door. I guess he was a little excited too.

The drive to Plaistow from CT is fairly straightforward, we had printed directions from Yahoo Maps. It took about 2 hours, most of it at about 80 (sometimes 90) mph. The Z is very easy to speed in. The shop has a fairly large parking lot, more than adequate for the meet. Nobody was there when we got there, so we drove around a bit. I got stuck in some snow/ice behind the shop, another reminder that Z+snow=trouble and had to work a little to get it out. While we were sitting in front of the shop, Victor noticed a LMS Z across the street. Obviously, we went to check it out. It's driven by this guy Sebastian, seems a nice enough fellow. He had a full audio setup, JL's (I think) in the front, a Nazar special sub enclosure. Here's some pics of his car.

rouxeny

Here's another pic of his Kenwood pop out screen.

While we were chatting, Nazar showed up. Of course, he had done Sebastian's install.

rouxeny

Nazar, and I wish I had a pic of him and the store, is a nice fellow. Very friendly and low key. The store has a relaxed feel, I'm not sure what I'm trying to convey with that statement, but some audio shops seem very tense to me. I sound like a feng shui master. The shop doesn't look like much from outside, but it's packed with stuff on the inside.

You like JL? Here you go.

rouxeny

Very shortly, we met most of the installers, and chatted with a few customers. The actual installation started at about 9:40. Justin's the guy that did the work. Nice guy, very approachable, very interested in setting things up the way I wanted, and cool enough to let me take pics and generally get in his way. abz123, I showed him your optic cable trick, he was dubious at first, but when it worked, he was pretty impressed. To tell the truth, I was pretty dubious too.

I don't have many pics of the taking apart of the car, mainly because he did it in about 5 minutes. The dissection is pretty straightforward. Actually, by the time I remembered about the camera, the Pioneer nav unit was already in. I used the OEM Nissan nav brackets. They fit together perfectly, and I mean perfect.

rouxeny

For those of you who read through the first thread, you know that I was entertaining the idea of installing this myself. In THEORY, it's easy. Reality proves to be quite different. Unless you have some significant installation experience, I DO NOT recommend doing this at home. It took Justin, who's done this for years, about 6 hours. The electrical part had me the most worried, and probably appropriately so. Here's a pic of the wires behind the driver's kick panel. The back-up lamp wire is located here, it's light green. The Service manual was a big help.

rouxeny

Here's where the GPS sensor ended up. I really really really didn't want it in the middle of the dash and was interested in it lying below the triple meter, or under the plastic of the area ahead of the steering wheel. However, when I actually saw the thing in the below location, I figured it was okay. It actually looks like it's supposed to be there. Fairly unobtrusive. It does look from this pic like the center console has a small gap. It might, but I can't tell from within the passenger compartment.

rouxeny

Yes, the car is a little dirty.

The Pioneer nav speaker and mike were placed just above the rear view mirror. I was worried that they would stick out a lot, but it actually looks fine. No problems hearing the speaker and the IR works well. This isn't the best pic, but it gives you an idea of where the two things went.

rouxeny

I wanted to have DVD/MP3 ability also and I had purchased a Farenheit DVD-5F from Crutchfield to run in the other cubby. Do yourself a favor, don't buy this, or if you have to, do me a favor and buy mine. The depth of the unit (9 1/8") is too deep to fit well into the cubby. I ended up buying a DIN sized player from Nazar at just about the same price. Nazar, on the way back, Victor and I realized that I never paid you for this. I need your address so I can send you a check.

Unfortunately, my second set of OEM brackets hadn't come in. Nazar called the local Nissan dealer and they didn't have them. He did put in an order for a few for himself as they very much simplify installing DIN units in the cubby holes. The new DVD player ended up with a temporary set of brackets. I'll replace them later.

No pics of all this, it's now snowing out and dark. Maybe tomorrow.

Here's Justin at work. Very highly recommended. If you go, ask for him.

rouxeny

Finally, here are some pics of the shop and of the custom sub box they're selling. It comes in two styles, one is flush, the other sticks out more, like in the first pic of the LMS Z. Here's the flush one. These should be for sale at the meet.

rouxeny

Custom Car and Stereo, I don't think I could recommended it more. It was absolutely worth the 2 hour drive to get the car worked on buy some guys I felt very comfortable with. They're very familiar with Z's and are all a wealth of information. Nazar is pretty generous with his discounts, let's just say that my install, plus a little tip, cost much less than what was quoted to me locally and took about a day less. If and when Victor and I get the money together for radio installs, we'll be back.

Hopefully, he will get some things together to have on sale at the meet.

I'll post more pics of the install specifics (sorry, I don't have many pics of the wiring, frankly, it was way too complicated for me to follow) tomorrow.

I'll end with a pic of the inside of the shop. Actually, I just realized it's not that demonstrative of what's going on. The wall of radios and speakers is to the left of all this, as is the install bay.

A final word, Nazar and Justin, the speed sensor wire does seem to be working, I'm not sure what went on before.

vics350

iTrader: (1)

Great write-up Andrew. I second what Andrew said about Nazar and Justin. They did a great job. I now have the fever to have them install a stereo system in my car.

qirex

good show...

mpw pics please!!

Also . hows the pioneer??
It came down to that or the alpine for me.
The voice rec sounded intriguing (but then it still has a remote right?)

but my dealer didnt deal with pioneer.

rouxeny

I haven't really had a chance to mess around with the Pioneer.
It really started to snow just as I pulled into the driveway last night. Now, it's raining pretty hard.

So far, the Pioneer seems pretty good. It's accurate and re-routes pretty well.

I'll report more as I use it more.

AAAA

Man, pretty sweet. I wanna put in Navi too. Congrats.

Are the subs on the others guys Z (LMS) 10W3s? 10W3v2? 10W6?


A combo of your 2 installs would be great.

vics350

iTrader: (1)

Andrew, how about some pics of the screen with a DVD movie playing.
I'm sure people would love to see this.

whatever

iTrader: (2)

Congrats on finally getting it all installed.
how do you like the video quality of the nav with the 7001? Do you think it might be better with a Pioneer/Alpine screen using the native RGB connectors? Or you think it's plenty good?

Any chance you can take some closeup of nav in action?

rouxeny

Um, overall, I'm not that amazed by the quality of the Farenheit screen. I haven't made any direct comparisons to an Alpine or Pioneer one. Victor thinks the stock Nissan one is a little better in that it seems to flicker less. It's really most noticeable with the navigation, in that the text on the street names is not all that sharp. It's really good enough for everyday use, but if you wanted the absolute best, I'd probably go with another. There doesn't seem to be any problem with DVD's.


It's dark out, but I'll go try to take some pics of Nav in action.

rouxeny

Here's the on/off switch I needed for the RF modulator. My understanding was that a RF mod simply added it's own radio signal to the existing one. This way, you could still hear all the other stations with one specific one being tuned in to whatever was being modulated. My understanding is wrong. Instead, the RF modulator removes all radio signals and inserts its one signal instead. This way, you can't hear anything else, as there are no other signals. Since the RF mod didn't come with an on/off switch, we had to make one.

Hopefully, in the future, I'll get a HU with an AUX in and this can be done away with.

rouxeny

Here's the finished Pioneer nav unit. I think if I could find a trim plate, I could make the edges look a little more complete. But as for now, it's pretty damn good.

Again, the stock brackets and face plate were used.

rouxeny

Here's the Concept Nav unit. I've never heard of the brand, but the price was right and it seems to do well so far. As you can tell, I didn't have another set of brackets, they are on national back order supposedly. These are some temporary brackets.