Aftermarket Head Unit Question

[BlackSheepz]

Originally Posted by XfireZ51

I installed a Pioneer AppRadio4 several years ago.No issue w fitting into stock radio opening. I love the iOS connectivity and added backup camera.

How difficult was it running the wires for the backup camera? I am considering doing the same when I have it pulled apart. Thanks!

[XfireZ51]

IIRC, I ran the wire down the left side under the door sill coverup into the hatch area where I did drill a small hole that gave me access to the area under the rear bumper cover. I made a small bracket attaching the lens to it and positioned above the license plate using the plate lighting bolts to hold in place.
Works great.

[BlackSheepz]

Originally Posted by XfireZ51

IIRC, I ran the wire down the left side under the door sill coverup into the hatch area where I did drill a small hole that gave me access to the area under the rear bumper cover. I made a small bracket attaching the lens to it and positioned above the license plate using the plate lighting bolts to hold in place.
Works great.

Good to know thank you!
I have all the pieces (minus the backup camera) and am hoping to install the head unit into my Z next week. All depends on work, weather and some medical stuff going on with my wife.

Will let you know how it all goes!

[XfireZ51]

[BlackSheepz]

HO-K. That is a Sahweet earth.
Hrm.

Because I'm not super mechanically inclined that took WAYYYYYYYY too long. About 10 hours in total I estimate which is tough since I did this same thing to another 1992 a few years ago.
THIS IS THE UNIT I WENT WITH.



But I did it.


The shallow head unit required ZERO cutting of either the trim or the back of the dash when installed. It took FOREVER for me to get it lined up correctly in the opening. At one point I even pulled the head unit back out and pulled the mounts off to start over because it just wasn't working for me. It's slightly crooked now, but it works beautifully. The Metra Bose wiring harness is long AF, but it's coiled up under the glovebox now and here we are.

Things to note.

Wireless Carplay = Awesome.

Connection for a phone on the back is USB-C. Not USB-A as so many are. It comes with a USB-C Extension which is easy to run into the armrest which is mostly just for charging my phone now. This unit CAN have two phones connected at once; which will make my wife happy since she's usually the DJ on car trips.

The unit requires you plug a GPS antenna into the head unit to use Carplay GPS. Not sure why, I can only hope it uses the GPS antenna to assist the one in your phone, but I have no idea. I ran this into the glovebox easily enough.

Personally I don't like the 4 touch sensitive buttons on the left side. I don't always hit them the first time causing a delay in whatever it is I want to do but for the volume it pops up a menu allowing you to use the screen to control the volume. It also has clearly defined volumes on the screen for BOTH Music, and navigation announcements, which is really great.

Radios/Cars are SUPER complex compared to years prior. There must be 20 different wires that I taped off because I didn't need them. Speed sensors, reverse sensors, camera sensors, parking sensors etc etc. I worked on this for a couple hours yesterday afternoon and stopped so I could read about the different sensors to know if I would cause myself any heartburn not connecting them.

There are 3 different ground wires in the harness to from the radio. ALL must be connected in order for it to operate.

I did NOT hook up the antenna for standard Radio partly because after hunting for it for about an hour and just being unable to find it I decided to move on. And because I usually listen to satellite radio so I'm not sure I'll need it. We'll see if I regret this or not.

If i run into any major issues with his head in the next couple weeks I'll be sure to update this post, but otherwise for the money I'm pleased. Hope this helps anybody looking at a new head unit but not wanting to modify the trim or inside of the dash!

[scorp508]

Originally Posted by BlackSheepz

Radios/Cars are SUPER complex compared to years prior. There must be 20 different wires that I taped off because I didn't need them. Speed sensors, reverse sensors, camera sensors, parking sensors etc etc.

A couple lessons from recently installing a similar Pioneer NEX head unit in my '94. I'm going on the assumption a 90 and 94's radio wiring is similar, but the below is based on my '94.

The VSS wire on the radio is used to help calibrate GPS, which you may be interested in. The VSS signal from the car is behind the head unit in the center I/P, so if you want to connect it later it isn't hard.

The parking sensor will lock you out of certain functions if the head unit cannot detect the car's parking brake is on. There are ways around this which require using a little bypass module.

If you want to add a reverse camera in the future, then I'd recommend running switched 12V to the camera and don't power the camera using your reverse lights. If you power the camera using the reverse lights, then once you go into reverse, you'll have to wait for the camera to power up before you see anything. By having it powered via switched 12V it'll always be powered, have no delay, and you can press the camera button at any time to see behind you even if not in reverse.

I did NOT hook up the antenna for standard Radio partly because after hunting for it for about an hour and just being unable to find it I decided to move on. And because I usually listen to satellite radio so I'm not sure I'll need it. We'll see if I regret this or not.

It is a dark green 18 GA wire coming out of the Radio Receiver Box that needs to receive 12V to make the antenna motor run. On a BOSE car this wire also turns on the BOSE relay to power on the BOSE amp. On a non-BOSE car this dark green wire goes right from the radio receiver box to the antenna motor.

1994 FSM pics, hopefully similar to a 90.

[BlackSheepz]

Good info for everyone thank you!

Originally Posted by scorp508

It is a dark green 18 GA wire coming out of the Radio Receiver Box that needs to receive 12V to make the antenna motor run. On a BOSE car this wire also turns on the BOSE relay to power on the BOSE amp. On a non-BOSE car this dark green wire goes right from the radio receiver box to the antenna motor.

1994 FSM pics, hopefully similar to a 90.

There is actually a Blue wire in the Metra wiring harness that is for the Amps that is listed as Power/Antenna. Hooked that up and have surprisingly decent sound out of the Bose System without a problem. The wire I am referring to that I couldn't ind was the actual Antenna for reception which *I think* is a thicker 14 gauge wire. I remember it being more obvious in my 1992, but that was years ago and I've slept since then.

[scorp508]

Originally Posted by BlackSheepz

There is actually a Blue wire in the Metra wiring harness that is for the Amps that is listed as Power/Antenna. Hooked that up and have surprisingly decent sound out of the Bose System without a problem.

Same here. The blue (with white stripe?) amp wire on my metra harness wire is going to the dark green wire.

The wire I am referring to that I couldn't ind was the actual Antenna for reception which *I think* is a thicker 14 gauge wire. I remember it being more obvious in my 1992, but that was years ago and I've slept since then.

Oh, sorry! Yes, that is a big chonky black shielded coax type wire. The car side of that should as far as I know be under the tray of the rear passenger storage compartment. That's where mine is, then the metra harness plugs into that end and has its own antenna wire that goes up to the radio unit.

[BlackSheepz]

Originally Posted by scorp508

Same here. The blue (with white stripe?) amp wire on my metra harness wire is going to the dark green wire.



Oh, sorry! Yes, that is a big chonky black shielded coax type wire. The car side of that should as far as I know be under the tray of the rear passenger storage compartment. That's where mine is, then the metra harness plugs into that end and has its own antenna wire that goes up to the radio unit.

Unfortunately on the 90-92 the CDM is behind/under the glovebox instead of behind the seat. (Which would have only been 11,000x easier). Also the reason the CDM is still in place instead of removed, because getting it out of there is a royal PITA. lol

[ghlkal]

Nice work on the install!

Originally Posted by BlackSheepz

It took FOREVER for me to get it lined up correctly in the opening. At one point I even pulled the head unit back out and pulled the mounts off to start over because it just wasn't working for me.

I completely understand. I did the same thing when I installed my Pioneer years ago. I hope I never have t pull it out again!