Ok, don't worry, though you should always read the instruction booklet, this one time, that crap isn't necessary. If you are good with electrical tape, then you can get the installation done in less than 15 minutes(not couting from the time you take the plastic trims off.)

Remember, turn the car off, do not work with the engine on, or the key in power mode. turn it completely off, and remove the key.


tools you will need:
-Wiring harness (can be purchased from bestbuy or circuit city) just ask them for a wiring harness for your year model of nissan maxima, and they will get it for you, it should come packaged and contains two pieces.
-Antennae adapter, it will convert the odd two prong style to the universal type, don't worry about the female adapter that comes with it, just leave it flapping around.
-Phillips screw driver, preferably the ones where you can interchange bits, and have a magnet, those will save you from cursing the **** out when you drop your screws, plus, it makes reinstallation a snap. Please get a quality one from Craftsman or the like, and not those cheap crap on your local hardware store.
-electrical tape
-wire stripper ( scissor or razor will do fine here, just don't cut too deep, remove it a little at a time if you're not too experienced.)
-of course, a test CD

So here we go, I assume that you have read Craigh's page on how to remove your center console right? if you have a 89-91 max, there will be four screws, one underneath the cig lighter, the other is to the right of that, and two up top where the light shines down on the stereo at night. If you have a 92-94 max, then there will only be two screws at the bottom, the top is held together by clips. Becareful when you pull your center console out, because the wire that attaches to the hazard switch is short, so you have to tilt the trim piece a bit and get squeeze the tabs and pull it out, same thing for the cig lighter wires.

After you have taken the plastic trim piece off, you will now see four screws holding the bracket that is holding the stereo and platic tray, if yours is a 92-94, it will be holding a cup holder. Just undo those, pull the whole thing out, and you will see wires attached to the back of the radio. just press the tabs and pull those out(gently), also remove the antennae wire, (it is only one cord, its big, and it has a black plastic casing).

Now use the widest phillips head that you can find that will fit into the screws that are attached on the side of the bracket, and undo the ones that are holding the radio. Pull the radio out, and save the screw. now just put in your new HU and use those screws to secure it in place. I know that you HU will come with an extra bezel trim that goes around the unit, you won't need those. so set it aside, and also, remove the universal fit metal box that your HU also comes with, you will only need your HU. remember to remove the guarantee screws on your HU, I believed that they are labeled.

Now, just plug the harness that you have purchased into where the two plugs that used to plug into your old radio are. Do the same with the antenae adaptor.

now its just the matter of matching up the wires color from your new HU to those of the wires on the harness that you bought, starting with speakers first (purple, green, and gray or white wires I believe) then the black one, then the red one, and finally the yellow one. For each wire that you have connect, tape over the exposed copper with a small piece of electrical tape, just enough to cover the exposed areaso that you won't short anything out. Read the package of the wire harness carefully, because for example: a purple with a black stripe down the side is a different polarity than that of the plain purple wire. so just becareful here, and double check your work when you are done. Don't worry about the amp turn on wire, you won't need it until you have an amp to drive your subs.

Now, turn on your car, and power the HU up, if you did everything correctly, you should be able to listen to your music. Slowly rev up your engine, listen to the speakers closely to hear for any sound that increases and decreases with the engine speed, if you get these, they're call alternator noise, which you will then need to get a filter box from Radio Shack. The easiest way to do this is to tune to one a station that doesn't exist , like 83.7 or the lowest your radio will go,which should not have any white noise or garbled music, then turn the volume up high.

if you want, you can connect a ground wire to the black wire from the harness, and fasten it to anything that is metal in that general area.
When everything works as intended, put a few round ot electrical tape around each of the wire that you have connected , make sure to cover the area above and below the connecting point a bit.

Now just slide the whole thing back in, guiding the harness with your hand, and put the screws back in, (installation is the reverse of taking it out). After you are done, reach up behind the harness from the openings on the left side of the passenger near the ECU and rearrange the wire , pulling it away from the big metal chunk that is attached to your HU. since that is the heatsink, and it can get quite hot.

thats it for now, if you need more help, just shoot me a PM.

as for your Bass question, the bose with working amp will be pumping some sweet bass, but will not last long with aftermarket HU. actually, it not recommended as those speakers are rated at 1-2ohm, and can cause your HU to blow fast. After market 3 way speakers are quite efficient, just turn the trebble down and the bass all the way up. trebble setting should be 1-3, tune with your ears, it will cause a metallic type of ring and makes the vocal more crisp, but will kill the bass. If you can go with amps and Subs, then good for you, if not, just stick with the "stock" set up and save the money for future fixing/modding.

to have an idea of what a wiring harness looks like, click http://www.installer.com/photos/70-6502.jpg
keep in mind, the one you will be getting will have two pieces, and will not look exactly like the one pictured, as the one shown is not for the max.

sorry for posting here, but the PM function is messed up as the time of writing.

 

not a problem, as maxima2k2 will not be the only one benefitting from it

 

this should go in stickies

 

bump, trying to keep this post up for one day, so maxima2k2 can read it. Please don't flame me for doing this.

 

Will the amps blow or the hu first? Is there a way (other than the $50 adapter) to fix this problem?

 

The Amps will go first, but its not good for your HU either, some have reported that certain HU will not even power on. and you do not need to spend 50 bucks on the amp adaptor, just bypass them, end of story. If your amps is still in good working order, I think you can post it on the FS forum to recoup some cash.

 

very detailed write up, thanks alot

 

disgruntled:

Am I reading this right. The aftermarket HU will not last long with the bose speakers? I thought everyone was doing this to keep stock speakers. Am I reading this wrong.

I am picking up a new HU and maybe some tweets, but I would like to keep the sub and speakers. Am I asking for trouble by doing this setup?

thanks

 

my personal reccomendation would be to mate the adaptor harness to the new stereo harness at a table via solder and heat shrink tubing instead of electrical tape...that way nothing will come loose or get exposed, and you just plug everything in..I'd also suggest ditching all the stock speakers..

 

thanks. On the speakers, will they hold up for the time being? until funds are available.

 

they should, but I don't know anything about the factory bose systems..they might only last a couple of weeks before starting to distort, and eventually when you do take them off, they wont have any surrounds...you'll want to figure out how to bypass the factory bose amps one way or another..

 

sorry I haven't checked back in the .org for a while. To answer your question, the stock speakers will hold until your budget allows aftermarket, but, be advised that you do not want to get the sound level up too high, think of it as running your sound system in safe mode, until you can afford better speakers. I personally only have aftermarket 6x9 in the rear, and stock bose speakers in the front, all of them are amp bypassed of course, and had been using that set up since I bought the car. Will upgrade soon when summer rolls around.

Addendum: I have detailed pictures of how to bypass the amps on the stock BOSE system, along with instructions if need be, if anyone is in need of them, let me know and I will host it on my crappy website account, or I can email the whole zipped package to them.

Post Addendum: to answer your question, everyone is bypassing their amp because 3rd gen maximas have a history of crappy amps that will fail sooner or later, so they bypassed them in order to be able to have a somewhat fucntional audio system. If you would like to keep the stock amp, (there is no stock subs by the way), you can do so, but it will soon fail because of the extra power coming from the aftermarket HU.

 

my emial address is juvin@bellsouth.net

I guess I am not understanding the posts via search. Some have the harness thing and said to be ok, and others just changed everything out cause they can care less about bose.

overall you are saying I am going to have to change these speakers sooner or later.

this scuks!!

 

yeap, you will have to replace those baby sooner or later, on the plus side, you can just get the rear 6x9 done and leave the front stock, same set up as mine, not great, but its holding out, I had maxed my volume out a couple time for a duration of a 3 min song, front still not blown, just crazy clipping.

 

some of the later gen maximas DO have a stock sub, I just dunno which ones..

 

I was only referring to the 3rd gen, I have only own and driven the 2nd and 3rd gen, so therefore I have no experience with later gen maximas. Thanks for the input though, great to know.