chrisaust

Well, got my new Clarion head unit and sat radio installed yesterday, and it looks great! By the way, the Metra dash kit (99-7404) only cost my installer $35. Anyways, the head unit looks GREAT, and sounds great too. They uninstalled my cd changer, rewired my amp and sub into the head unit instead of inline with the Bose rear speakers, and tightened up my spoiler as well as dynamatting the license plate to get rid of some of the rattle from the sub. It's AWESOME! I sat in my car in the parking lot for an hour last night just playing with all the settings of the stereo. Unfortunately it only has 1 line display for text, so you can have it scroll either the channel name, artist, or title for sirius, or for cd/mp3, the cd name, folder, artist or title. I just dont get why they waste all the display space on silly graphics, but can only give you one line of display and like 12 characters. Anyway, here are a few pics... You can see more at:
http://www.chrisaustin.us/max.html

ALSO, I have some possible good news on the info screen and changing the color. My installer said there are 24 LED bulbs behind the screen lighting them up, but instead of going in there and replacing each one, since they are so tiny, he thinks what they can do is lay back there a thin piece of plastic film, basically a color filter, that will change the orange color to something else. I've just gotta play around with photoshop to find what color film will change the orange to a color I like, hopefully a blue. When they get that installed, they'll change the bulbs in the climate controls, and then I'll probably get that Ebay reverse-glow faceplate for the instrument cluster.

Enjoy the pictures!

chrisaust

Mystery

Thats awsome, so exactly what do you need for this install. I'm sure its been asked before but oh well. I already have subs and and amp from my old car that i want to put in, and a cd changer, so all i need is a new head unit and im back in business.

I've seen the dash kit on ebay, and then there are just wires? Sorry if this was repeatative but doing the stereo is definatly on my list to do soon. Thanks in advance.

Oh and if you figure out how to change it to blue, i will

chrisaust

p.s., been playing with Photoshop, and using colors to lay over the orange, the only really good color I can get to make is a nice red, do you guys think that would look good? I think if they do this, and it doesnt look that great, I'll see how much it will take to actually replace the bulbs, then I can make it maybe a nice blue. THe blue I can make combining with the orange I think will just be too dark to show up on the dark screen. Your thoughts?

chrisaust

Mystery_man, if you aren't looking to go satellite and just want to hook up your changer and amp/sub, that's what I originally had done, and just used the factory system. You wire the amp into the speaker line, I had to end up unplugging the two rear-deck Bose speakers cuz for some reason there was interference between them and the sub. The changer I had was the fm modulator type, so it just worked through the FM radio. That itself isnt too bad of an install. Your installer should be able to get the dash kit for cheaper than on Ebay, as I said mine quoted me $58 for it, but when he put in the final charges yesterday, it said only $34.95.

Mystery

I'd rather get the head unit personally, the dash kit comes with the wires needed? Now that your subs are connected to the HU are your rear deck speakers re connected or no?

And just noticed your pedals, they look really good, any details you can share on them?

chrisaust

Well I think I'm going to skip the color filter step, the only good color I can get mixing orange is a red, and I really want blue, so I'm going to deliver my car back to the installer on Monday, they're going to take apart the screen and figure out what size the LED bulbs are, and what voltage they run on, and then we have to find bulbs that match the size. Do you guys know if I could call a Nissan dealership service center to find out what bulbs those are, without having to take it all apart? Who would be most knowledgeable? A name and phone # would be GREAT! If I get this figured out, we'll all benefit!

chrisaust

Mystery_man, a new head unit is a great idea, it doesn't look bad at all installed. The dash kit is JUST the face on the dash, with that pocket above the head unit, nothing more. The wiring all comes with the head unit or the installer will put in. No I did not reconnect the rear deck speakers, though I might do that now, see how it sounds.

The pedals I got from Courtesyparts.com THe brake pedal is from the 20th (or 25th) anniversary Nissan Maxima accessories page, and the gas pedal is from the Z car page. The brake pedal just has a rubber surround, you take off the existing rubber pedal and fit this one over the metal. The gas pedal you have to use a dremel tool or pliers to shave off the little hump things on the back of the pedal to make it flat. Some people have used screws to screw it through the gas pedal, I just used double-sided tape from 3M, since the pedal lines up perfectly with the existing one and I figure its much easier and less permanent if you ever need to remove it.

DougJones

Chris,
Looks good! I'm very interested in the color change for the info screen. I may pop that sucker out this weekend and see what kind of trouble I can get into at the local Rat Shack.

maxima105

Look nice....

chrisaust

DougJones, if you do pull it out, PLEASE post on here what you can find about each bulb. I called a few different Nissan dealers and no one had that info. We need the size of them (I assume in mm) and what voltage they run on. Once we figure that out, we just need to find where to get those bulbs, and it should be easy from there to replace them.

DougJones

I will DEFINATELY post what I find out. The wife and kids will be out of town until next Tuesday, so it'll keep me out of trouble.

chrisaust

or get you into MORE trouble... just a different kind

KCMAXX

iTrader: (22)

It could look something like this:




www.cardomain.com/id/kappsmax

chrisaust

KC, thats not bad... I was going for a little brighter blue... like this:

chrisaust

Well just found out that the LED bulbs are 12 volt, so we just need to figure out what size they are, and what model if that's possible, unless they are just generic. So if anyone figures this out this weekend, post up here, otherwise my installer's going to take the screen out Monday morning and get this info.

chrisaust

Actually don't quote me on the 12volt thing, if you are taking out the console, measure the voltage, I'm not 100% sure on that. Let's get this rollin'!

NismoMax80

iTrader: (6)

I would love to go with blue, but I'm so **** with detail, I would want all the buttons, guages, and ignition to also be blue. Actually with my all black, I think red would look great, which is just orange without the yellow. So I'll just leave it be.

chrisaust

If they can get the screen color changed, changing the rest is pretty easy. There's that reverse glow gauge on Ebay which is blue, and changing the climate control bulbs would be pretty easy. Even the bulbs on the bottom of the doors when you open them would look cool to change to blue, as well as the lights underneath the front leg compartments.

Mystery

So purrtty, im so down to changing them to blue.

jsmithsole

iTrader: (5)

[QUOTE=chrisaust]Well, got my new Clarion head unit and sat radio installed yesterday, and it looks great! By the way, the Metra dash kit (99-7404) only cost my installer $35. Anyways, the head unit looks GREAT, and sounds great too. They uninstalled my cd changer, rewired my amp and sub into the head unit instead of inline with the Bose rear speakers, and tightened up my spoiler as well as dynamatting the license plate to get rid of some of the rattle from the sub. It's AWESOME! I sat in my car in the parking lot for an hour last night just playing with all the settings of the stereo. Unfortunately it only has 1 line display for text, so you can have it scroll either the channel name, artist, or title for sirius, or for cd/mp3, the cd name, folder, artist or title. I just dont get why they waste all the display space on silly graphics, but can only give you one line of display and like 12 characters. Anyway, here are a few pics... You can see more at:


Looks good, it's nice be able to tune those Boze speakers a bit more isn't it? I've gotten a lot more out of them since my install. Let me know if you hook up your rear deck speakers again, mt installer took them out to let more of the subs through into the car, I noticed a difference once they were out for sure..

AngryPotato

I don't hate the orange as much as others, but given the option of replacing a few bulbs that screen would be glowing blue.

OpTi

is that the touch screen headunit? It looks nice!

OpTi

nevermind, it is the touch screen. That's awesome, i love that headunit.

chrisaust

Yeah it is, I love it so far, surprisingly super-easy to navigate and use, and its very responsive, not like trying to use touch screens say at the airport or some other places. The only drawback is the only one line of text display, so you can't display both artist and title, say, for a cd, or for a sirius channel. The other thing I'm surprised about is it doesnt have the RDS system for regular radio, when station's broadcast their call letters or even song info. Those are the only 2 drawbacks I've found, everything else is great! Can't beat the price I got either!

GrayArea51

iTrader: (1)

Looks like the LEDs are chip leds surface mounted on the board. I don't know the specs though, maybe someone with more expertise could enlighten us. There are 18 of them. With some soldering knowledge and extra care I suppose one could replace them. So far the LEDs found on the following site are close, but without the specs from the originals its hard to tell.

http://www.lc-led.com/ProductListing...dDepartment=29


Here are a couple pics of the unit taken apart:





Let's see what we can find out!

KCMAXX

iTrader: (22)

Is that the actual screen from the max? What do you think would happen if say you were to touch each one with a blue sharpy?

chrisaust

GrayArea, you're awesome... I work in a TV station so we've got engineers here taking a look at your images, I'm going to pull it out this afternoon and have them check it out, see if they can find an exact part #, etc Great link too!

4drsleeper

You're a brave person to mess around with those LED's like that. I hope it all works out because it would look great in blue. However, imagine if you burn up the board or you take off all the LEDs and cant get the new ones to work? I can only imagine how much it would cost to replace that board, very very expensive I'm sure. Good luck and keep us informed as you have so far.

DougJones

GrayArea51 ,
Excellent work! I pulled mine today, but was a little nervous about pulling the black cover off on the rear. There seem to be some hidden clips somewhere along the top edge. I released the two on the bottom and the three on the top, but it still did not want to come off.

As for the specs, does anyone know a good Nissan parts guy?

chrisaust

There ARE a lot of hidden clips and screws, but its not too difficult. just MAKE SURE you dont touch the long green ribbon the runs the length of the circuit board on one side, do NOT do anything to damage that. Otherwise, it isnt too hard. View my "Info screen episode 1" thread for pics I just took of the board...

GrayArea51

iTrader: (1)

It's one of the internal boards behind the screen. There are two of them. This one is dedicated to holding and controlling each LED.

About coloring the LEDs with a sharpy, I think it might be hard to get a decent color since the light is orange. I didn't have a chance to test the display while I had it opened up, but it looks like the LEDs themselves are orange. I didn't see any color filter when I pulled the board out, just a piece to diffuse the light to make it even. The only decent color, although not my choice, you could create would be purple by using a blue filter.

For those of you who are attempting to remove the display, take extra care not to scratch the face of the LCD. Fortunately I did not. Once the display was out of my car I put a piece of seran wrap around the face to keep the dust off of it and so when I set it on it's face it would not be scratched by anything, even though I was working on a soft pad.

chrisaust

looks good, yeah?
[img]http://www.chrisaustin.us/images/blue_dash.jpg{/img]

chrisaust

looks good, yeah? just a tease...

2004 Smoke

suggestion - send the pics to the guys at Digikey.com and see if they can figure it out...

E55AMG2

iTrader: (4)

Call dave burnette

1888-254-6060

he knows all about nissan parts..

xpmax

So did anybody manage to find out what the specs were on the factory leds? If we can get the specs sorted out, I'll take mine apart and make the change. I'd really like to do this and the white/blue gauges being sold on eBay.

chrisaust

xpmax, read my thread on "LED replacement... Episode 1", I've already replaced one of the orange LEDs, problem is the location I replaced it I cannot see what it looks like, since I've replaced my stereo so the LED screen doesnt light up anymore in the top left corner (all radio control info there), so I'm waiting for one of our engineers to come back to work (been out sick) so he can move the blue one to another spot on the screen. There are also part #s to the various blue LEDs we purchased to "try out" to see which I liked best, and I'll post pics as soon as I can.