cb350

yep, that was the reason for my post - I swapped out the JDM gauges for a UK one... I'm inclined to agree with doctor austin now though, I downloaded the manual for a 2004 350z and this suggests the screen is for tyre pressures. Can anyone with an early UK model confirm this?

ahh, I thought it was for a clock, because I know that the UK cars have a clock on the pod... at least I think they do? Not a major deal, but would be cool if I could find a way to get it to do something.

I just got a set of UK dash pod gauges from Zmanalex, straight swap, all seems to be reading ok, expect the clock. Obviously originally I didn't have a clock, it is now selectable but displays --:-- on the screen, followed by then flashing up -8:88, then repeating this process over and over. Pressing the lower button to control the pod doesn't seem to do anything. I'm guessing there's a control box somewhere that works with the pod. Question is, where is it, and can I replace it with a UK item to get a functioning clock? Cheers, Chris.

I have an '03 JDM, filled it up today and got 70 litres in before the pump cut out. Didn't try to top it way up to the top though. I drove it for quite a while with the fuel light on - the DTE gauge eventually started flashing with dashes, it was telling me something like 20 miles until empty then suddenly didn't give me a figure anymore. Difficult to tell how much further I could've driven, but taking the gauge's word, that would've mean I had about a gallon and a bit left, maybe 5 - 6 litres I suppose, so that's pretty close to 80 litres.

Thanks for the info Alex, I'm completely amazed that there are four types of socket, but one socket works with all plugs, but there you go. Nothing ever makes sense with car parts Wish I'd just bought two from you now, but I suppose trimming a few bits of plastic off the plug isn't the end of the world - just annoying! Chris.

Just a thought.. but if you got a separate amp to feed the speakers, then you'd have the line out from the stereo feeding the amp. Say you could get some sort of automatic audio switch which has two stereo inputs and one stereo output. It normally feeds one input through, but if any audio is present on the other input, it overrides that and sends the other signal instead. You could therefore plug your stereo and sat nav into such a switch, and have the output going to the amp. Whenever the sat nav says something, it'd override the stereo and your speakers would output the satnav. I know such a device exists, but I've been searching the web and can't find one! You might need to jerry-rig up some sort of A/V component meant for a home stereo, but I bet it could be done. Chris.

Alex, just out of curiosity, do you know what light I might have got then? It looks like I can trim up the plug to get it to fit, but it obviously requires different plugs that must be correct for some variant? Cheers, Chris.

Thanks for the link! I got as far as trimming off the smaller of the three 'spigots' earlier today before I gave up as I thought I'm just going to end up hacking the plug to pieces and it still wouldn't fit. So.. now I want to know if I really need to thank Zmanalex for somehow sending me a JDM rear light cluster? Maybe he has developed some sort of sixth sense as I don't think I told him it was a JDM car. Might drop him a PM.

I actually think it wouldn't look that bad if it was painted black. Then, you'd only notice it if you were looking and it'd probably seem like a nice addition. Mind you, it sort of depends if you want a grille that says 'LOOK AT MEEEEEE!' or not You could get it gold plated if you want

Yes, it is... odd thing is I bought one from Zmanalex, which fitted perfectly. The other was bought off eBay.. I haven't seen any threads to say watch out for different plugs, everyone says it's a straight swap, but the one that doesn't fit almost looks like the socket is a mirror-image of what it should be.. are the plugs supposed to be identical on both sides? (mine are) Chris.

I'm not having much luck lately! Bought a couple of LED taillights, both genuine Nissan, to upgrade my older lights. The N/S fitted fine, however the O/S seems to have a different socket on the light and the plug won't go into it. I put the the old socket and the new one side-by-side and they are very slightly different. I thought about 'reshaping' the plug to fit the new socket with a knife and file, but there's too much of it looks different to me, I can't be certain that if I do manage to get the plug into the socket, the pins would actually line up correctly. Sorry I don't have any pictures yet, it got dark by the time I'd decided to throw the towel in and put the old lights back on Does anyone know what year they might have changed the sockets/plugs and if I can pick up a replacement plug from anywhere? Got to be cheaper than a whole light! Thanks, Chris.

well, USB was completely intermittent as well. Once running, it's fine, but getting it to work in the first place is near impossible. Am now awaiting a reply from carputer-shop in case the device is faulty.

well, it just got weirder - I went to show my brother it didn't work, hit the CD6 button twice and it switched to CD Changer mode! I then started the iPod, all looked well, it was working, changing tracks, etc, then suddenly I couldn't use the volume any more and some of the other buttons locked up. Changing tracks still worked though. I switched it to FM and that was it, dead again. Bye bye GROM audio. Just checking out the USB now. Maybe the unit thinks nothing is connected so isn't switching on properly. Very odd/rubbish/almost-but-not-quite compatible. Chris.

Thanks, yeah I do know about the tape deck mod, I was just trying to avoid hacking into the tape deck if this would work instead, which gives me USB, iPod and aux-in all with one box and basic control still being maintained on the head unit. I'm also building a car pc so later down the line I was going to fit that into the satnav cubby. I'm aware that the compatibility guide isn't correct on the site, GROM audio had a better compatibility guide which correctly listed the 350z years. I have to admit I was looking at buying a different one first, but bought this on the basis that I could get it in the UK rather than ordering from the states. Actually, I haven't tried a USB stick yet, which is probably a bit stupid, so I'll give that a go today and see how I get on If this is just not going to work then I'll probably send it back and go for the tape deck mod, at least I can say I tried it and it's not compatible. Still, it seems odd because I have the correct sockets on the back of the unit, I figured they must do something! Chris.

I've been trying to find a neat way to get an aux-in to my standard Bose 6 CD system.. I wanted to keep things as OEM as possible, don't really fancy messing around with the internals of the unit to hack into the tape deck, and I thought I'd found a better solution. I got one of these: http://www.carputer-shop.co.uk/usb-aux- ... issan-p-45 The compatibility guide says it works with the 350z.. I'm aware that the UK spec cars have the required socket missing, but I had a look at the back of my '03 JDM 350z's stereo and, sure enough, it looked like I had the right thing. Here's the back of my stereo, with the connector from the GROM audio device plugged in: Install was easy enough. I then went ahead and plugged my ipod in. Turning the ignition on brought power to the ipod, and it started charging. However, that's as far as I got. Reading other threads I understood that if I pressed the 'CD6' button twice, the stereo would now select the GROM device and I'd start hearing the ipod. However, pressing the CD6 button more than once has no effect. Am I doing something wrong? Do I need to reset the stereo somehow? Failing something obvious I'm missing, maybe this is incompatible with '03 JDM? If so, what are the sockets on the back of the unit for? Does anyone have any ideas or experience with using this device or something similar? I'm at a bit of a loss Chris.

Sounds good. My JDM 350z seems to have the additional CD changer socket on the back of the stereo, so I've ordered one of those iPod/USB adapters with line-in as well. Hopefully if it works, then I'll have an easy way to wire the PC's audio into the stereo. I'll be taking the console out again once I've got that, so I'll get a chance to work out a few more things with the monitor

I have an '03.. on my car, it looks like the back of the cubby hole will separate to leave an open area for the monitor, but I couldn't quite work out how it was going to come apart today before it got dark out. Not sure about the later ones, I think I've seen a carputer in a facelift vehicle somewhere online. Odd that I've found so many write-ups but none cover how the monitor is attached! Chris.

I'm toying around with setting up a carputer in my 350z.. I pulled the centre console out today to get an idea of how I'm going to fit the screen. I've also got a 7" Lilliput touchscreen that I can put in there. Does anyone have any recommendations or tips on the best way to actually install a monitor? I've seen some pretty good installs on the web but no actual information showing how the monitor was installed. Cheers, Chris.

lol, thanks for posting these. I may be thinking about trying this again now. My cubby front looks exactly like the satnav door at the top of your post, but it has a box section at the back of it. It looks to me like this section comes off though, so I think I might actually pull the cubby out and test a few things if the F500 will fit without modification to the actual unit. Chris.

I think I have the satnav type, it has the retractable lid that goes back into the console... but no satnav in there, so I don't really know! It looks the same as the nurrish unit. Looks to me like with my unit, I could cut a bit off the top and bottom of the AVIC and there is enough room side-to-side that it'll just fit in - but then the depth of the case will become a problem. I tried it out of the case, but even if I could get the case completely apart and out of the way, I'm then missing the power/audio/aerial connector which is in the back of the case, plus I'd have to work out what to do with the controls on the left of the unit. Just doesn't seem worth it trying to mess about with it so much. I think your final solution was the best way to go with the F500, I just want to get a complete OEM look though and I think there are better and less complex ways of getting there.

yeah, same here, but I didn't get as far as taking the cubby out.. just seems like too much hassle to modify the thing and I'm not sure I'd be able to cut it up without making a massive mess

just to update on this... I took my AVIC apart, I got the back off but there were a couple of screws under the main board holding the screen in, and it seemed almost like the board on top had been stuck down somehow. I'd removed all the screws I could, but I just couldn't get it apart. I think if anyone's thinking about going down this route, the best option is going to be to actually shave a few mm off the top and bottom of the case itself and just jam the thing in the cubby... even then, I'm not 100% sure the door would still shut. Anyway, I think I'm either going to go for a nurrish system or build a carputer. I have a 7" touchscreen I'm not using, so it seems like a better option than potentially destroying this pioneer unit.

Hi, As in title - I'm upgrading my rear lights to the later LED type, I have the O/S light, am looking for a N/S one Cheers, Chris.

Getting there I think! I don't seem to have your PM though. Ideally I want to actually mount the Pioneer unit inside the cubby so it looks OEM (or as near to as possible).. but I think the only thing I still don't know about is this ipod adapter. It seems to me, the best way to feed the audio to the HU would be to use the ipod adapter I linked to in my first post. In my searches, I keep seeing photos of the backs of the Bose unit - some don't have the socket where the ipod adapter would plug in, whereas some do. Is there any way to know for sure if mine has this socket, or do I have to remove the head unit? Btw, mine is a jap import GT-spec with the Bose 6CD changer.

Thanks! Cool, so from reading those threads, it sounds like with a bit of modification it should be possible to fit the unit fully inside the cubby - almost OEM-like? Chris.