350z Auto Dimming Rear Mirror Guide

[Mixification]

Things needed

 

Navara D40 auto dim mirror (Can also use a GTR mirror too but they will cost more and look identical)

 

Multi meter

 

Crimpers

 

Wire strippers

 

Wire cutters

 

18-22 AWG wire (I used 20 because I already had it lying around, I would recommend 18)

 

Trim tools

 

T20 Torx bit

 

Assorted crimp connectors

 

Soldering iron (optional, can use crimp connectors)

 

Heat shrink

 

Heat gun (can also use a lighter or hairdryer)

 

Electrical tape

 

7-pin JST connector VH type with pins

 

Various tools such as screwdrivers, sockets ect

 

Get your wire of choice and start stripping one end. Once stripped trim any excess wire so you have about 4-5 mm of exposed wire. Put the exposed wire into the pin and crimp it ensuring that the wire insulation is being crimped not the wire itself, I found that it was easier to place the pin in the crimper first and then feed in the wire. Once crimped it should look like this.

 

 

Looking at the back of the 7-pin connector the pins are numbered from left to right in this order 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. We only need pins 7 & 6 you can use 5 if you want the mirror to disable anti dazzle when in reverse but I chose not to do this as I can just press the on/off button anyway.

 

 

Now insert your crimped wire into the connector as follows;

Pin 7 – Positive ignition live

Pin 6 – Ground

Pin 5 – Reverse feed

 

You should hear an audible and satisfying click which means its seated correctly.

It should look like this

 

 

Now its time to move onto the car to remove the old mirror and install the new one.

 

My old mirror was held in place with a clip. To remove the old mirror, you need to insert a small flat head screwdriver into the cut out on the base and push up towards the roof with one hand on the screwdriver and one on the mirror, it does need some force but should come off. You should be left with a metal mount on the windscreen.

 

 

Now you can mount the new mirror which simply slides onto the metal mount on the windscreen. Then tighten the T20 screw to secure it in place, it doesn’t need to be super tight just tight enough to stop the mirror from moving.

 

Slide some heat shrink over the wires up to the connector and see how much you will need to hide the wires from view, heat it up and shrink it down I used a heat gun for this.

 

You can use electrical tape but heat shrink looks cleaner. Now start to tuck the wires into the headliner.

 

There’re multiple places to get your positive and negative feed from but from the research I’ve done the dome light area isn’t advised as the module controlling it isn’t great.

 

I’m going to be using my head unit for the power supply. That way I’m not splicing into factory wiring as I will splice into the adapter harness for my head unit. You can also use an Add a fuse for a positive or one of the cigarette lighters. For a ground any bolt on bare metal should suffice, you can also splice into an existing ground. I am going to use the bolt method as there is already a grounded wire for the head unit in that area.

 

After removing everything to get to the back of the head unit you will now want to run your wires from the mirror to the head unit. Start by tucking the wire into the roof liner all the way to the passenger A pillar. Remove the A pillar with a trim tool and put it aside. Get some electrical tape and tape your wires to the existing loom so that they can’t pop out of the trim.

 

 

Now the tricky bit, you need to feed the wires down to the passenger footwell this is where having 18 AWG would make things slightly easier or if you have an old wire coat hanger you can tape your wire to it and feed it that way. I didn’t have one so I had to feed them using gravity and patience. Once you have got both wires into the footwell, tape them together to make it easier to zip tie them down so you don’t have wires dangling in your footwell, leave enough for the ends to move around a bit though. Now feed the ends into the head unit area.

 

Now to check what wire you need for power. In my case it was the red wire in the adapter harness but it could differ so use a multi meter to check what wires have power when the ignition is on and also make sure that they don’t have power when it is off.

 

 

Disconnect the battery and splice your power wire, make sure you have good wire strippers as mine just pulled the wire apart!

Now you have 3 options
1. Wrap the power wires around each other and electrical tape them. (not recommended)
2. Use a butt connector
3. Solder the wires together (recommended)

 

I used a butt connector at first but it wasn’t very reliable so I went back and soldered it.

 

For the ground use an eyelet connector and crimp it to the ground wire, there is a few places to mount it in the head unit area so just pick a bolt/screw and mount it there.

 

 

Now to test if everything is working, if you have done everything correctly then the mirror should have a green LED lit up and if you shine a light on it the mirror should darken. If the mirror doesn’t do this recheck your wiring and try different grounds. If it does do this then it’s just a case of putting everything back together.

 

There you have it, a 350Z with an auto dimming mirror which should have been fitted from factory.

[Shunter8]

Great job! Thanks for the write up as this has just now been added to my list of things to do 

Edited January 19, 2020 by Shunter8

[Red_rider]

On 18/01/2020 at 23:47, Mixification said:

Things needed

 

Navara D40 auto dim mirror (Can also use a GTR mirror too but they will cost more and look identical)

 

Multi meter

 

Crimpers

 

Wire strippers

 

Wire cutters

 

18-22 AWG wire (I used 20 because I already had it lying around, I would recommend 18)

 

Trim tools

 

T20 Torx bit

 

Assorted crimp connectors

 

Soldering iron (optional, can use crimp connectors)

 

Heat shrink

 

Heat gun (can also use a lighter or hairdryer)

 

Electrical tape

 

7-pin JST connector VH type with pins

 

Various tools such as screwdrivers, sockets ect

 

Get your wire of choice and start stripping one end. Once stripped trim any excess wire so you have about 4-5 mm of exposed wire. Put the exposed wire into the pin and crimp it ensuring that the wire insulation is being crimped not the wire itself, I found that it was easier to place the pin in the crimper first and then feed in the wire. Once crimped it should look like this.

 

 

Looking at the back of the 7-pin connector the pins are numbered from left to right in this order 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. We only need pins 7 & 6 you can use 5 if you want the mirror to disable anti dazzle when in reverse but I chose not to do this as I can just press the on/off button anyway.

 

 

Now insert your crimped wire into the connector as follows;

Pin 7 – Positive ignition live

Pin 6 – Ground

Pin 5 – Reverse feed

 

You should hear an audible and satisfying click which means its seated correctly.

It should look like this

 

 

Now its time to move onto the car to remove the old mirror and install the new one.

 

My old mirror was held in place with a clip. To remove the old mirror, you need to insert a small flat head screwdriver into the cut out on the base and push up towards the roof with one hand on the screwdriver and one on the mirror, it does need some force but should come off. You should be left with a metal mount on the windscreen.

 

 

Now you can mount the new mirror which simply slides onto the metal mount on the windscreen. Then tighten the T20 screw to secure it in place, it doesn’t need to be super tight just tight enough to stop the mirror from moving.

 

Slide some heat shrink over the wires up to the connector and see how much you will need to hide the wires from view, heat it up and shrink it down I used a heat gun for this.

 

You can use electrical tape but heat shrink looks cleaner. Now start to tuck the wires into the headliner.

 

There’re multiple places to get your positive and negative feed from but from the research I’ve done the dome light area isn’t advised as the module controlling it isn’t great.

 

I’m going to be using my head unit for the power supply. That way I’m not splicing into factory wiring as I will splice into the adapter harness for my head unit. You can also use an Add a fuse for a positive or one of the cigarette lighters. For a ground any bolt on bare metal should suffice, you can also splice into an existing ground. I am going to use the bolt method as there is already a grounded wire for the head unit in that area.

 

After removing everything to get to the back of the head unit you will now want to run your wires from the mirror to the head unit. Start by tucking the wire into the roof liner all the way to the passenger A pillar. Remove the A pillar with a trim tool and put it aside. Get some electrical tape and tape your wires to the existing loom so that they can’t pop out of the trim.

 

 

Now the tricky bit, you need to feed the wires down to the passenger footwell this is where having 18 AWG would make things slightly easier or if you have an old wire coat hanger you can tape your wire to it and feed it that way. I didn’t have one so I had to feed them using gravity and patience. Once you have got both wires into the footwell, tape them together to make it easier to zip tie them down so you don’t have wires dangling in your footwell, leave enough for the ends to move around a bit though. Now feed the ends into the head unit area.

 

Now to check what wire you need for power. In my case it was the red wire in the adapter harness but it could differ so use a multi meter to check what wires have power when the ignition is on and also make sure that they don’t have power when it is off.

 

 

Disconnect the battery and splice your power wire, make sure you have good wire strippers as mine just pulled the wire apart!

Now you have 3 options
1. Wrap the power wires around each other and electrical tape them. (not recommended)
2. Use a butt connector
3. Solder the wires together (recommended)

 

I used a butt connector at first but it wasn’t very reliable so I went back and soldered it.

 

For the ground use an eyelet connector and crimp it to the ground wire, there is a few places to mount it in the head unit area so just pick a bolt/screw and mount it there.

 

 

Now to test if everything is working, if you have done everything correctly then the mirror should have a green LED lit up and if you shine a light on it the mirror should darken. If the mirror doesn’t do this recheck your wiring and try different grounds. If it does do this then it’s just a case of putting everything back together.

 

There you have it, a 350Z with an auto dimming mirror which should have been fitted from factory.

Hi great write up. I was thinking there got to be a way to add auto dim to the mirror.  I stabllex across ur post. I have tow question

1 why didn't u take the feed from the cigarette lighter port. Instead ot the audio set up. 

 

2. If I wanted to wire the reverse pin could i connect that to revers switch on the gear shift.