[raine]

Interesting... must have been a pain to get the wiring sorted out.
Since you said "Happy to discuss what the unit offers", I have questions out of curiosity:

1. How much did you spend for all of the parts required to do this (including how much you paid for the head unit?)
2. What specific Nissan year/model/trim was this head unit pulled from?
3. What's the diagonal screen size, and is it capacitive?
4. Is that visible gap between the top of the head unit and the dash trim just bad alignment, or is there really a gap?
5. Are you using the native OEM microphone in the ceiling console for voice commands?
6. You did not mention anything about native navigation (not Android Auto/Carplay based). I know it would be redundant, but did the head unit you installed not have built-in nav?
7. Regarding this little tidbit:

I’ve got 4 units to sell in a kit-like fashion which I'll post up in a few days / a week.

So upfront what's the price tag for these "kits" you plan on selling?

 

[raine]

Thanks for the replies

6, there is no native nav. it would be redundant once you get these new features. Once Google Maps and Waze took over, nav in screens with paid nav updates from dealers just seems silly.

...only if you stay in cities.

Often when you go into the far woods or up in the mountains where there's no cellular signal, satt-based nav is all that works

 

[raine]

Raine funny you brought up the going into the woods ...... Was about to order a Kenwood multi media without the navigation. (Had an Excelon w/nav in my 2010) Went for a ride yesterday in the western hills in MA and lost both google and apple maps. Not a huge deal but a pia because dirt roads and small back roads aren't really marked well. Making me rethink whether I want to spend the extra $150 on the gps based system.

Honestly it's based on where you are. The conditions really dictate the need.

Lots of people these days over-rely on their smartphone for everything because it can do so many things all in one unit (phone, Internet, GPS, calculator, stopwatch, streaming music and video, etc.) but many don't realize that the moment you remove cellular data reception from the equation, so much of that smartphone becomes useless. Granted, most of these people I don't blame them - they probably spend 99% of their time in big cities or sprawling urban areas where cellular towers are widespread so they've rarely if ever experienced not having cellular reception.

But I've been in the woods a lot. I've been in the middle of desert areas a lot. I like driving with the GPS map on even when just driving around daily... so when I had to replace my old nav head unit last summer I went with a new unit that still had built-in Garmin sat-nav. I won't lie - I use Waze and Apple Maps probably 95% of the time I'm in the truck, but if I"m headed to the mountains or the desert I know that the built-in Garmin sat-nav will always work when my phone reception drops in and out.

 

[raine]

This doesn't really go with the OP's original post, but more to Raine's inquiry as to GPS. If you need off grid maps on an iphone(unsure about android availability or hardware) you can use the app called Sygic. It allows you to download the maps for the entire US onto your phone so that it will still function much like a standalone GPS unit even without cell reception.

I only asked OP if the new HU had sat-nav because of all the trouble (and from the "not telling you yet" response, seems like a high $$$ too) that they seemed to have gone through just to get an OEM Nissan HU meant for other vehicle models to work in a Frontier... just to get AA/CarPlay.

With regards to your reply... that fact that you recommended a third-party paid app to be part of a mix of other components to "function much like" native GPS just goes against the whole advantages of having native GPS to begin with 😀

 

[raine]

I don't disagree with you at all. Just throwing it out there for anyone that feels the need to keep an OEM unit that has ACP/AA. I myself(as I just did) would just go the route of an aftermarket unit. It will likely be cheaper, and will have much better quality audio as well.

 

[raine]

We're straying away from the original topic, but who cares we're having an interesting discussion - and you seem like a reasonable guy to converse with... so OKAY LET'S GO:

I do agree that the manufacturers make it difficult on purpose. Why not make a factory V8 Frontier? ...because they want you to buy a Titan. Why not put an advanced Infotainment system in a budget mid-size truck? ...because they want you to spend more on a diff model or look at an Infinity SUV. Why not put this in a base trim Sentra? ...because they can get you to upgrade to a higher trim model. They are smart, I'll give them the credit they deserve for the marketing ploy.

"Why not make a factory V8 Frontier?"
Because they don't have to, because there is no mainstream demand, and because the Frontier has been selling well as is. They've sold the Frontier for 16 years now with the same 4.0L V6 and essentially the same body and trim (aside from the mild refresh in 2009+). They've sold this truck for this long because people are still buying them equipped the way they have been since 2004. If there was any demand for a V8 Frontier (actual market demand, not niche enthusiast demand) I'm pretty sure they would have done it by now.

"Why not put an advanced infotainment system in a budget mid-sized truck?"
Because... it's a budget midsized truck with a budget mid-sized truck price, and this a budget mid-sized equipment list to go along with it. There's a distinct difference between a "budget midsized truck" and a current luxury-equipped "Infiniti SUV." aside from just the obvious price difference. They are simply for different audiences, thus they are equipped differently.

"Why not put this in a base trim Sentra?"
Because it's a BASE TRIM SENTRA.

BASE.

As in "At this price, you're not getting high tech"

That's the whole point. If you want premium features, you have to move up to the premium models. All of the above has nothing to do with "marketing ploys" - it's simply called having different model tiers for different audiences who can or can't afford certain features. Pay to play. Earn it or yearn it. LOL

I simply don’t see the point paying through the nose for a Nissan branded Panasonic unit when there’s perfectly suitable Kenwood, JVC, Pioneer and others for far less $.

Don't forget, it's a used Nissan-branded head unit.
I do applaud that the OP put the work and effort and time into figuring out how to get a late-model Nissan Sentra head unit (with CarPlay/AA) to wire up to a Nissan Frontier. From what was shown already, this wasn't just a matter of looking at some wiring diagrams and swapping a few wires to the right pins. This was an advanced project for sure. I engage in a lot of tinkering too, and I know it can go from a hobby to an obsession in the blink of an eye after hours and hours of testing and troubleshooting to get something to work how you want it to. But after all is said and done, was it really worth it? I still feel like it's not. Not when there's established, easier to do, more reliable ways to get Carplay/AA. So that just leaves the whole "it's an OEM head unit" reason.

I'm not feeling the "effort expended vs. performance improvement ratio here 🙃

when i'm out in the middle of Tahoe National Forest with no xm or cell signal... the GPS on our trucks STILL WORKS...even on the dirt roads which i think is REALLY cool and helpful

Yep. One can get far into the mountains or desert but still have working live navigation and streaming music thanks to native GPS and XM.

 

[raine]

Well, one thing's for sure - this thread made my usual boring work-from-home Friday not that boring

I've got 3 mid-size V8 4wd/awd vehicles. 06 4Runner, 15 GX460, and now 16 Frontier. There is demand with towing, crawling, etc. but CAFE standards make it hard for manufacturers. Check out the prices on the v8 4runners or v8 pathfinders, kinda silly high due to demand and rarity.

A few other manufacturers had a v8 in their mid-size truck at some point. Dakota, Colorado, etc. If you've been around a while, hot-rodding mags used to regularly cover V8 swaps for rangers and S10's. A lot of the interest stems from the 70's-80's when trucks were as fast / faster than most cars due to govt restrictions. I guess those drivers have gotten old and need to stick to the right lane The fast factory trucks used to have neat names too like Lightning and Syclone.

Hard to say if people would buy it if it was offered, but certainly engine diversity has been interesting in other trucks like the #1 selling F-150 offering the Eco-blows and coyote. I'd buy a tacoma tomorrow if it had the 5.7L in it, but they are absolute dogs with their v6 and you have to put the pedal down 110% to build any rpm for power.

I'm just glad to see that Nissan went with the 3.8L v6 and didn't turbo the 4 for 2020+

I never said other brands had mid-sized V8's offered at some point. What I said was there's no mainstream demand like you might think there is. What and how many you own is trivial, it just shows what you prefer.

You mentioned V8 truck swaps... that's not factory discussion any more - that's aftermarket (even if it's OEM parts being swapped in). "Hot Rodding", "Car Tuning" is still and always be a niche aftermarket industry thing - not a mainstream thing that everyone who goes to a dealership is looking for. The closest it got to the mainstream was the heyday late 90's-early 2000's. The Fast and the Furious years. The age of APC Altezza taillamps 🤡 LOL

But going back to the fact that only hobbyist tuners would decide to swap in a V8 because there is no standard V8 option from the dealer lot just tells you how "popular" that vehicle equipped with a V8 really wasn't to the mass market, thus no demand to sell one equipped with a V8 from the factory.

3rd... you brought up the Syclone. One of my favorite vehicles of all time... the legendary 348 killer, and a super niche not-for-the-mainstream product! Such an awesome machine to drive (I couldn't believe I was driving a 4-speed automatic pickup truck this fast LOL), yet zero practicality thanks to the "show not go" suspension parts they had to fit it with...and just to poke you with a stick, that wasn't even a V8

Used head unit or not.... As I mentioned above, I like the larger winglike tailgate cap on the newer Frontiers so I went to the salvage yard database to find some wrecked late model Frontiers with the wing. They want $150 for the two pieces! Not much difference from the cost new, so I suspect that late model CarPlay head unit out of a Sentra is still considerably more expensive than a new JVC. I just bought one for $250 plus $50 for adapters and misc for a Toyota. Along the same line, someone here recently was talking about putting a factory GPS head unit. Yikes! First, why when you can do CarPlay or Android Auto. Second, I had one in a Murano. $200 a year for map updates.

I’m amused by the obsession of installing upgrades stamped NISSAN.

Not sure how that relates to what you quoted from me... for clarity, when I said "native GPS/XM" I was referring to having it built-into the head unit (aftermarket, not OEM Nissan)... as opposed to having a head unit dependent on an outboard secondary device. Is that what you were replying to?

Your amusement probably mirrors my amusement of those back in the day who were so obsessed with "JDM" parts upgrades, not realizing that their "JDM" was in reality just OEM somewhere else in the world. LOL

 

[raine]

My amusement is like...gotta get OEM fog lights (that will get used 5 days a year) for $200 when there’s a literal ton of aftermarket knockoffs that look exactly the same, using the same existing harness, and, in my case, will burn the same switchback LED. I wonder where they think those OEM parts come from... Yes, China...just like the knockoffs.

Oh... not the "made in China" stereotype again hahah

 

[raine]

PS, I just bought what I assumed was a knockoff turn signal switch direct from China. It showed up complete with Nissan label and p/n. $78 vs around $175 from Nissan.

So what you're saying is... the shady factories can make fake copy clones of Nissan OEM fog lamps... but they can't print a fake copy clone of a label with a Nissan OEM part number printed on it?

Labels don't mean a thing - any factory can print or reprint high-quality OEM exact labels, UL standard labels, ROHS labels, etc. to add to the appearance of authenticity to lure shoppers to buy their products.

A lot of the general public's perception of "look it's the same part without the brand name and it costs less, but it's made in the same factory so it's just as good" is completely backwards - that's not how it works. The reality is, even if the aftermarket part is made in the same factory as the brand name, the aftermarket part costs less because it doesn't have to reach any of the standards and QC and safety regulations of the brand name.

Example: the company I work for resells some specific tools that are manufactured in the same factory as name brand tools and off-brand knock-offs. In fact that particular factory makes 5 different identical-looking versions of the same tool (but each version is built differently with different materials and tolerances), and as a reseller, all we have to do is choose which of the remaining 4 versions we want to sell (because the not available 5th version is the brand name, branded and sold through official channels highest quality version).

The cheapest versions of brand name goods are just made to LOOK like the brand name product, because for many people that's all that matters, and they will buy it.

 

[raine]

Where do you think Nissan, Toyota, Ford, get their parts? The same place. Besides, I couldn’t care less if they’re knockoffs or gray market. I was in the IT business, I know all about back door markets, how stuff gets there and why the big boys do nothing about it. I used to buy intel processors that went from California to Indonesia, to China, and back to the US east coast and the landed price was half of what Intel was charging me direct in the states.

Completely oblivious to what I just explained. I'll put it in bold, in as simple of a sentence as possible:

It doesn't matter where it came from, how it's labeled, or how it got here; what matters is how it was made.​

P.S. I've been in the IT business and the overseas electronic manufacturing business... And they are not the same thing
Done with this topic, have a good weekend

 

[raine]

They’re all made the same. That’s the point.

LOL you went from "they're all the same" to "they're all made the same"

From your last reply, it's painfully obvious that you are underestimating the lengths an overseas factory will take to make a profit - legal or illegal, front door or back door, direct or via proxy routes. And you know what? I thought about why you believe what you do, and that's fine - if you've never actually seen what I've seen, then I don't blame you for thinking "they're all made the same." At one point in time years ago, I thought the same thing... but hey, ignorance is bliss.

We (more specifically the company I currently work for) manufacture some of our products overseas, but we purchase white-label and branding as well. For these products, we visit the factories overseas 4 times a year (minus this year, because you know - pandemic) and I've seen it in person myself so many times it's ridiculous how fast the factory can switch it up. Any particular part can be made in the same place, under the same roof, with the same machinery, the same molds, on the same production line - but all it takes is a 30-second pause on the line and one small change in allotted materials per batch and boom - just like that instead of making the standard part that cost $50 to make, they're quickly churning out an identical-looking part of less quality for only $10.

So yeah... if you don't think an overseas factory won't bother to set up manufacturing to counterfeit or make an inferior version of a part AND put in the same effort towards replicating branding and company markings... then you simply haven't seen what I've seen.

P.S. I have a turn signal switch for you to buy that is "made the same" but cheaper, and it won't burn out your switchback LEDs.
...oh, wait.

 

[raine]

Nah, they’re just excess parts they’re selling out the back door

You’re twisting yourself in knots to try and assert an item made on the same assembly line as “the real thing” is somehow inferior because it’s being sold out another door.

LOL sure buddy, continue arguing against things you said.

 

[raine]

Where did I argue against anything I said? Dude, share what you’re smoking! ;-)

I quit smoking last April

 

[raine]

Again- you’re not reading. I quit last year LOL

But seriously... have you seen the price of a pack of cigarettes these days?!? Aside from the health aspect (obviously), I can’t believe how much money I’ve saved on not having to spend on smokes. On top of that, due to the pandemic I’ve saved even more cash by not having to buy gas on a regular basis the last 4 months!

 

[raine]

I'm planning on tackling this project as this post was an inspiration for me to apply this to other vehicles (mainly my 2011 Xterra Pro-4x, very similar interior/body to the Frontier). I just bought a Sentra HU (AIVIL12F0) for $100 (listing had it untested, but it works) and the service manual for the 2020 Sentra (should've gotten the 2019, so I'll probably purchase that next).

The first thing I'd like to get working is the steering controls, since that's the hardest. It would be easier if @dwtalk posts the Arduino CAN converter firmware, but I know from the thread there are other projects that are being worked on so I figured I'd try to tackle this. The MCANH/L lines seem active (none of the others are) after running a Saleae logic analyzer over some pins from a rough pinout. I got the service manual to attempt to purchase the right parts to imitate the steering wheel controls, since in the newer Nissan's, as @dwtalk mentioned, they are controlled through the MCAN bus to the head unit, unlike in previous head units where they connected directly.

The steering wheel controls themselves are still analog (resistance ladder) but instead go to the instrument cluster before going out to the head unit. I plan on detailing my progress on my website later, but so far I'd like to look at the steering stuff first before going into the easier parts (backup camera, audio to Rockford Fosgate system, parking sensors maybe?). @LeoAnders, if you have found anything, let the thread know so we can start working on writing what @dwtalk already greatly laid out, just need more details to actually remake the entire system (especially the steering controls). Would love to see if you've found anything more since your post, and anyone else who might still be interested in making this project. Once the details are figured out, I can help design a pcb and send it through JLCPCB (and publish the schematics/gerber files on my website) to test and see if they work, maybe making something that would work for other cars too?

This should probably be it’s own thread.

 

[raine]

BTW, for anyone considering this swap, these head units seem to be available at reasonable prices again. I find them listed for around $260 - $300 or so. That makes it worth considering when weighing aftermarket versus a factory swap.

And in the end you still have an OEM head unit with out-dated features, old technology, and zero improvement in sound quality, for what? So that you can say "oh but look it's OEM Nissan head unit in my dash yay"?

There are so many accessible options on the market that are far superior to spending/wasting time replacing an inferior OEM head unit for another OEM head unit of the same quality level. You can get an aftermarket name-brand head unit with more features, up-to-date features, and much better sound quality for that same $300 or so.

But if you really, really just have to have an OEM radio in the dash for some reason, then I guess that's what you want.

 

[raine]

this was one of the cheaper and easier solutions for me.

...it generally is, if that's what your main focus is (cheap and easy). If actual sound improvement is not a primary goal, then that's your preference.

I bought the radio for about $260. I scavenged parts to make an adapter harness. That's all it took. The radio bolts right in and the harness I made plugs into the factory wiring without any modification.

You failed to mention what parts you scavenged - everything still costs something.

Also, aftermarket head units will also "bolt right in" with a simple pre-made bracket, and they will also "plug into the factory wiring without any modification" once you connect the HU harness to the adapter harness; you basically did the same thing by scavenging parts and making your own harness.

Based on my research, to install an aftermarket radio I was going to need new speakers, a new backup camera, new microphone (included with new radio), and an adapter for the steering wheel controls. All of those items would need to be installed and wired in. Some would need new wire runs or at the least I would have to hack the factory wiring to use it. The adapter for the steering wheel controls has to be programmed to work with the specific vehicle and radio combination.

Not sure what research you did, but a lot of what you said is mostly incorrect, or you're misinformed, or what you read was misinterpreted.

• You don't need new speakers. But it's ideal if you actually want better sound quality.
• You don't need a new backup camera - the OEM backup camera can work with aftermarket head units.
• A new/better microphone comes with the new radio, so that's a non-issue.
• You don't always need an adapter for steering wheel control - some newer aftermarket HUs have SWC compatibility built-in i.e. Sony
• You don't need "new wire runs" to install an aftermarket head unit unless you're adding new features that didn't exist.
• Of course the steering wheel adapter does need to be programmed, and it takes a couple of minutes tops.

 

[raine]

I understand liking the factory look. It just looks more uniform. That's been my holdup with getting an updated head unit for my 2018. I thought I was the only one who also liked the stock look.

Every time someone has this POV it makes me wonder why.
I mean - the whole reason for upgrading an OEM head unit is to actually improve the sound, not the "looks".

Aftermarket stereos are obvious and make the truck look cheaper somehow.

Can't be worse than an aftermarket grill with giant, unmatching font "N I S S A N" lettering, can it?

 

[raine]

Does anyone know how to code the adurino module for steering wheel controls?

YOu have some specific thing you're trying to do that can't be done with an ASWC-1 or PAC SWC?

 

[raine]

I need help with getting my aftermarket backup camera to trip and the button illumination doesn’t work and the microphone doesn’t work and the steering wheel controls

At this point you're probably better off taking it to a reputable car audio shop to figure out why your illum and mic and steering wheel controls aren't working.
The "arduino" thing is something else in its entirety.