[Spartanlicks]

Posting the parts here that someone would need if they want to do this on their own. I sold through the radio's I had, so am going to centralize some more information here about the parts needed for the conversion. As promised, when I sold through, I would upload additional details if someone wanted to do it themselves.

1. Nissan factory head unit:
2591A5UD0A or 2591A5UD0B

View attachment 320522

2. 20-pin female harness with any needed added wire.
View attachment 320523

3. The 20-pin male harness with wires needed.

View attachment 320524

4. A 40-pin custom harness
View attachment 320525

5. 2 x Nissan USB connectors for the back of the unit (you may already have one in the back of your unit). These came from a supplier in China and took two months to arrive, FYI.
View attachment 320526

6. A programmed board and a soldered Arduino mega board for the analog to digital conversion of steering wheel controls and a breadboard with 1k resistors for each steering wheel channel hooked to the analog input 0 and 1. You also need aSeeed studio CAN-Bus Shield V2 to create the Nissan media can-bus, these parts require programming and soldering. Once completed it will look something like below. I put a home-made case around mine eventually.

The wires are:
Incoming Steering Switch A - blue
Incoming Steering Switch B - white
Incoming Steering Ground - black
Power - ACC
Ground
Outgoing Media Can-H
Outgoing Media Can-L

View attachment 320527

7. Camera re-wiring and install instructions. This was actually harder than I expected so I documented it all and will provide photos/instructions.
Instructions available here: AA-AC Frontier Upgrade - Camera
I did see that newer vehicles 2017+ may have a 'camera det' on the wiring diagram. This may be a solid shield all the way to the camera. Someone with a 2017+ would need to poke around to verify.

8. Antenna connectors. The receiver supports an amplified antenna, but we will use it in a non-amplified manner as the frontier has a long antenna.
Showing the difference here. Need one on left, frontier on right. This seems impossible to find, but I have two of them if someone is interested in purchasing.

View attachment 320528


9. Secret menu access instructions to input the correct values for the backup camera. I did some research and had to figure these all out. There are secret screens to modify the unit from acting like a car backing up to new data to act like a crew cab wide radius frontier backing up. I'll post up in a bit.

What you may want/need still:

OPTIONAL: A dash mount USB plug (to replace a 12v outlet on passenger side). I purchased the item below off of ebay and it worked well after a shim.
USB AUX Adapter Socket 3.5mm Jack Car Dashboard Mounted Extension Cable MA1101 | eBay

OPTIONAL: A amp level to factory amp audio converter such as the SCOSCHE SLC4 (needed if you have a factory rockford amp or aftermarket amp that requires line-level). I turned the gain all the way down on mine and it works great with rockford.

Open items to be aware of:
The diagnostics of the unit will report Combination meter not working 100% since we are just imitating it
The antenna will report an open circuit as we are not using an amplifier and don’t hook up the 12v power to the radio amp (not needed unless you want a shark fin antenna)
I am not sure what would happen in NissanConnect, thinking this feature won’t work

Where can I get these parts?

 

[Caesar]

Its cool you got it working, but at that point why not go the aftermarket route and have better sound quality too?

Good question. Same reason I have a VK56 and not a LS, try and stick close to factory.

Aftermarket would have been a ton easier, but I like the aesthetic of a factory unit.

I understand liking the factory look. It just looks more uniform. Aftermarket stereos are obvious and make the truck look cheaper somehow. 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.

 

[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?

 

[Caesar]

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".



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

🤷‍♂️

 

[Joewalnut858]

Has anyone tried this in a 2019 Frontier? I’d really like to have CarPlay but keep the factory look and functionality. I’m just not into aftermarket radios these days.

 

[Spartanlicks]

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

 

[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?

 

[Spartanlicks]

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

I put in a CarPlay unit but I didn’t do it so you can do the steering wheel controls since I don’t have the codes for the arduino module

 

[Spartanlicks]

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

 

[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.

 

[Spartanlicks]

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.

I took it to a place, they told me to ask the op for help. I have tried reaching out

 

[Spartanlicks]

Has anyone done this retrofit recently? I did it to my frontier but there are some things that are not working and I would like to figure out how to fix them. The aftermarket backup camera won’t trip when I put it in reverse but the head unit recognizes it when I go into the camera settings, the microphone doesn’t work, the illumination doesn’t work, and the steering wheel controls don’t work. I will compensate you if you are able to help me figure out my issues.