Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

I've just replaced the factory headunit in my 32 GT-R.

The whole process took me about 1.5 hours but this included a lot of stopping to take photos.

To complete this job, you'll need the following:

1x Phillips Head Screwdriver

1x Flat Screwdriver

1x AP348A "Nissan Double Diversity" Antenna Adaptor Lead (Make Sure this is the 348A, not the 348B lead). Autobarn had this in stock.

1x New head unit

1x Nissan 87-94 Wiring Harness (ordered through Autobarn, took 2 days to arrive)

I used the APP0121 harness because I was connecting to a stereo with an ISO connector. If you go to the Aerpro website and choose Nissan, 1989, and Patrol GQ (same harness as skyline), they have harness to fit alpine, kenwood, sony, jvc, pioneer, clarion, panasonic etc. directly to the factory plugs. If your new stereo came with a harness attached, you can use the AP7551 instead and just wire it to the one supplied with the stereo. It is a lot easier and more professional than hacking off the factory plugs and trying to solder behind the dash.

The AP348A antenna adaptor is to connect an aftermarket headunit to the factory antenna,

The AP348B antenna adaptor is to use the factory headunit with an aftermarket antenna (why would you want to do this?).

Autobarn had both in stock and I picked up the wrong one first time around. Make sure it says AP348A on the top right of the box.

gallery_46113_2344_92284.jpg

Next thing you'll need is an R32 with a Factory Stereo.

gallery_46113_2344_239.jpg

First thing you need to do is remove the Ashtray.. Just open the lid and pull.

gallery_46113_2344_22117.jpg

Next thing to do is to undo the two screws holding in the console.

gallery_46113_2344_33093.jpg

Next step is to unclip the console trim, it has a few places it's clipped down. I found that if you get a screwdriver under the back, you can get your fingers in and lift around the rest of it.

gallery_46113_2344_36672.jpg

Keep working around the clips on the whole plastic trim.

gallery_46113_2344_69600.jpg

It was about here I realised the gear boot is connected to the trim, Also remove the gearknob. Mine just unscrewed, I assume they're all the same.

gallery_46113_2344_3613.jpg

When the trim comes away, be careful as there are still wires connected to the Cigarette lighter socket. By the looks of mine, someone has stolen power from here for another turbo-related accessory that's mounted under the dash.

gallery_46113_2344_38118.jpg

To remove these wires, just pull both plugs off (Carefully). There is a two-wire plug (+ve & earth) for the lighter and a single wire for the light in the socket.

gallery_46113_2344_49202.jpg

It's important to be careful removing these wires as the single-pin one for the light is fragile and may break.

gallery_46113_2344_75994.jpg

This is the back of the Lighter socket with the light pin missing.

gallery_46113_2344_12923.jpg

With the trim removed, you can now undo the 4 screws holding in the DIN cage.

gallery_46113_2344_69495.jpg

At this point, the trim over the Aircon controls came off, so I put it to one side while I played with the stereo.

gallery_46113_2344_2733.jpg

You can now pull out the cage, be careful not to stretch the wires behind too far, the top mounts of the cage had to be carefully eased past the centre gauge cluster to avoid damaging things.

gallery_46113_2344_86077.jpg

Now that the cage is free, you can remove the stereo by removing the 4 screws holding it to the cage. There is 2 on either side.

gallery_46113_2344_77843.jpg

When all 4 screws are removed, the headunit should drop free of the cage.

gallery_46113_2344_12443.jpg

Continued in next post...

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/204874-r32-gtr-headunit-replacement/
Share on other sites

You can put the cage back into the dash while you do the stereo wiring. The factory stereo in the GT-R has 3 connectors, two white-ish coloured ones that are used for power / speakers and one black one that is used to connect to the dash radio controls. There is also an antenna connection on the back of the stereo.

gallery_46113_2344_21360.jpg

Back of the old factory stereo with the plugs removed.

gallery_46113_2344_57078.jpg

The Nissan areial plug has 2 pins on it, it also has a clip on the side that you have to squeeze to remove the plug.

gallery_46113_2344_28500.jpg

The Double diversity adapter (Aerpro AP348A) has a socket for the 2 pins, it also has a clip on the side to match up with the one on the aerial lead.

gallery_46113_2344_10923.jpg

When they're pushed together, the clip locks them.

gallery_46113_2344_25403.jpg

Next you need the Aerpro APP0121 (Nissan - ISO adapter) or silimar. I only used this because the headunit I was installing had an ISO connector. Plus I didn't want to cut any wires if I didn't have to. This new loom connects directly to the Nissan stereo plugs. The black connector to the remote dash buttons is not used.

gallery_46113_2344_25998.jpg

New headunit with adapter harness ready to plug in.

gallery_46113_2344_16254.jpg

Harness and aerial plugged into the new head unit.

gallery_46113_2344_33353.jpg

It's at this point that I usually test a new stereo before screwing anything back together, saves a lot of work if you've done something wrong.... It powered up and there was static in the speakers (No radio reception in the garage I park in) so I assume it's all working.

gallery_46113_2344_55645.jpg

The new headunit can now be attached to the factory DIN cage with the same screws that came out of the stock one. As there were multiple holes to choose from, I picked the one that made the front of the face line up as closely as possible with the aircon controls. There was only one screw hole that lined up on each side, so only one screw per side is used to attach the headunit.

gallery_46113_2344_24672.jpg

The cage can now be re-inserted into the dash, carefully making sure that the top of the brackets doesn't damage the gauge cluster.

gallery_46113_2344_68996.jpg

The 4 screws that hold the cage can now be put back.

gallery_46113_2344_85207.jpg

When i was inserting the cage, it got caught on the drivers side dash. It wouldn't go in and it took me ages to figure out why.

gallery_46113_2344_76885.jpg

Replace the trim over the Aircon controls. With this in place, i couldn't get the surround on the new stereo. I'll have to cut it down at a later stage. Luckily the headunit doesn't look too bad without the surround.

gallery_46113_2344_50374.jpg

Next you can put back on the console panel and replace the screws in the ashtray opening.

gallery_46113_2344_17386.jpg

And finally you can re-attach the gearknob and put the ashtray back in.

gallery_46113_2344_83519.jpg

All Done!

I know there are a few other DIY's and howto's for R32 radio replacements, I had trouble figuring out a few bits from the descriptions I read. I hope the pictures help someone else!

  • 2 months later...
  • 7 months later...
  • 3 months later...

sorry dig up an old thread but does this work on just gtr's or will it go into a gtst?

just want to clarify before i order one as it seems much better than hacking the old wiring to pieces

  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...

great site in general for wiring if you don't have stock wiring still (ie: someone else has butchered it before you)....

and for nissan's specifically

http://www.installdr.com/Harnesses/Nissan-Wiring.pdf

don't foget to give 12V to the aerial also, it's a single plug with a black/red stripe wire - your radio reception will be arse without it!

  • 6 months later...
  • 3 months later...
  • 6 months later...

A very useful guide. Thanks. I would add a few things having just tried to install an Alpine deck into my R32 GT-R

Contrary to what Aerpro may claim, their harness system is not plug and play. I found that I need to move at least one of the pins on the Aerpro Nissan harness and a number of things were missing from Aerpro's Alpine harness. I needed a crimping tool and some plugs to connect a few wires (12v battery line and the 12v antenna from memory). I ended up buying a third spare harness that I cut apart for the pins. It would have been simpler to just wire it straight in, but I do like the convenience of being able to unplug the new head unit easily (and being able to stick the original back in if I need to). For what its worth, I found that the Install Doctor wiring guide linked earlier had all the pin placements right, but some of the wire colours wrong.

The other irritation is that my Alpine unit is ever so slightly smaller than the OEM unit, so there is now a small gap between the cluster surround and the headunit. Has anyone found a solution for this? I searched the forums and the only decent suggestion was some black foam. Has anyone tried DIN spacers like so?:

http://www.dnaaudio.com.au/dtr-600-din-trim-rings-set-of-4

Thanks again for the guide.

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 7 months later...
  • 6 months later...
  • 5 months later...
  • 7 years later...
  • 1 month later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Given you already have the engine cross member to match and likely gearbox mount to. The SR20 has a head start on the RB in this case. They handle GREAT with an SR20, lots of fun.   One I did back in the day
    • have no doubt and wanted too trust me and may regret later not necessarily worried about weight (would be 8 kg ish total) it was more the $$ to do it properly is about $6 - $7K in hardwear need long 310mm stroke jacks etc - plus install and call me whatever im not doing it myself even if wanted too cant weld etc  - thats $10K installed vs fraction of that cost while Ive spent some money on this POS I actually really dont like doing so unless its got a large chance to make me go faster 😁 hey in still carting this things around on a 15 yr old rusted open trailer so I can spend on racing not buy a new trailer to look better the manual jacks Ive had done are heavy and take space but are transportable and usable anywhere - taking or organizing even compressed air let alone nitrogen which is more whats needed coming from Perth to Winton or Sydney or the like honestly just adds to my brain headaches/ hurts of organisation also ha 15 mins job will get down to 2 - 5 min job vs 1 min job for airjacks - all tradeoffs I spose
    • Purely out of curiosity, how do you know all this @dbm7? Do you work with automatic gearboxes professionally? This goes way way way beyond "I've had an automatic Skyline once and did some mucking around"
    • I'll just reiterate that it's best to do all the wiring diagnostics, before even thinking about buying replacement solenoids ~ that is, be absolutely sure the solenoid is bad.....ie; bad connector(s), rodents chewed through a wire, etc etc. If you don't so this, you can fork out all the money for solenoids, only to find something else is wrong (this'll make you cry if you pull the valvebody only to find a broken wire is at fault... ...some more glue on the solenoid packs -- this is the RE5R01A shift solenoid assembly.... ...these are all shift solenoids ~ ostensibly they're the same as the shift solenoids from the 4-speed auto.... ...this is the RE4R01A solenoid set... ...with these, you have 3 shift solenoids attached to the plate, and the separate solenoid is the EPC solenoid (line pressure control) -- with both designs, the TC lockup clutch solenoid (also PWM so they could slide the clutch shut), is located on the lower valvebody half.... ...(story time)...back in the 90's, it was a common fault that the EPC solenoid (or TC-lock solenoid) would fail, but Nissan only sold them as part of the assembly (think ~$350 at the time) ~ thing was, Isuzu also used these boxes in light commercials, and you could buy the PWM solenoid as a separate part, so it was possible to buy/use that solenoid (around $65), and make it fit (remove the circlip, fit to old plate and deal with wiring)...making it a more cost effective repair. I've not seen the RE5R01A shift solenoid assembly, but with the 4-speed RE4R01A it was possible to hack/fit a single shift solenoid onto an other working set, using a donor solenoid from another set with failed EPC....(by rights the whole set should be replaced), but it ends up being a question of how much life is left in the box itself ; sometimes it's a viable repair to fix one solenoid, just to get another 100k of road miles out of it before it needs first overhaul...other times the box is that old/worn, you're as well doing first overhaul and replacing the solenoids and starting fresh... What Nissan did here with the 5-speed, was relocate the EPC solenoid to the lower valvebody (next to the TC lockup solenoid), and stuck the direct-drive clutch solenoid (for the extra gear) where the EPC solenoid used to be on the 4-speed....I can only imagine they did this for serviceability ; the PWM solenoids are most likely to fail, and it's a doddle to drop the pan and change these out (as opposed to dropping the valvebody itself to get at a top mounted EPC)... ...also keep in mind, that some BMW 3/5 series & Mazda (and maybe some Ford/Mazda rebadges, not sure), also used the RE5R01A box under a different name/part number...not saying parts availability is any better, but sometimes it helps to know this when it comes to NOS floating about in the EU.... HTH  
    • FWIW, air jacks are actually pretty light and simple to add, they are just 4 hydraulic cylinders (often at the main cage A and C pillar points) and an externally accessible airline  - they make quick work a breeze
×
×
  • Create New...