Thread: 2001 Pathfinder Carputer - My first install

Now for the PSU. Amazingly, it fit right into the rear cover for the console! It kind of snaps in. It's not tight enough to be considered permanent, but it's good enough for a test fit.


Plenty of room!



I'm not sure how I will permanently mount it, maybe with plastic "rivets". You push them through a hole and then push a center pin into them to flare the ends and secure them.

That's all I have right now. Hopefully I can finish the mounting of the mobo and PSU by the weekend and start on drives, USB hubs, foldout monitor, etc. Wish me luck!

So I decided not to use the plastic clips to secure the mobo. I looked around on the net and found a lot of options like these square base adhesive backed screws. These may have been a better choice...

Being impatient, I just went to Home Depot and got 1" long nylon 10 x 32 screws, nuts and some nylon spacers 1/2" long. I drilled holes in the bottom of the console and even counter sunk them.


Then the Dremel work. It's not like a factory job, but it will do.


I was kind of bummed, it didn't line up perfect. It lines up fairly well and is close enough, I guess. Now I have 1/2" underneath for a little airflow. Here is a view from the rear.


And from the top.


From the top, here is a detail shot of the nylon screw & nut securing the board.


I decided to go with double sided foam tape to hold the PSU in place since it was a pretty tight fit already.


Mobo in console, back in Pathfinder. I missed a place to put my coffee in the mornings...


I ran the USB and VGA cables up to the front. I found that the power to the acc power jack is switched. Since I had to remove the bottom part of it to get the VGA cable attached, I will be using it as ignition wire to the PSU. Not sure where I will pull constant power from yet. I will start on the monitor tomorrow.

I decided to see how much of a pain it would be pulling the radio/CD and installing the monitor. I found some instructions on how to get the radio out a while back when my CD changer was acting flaky. There are no external screw, you have to pop the upper air vent assembly out. There is a tab behind the unit. I wrapped a butter knife with a single layer of t-shirt and inserted it where the red circle is:


Once the vent starts to pop out, you can see the tab that secured it.


Pull the vent assembly out and you can unplug the power to the clock. Next there are two screws to remove to get the main trim piece off.


Loosen the screws and pull lightly and work the trim piece loose from the right side. Once it pops out, you will need to move the shifter to L and swing the panel out. The assembly at the bottom can be popped out and plugged back in, as can the flasher and defrost buttons on the top. If you plan on driving, you need the flasher assembly plugged in to use your turn signals, although nobody in Atlanta seems to actually use turn signals. I'm not sure if the 4WD selector needs to be plugged in to drive, but why chance it? Once the trim is out of the way, we can see the four screws that need to be removed in order to get the radio and CD changer out.


Remove the screws and pull the unit out. There are a lot of connectors.


You can safely unplug all of them. They are unique and can only go in one slot.


With the units removed, you can see the screws used to hold each unit in place. They are torqued down at about 5000 ft/lbs, or so it seemed...


The mounting holes for the monitor line up great.

There is something inside the front screw holes so if you use them, you can not get much more than 1/2 turn on the screws. If you run the rear screws in all the way, they will hit the side of the screen and will stop it from extending or retracting. I just put about 1 turn on them.

As I mentioned, I am impatient. So here is a shot of a ghetto install, note the power cables hagning out the bottom.


It works! When it opens and closes, it misses the shifter by about 3/8".

I can not move it to the top position, there is no room behind for the VGA connector or the USB cable for the touchscreen.

Now for constant power and running audio wiring into the HU. I am still trying to find a wiring diagram or pinout for the wiring that originally ran to the CD changer. I am hoping mobileinformationlabs.com will also have the diagrams I need. I am also hoping the steering wheel controls are in the connector for the CD changer and I can use them for some sort of input control when computer is selected input on head unit.

This week, I hope to finish up the wiring and get this thing running.

So what am I waiting for? Why haven't I finished?
I decided I didn't want to cut up the Pathfinder wiring harness. I called some places looking for the harness coming out of the Clarion CD changer, no luck. Finally, one of the places I called gave me Clarions service number, 1-800-733-3336. I called them and was directed to Pacific Coast Parts Distribution, 1-800-421-5080, that carries the replacement harness! For $13 I can save my car harness and easily reverse the install when I sell the car. If anyone is interested, the Pacific Coast Parts Distribution part number is 854760700. This is for the Clarion PN-2302N 6 disk CD changer.

I have also decided to enclose all of the wires in sleeve from the PC to the dash. I have used Cable Zippers for the house and am doing the same for the car. On the wiring front, Mobile Information Labs had the wiring diagrams I needed. Hopefully I can get everything installed next weekend...

Let me know how much luck you have with HeadUnit, for some reason it wouldn't work very well for me. It compiled, many of the functions just didn't work too well.

Will do. Pacific Coast said it will now take 11 working days to get my harness. So it will be a couple of weeks until I finish wiring. Thanks for reading my worklog.

Eubey,
Are you keeping the radio? If so, I hope you have a different radio than I do. I ordered a replacement harness for the CD changer (the one that goes inside the changer out to the plug) and used that as my input to the head unit. No dice. Seems the radio is looking for some sort of signal to know there is something on the CD input. Now it goes AM, FM1, FM2, Tape, AM, etc. Never goes to CD input now. I have looked all over for a kit for iPods and MP3 players, but I have found nothing for the '01. Maybe you will have better luck with the '99.

I may be forced to get a head unit with built in AUX input, but then I will have to buy a $100+ unit to use the steering wheel controls with it, if I can even find one that will work with the '01 Pathfinder. Very frustrating, I am literally 15 minutes from the physical install being complete.