Thread: 2004 350Z Worklog

So I found some spare parts for the 4pin 4pin cable at my work. I soldered two of those things together and saved myself $10. I mounted the m2-atx into my case. sorry the pics are so fuzzy but i decided to use my phone to take the pics.



It's hard to tell but I'm using mounting brackets to hold the m2-atx in place. Gives it a little space between it and the case also.

Took apart the xenarc.
Here's what I'll be putting the panel in.







I'm going to need some double sided tape to secure the pcb boards. then I can see about fitting it in enclosure. Hopefully I'll get that done tomorrow so I can get this shiz done.

So I tried mounting this bad boy but i need to secure it somehow so it doesn't move around. I screwed in the metal clips that originally held the xenarc to it's housing to the side of my housing unit like this.



It gave a perfect fit. Except for the fact that this (and I'm assuming all other) xenarcs are slightly off center. You'll notice that in the original housing. So if the screen was perfectly centered, I'd have no problems, but I need to slide the lcd to one side. Which sucks.

Did some soldering today for the motherboard power switch and power cable for the xenarc. The motherboard power switch was lot long enough so I extended it. For the xenarc power cable, I cut off the end of the car adapter. the way the cables were there was the positive inside cable with the ground wrapped around it. I soldered those bad boys to a female molex adapter that will be hooked up to my m2-atx. I soldered the inside cable to the 12 volt line and the outside cable to the ground.

So I tried using screws and brackets to mount the xenarc. No dice. Either I couldn't find a thick enough screw or it was too long or some other crap. So what I did was buy 2 pieces of aluminum tubing. The tubes were 5mm in diameter. I used these as shims basically and epoxied them to the side of my navi pocket. Since the xenarc is off center, I had to make one aluminum pipe smaller in diameter than the other. I just used some pliers for that. got some epoxy and BAM. It's done. Now to tear apart my car and do the actual install.

Just finished installing the lcd. hopefully everything's working. I don't have a laptop to verify everything's working correctly.
Here's a pic of the dash





and with the lcd


finished product. I would have liked the screen to be alittle more centered but oh well. It's a little off. I think I can live with it.

looks good so far...keep us updated. i am planning on starting my 350z install soon

received my gps unit yesterday. Going to do the full install today or tomorrow. I think the toughest part now is finding out how to mount the case in the back.

Here's the before pic of the case.




I used a drill to help cut up the case by drilling into the rivets? to take apart un-needed panels.



Here's version 1 of the chopped up case. It's pretty much a motherboard tray. I had to chop it up and keep chopping it up to fit in the space allowed.



So here's what the case looks like inside.



Decided to install my pioneer speakers I had. The stock rear Z speakers were rated 32ohms. WTF?



Here's version 2 of the case.



I basically had to use zip ties at the four corners to kind of lift it up and away from the bottom and sides. I couldn't figure out how to mount it so I just suspended it.



And the test drive