DIY: Light Steering wheel controls on an 03-04 Coupe
#21
06-11-2009, 04:54 PM
I'm finally getting closer to performing this mod on my '04 coupe. Has anyone use the premium controls over the base control for the replacement? I believe the premium control replaces the standard "power" button with the "bluetooth" button (is this correct)? Does any one have an image of what the premium control looks like on an '05 or later coupe?
Here are the part numbers:
25550-AC700 for the non-premium equipped cars
25550-AC70A for premium equipped cars
Does the bluetooth button act as both the power AND the bluetooth phone activator? If the wiring harness is identical for the '04 and '05 then I assume that the bluetooth button also doubles as the 'Power' or the 'Mode' button on the '04 setup? The reason I am asking is if I decide to go with the premium controls, I am also going to be installing an aftermarket Pioneer HU + the Bluetooth adapter, would I be able to control turning the Bluetooth on/off from the steering wheel, or would I still have to touch the Pioneer HU screen to activate the Bluetooth?
Here are the part numbers:
25550-AC700 for the non-premium equipped cars
25550-AC70A for premium equipped cars
Does the bluetooth button act as both the power AND the bluetooth phone activator? If the wiring harness is identical for the '04 and '05 then I assume that the bluetooth button also doubles as the 'Power' or the 'Mode' button on the '04 setup? The reason I am asking is if I decide to go with the premium controls, I am also going to be installing an aftermarket Pioneer HU + the Bluetooth adapter, would I be able to control turning the Bluetooth on/off from the steering wheel, or would I still have to touch the Pioneer HU screen to activate the Bluetooth?
Last edited by AustinG35; 06-11-2009 at 05:03 PM.
#22
07-10-2009, 05:40 PM
I just completed this mod last night. Performing this mod for the first time, on a scale from 1 to 10, I put this around a 6, although, if I did it again, I would say it's about a 3 now. Besides thinking that I could complete this project from start to finish on a week night, turned into an uncompleted job and going to sleep at 4:30 the following morning...I had some issues with my soldering gun not working correctly, the removal and reinstallation of the IC pin connector into the grey connector under the clock spring hub, and the correct location for the pink grounding wire. Unless, you are already an electronics guru, IMO it might be useful to note for others looking to perform this mod, these couple of items to save them a considerable amount of time:
Under step 4, when you create a grounding wire with the pink wire, you had selected the torx bold that holds the horn plate and springs in. When I did this, I noticed as I was remounting the airbag back onto the steering wheel, that because of the physical width of the eyelet under the torx bolt, it causes the left side of the horn plate to be completely compressed down onto the spring which caused the entire air bag assembly to mount lower on the left side with no space between the airbag and the left control and leave about a quarter inch on the right side which was immediately noticeable. After a couple of hours of deliberating what to do, I did another search for anyone else who may have performed this same mod and found this link: https://g35driver.com/forums/interio...oupe-easy.html
If you notice on page 1, post #9, he has a pic showing how he mounted his pink grounding wire (actually replaced with a thicker red wire). Instead of using the torx bolt, he used one of black screws to the right of the left torx bolt directly on the backplate (interesting to note, my steering wheel had the empty screw holes, but did not have screws in place, so I wasn't sure if this was something he added. I had to pick up a 5mm fine thread hex bolt (Neither Autozone nor Home Depot sold the nice gun metal cross tip fine thread like he has...) and this alleviates compressing the spring so that the airbag assembly and horn fit and work correctly.
https://g35driver.com/forums/attachm...sy-strgwh3.jpg
Under step 6, I attempted to remove the IC pin from the original steering wheel controls, and quite simply, the easiest method is to use a pair of metal shears (or some heavy duty equivalent) and cut longways down the old steering wheel connector and careful remove either the red or black wires (both are the same length.) Also, the now recovered wire with the IC pin will not go into the grey connector unless you first release the white tab by putting a tiny jewelers screwdriver into the pin socket and pushing towards the white tab that is on the top of that grey connector. Had I known this in advance, I could have saved at least an hour plus at least 3 bent IC pins in the process. Once that white tab is up, the new IC pin and wire goes into the hole with no problems.
All in all, the controls look great. BIG difference now in the "nighttime" appearance!
Under step 4, when you create a grounding wire with the pink wire, you had selected the torx bold that holds the horn plate and springs in. When I did this, I noticed as I was remounting the airbag back onto the steering wheel, that because of the physical width of the eyelet under the torx bolt, it causes the left side of the horn plate to be completely compressed down onto the spring which caused the entire air bag assembly to mount lower on the left side with no space between the airbag and the left control and leave about a quarter inch on the right side which was immediately noticeable. After a couple of hours of deliberating what to do, I did another search for anyone else who may have performed this same mod and found this link: https://g35driver.com/forums/interio...oupe-easy.html
If you notice on page 1, post #9, he has a pic showing how he mounted his pink grounding wire (actually replaced with a thicker red wire). Instead of using the torx bolt, he used one of black screws to the right of the left torx bolt directly on the backplate (interesting to note, my steering wheel had the empty screw holes, but did not have screws in place, so I wasn't sure if this was something he added. I had to pick up a 5mm fine thread hex bolt (Neither Autozone nor Home Depot sold the nice gun metal cross tip fine thread like he has...) and this alleviates compressing the spring so that the airbag assembly and horn fit and work correctly.
https://g35driver.com/forums/attachm...sy-strgwh3.jpg
Under step 6, I attempted to remove the IC pin from the original steering wheel controls, and quite simply, the easiest method is to use a pair of metal shears (or some heavy duty equivalent) and cut longways down the old steering wheel connector and careful remove either the red or black wires (both are the same length.) Also, the now recovered wire with the IC pin will not go into the grey connector unless you first release the white tab by putting a tiny jewelers screwdriver into the pin socket and pushing towards the white tab that is on the top of that grey connector. Had I known this in advance, I could have saved at least an hour plus at least 3 bent IC pins in the process. Once that white tab is up, the new IC pin and wire goes into the hole with no problems.
All in all, the controls look great. BIG difference now in the "nighttime" appearance!
Last edited by AustinG35; 07-10-2009 at 05:45 PM.
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#28
11-12-2010, 06:43 PM
G'day guys
What is everyone doing with the old controls?
I'm thinking of putting together a group buy for cruise control (unbelievable that nearly all the 35 series cars imported here don't have it) on SAU (Skylines Australia forum) and it will come up about the steering wheel controls for cruise and audio.
Now some people will want the ones that light up, just like you guys did, and they can get them from Performance Nissan or elsewhere in the States. But others might be just as happy with used ones.
The new price for the ones with lights is around $80 plus ~$30 shipping to Aust (less for multiple items) so if you were asking about $50 shipped (totally up to you of course) I think you would get some takers. I know, not a lot of money but you do get a warm fuzzy feeling by recycling & you get to add some joy to someones’ life on the other side of the world
Is anyone interested in selling their old panels and buttons?
Cheers.
What is everyone doing with the old controls?
I'm thinking of putting together a group buy for cruise control (unbelievable that nearly all the 35 series cars imported here don't have it) on SAU (Skylines Australia forum) and it will come up about the steering wheel controls for cruise and audio.
Now some people will want the ones that light up, just like you guys did, and they can get them from Performance Nissan or elsewhere in the States. But others might be just as happy with used ones.
The new price for the ones with lights is around $80 plus ~$30 shipping to Aust (less for multiple items) so if you were asking about $50 shipped (totally up to you of course) I think you would get some takers. I know, not a lot of money but you do get a warm fuzzy feeling by recycling & you get to add some joy to someones’ life on the other side of the world
Is anyone interested in selling their old panels and buttons?
Cheers.
#29
03-21-2011, 03:01 PM
Wanted to revisit one last time - in regards to running the new power wire to get these controls to light up, under Step 5, you had recommended splicing into the VDC button wiring harness. One thing I noticed is that when you use that as your power, the steering wheel controls stay 'on' regardless if you dim the rest of your guage cluster lights (the steering wheel lights do not dim like they would on an '05 or later model)
Not a big deal, but was wondering if you had a better power splice location to get the steering wheel controls to dim when the guage cluster is dimmed?
Not a big deal, but was wondering if you had a better power splice location to get the steering wheel controls to dim when the guage cluster is dimmed?
