I see a lot of posts about the A/C controller being attatched to the bose systme HU. Is this true for a NON- Bose system HU as well? Thanks.

 

Are you talking about the STOCK non-premium headunit? I thought they were the same stock Clarion deck with 6 Cd changer...the stock HU is not really a Bose but actually a Clarion.

If so, then yes, the AC controller is integrated with HU and you need to obtain JDM v35 skyline dash ac controller ~$220 from J's Garage in Japan.
There has been one post that someone was going to try to cut across the circuit board to try to separate the 2 but I don't know if they've done it yet.

 

I read that too and cutting across the circuit board WILL NOT WORK. Period. Unless you have the schematics it's impossible to know where each wire is going and what it does... and even WITH the schematic, it's still highly NOT recommended as it's impossible to do this without damaging the circuit.