Feature Rich 700.00 stereo install (poor boy)

lineyho

Just finished what I call the poor boy stereo install with great features. I’ve been watching those china android car dvd players on ebay for a couple years and finally decided to buy one after watching lot’s of reviews on you tube. This is what I did. I have a 2010 base model Z.

1 $300.00 Shipped Ebay 6.2 inch resistive screen, no name, double din, android 2.3.4 car DVD player. 1gz processor, 512mb ram. Comes with GPS/Sygic nav and maps, Bluetooth phone pairing and audio streaming, Wi-fi dongle, micro SD and Usb ports supporting up to 32gb cards, all kinds of inputs outputs, steering wheel control, ipod input, am/fm radio, Analog TV (not for US). I was pleasantly surprised with this unit, Although I'm taking a chance on longevity, not all people would buy one of these. The install was fairly straight forward. I had to dremmel grind a little plastic off the bottom edge of the factory consul face plate to get it to fit. On the factory metal bracket I had to elongate the mounting screw holes and gride off a few little dimples, but was able to get it mounted in the exact same position as the factory radio.

I have to hand it to the chinese though. They are way ahead off Pioneer, Kenwood, Alpine etc in features. This is the future of car stereo no mater what operating system they put in these head units. Some people are doing the same thing by installing tablets in their dash. My reasons for wanting this ? 64 GB capacity for music files. This unit will play almost any audio and video file format, plus NTSC and PAL DVD's. I have 300 live concert DVD's I never have time to watch or listen to. Now I can at least listen to them. I have directv service at home, and they have an app where I can stream HBO, Stars, Showtime, & Cinemax and others directly to the HU. You need to make your phone a hot spot for the HU to function. You can also stream Netflix if you have an account. I saw one guy buy a "Vulkano" video streaming unit for his home and added the app to his android car DVD unit and watched live tv, any channel, in his car that he recieved at home.
Unfortunately, I was hoping that my OBD2 bluetooth unit would work with the bluetooth on the HU, but it did not. Some people with these have got theirs working.
The stereo sounds really good. I was surprised at the S/N ratio. There is little noise. Although in a loud car it does not make much difference.
I could go on for a long time, but Obviously you can do almost anything with this head unit that you can with you phone, so no more need to be said on that. There are a lot of these units on Ebay and they are not all the same. Some of the more expensive ones do have Android 4.0 and above. I have actually rooted mine borrowing the rom files off a Russian Website found through XDA developers. There are a lot of people on youtube demonstrating these. Here is the link to the head unit.
US Stock New Android 2 DIN 3G WiFi TV Car DVD GPS Navi Bluetooth iPod RDS | eBay

Speakers. Polk Audio DB6501 6.5inch component speakers/tweeters, $110.00 shipped. I bought these because people on this forum said they were fairly good and would fit in the doors without much modification. They did. All you had to do was take the spacers that came with the speakers, drill & screw them right onto the factory plastic speaker mounts, then mount the speakers. I used formica to make a mounting plate for the tweeters up on the dash. That's going to take some time for anyone. The crossovers were mounted in the side wall kick plates under the dash like other people have said. I ran new speaker wires. The speakers sound okay with the head unit but I'm not completely impressed with them. Definitely not enough bass, but I was planning on putting a subwoofer in anyway. The head unit has 40 watts, but I might add a small amp in the future. I couldn't believe the factory 6.5 inch speakers ! What a joke ! I have never in my life seen a speaker that weighed about 2 oz and I've been installing my own car stereo's since 1974. I laughed my head off when I saw those things.

Bazooka Bass Tube-6In 250W Class D - BTA6250D $189.00 Shipped Ebay. I got this idea from this form also. The bazooka subwoofer installed back aft of the spare tire in that small cavity. You can search this formum to see the pictures of someone elses install. Thank you who ever you are. There was only one little studd to grind off to make it fit. The sub comes with a couple mounting brackets that I screwed into the body. I used hose clamps like the others have done rather than the nylon straps. This little 6.5 inch speaker puts out some bass. Not the big deep stuff, but it really compliments the front speakers and completes the package. Also, you do not loose any storage space what so ever.

CCD CAMERA Nissan Versa Pulsar Cube Fairlady 350Z 370Z $18.00 shipped Ebay. I bought the backup camera off ebay that a lot of people have used. It's the camera that slides right into place where one of the license plate lights reside. A lot of people on this forum have installed these. The camera is very clear during the day obviously. At night, it is not that great. Not a huge loss. I can always install a better camera later.

My car with the twin turbo and 3 inch exhaust with no cats is very loud. The car was a vibrating rattletrap that I could not stand. So I ended up buying Fat Mat Rattle trap. It is an 80mil tar based sound deadener. I bought 50 square feet off ebay $110.00. I lined the trunk area up to just below the aluminum stabilizer bar (don't know what you call that thing). I also lined the door panels with this. This worked great ! All my rattles were gone, the car was slightly muffled with a more solid feel. The sound system probably benefitted from this material also.

I have not got the steering wheel controls to work yet. This unit has some type of built in steering wheel control that you apparently don't need to use a adapter. I just have not had the time to figure it out, but I will probably get there.

I am really pleased the way this system turned out, especially for 700 bucks, including the fat mat. I forgot what it was like to crawl around in a car for 3 weeks especially at my age. Man, I don't know how those 40/hr wk guys do and then charge little to nothing for installs. Really what took the most time was the fat mat and the tweeters and trying to figure out how to wire the backup camera.

MX52Z

Thanks for Guinea-pigging this for us (if I may use a rodent as a verb). I have always been curious about these things but never had the few hundred bucks to blow for an experiment I suspected would be doomed anyway. I did the usual high-end Kenwood route because it felt safer but am grateful you posted.

I really like Android and see a future for it in cars. I wish the industry would rethink limited, purpose-built head units and the tiny and obsolete double DIN standard. I don't see why we can't have a new minimum 10-inch standard size and Android devices like a tablet that sits flush and does everything from audio to GPS to 4G/wifi to OBD diagnostics/digital gauges, full time front/rear video recording and so on.

The current stuff, including my nice Kenwood is too small a screen, too antiquated with its slot loading CD/DVD player (does anyone even use CDs anymore?), too deep, too heavy, too hot, too power hungry, too expensive and too limited compared to an Android device the size of a thumb drive and a thin, high-res screen.

Rhino111

how did you wire up that camera i just got the same one and it has no instructions.

Thanks for your time.

lineyho

i ran the camera wire from the head unit back to the trunk area where the drivers rear tail light wires run through the metal wall heading to the tail light. Just before the wires enter the large round rubber gromet, I tapped into the power wire and ground for the backup light.

chknhawk

I have the same kind of Android H/U and I love it. Mine had a detachable tablet I can take with me anywhere. Features are pretty damn good for the price. The steering controls require a couple resistors inline with the control wires. I dont know which ones right off hand but you can google the results and find it im sure. Great review and good luck with the new tunes! :-)

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lineyho

I have not went back to work on the steering wheel controls, but I plan on it. I have googled amny times for this information, but it is all over the board. Some use one wire, others use two wires, etc. I just have to try all the combinations to see what works with the Z. If you have the specific instructions that you used, I would like to read them.

JARblue

Thanks for the great info I will definitely be looking into these HUs further, and I will be interested in your findings regarding the steering wheel controls.

The only comment I have is regarding the sound deadening material. GTMat is an excellent quality product AND a forum sponsor. They have an 80mil product for less than you paid, or you could have gotten about 40 squares of their higher quality butyl product (called Onyx) for about the same price you paid. If ever have need again, PM GTMat or Pintsize on the forum

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kenchan

aha, so this is where you saw this, mr.jar.

GTMat

Bumping from the dead, sorry.


For anyone looking for sound deadening, call me! We have discount, premium and liquid options available and can customize packages to fit your budget. Free sample packs can be requested as well.

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JARblue

Didn't realize a thread is considered dead in 6 weeks

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GTMat

No replies this month...

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DEpointfive0

Pics?

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Wicked CAS

I have seen many different versions of these type of units. Some with great results, some with poor quality and longevity problems. But I can see how tempting it is with prices being so cheap.

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bigaudiofanat

Same here, I have seen good and bad with Chinese stuff. I would just be worried about if you had a problem there is very little support for something like this.

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lineyho

My head unit has been working great since the install. Support from vendors is limited, yes. But support from user all over the world can be quite good. There are 93 pages on the XDA forum for this unit. It's people helping people, just like this particular forum. My only gripe about the unit is the "resistive screen". After owning a cell phone, one gets spoiled with the ease of use with a capacative screen. There are a few android head units now with capacitive screens. It's only going to get better. The major brands need to get on board.