By 'verified' I am referring to a good ground. While grounding to the body is fine, dust, dirt, rust, corrosion, etc. can all interfere with the ground connection. Just make sure you are grounding the paddles to the bare metal of the steering column and you should be good.

 

I use a multi-meter (found at local hardware store) to find a good ground. Put one electrode on a positive power source (like a 12V wire) and put the other electrode where you 'think' is a good ground. If the multi-meter reads 12V then that's a good ground my friend.

 

i have a few questions. I have the harnesses that plug into the paddles - they came with the the paddles and have enough slack left. I can splice into those and run upshift and downshift wires to appropriate locations on unified meter AC amplifier. I can handle all of this so far

my questions are - both up and down shift need to be grounded so they can each complete the circuit and act as independent switches, right?

2nd - how will I attach the grounded up & down shift cables I run to the AC amplifier to their respective slots? I need advise how to get the cable properly connected into the harness so they go to the correct “slots”

thanks a ton for all this info - I'm almost ready to tackle this!

 

Correct. All you have to do is take one (1) wire from each connector, splice them together, and connect them to the metal part of the steering column. A ring terminal would be helpful here. Then, the remaining wire from each connector (total, 2) go to the amp for the UP/DOWN shift signal.

I take it the parts you have did not include the female terminals? You will need two (2) of these:

If there is a local junkyard or electronics store you might have luck there.

Once you remove the connector from the amp there is a locking tab you have to open. With the connector unlocked, the terminal just slides into the slot and clicks into place. BEWARE! Note the orientation of the terminals before you slide it in. There is only one way to properly insert these pieces and this is not one of those "if it don't fit, force it moments."

 

This is the exact info I needed. And I’m almost positive my parts yard will be able to source the ac amp end of the harness for me to get the terminals from.

Any recommendation on what size wire to use to run from the spliced terminal to the spliced up and down shift lines?

i think I can fully wrap my head around this project - if I can pull it off I’ll film and post for others.

Do you know if this will work with 5AT? I'm hearing it’s because I have a non sport 5AT model that is why it doesn’t have the connections tucked away - but if I tap into the ac amp directly it shouldn’t matter, right? I will verify the harness looks identically and if I have any questions I’ll snap pics to post. Im wondering if it’s not prewired because the ac amp module may be different on 5AT from 7AT and not have the same up and down shift command functions… thoughts?

Thank you - weekend project coming up soon!

 

Dude, don't overthink this project. It is super simple to do. For those female terminals the junkyard will be your friend. Once you get the pigtail, let me know and I will post the easiest method to de-pin the two terminals you will need. Actually, de-pinning the connector will be the hardest part of this project.

Any adequate gauge wire will suffice. Just pull a bunch from the donor car at the junkyard. If your lucky, the donor car will have the harness for the paddles which you can salvage from the main harness and limit the number of soldering/ spliced connections you have to make.

This will work on any G37 whether it is 5AT or 7AT. Same amp, same wiring locations (pins 6 & 26). Hell, I'm using the steering wheel-mounted Q60 paddles on mine. The paddles, amp, and car don't care. Send a momentary ground signal to the amp and the AT will shift. Again, super simple.

Just pace yourself, work everything over in your head (or on paper like I do), and go step by step.

AS ALWAYS, DISCONNECT THE BATTERY AND WAIT FOR ≈5 MINUTES BEFORE DOING ANY ELECTRICAL WORK. You may already know this but many ignore that advice and then come back complaining they screwed the pooch somehow.

Good luck and don't hesitate to ask for help.

 

Ok - I got the ac amp end of the harness pigtail from a junkyard. Im ready to source the pins and connect my up and down wires to the actual ac amp harness that will be used.

I’ve already played around with the pigtail and figured out how to pop off the main “lid” to access the pins. To release pins it looks like there are tabs that need to be released with a tool about the size of a needle or so. It is pretty straightforward or do I need a special tool? Im going to try to release the pin tab with a paper clip probably…

Also - do you suggest I have the upshift and downshift ground wires attached to separate ground points or can they be grounded to the same point? Do you have a picture of where on the steering column the grounding screw/point is?

i think I will be doing this very soon - even though my car needs a new trans (3rd is slipping) - it will nice to have a replaced trans and new paddle shifter function! Thanks again!

 

Don't waste your time with a paper clip- they may work wonders for MacGyver, but they are useless for these connectors. I use a old jewelers screwdriver but a heavy safety or tapestry pin will work just as well. Here is how I depin these "TH-type" connectors:

Unlock Safety Tab:


Remove Front Cover:


Identify Locking Tab:


Press Down and Slide Wire Out:


To insert the terminal(s), all you have to do is unlock the safety tab (pic #1) and, noting the orientation of the terminal, slide it into the slot until it "clicks." If there is ANY resistance, STOP! This is not one of those "If it don't fit, force it" moments. Pull the terminal back out and check orientation. When done, lock the safety tab and you're done.

You can use any/the same location for the ground connection. Any bare metal in the steering column will suffice.

Again, don't overthink/ over complicate this project. Once you get those terminals removed from the connector, the hardest part of this job will be over.

 

I was able to get the connector pins out of the wiring harness. Just need to go to the store and get some gauge wire to connect them.

on the paddle harnesses how do I tell which is the ground and which is the upshift and downshift single wire? There are only two on each harness but I’m not sure which is which (see circled in green)

Which is ground which is shift signal?

 

Technically, it does not matter in this case as it is a SPNO (single pole, normally open) switch. However, for "factory correctness:"

• White and Pink can get spliced together and go to GROUND (steering column).
• Green goes to Pin #26 at the amp (downshift).
• Orange goes to Pin #6 at the amp (upshift).

 

just wrapped up and went for a test drive… Everything works like a charm. For some reason my airbag light is on… I’m assuming it will reset and go off with time? But otherwise everything is perfect.

thanks again for the information!

 

Told you it was a piece of cake, lol.

The SRS light is probably on because you had the clock panel disconnected and had the car ON. Just perform the SRS RESET and it should clear right out.

Congrats on a job well done!

 

The airbag light went away before I had the chance to reset it.

Really enjoying the paddles - thanks again!

 

Hey so I have the paddles but it didn’t come with the female connector into the paddles is there anywhere I can buy a set?

 

Hit up saccityautoparts on IG or another junkyard that specialized in G’s and they should be able to help you find one from a wrecked car. That’s what I did.

btw mine still work flawlessly. Have never had any issues and I use the paddles just about more than any other input device in the car other than the accelerator and brake pedals lol. Excellent upgrade