Yea being able to follow along with them as they create it has been fun to watch and seems like they have great customer support unlike pheonix or rhino. I am between the px6 13in with bluetooth car play or the workshop 12. I am also waiting to hear about the new radio pheonix is going to be putting out apparently to see how that one is like. I love to idea of an acutal quality tablet but for the price of the tablet and the cradle from workshop idk if if I could justify the additional costs losing most oem functionality as well as car play.

 

Px6 results have been spotty (according to Facebook group), most still have issues with backup camera (have to wire in a step converter like I did). The price of the workshop 12 (about $700 including tablet) is on par with the PX6 Pricing, and with both solutions you need an Apple CarPlay dongle (about $50). That’s why iCrap’s Raspberry Pi solution is so brilliant, the only opportunity cost is the visual look of a large table in your screen.

 

Heard about the step converter for the backup camera. I was under the impression the new 13.6 was bluetooth car play no dongle required for it.

 

Picked up some hotchkis sway bars and considering powder coating them so they look minty fresh.

 

You can add CarPlay as a "built in" option on the Px6 for an additional fee. And even then, reviews have been mixed. I've had zero issues with the dongle though.

 

😒

 

That thread on Facebook has been hilarious to follow. Many of these same folks were all over the Tesla screen threads, but struggled with that install as well.

As you said there's definitely a market out there, I'd advise you to think about the post purchase installation support and effort required. That is what doomed the Phoenix/Rhino kits (outside of the inert shoddy quality). These G owners on FB are quite needy

 

See this is the big issue. I really don't want to deal with a million people asking stupid questions, i won't be able to keep up with that. I think i could come up with a more simplified install without any end user soldering, but they would still have to open up their stock screen and remove the board. Also you would have to tap the reverse wire on your AV harness, but that would be about it.

My idea for a kit right now is this:
- Wiring harness that plugs in between the stock harness and stock display board (i found the connectors Nissan used, so this gets rid of soldering onto the stock board)
- 3D Printed housing with the screen and boards already mounted, and already pre-wired (soldered) together.

So pretty much the install for the user would be this:
1. Take out the stock board from the display housing, mount it into place onto the new 3D printed housing
2. There will be a wire on my new harness for the reverse signal, so they would need to tap that on the back of the AV unit below the screen
3. Plug in my new harness between the stock display board and car's display wiring harness.
4. Run the 2 wires from the screen (HDMI and USB for touch) down to the Pi, (I put mine under the passenger seat so I can still get to it later)

So they really only have to tap 1 wire. the rest plugs in. But this could get complicated if the screen wires have changed over the years, then I need multiple harnesses. I have to check that still...

 

It seems completely logical and rather clean to me. You'll still get plenty of dumb questions, but perhaps a YouTube install video + Forum Guidelines may provide self service capacity. But as much as you can minimize the soldering for the masses (the plug and harness sounds like a GREAT idea), as people struggled with a simple step converter install to get backup cameras to work on the Tesla Screen thread. Lord knows I had a ton of emails after I got it to work on mine.

The 3D printed solution sounds awesome, I'm curious if creating the initial build is cheaper than simply grabbing a ton of OEM used sets. Or perhaps two levels of kits, that people can choose based on expertise level? Either way, I'm excited to follow and see how you bring this to market

 

Well I think the 3D printed housing is going to be pretty much required. For the initial one I did in my car I had to take the angle grinder to the back of the spare screen unit i bought on eBay, but I can just recreate my modified housing in CAD and skip all that. Also the only part from the OEM screen that is needed is the board, so if i got a bunch off eBay i would literally just throw everything away except the board.
I do like the idea of 2 levels of kits. I'm sure SOME people can do the soldering, so i can sell one with just the components and they can wire it up. Or maybe even just the harness and printed housing and they can source what they need. Dunno yet.

Next step is to design and print a few tests on my printer. ill post some pics when i do that.

 

With corona boredom setting in, tested a few grille badge options (have the “370GT” badge on the back, comfortably along with the Fuji).

Any thoughts? First one is where Nissan typically mounts badges (e.g. Nismo).

 

My first reaction, my gut reaction, is I don't care for any of them. Not out of any sense of purism, it just doesn't look right... and I'm sorry I can't come up with the words to say why.

BUT (!), if you're head set on doing this, and those are the three choices, then I choose top right. The reasoning is the sight-lines. The flat edge of the top of the badge had it's nearest straight line at the top of the grille. And the "line" from the right tip of the "T" to the bottom aligns with the angle of the side of the grille. Sort of.

 

I would be a customer

 

Well i'll keep you guys updated. I just ordered some parts to start making a few harnesses today. Gonna make a second "prototype" and go from there

 

So first time modding my 2011 sedan. And I see you guys talking about swift and other brands. What's wrong with H&R?