Tristan's 04 MX5 SE

[Nevyn72]

Sounds better, been meaning to do a similar one with varex open/closed.

Now that would be interesting!

Have you fitted the BEGi intake yet?
Before & after on both counts would be great.....

[Tristan_ACT]

Ok soooo, after promising myself not to spend any more of my money, I found a Sony XAV-701bt unit at JB yesterday at %30 off!!!

That's about where the good news ends. So today after finding out what harnesses I needed I drove from my parents house at Sutherland area, up to Auburn (a good 40 mins) and back again. Then I noticed he gave me the SP3 adapter not the SP2, and drove back again. So after a full 3 hours I finally had my harnesses yay!!!!

Now for the bad news, first I can't watch movies apparently it reads my car as always moving. So I can't even watch while moving I anticipated this as being a problem, so no biggie.

Whenever I turn on the car the aerial for the radio goes up, once again not a big dealio.

Most importantly I can't get my phone working on the unit, now HTC One X isn't one of the 15 or so approved devices for mirror link, however I'm in the process of trying to find an adapter or an after market program to help me run mirror link. Unfortunately the XDA developers aftermarket drive link didn't seem to work

For anyone wondering what harnesses they need the car one is an Aerpro APP072 (2000 - 2004 NB MX5's and a few other mazda's). Also my car stero one was APPSP2 (only for aftermarket 2012 sony headunits). Also for reference AutoBarn is about the only place that actually has the harnesses in stock, everyone else orders them.

So yeeeah, if anyone knows anything about mirrorlink help me out! Failing that if anyone even knows a way to output your phone display onto a headunit, also help me out lol

Ok so in recap:
I can't watch any video parked or moving.
I can't use navigation as I was going to have to do that through my phone.

As a positive:
I can use bluetooth!

Baby Steps I guess.

[AntHarmer]

I had the aerial issue so just hooked it up to a switch so I can put the aerial up only when I am listening to the radio.

In terms of the screen not working, you need to ground the wire meant to connect to your handbrake wire to watch the screen whilst moving - I'm not advocating doing this for obvious reasons but that is what you need to do


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tristan_ACT]

I had the aerial issue so just hooked it up to a switch so I can put the aerial up only when I am listening to the radio.

In terms of the screen not working, you need to ground the wire meant to connect to your handbrake wire to watch the screen whilst moving - I'm not advocating doing this for obvious reasons but that is what you need to do


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks AntHarmer, you are 100% right. So maybe I don't read instruction manuals and maybe I didn't know what that wire was when I was hooking in the headunit hahahaha

Also as an educational only link if someone wanted to know how to watch video while the car is still moving (I can in theory only confirm this seems to work for the XAV-701bt unit):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPz7FBW-b4I

[Tristan_ACT]

I had the aerial issue so just hooked it up to a switch so I can put the aerial up only when I am listening to the radio.

Owww switch, cool, I'll check it out. Thanks for the help with two out of my 3 problems! Well done kind sir!

[Nevyn72]

Very nice!... Much more modern that the OEM unit.

Did you install this yourself?
If so, did you have much difficulty removing the factory unit? (I've read that this can be a bit tricky)

[Tristan_ACT]

Very nice!... Much more modern that the OEM unit.

Did you install this yourself?
If so, did you have much difficulty removing the factory unit? (I've read that this can be a bit tricky)

Honestly it's not to bad getting the stock unit out. It took me a while just because I was being very careful. I got some advice off this forum for it! I've got the stock system sitting in the box still so I can take a photo of what you have to push to get it released if you needed to do it. Other than that it just took me a while to get everything right and the mic installed etc because I haven't done it before (for instance it can be seen above that I didn't ground the cable.

So now the main problem is I don't have mirrorlink working (as I have a htc one x and it's not supported) So I could go out and order a nokia n8 for $218 off ebay or I could give up on that (unfortunately that means no navigation). Or I could possibly go find my old samsung galaxy s1 as it had tv out via the headphone jack (only good thing about the phone) then I could get navigation over the AUX channel to the back of the device and just leave the phone in the glovebox full time. It's a messy solution though, as then I'd have to teether internet off my current phone onto it to work google maps. The good news is I can't see why that wouldn't work with something like dashcommand or tourqe pro. Though at least if I can utilize my old galaxy phone I won't have to buy another damn phone!

So yeah if I wanted mirrorlink to work as it should I'd have to buy one of the following phones:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/suppor ... fo_id=1145

Unfortunately there's not even an aftermarket app which would get it to work with my phone Stupid HTC is meant to support this technology too! When it was first announced HTC was quick to jump on the bandwagon!

[Lokiel]

Now that you've replaced the head unit, consider replacing the HVAC fascia with a stock black NB one or, as I did, "repaint" the existing one with black vinyl dye (see http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=38070&hilit=saga).

I thought that the silver plastic fascia looked cheap once I installed my Pioneer head unit, black looks much better and matches the head unit better.

Before:

Much better, especially with the chrome trim rings, they match the head unit's trim.

After:


Vinyl Dye is great, it seeps into the plastic and still looks good several years later. Paint is not so good, it tends to chip.

[Okibi]

And replace those silver accents on the aircon vents?

http://www.pixelculture.com/SE_28thDec2013_02.jpg

[Lokiel]

Nah, chrome TT-style rings FTW.

I agree though that the faux-chrome surrounds looks cheap/rubbish - the cluster looks better too when you add chrome rings - see http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/chrome-instrument-rings-vintage-style-p-69.html.

[Nevyn72]

And replace those silver accents on the aircon vents?

http://www.pixelculture.com/SE_28thDec2013_02.jpg

Hey Oki, I thought you had a an MX5 SE, not some cheap Mitsushitty......

[Okibi]

If anything is going to look good with black on black, it's an eclipse.

[Tristan_ACT]

Now that you've replaced the head unit, consider replacing the HVAC fascia with a stock black NB one or, as I did, "repaint" the existing one with black vinyl dye (see http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=38070&hilit=saga).

I thought that the silver plastic fascia looked cheap once I installed my Pioneer head unit, black looks much better and matches the head unit better.

Before:

Much better, especially with the chrome trim rings, they match the head unit's trim.

After:


Vinyl Dye is great, it seeps into the plastic and still looks good several years later. Paint is not so good, it tends to chip.

Yeah agreed, paint isn't ideal. In fact the stock one is painted silver, which is why you can see some black scratches in mine!!!!

When you used the vinyl dye on the area surrounding the air con controls did you have to take the unit out? I'm assuming so. Do you paint it on with a brush?

And replace those silver accents on the aircon vents?

http://www.pixelculture.com/SE_28thDec2013_02.jpg

Honestly I don't even mind the stock one's that much. It's probably just because I've never thought about it before hahaha Maybe after I get a few others things sorted.

In other news at a reasonably high cost, I've agreed to buy my girlfriends brother's old phone (galaxy s3) as long as it works with the unit. So much for saving money by buying the sony instead of the pioneer unit! It'll save my 250 in the end however I won't have digital radio. The good news is, I think this 7inch screen looks neater than the 6.1 in pioneer screen looked with it's controls on the side. I'm still hopeful I can get dashcommand or torque pro to work so I can get customizable dials up on the screen, because I think that'd be sick!

[Nevyn72]

Now that you've replaced the head unit, consider replacing the HVAC fascia with a stock black NB one or, as I did, "repaint" the existing one with black vinyl dye (see http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=38070&hilit=saga).

I thought that the silver plastic fascia looked cheap once I installed my Pioneer head unit, black looks much better and matches the head unit better.

Nice solution there Loki.

I was just going to source a black one out of a non-SE from a wrecker.

You've also added the chrome rings to the HVAC unit as well haven't you?
These -> http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/chrome-heater ... -p-74.html
Adds a nice touch of class!

[Nevyn72]

And replace those silver accents on the aircon vents?

http://www.pixelculture.com/SE_28thDec2013_02.jpg

Out of curiosity, how do you find the airflow from those vents compared to the stock 'eyeballs'?
Look like they might be a fair bit more 'directional'.....