So it turns out that there are various companies that sell aftermarket add-on kits that connect to the OEM stereo's AUX channel and gives the Elgrand Apple Carplay and Android Auto capabilities (I am not going to recommend as I think they are pretty much all the same).
Of course that means taking apart some of the dashboard to access the OEM wiring harnesses, but in my case, as this Elgrand is a VIP, it means that I had to ask the tech at Nissan Prince Fukushima, while they were working on my car, to make sure two screws were removed from the center console/fridge between the front seats (these screws are located such that the front seats have to be removed to access) so I could remove it first, giving me access to the rest of the dash from the center bottom up towards to the top.
Anyway, once I got my car back from Prince Fukushima - see previous post - I undid the lower panels and discovered some extra wires from the dealer installed dashcam that needed to be cleaned up. I ended up cutting these to be shorter and splicing into the wires that had power (there were two sets, one with a connector incompatible with the drive recorder. Weird as it was a harness from the drive recorder manufacturer to allow for directing tapping into the car's power source).
Elgrand barely fits in my garage, but as it does I was able to work on the car at all hours of the day and night - super convenient!
Here is how it looks as I removed the HVAC controls and transmission surround.
Finally, what was left was the center mounted 9 inch LCD display
Once I removed the LCD, after cleaning up the dust back there a bit, I laid in some 3M Thinsulate on the theory it will help absorb any road or engine noise that might be leaking through.
The aftermarket unit is plug and play - just replace certain OEM connectors for those from the unit - same form factor btw - which essentially puts the Carplay unit in between the OEM audio and the display. Basically, the video out put of the Carplay unit is displayed on the Aux channel; and the user input is all via the oem touch screen.
Testing to ensure the Android Auto feature works.
And making sure the Apple Carplay works as well.
then after putting the dash back together, I made sure it could also play music from my phone
I ended up putting the two control boxes of the Carplay unit on the lower left side of the dash, while cleaning up the excess wires.
Finally, when taking apart the center armrest/fridge I had noticed that the main bracket was rusty and the rust was starting to stain the carpet. So I removed the bracket and applied some anti-rust paint. I also tried to clean the carpet up.
Looks much cleaner!
And my obsession with 3M Thinsulate continues. Here I squeezed some around the two seat heater and voltages switches on the center lower dashboard panel.
As well as more on the lower dash panel - here I had to use some 3M spray glue.
End result is a bit more of a modern interface! So what's next? How about something to improve the handling?
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