JDM power folding mirror switch install into stock USDM harness. By: Greg L., Zeke21 on twinturbo.net PLEASE READ THROUGH THE WHOLE WRITE UP BEFORE ACTUALLY USING IT!!!! This is how I was able to get the rumored the JDM switch wont work in the USDM z car phrase disproved. However, I am not responsible for what ever happens to you or your car. Please read this carefully and take you time. It took me about 2 hrs a day for about a week, 25 fuses, and a lot of patience to get this right. This write up should not take you nearly as long because you have directions. But do take you time it is worth it. Install time: 30 minutes (some general z car and wire knowledge) to an hour (no knowledge) Brief over view: My JDM mirror install consists of the following. *USDM mirror housing, this enabled me to not have to paint the housing. *USDM power heated mirror. Do note the JDM power folding mirrors do not have this option. *The insides of the mirror housing consist of the JDM mirror Bracket and Motor. *You must also use the JDM mounts, these I had to have painted to match the color of my car. Note: this will cause the mirrors to be off in sight perception. Please see the chapter on the mirror install for further possibilities of fixing this. *The stock adjustable suspension switch is also installed into the JDM main mirror panel. First we will begin with just the install of the JDM switch into the USDM harness. Please leave you USDM mirrors on you car. We need to make sure the conversion works properly with the USDM wire harness. Also note: You may need extra 10A fuse in the event that something does not work. Step 1. Pull the switch out. Stick a flat head screwdriver next the edge of the switch on the driver s side. Gently bend the screwdriver towards the drivers seat in order to 'pop' the switch out.
Step 2. Next unplug the harness from the switch. Read before doing the next few steps: Step 3 (Plug and Play). DO THIS IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO CUT THE WIRES! I recommend step 3 because it is cleaner and just looks sweet. However if you do not mind cutting them skip this step. Pull the yellow plastic clip off the back of the harness plug. Use the flat head screwdriver on the both sides of the yellow clip to pry off. Now you are going to need a small flat head screwdriver, something that will fit inside the holes on the harness plug. Look inside these holes and you will see a metal pin. Put the screwdriver underneath the metal pin (see pic) and push the screwdriver up. This should let the wire lose so you can pull it out on the other side of the wire. It is kind of tricky but it will work. Picture below was taken using a harness that had been cut. Yours will not be cut on the end.
YOU ARE GOING TO PULL EACH WIRE OUT ONE AT A TIME. You will first pull one wire from the JDM switch out and then one from the USDM harness. Then you will toss the JDM wire off to the side and replace it with the wire you pulled out of the USDM harness plug. You want to do this one at a time in order to follow my little chart. Important! Leave the two Green/Red and Green/Black wires on the JDM harness plug. Those two wires power the folding function. You have no choice but to spice into those. But leave them alone for now. Also if you have a Twin Turbo and still want to use the stock adjustable suspension skip to the bottom of this write up titled Keeping The Adjustable Suspension. We re only trying to get the normal function of the mirror control to work right. Skip to step 5. TT s skip to bottom section and then return to step 5. Step 4. (Cut em up) DO THIS STEP IF YOU PLAN ON CUTTING THE WIRE HARNESS! If you plan on cutting please use the male and female end splicing tabs. This will make switching the wires around easier in case that the wires for some reason do not match up. Splice the male end on the JDM wires and the female on the USDM wires. Follow my chart, Step 5. Step 5. The Chart. This chart should be pretty self explanatory. However, look over the wire colors. If you do not have the same set of wire colors listed here, this conversion may not work. Wire colors are represented here by the main color first and then the stripe color on the wire if it should have it. For example:
Yellow (main color) / Black (stripe color) Work you way from left to right on my chart. For example take the Green wire and plug it into the spot that the Blue/White wire was in on the JDM plug. If you choose to splice, then splice the Green wire into the Blue/White wire. Note: Be prepared to have extra 10A fuses ready in case this wire conversion does not work. Don t worry hooking these things up wrong did not seem to hurt my car. I went through 25 of these bad boys trying to figure this out. If the fuse should go out: go to the fuse panel underneath the dash. It is located next to the footrest and the clutch. On the trim, slide the door up and replace the fuse. Stock (USDM) Harness JDM Harness Plug or Splice into these wires Green Yellow/Black Blue/Black Blue/Red Yellow/Blue Purple/White Blue/White Blue/Black Blue/Orange Blue/Red Blue/Yellow Blue Now after getting all your wires plugged or spliced in turn the car to the on position and try to adjust the mirrors. Make sure every direction works properly. If everything works then you have successfully completed the hardest part of the job. Well maybe not now that you had a chart to follow! However, if while trying to move the mirrors around and you heard a pop sound or nothing is working anymore, then the fuse has blown. Take you key out and replace the fuse. Now you are going to have to go through some trial and error. If this is the case email me. *Keeping The Adjustable Suspension For those that have a Twin Turbo and still have the stock adjustable suspension read the following: The JDM mirror switch does not have the sport/touring switch on it. However don t despair, we can put ours in it. Notice the blank spot on the left of the switch were the sport/touring switch would be normally, well that piece comes out. Step1: You need to separate the top from the bottom of both the USDM and JDM switch. They separate the same way. Look along the edge of the switch and you ll notice 4 notches in which the top of the switch comes over a square piece of plastic, which is attached to the bottom. You will need to take a small screwdriver and bend the plastic
from the top up over those square pieces attached to the bottom. It is a little tricky but once you get one side it easily comes off. Be careful though because it is thin plastic and can break. When completely separating the top from the bottom, separate the two while keeping the top in one hand the bottom it the other and then tilting the bottom vertical (straight up) again so the contacts will not fall out. Once open some small plastic white pieces will be loose. Those are the contacts, which are guided by the switch over the circuit board. The circuit board also has some jelly substance on it so don t get your fingers in it. Set the bottom portions and the contacts aside for now. contact is the center white piece. The sport/touring one is missing in this pic but should be in yours. Step 2: Take your stock USDM switch and look at the side of the switch with the sport/touring switch facing you. You ll see a small little circular metal thing. This is a long narrow metal pin that holds the rocker switch in place. Take a screwdriver that is small enough to fit inside of it. Look for the edge of the metal pin; meaning it was a flat piece of metal rolled so it has a separator point. Once you locate it put the edge of your flat head screw driver inside of on that point and continue to pull down on that area while pulling towards you. This will take some time.
However if you are having trouble doing this I also found that using a small drill bit and a power drill and setting it in reverse while pulling back on it will also bring it out, as long as the drill bit is big enough to fulfill the whole circular area. Once it is out it will look like this: Step 2: Take your screwdriver or a straightened paper clip and stick it into the bottom of the switch and push the rocker switch out from the bottom.
Step 3: Now follow step 1 and 2 for the JDM switch. Except this time you will push out the blank panel. Step 4: Drop the USDM rocker sport/touring switch into the JDM main switch panel. Once in it will either be forward or backwards in direction, there is no middle setting remember. So once in one of those directions simply push that metal pin you took our back in. This will lock the rocker switch in place.
Step 5: Remember to remove the white plastic square piece from the USDM switch that was found on the rocker switch and put it into the same place on the JDM switch. Step 6: Now put the bottom of the switch back on by snapping it into place. Step 7: Now go to the mirror switch wire harness again and you are going to add one wire for the sport/touring switch harness. Here you will simply put your leftover wire into the bottom left hole when the plug harness is facing you. See pic.
Step 8: Once you put the wire in simply plug the harness into the switch and put it into the center console. And remember to test it to see if it works. If it does not try switching the wire location you did in step 7 to the top and see if that works. Do realize that the JDM switch does not have the letter for the sport/touring rocker switch. I looked into moving just the folding mirror switch into the usdm top switch housing and keeping the bottom of the jdm circuit board but so far have had not luck. I pulled my sport/touring rocker switch out of a switch from an early year z, which had the mirror defrost button on it in place of the folding mirror switch. However, although they look the same on the surface when you get inside they are completely different in how they are built and thus make it impossible to swap. However, there is a chance that if I get a later year z mirror switch from a 95 or 96 and those are built without the mirror defrost button internals ( I know these years did not have the button but Nissan may have just keep the bottoms the same and just pluged the rocker switch area) them maybe I can swap in the manner just mentioned. But until I have a spare 50 bucks or more to spend on a new switch this one works fine without the print.
All done and return to step 5 Coming soon, Part 2: The install of the mirrors on the car while keeping the power defrost option and running power folding wires to the mirrors.