So after finishing my last project, which was to retrofit my car with dynamic cruise control, I started thinking about what other gadget I miss most. The clear winner was the HUD, which makes you feel like a fighter pilot

It took me almost a year to complete this project, but let's start with a photo of current state and then a tutorial on how I did it.



My NX200t is pre-facelift!!

I took inspiration from these blog posts:
https://www.drive2.ru/l/683821466759729757/
https://www.drive2.ru/l/709183076843917068/

Parts list:
- HUD projector 83108-78010 (this part number does not exist in part catalogue, but projector ofc exists for pre-facelift cars, you can buy it on ebay)
- HUD buttons 84120-78010
- Trim panel for HUD buttons 55446-78020
- Ventilation duct for HUD 55084-78030
- Instrument Panel Wire 82142-78020 / 82142-78040 / 82142-78070 (many part number, verify that HUD connector is there)
- HUD cover panel 55410-78030
- 4x screws to mount projcetor 90159-50327

I bought projector/buttons/wire second hand, they are hard to find but when they appear on auction they stay there for long.
I could not find trim panel and ventilation duct so I ordered them at dealership.
HUD cover panel was also a bit problematic, in the end I bought two panels, one with damaged leather, second one with broken mounting clips, and I made one good panel from two

In meantime I checked wiring diagrams and service manuals to learn how HUD is integrated in car, and it's not complicated at all.
Wiring diagrams are here:
https://www.kolhosniki.ru/toyota




As you can see, 4 wires for power, 3 from buttons, and 4 for communication with rest of the car, nothing complicated.
But from bad news I discovered that my car is not pre wired for HUD It was too late to resign so I left that problem for future me
How to tell if your car is pre wired ? count wires in this connector, if it's more than 5 your retrofit will be a lot easier than mine Connector is behind trim panel in front of passengers seat



To be continued

 

Your work is impressive, as always 🤓

I see you also have a 2nd Gen NX now — I will say our 1st Gen Refresh NX300 has HUD and I love having it and understand why you’d want it in your NX200t.

I will say this — I do believe our windshield is different from normal windshields to accommodate the HUD. I was told if I ever had to replace the windshield, to replace with OEM, as the windshield glass has to meet specs for the HUD. Any other aftermarket windshield, even though they say it’s for HUD, owners have had issues with the numbers warping or not being clear as OEM, and thus, had to re-do or replace with OEM which can get pricey / expensive. Do it right the first time and INSIST on getting OEM if going through insurance as insurance sometimes doesn’t want to pay the expense for OEM, when they can get a cheaper aftermarket. ALWAYS insist on OEM.

Having said that — if you are ever successful in installing HUD to your 1st Gen Pre-Refresh / Facelift NX, I hope you have no issues with the HUD reflection in your windshield.

 

Thanks RofH! I planned to talk about windhield in the summary which I will write soon, but I will make small spoiler: it's not bad on normal windshield, but it;s not perfectly sharp

 

Part 2 Tearing off the cockpit and installing the projector

To install HUD projector whole upper part of cokpit needs to be removed. I did partial removed several times while doing radar retrofit or when installing chinese carplay scren.
I wasn't scared by that part, but if you are I can assure you that Toyotas are built like Lego, you just need to know correct order.

I don't have photos to illustrate this process but I will just borrow photos from car blog in Mordor language which I linked in first post
There was one mistake which I corrected

Disconnect 12V battery before doing anything! 2 Airbags need to be removed!




These photos shows correct order of removing things but from my experience removing steering wheel and gauge cluster makes things a lot easier, and it's harder to damage them
There should be about 5-6 bolts, everything alse is secured with clips, make sure to count everything



Hardest thing to remove is A pillar trim panel, without right technique it will be nightmare
To remove this panel:
- pull down door gasket next to top part of trim panel
- insert your hand behind panel and pull it until it will pop first time
- next use thin long needle nose pliers to rotate clips 90 deg
- now pull panel second time and it should be free after some fight
- remove clips from A pillar, use pliers again, there are 2 tabs to press which release clip from hole, attach them to trim panel

Next there are 3 bolts that hold cockpit, one is on driver side, two are securing passenger side airbag under cockpit
Remove wires visible in front of passenger seat, 4 connectors in total, one of them is airbag so make sure there is no power first.



Your car should look like that ^^ but without steering wheel
Place dashboard on something soft like blanket and it's time to cut



cut lines are visible underneath, I used mini rotatry tool like Dremel, it may look scary but just take your time and do it slow and precise
When hole is ready then flip whole cockpit and it's time to remove excessive "leather" from other side, cockpit should like on picture below
My strategy was: cut holes with dremel equipped with drill bit, then cut lines between holes with sharpest knife that I own, and start peeling off the "leather"
Foam needs to be removed with aprox 1cm offset from holes. It takes few iterations, just try to fit HUD cover panel and see where it's impossible to secure the clips.



And the final result should look like this, I really like red stiching




Projector is installed with 4 bolts, then HUD ventilation duct is installed on top of projector, and finally HUD wire
I have seen one post claiming that projector can fit "normal" ventilation duct, but it's very tight fit so I can't recommend doing it
HUD wires are different for every radio type, 8 speakers, 10 speakers, Mark Levinson etc. so in my case I jest removed pins from HUD wire and connected it to my existing cockpit wire.
Cockpit is ready to be mounted back in the car!!!

 

Part 3 Missing wires in connector

If you car is pre wired for HUD skip this part, but if you are like me and you don't car care if your car is pre wired or not, here is tutorial for you

There are 13 wires missing:
- 3 voltage source
- Ground
- 4 communication wires
- 3 wires for buttons
- 2 illumination wires for buttons

my initial plan was to buy pins and connectors in dealership and create own wiring but it's actually cheaper to bur whole cockpit wiring
and from that existing wiring I just removed wires that i need, with plugs. but be aware that this process needs depinning which is pain in the ***




Every connector has locking tab which needs to be lifted and then you need precise tool to lift locking tab inside connector, check photo above, I used super fine tweezers from aliexpress
Then it's just matter of identifying right connectors and plugging pins.



I found almost everyhting next to main HUD connector but not ACC which was hidden somewhere deep in cockpit, my initial thought was 'Why I need 3 types of voltage to power HUD?" so I ignored this pin but I will come back to this later.
Communication wires go to radio screen and gauge cluster. I used cloth tape to make everything look like OEM.
I left everything accessible under passenger trim panel, just in case

 

Part 4 Final assembly

With wires in place, and dashboard ready with projector it's time to put everything back together.
You will need someone to help beacuse dash is quite long and not so stiff, I could not do it myself but with help I placed it back in 5 minutes.

I general just do every step backwards, but make sure that you count screws so you will not end with 3 extra screws and the end of assembly
Remember to secure airbag under cockpit with 2 bolts

And here my advice is to stop assembling when everything electrical is connected, to do first tests.
Connect battery after every airbag is in place and secured.



HUD has built in diagnostic mode: Press and hold "HUD" button and cycle ignition (start button twice without brake pedal) and it goes into self diagnosis mode, then press HUD button again to cycle trough different screens.
If everything is okay you should see "OK OK OK OK" like me, but just in theory I will explain why later



With everything okay just finish assembling everything and go for a test ride

My initial impressions:
- HUD works, and everything else also still works
- HUD is not perfectly sharp but there is no tragedy
- Every button from HUD panel works
- I can see speed, RPM, Gear, ECO indicator on HUD
- there is no any other information






And here I am not sure, if HUD in pre facelift car should shows things like: dynamic cruise, parking sensors, radio information? Maybe someone with factory HUD can confirm?
Only thing that I did not connect is ACC wire, maybe that's why HUD is not communicating with Radio? But at the same moment HUD diagnostics say that everything is OK

And about HUD clarity, there is triple image, you can zoom images to see yourself. But while driving, when your sight is focused at distance, it looks okay, especially during bright day.
But of course windshield should be replaced to have everything like from factory.




To summarize this project:
- everything is finished at about ~90%
- I am thinking about replacing windshield for HUD compliant, but it would be reasonable to wait until my original one will crack from rock
- I am still not sure about missing indications of Volume, Cruise control etc.
- There is one wire "ACC" which is left unconnected under dash, maybe I will just connect it to "IGN" to just verify if that changes anything

 

Bonus: Active Sound Control

While searching for HUD parts, I found really cheap ASC parts. So I could not stop myself from buying them since I need to remove cockpit anyway






Some notes about parts:
- amplifier for hybrid and turbo engine is not compatible
- it's cheaper to buy amplifier with bracket than just bracket in dealership
- 6 bolts are needed
- ASC regulator is right below HUD button
- ASC amplifier is behind climate panel
- ASC speaker is below radio
- everything is plug and play, every version should be pre wired

I am testing it for almost 2 weeks and it's pretty cool to hear fake V8 while in sport mode
but for everyday driving it's too much, more like gadget to show off to someone
It's super easy to retrofit but I am not sure if I would do it again