I was trying to check whether or not I had the ground wire for the Z1 connected to part of the car that actually grounds it.. so I tried turning the unit on with the ground prong not connected to anything and it still turned on normally. What's up with that?

The outer casing was touching metal somewhere.

I would suggest grounding the Z1. Most issues with installs can be traced to poor grounding practices.

You probably connected the antenna... there's a "massive" ground sheild on there...

BigFloppy said:

You probably connected the antenna... there's a "massive" ground sheild on there...

good call, if its not grounded at the wire harness then the antenna will ground the radio. but its recommended that u ground it properly off the harness or off the chassis.