Hopefully these pics will help those of you who have been asking me for pics. I have emailed most of you these pics already, but here they are again. Hope this works. I bought an extra radio bezel when doing this. I had a single din kit and cut it up to fill in the gaps on the bezel. Then I used bondo and a sander to get the size I needed. The radio will wedge in the factory opening behind the bezel, but I used some movie vision brackets to secure it to the sides. Plastic weld the single din kit pieces in. Hope this helps. PM me if you need more detail. The bezel still needs another coat of paint, so this is not yet the finished product, I just keep putting it off. I also have a dvd player in the bottom pocket
well i will look to see if i have more pics. to make it fit i just used a piece of cardboard cut to the measurements of the radio and traced it on the bezel and sanded away. you could even use a file to file down the bezel and just keep trying to fit it around the face. as for getting the radio to fit into place, it is easy. it simple wedges between the air controls and the pocket with the lighter. then you could also get some L shaped brackets to mount on the side of the of the radio to screw to the plastic. there is plenty of room for the radio, because i even have my sirius brain in there behind the radio.
I mean no disrespect, but the work on the bezel doesn't look that good. I know it is not finished yet, but by the pics it just doesn't seem fit the radio that evenly(no gaps) Also, you can see the lines where the oval edges from the 1.5-DIN opening(where you put the body filler at)
Like mentioned above, I am not bashing you in anyway, just stating my experienced opinion on this kind of work.
So please do not take my statement as an insult or anything.
i understand that you have your opinion. i do have to say that the summer heat here showed the first oval. i plan on stripping it back down and applying more bondo work and then a final coat of paint. it is my first time doing something like this, so it was a learning experience. in my opinion it fits as well as it can, since the whole faces folds down. i had to leave spaces open so the face can adjust and lay down all the way. just to ask have you done something like this, give me your input on what you would have done. i just want to hear another opinion.
I think you did a pretty good job, and it gives us all options with this. I too will be doing this, and after I have it all bondo filled and sanded to perfection, I plan on having it painted at an auto shop the same color silver. My hats off to ya pal.....For your first time, you did really well! A lil more sanding and filling and your piece will look as if it came that way.
Quote: Originally Posted by jac05srt4
i understand that you have your opinion. i do have to say that the summer heat here showed the first oval. i plan on stripping it back down and applying more bondo work and then a final coat of paint. it is my first time doing something like this, so it was a learning experience. in my opinion it fits as well as it can, since the whole faces folds down. i had to leave spaces open so the face can adjust and lay down all the way. just to ask have you done something like this, give me your input on what you would have done. i just want to hear another opinion.
i know i need to get it finished, but i dont know what color i want to go with. i have a guy that does car paint and air brushing. i have seen his work and he does a great job. plus he is a friend so the price isnt to steep. i will probably go back with the factory silver, but i like black because i plan to one day keep the theme of the car red and black. i may even get him to do some custom work and add SRT across the top of the air vents or something like that. plus at night, it looks awesome with everything dark colors. maybe tonight i will get a pic so everyone can see how it looks with only interior lights on. my wife has the n3 with backup camera and everything like that. i would go with a double din, because you never have to take out your navi disc. on the single dins you have to take out your navi disc when you want to watch a dvd or listen to a cd. plus i just think a double din looks a little more classy. thanks for the replies i appreciate it.
i understand that you have your opinion. i do have to say that the summer heat here showed the first oval. i plan on stripping it back down and applying more bondo work and then a final coat of paint. it is my first time doing something like this, so it was a learning experience. in my opinion it fits as well as it can, since the whole faces folds down. i had to leave spaces open so the face can adjust and lay down all the way. just to ask have you done something like this, give me your input on what you would have done. i just want to hear another opinion.
Yeah, I didn't mean any harm by giving you my opinion. It turned out good for your first time doing this type of work. I have done a bunch of custom fiberglass enclosures for subs and amp racks, as well as a bunch of custom molded pieces for gauges, lcd tvs, stereo stuff and other car electronic pieces
using plastic welding and fiberglass procedures.
The Bondo Brand body filler that you used and other lightweight body fillers do not adhere properly to plastic materials and they have a tendency to shrink over time from fluctuating temperatures. For this small area, I would have use a plastic repair material for this procedure because once the cure, they do not shrink and also they adhere better to plastic materials since that is what they are made for. I like Fusor products for this, but SEM, Duramix, and 3M also make plastic repair materials as well. If you already secured and sides of the 1.5-DIN pieces in place good, I would then just use a finishing adhesion like Fusor 114 or Fusor 102 if you needed to fill more. If you needed to secure the sides properly(ends of the 1.5-DIN pieces that you used), I would use Fusor T22 for it's structual strength. I know that this is pretty much just a cover panel for the head unit and you may not think that those side pieces need to be strong, but if you use the wrong material to adhere those pieces to the trim panel and over time it doesn't hold up, the work will start to show through since this part has lifted, etc.
Fusor products are expensive though and not everyone will be able to find them. I mentioned some other companies as well that have similiar products for this type of work above. I take pride in the work that I do and like to do things right the first time so you don't have to do it again in the future.
the pieces are plastic welded to the bezel. i need to do another layer of filler. i also know the paint job needs a lot of work, but i will have painted by a car shop eventually. i know how people are about doing a great job, my brother is the same way. he is very talented with this line of work. he does the fiberglass dashes and custom installs. i wish i had him around to finish this, but he is in texas. plus whenever i do see him, he asks when i am going to finish the dash, so maybe i will take a couple of days in texas and let him finish it. i will look into the products you are talking about, thanks.
i think i am gonna do this. i just need a HU with a hard drive in it or the ability to attach a hard drive. i like kenwood and pioneer. any other good ones out there?
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How to: Double Din Navi
A lil more sanding and filling and your piece will look as if it came that way.
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