Hi all,
I thought i would post this up now that it's finished and working,
I have been playing around with installing a satnav unit but didn't want a stick on the window type and didn't want cables running across the windscreen/dash, i wanted it to blend in as best as poss with the existing surroundings so came up with the following.
My tourer came with this console fitted as standard and the 6CD Alpine head unit.
The unit i went for was a bit of a risk as it was one of the Chinese varieties off ebay, but for £63 i thought "What the hell", i can only say how impressed i am with it, 7" TFT touch screen, 4gb micro sd loaded with the Satnav maps, facility to link your phone hands free with blue tooth, mp3 music and mp4 video playback and quite a few other extras. the one linked below is priced higher now for some reason but the seller may have cheaper ones available
linky thing
I followed the civic link from on this forum to remove all the console items, but found it really easy, took less than 20mins.
I had to source a unit from a different model accord to mount the unit, i suppose i could have used my own but it would have involved cutting and i wanted to return the car to original if needed. i got one from a scrappy for £10, its the type that flips to reveal a large single cubby hole, to accomodate the alternate console i had to remove all the following brackets and bin from the void,
The large bracket at the bottom in the pic and the 2 smaller ones are a bit of a pig, they are mounted just behind the aircon controls so you have to work backwards to remove them, the bin is bolted just above the radio amp and is not connected to the wood fascia, but it had to come out so the new large bin would fit, there are also 2 brackets at the sides of the void that get in the way but i simply bent these inwards with long nose pliers, easily bent back again!.
Unfortunatley, i couldn't keep the "spring/push to open" feature of the new bin due to the physical size of the MM unit, if you were to fit a smaller one then it would fit neatly inside but then you wouldn't get the same pose factor i suppose!!
I had to chop a large section off the back of the bin and file a nice flat area at the front so the unit sits at the right angle, i also had to adapt the large circular hinges that allow the cover to swing up and over, this is why i had to forsake the push to open feature as it would have interfered with the door opening and caught on the unit.
This is the bit of the bin i cut off,
Sorry i dont have a pic of the door mechanism.
The only problem i had was the door was badly scratched and was the carbon fibre effect and didn't match my car, i could have waited for ages to find one and i'm not sure if they do one in the wood trim, so, i bought a sheet of wood veneer off ebay, stained it polished it and laquered it, it's not a bad match either, its only to deter thieves and to hide the unit as its on display when im in the car so the cover is out of site, still not sure if i will keep it like that or maybe get it vinyl wrapped by one of our members, i think the same type of leather look as the dash would look good with maybe a Honda badge in the middle??.
This is with the door shut.
Using dense foam, a piece of acrylic sheet and a hot glue gun, i put a false back in the new bin and the unit is held in place with velcro strips for easy removal, the unit is connected to the original Alpine head unit via a connects2 usb link which now resides in the glove box, so everything is output thro the car speakers.
Again, using the glue gun and some foam backed black fabric trim i finished off the sides and top of the unit so the the voids are no longer visible
A few pics of the interface working
The whole project cost me less than £150.
These units are well worth the money, in fact they are the same unit that a few manufactures are installing in the aftermarket head unit and selling for Around £300 mark, i'm quite chuffed with the finished job and am happy with the unit in this position, wont be to everyones taste but, ones mans meat and all that.........................
