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DIY: Tablet Install w/ OEM dash bezel and JDM a/c controls + Single Din
Hi all,
This hurricane has cancelled a couple days of university which gave me some time to start this next project. When I bought my car the head unit was malfunctioning and eventually went out completely so I stuffed a single din in the upper glove box, threw in an amp and sub and used an old 10 disc CD player to play music (by means of a blank disc to fool the head unit and tapping into the rca's from player to head unit). This is what it looks like now.
After maybe 6 months or so I'm getting audio which drops in volume for a couple seconds then goes back up like when an amp is over working, shuts off to cool and comes back on. I figure it must be the head unit (because my sub lowers volume too and that gets it's signal straight from the head unit unlike the doors which pass through the bose amp). So I will be replacing the single din for another newer one too - which doesn't need the cd changer.
To keep the budget low I'll be using the oem dash bezel, cut and filled to make space for the tablet screen. The tablet of choice is the Asus Memo Pad HD7. I've seen one or two of these installs with the Samsung galaxy tab 2. This tablet is just what I happened to pick up locally for $40. It's about the same size as the galaxy with a little better specs. Also the headphone jack and charging port are on the same ends (top) of this tablet unlike the galaxy which has headphone on top and - a Samsung only/non universal usb - charge port at the bottom. This means I can push the tablet all the way to one side of the dash bezel and use the space on the other.The JDM (metra) a/c controller is on it's way from JRP35G here on the forum. It's from a kit for the 05-07 which fastens a little differently to the 03-04 but I'll work something when it arrives. The biggest issue for the controls is that I won't have the wire connector between the a/c control and the harness. I've asked online shops but they won't sell separately so unless I find one soon I will be cutting my original a/c controls plug and soldering the loose ends directly to the JDM one.
So far I have everything I need to work with from the car, this is what I started with - after removing the fake ally stick on trim.
Cut the hole out with a combination of a small disk on a drill and a 4 inch angle grinder.
Due to the hurricane I couldn't get out to pick up a small dremel which would have worked perfectly....
The tablet is a really tight fit so all of this stuff has to be grinded flat. The other tablet install I saw done was with the 05-07 dash bezel so I'm not sure how much space you'd have there. The tablet fits with some space but I'll need to order some very short stubby 90 degree angled audio jack and usb charger so they fit in the tight spot.
You'll have to fill these holes from the CD/rad/sat etc buttons. I just used bondo body filler with the finer bondo paste to cover the small imperfections. I'll finish sanding tomorrow and get some coats of primer on.
Next decision is what colour to paint this and the lower panel trim which fits around the gear shifter with heat seat buttons/ash tray/cup holder. My three options are black, easy safe choice and I have black paint already. DG silver, matches the car which is cool I guess and I can use the same paint to touch up two quarter sized paint flakes at the same time. Or the silver used on 350z door handles which I think is a nice bright aluminium looking silver. What do you guys think?
The space for the tablet is now finished, just need to make a way to hold it in place firmly.
Spent ages trying to find compact 90 degree angled micro USB charging cables but most are too bulky to fit. I managed to open up/cut up/bend a normal one. Took it apart and modified some of it and now I have a super low profile charger. A thin layer of epoxy will insulate it and give it strength. Just need to do the same for the aux jack.
Got the lower center console parts out to paint. The shifter bezel will stay brushed aluminium. I decided to go with an Aluminium coloured metalic silver paint, hopefully turn out good. Also had to remove the fake trim seen in my OP. The adhesive used took very long to remove.......
Finished up today, all trims painted and fitted. I decided to go with Rustoleum Aluminium silver.
The wiring was very tight for aux and charger as you can see here. I ordered a low profile angled aux cord but it won't arrive for a couple weeks. So for now you can just see the tab is a little pushed to the right side and so the right side of the screen isn't flush.
One problem I have with the tablet right now is that it ran out of battery. It charged and connected to pc just fine so the wire should be okay. I figure the USB charger that's plugged in the 12v socket was not enough amps to keep it alive. I swapped the charger out for another one so I'll see how that goes.
Obviously right now I'll have to remove the shifter trim, snake my hand up and hit the on/off button to turn the tab back on but I'm downloading some android software - and once the tab has debug enabled - I'll be able to turn it on from my computer, should it ever run out of battery again.
Thanks, took a while because I was trying to do it all with as little expense as possible.
Like making the a/c control harness took a while as I had to figure out the 10 wire positions and then connect them all. The temp doesn't work because its for an 05-07 where as mine is an 03-04 so I'm on the look out for an 03-04 unit at the moment.
Besides that it all works pretty well. Just gotta play with the settings now.
Carbon fiber it all out brah.. Not soo cheap but cool as hell!! And not that fake wrap stuff. Real carbon looks soo good... LOL
Just saw this haha. As far as the budget goes the paint is cheaper but at least with the wrap I wouldn't have to worry about all the scratches and digs in the finish. But I never see the point of carbon laid on top of plastic! If I could have the panels made from real carbon fiber then yes.....but that wouldn't be cheap.
^^Say homie, methinks you posted that in the wrong forum lolol.
OP all of your work is spot on but damn, I HATE the cheesy Metra faceplate. I'm sad it's even an option any more.........
Hopefully a mod can move it to the appropriate forum.
And thanks, but yeah the metra kit really messes with the whole look of the dash in the car. JDM should be the only way forward if it wasn't for the hefty price tag.
Surely it can't be that difficult to make it with better shaped matching color buttons but I guess so long as the metra kit costs a bit less than the JDM and there's no other competition, people will buy them because they have no choice....
Little update a couple weeks in from the install.
Still need to glue back together/sand and paint the clock trim/bezel.......
Waiting on low profile 3.5mm jack aux cord so I can shuffle and reposition the tab a little more central.
Google maps works great using GPS and wifi to locate and navigate - downloaded my area to the tab so I have the whole area and it updates monthly. Way better than a regular gps which you need to plug in somewhere to update/get fresh CD's/pay for updates.
Biggest issue right now is with charging. I'm using a 2.4 amp charger which should be more than enough to run the tab even with full screen brightness, screen constantly on and gps/wifi all running. However the tab is draining fast than it's being charged at low brightness/wifi off/gps off and minimal playing around. I figure it must be the cheap wire which I also hacked up to make fit. I know for a fact from previous experience some cables just don't transmit the necessary current so I'll download the app "current monitor" to find a good cable of the bunch I have, make it fit and then check it's not draining even when on charge.
The most appropriate style of cable would be one of these......
....because the end is angled and compact and it must carry good enough current to keep those power hungry display phones/tabs showing the demo vids and whatnot.
10-08-2016, 12:44 AM
