id watch who i call distant john... Perhaps if the weather wasnt -20 and snowing I would do this? soon enough my friend.....

 

Oh yeah, I remember that guy.. Where'd he go? And it takes a real man to rock pink

 

I'd love to try that but I'm afraid it'd get jacked, living in san francisco you know...

but since it is inside the dash, that might be a theif repellent compared to the "stick to your windshield" variety

 

WOWZERS!! madd nice

 

Hate to sound stereotypical but isn't San Francisco like "boytown"? rather than a dangerous city?

 

Only if you live in Castro District. Everywhere else, it's hobos, theives, and weirdos that think everything thats "underground" is amazing

My old car was broken into 3 times for a 50$ CD Deck

 

Wow thought SF was all high and mighty. I had my old 88 accord broken into for a factory tape player. my damn window costed more than the headunit

 

Yeah, I heard the cool thing to do in SF is to hang out on the street in middle of the night..

 

I suppose that could work, people do it, I guess people can just get away with jacking cars in non-well lit areas (where I live) and since I have to use the street for parking, doesn't leave me much safety. it's what you can get away with without getting in a conflict and what u cant i suppose, but whats funny is they stole a 50$ cd deck but left 2 MSI K8N 939 pin mobos which were like 100$ apiece retail at the time... lucky me

 

dope feinds jack what they can see has worth.
you could have a stack of $100s on the dash, but they still wanna jack the radio, and stock wheels...

(I wish i had seen the mobos, woulda jacked them too!!)
(j.k)

 

Lil' update, school got cancelled today cuz of snow so bla I started working on the GPS project a lil while ago. What I've done: Made a "mold" out of sheet metal and bent in half to be able to form a nice straight border, got one done so far, 2 more to go considering the bottom part is straight. Here's some pics so far, more to come as I work.

 

 

Ok some more updates, by no means is this project complete. All I've done was simply straighten 2 sides out by putting more fiberglass in a straight shape and paint so it doesnt look so damn ugly during daylight. I hate that nasty lookin brown stuff so its black until I finish it. The pics make it look real crooked but the reality is that I'm nearly done. All left is smoothen out, texture paint, and add some more straight shaped fiberglass to the side closest to the speedo. Oh and hard wire it which it cake. mmmm cake.

 

john your pics like you are broken

 

he will fix them once he gets back from the Castro district.

 

Maybe you can develop a cover for the GPS

 

There the pics should work now

 

they do.
it's coming along fairly well.

 

Thank you sir, hearing that from you is like getting approved by Simon Cowell from American Idle (Idol)

 

Don't worry I'll nitpick when you say "it's done" there is still some tweaking I see to be done to make it look OE

 

it'd make sense if that metal was a combination of a bezel/bracket that helps to mount the gps unit...but if it's just to make a straight edge, it seems like an unnecessary step.

 

Well can you suggest a BETTER way to make a straight edge without any tools? I want you to keep in mind all this was done by hand with a regular knife and freakin sandpaper. Have you personally done anything with fiberglass?

Once the fiberglass dries it becomes solid/rock hard and there's no need to help mount the gps as theres already a bracket in the back to hold in firmly in place.

I'm not trying to be a jerk but do you have any better ideas or suggestions on how I can do this better? its my first time ever doing something like this and using fiberglass.

 

Are you familiar with the wonders of the dremel tool?

 

I do, I actually had a near top of the line one I think model was xr 400 but I returned it cuz I got in a bad financial situation the next day and needed the money urgently, didnt even get to use the sucker other than test it once.

 

yes, i have worked with fiberglass. all you need is some type of rotary tool. dremels can be bought used for really cheap. or roll over to harbor freight...they usually have one for like $7. a steady hand and a small cut off wheel will get it really straight. then you could use a sanding drum on it to even it out better. heck, you could even use a sheet of metal to use as a guide to sand it straight.

 

$7? Wow, I have seen them for +$50! These tend to be only the finest on the market! You get a lot of sweet heads as well to do all sorts of sanding, buffing, drilling, cutting, or whatever your job calls for.

 

I give props for it. Gonna look good and not many people are brave enough to try it. I am. (only cuase i have a spare bezel) fo shezel

 

sorry, no. i meant you can get a rotary tool there for $7. i think it's made by Chicago or something. it's probably not the greatest, and it may break faster than a name brand like dremel...but if you don't want to invest in a dremel, $7 shouldn't hurt your wallet too bad. it should be able to take dremel accessories, i would think.

i've seen some dremels go on sale for ~$25 new. you can get them on ebay for cheap because people buy them for a project and never use them again.

 

Updates, the GPS is back in the max, hardwired it to the clock harness and now I have a free cigarette lighter connection for my radar (which will be getting hardwired too) or phone charger I think I'm gonna leave it as is for a couple more weeks until I get my dremel again for sanding purposes. It looks 100 times better than last week and I'm super happy with the outcome. I'll get some pictures tomorrow as I forgot my camera when I took it for a spin a lil while ago.

Thanks for the support guys

 

you're pretty far along on your project, so this won't help too much. i figured you were reinforcing it for structural support.

if i were going to tackle a project like this, i'd start out with the bezel. either get a backup face/bezel or commit to sacrificing the one you have.

or if you want, you could make one out of ABS plastic or wood or something. just make it the inside the exact size of the screen.

cut out the hole (where the clock used to be) slightly larger than the bezel. situate the bezel flush and use some CA glue and tack it in place. scuff up both pieces, then use some plastic filler (icing) or whatever you have (kitty hair, fiberglass) and fill in the gaps. then sand it flush. if you need to, you could reinforce the backside with some fiberglass to give the whole thing some more strength.

if you use the existing bezel, you don't have to worry about making the edges straight and square. and it'll be a perfect fit for the screen. then just screw the gps unit back together. this is all assuming the gps unit would come apart in 2 halves.

 

I actually got 2 more spare bezels in my garage for "experimenting" I'm not sure I understood your concept but then again I just woke up so I'll be re-reading it later.

--As for my current project, I'm gonna fab up a a cover that snaps in place and is somewhat "indented" in the screen "hole" and its gonna have the face of a normal maxima clock. So in reality its gonna have a dummy clock that doesnt work but it'll be fine for those neighborhoods you dont wanna leave your shiz exposed.

 

 

the troopers are sending you 2 tickets.
speeding and driving to fast for conditions

 

OMG 2 mph over the limit... its because I'm colombian isnt it

 

nah, it's cuz you ain't white

 

thats a sexist remark, and i resemble that.

John, look forward to the finished product.
how exactly is the clock cover thing... supposed to work? my GPS is HUGE compared to my clock and your GPS is bigger(thats what your gf said anywho...)

 

Looks mighty fine, John! Do you intend to clean up the edges a little and make it look more uniform with the rest of the dash? I am just wondering if you have any ideas. It looks good, but it could be sanded down a little (I am a serious perfectionist by the way and I don't usually take on projects if I know that it will not come out to my liking).

 

Matching that fake plastic grain of the original dash piece would be next to impossible. Probably the best thing you could do is fiberglass the whole piece, or maybe even build up several coats of sandable primer, smooth it all out and then repaint.

 

it would match the radio bezel better, but you would have to do something about the center console...
the contrast betweent the dash and gauge bezel would look good, Imo, and be unique

 

Yes I'm a perfectionist as well reason that I'm not done with it. I will smoothen the edges out and angle them a bit toward the screen for a better viewin angle.

The clock thing will be a big square shaped piece the size of the hole, in the center of that plastic "flap" or cover, will be a chopped face from a maxima clock crazy glued on there to look like a normal clock. need like some sort of drawing or sketch?

As for the texture, thats the last of my worries theres always extras to do some trial and error work.

So you guys actually think its starting to turn out ok or you guys just Bsing me here?