I know there are a couple of people here that have moved the info screen down to the bottom, I think at least one person without replacing the dash kit (I think this would be possible, but I don't feel like breaking out the tape measure right this minute... )

I'm eyeballing doing some work to the dash, and my questions are:

1) is it possible to move the screen to the bottom without taking out the head unit. I'm thinking that it should be but I've never taken my dash apart so I wouldn't know...

2) what size screen can be used in the space where the info screen is located? I'm looking at a 7" Lilliput (image) but I'm affraid that it might be too big or that there might not be any mounting points back there -- or that it would just look UGLY.

3) can I hook another source into the onboard sound system? For example if I wanted to add a phone kit or a PC to play through the sound through the speakers, could it be done? I don't mind nuking the tape but I'd rather not mess with the SAT, since I love XM and I'm eventually going to add a tuner into the existing HU.

You can probably guess from the questions what the end goal is... I want to add a PC into the car (powered by Coyote's MediaCar or some other similar software) and I'm thinking that an extra screen dangling around would be too much, especially when I can just move the info screen down and put a touchscreen VGA screen into the space where the info screen is.

That also brings the issue of sound... If I go through with this, I'd probably want to use the PC for mp3/dvd/navigation/whatever, and I'd like the sound to play through the speakers rather than rig some other solution.

And finally I'd like to add a bluetooth car kit into the mix, but again I'd like to use the onboard speakers and mute the radio when I use the phone (I have a couple of kits in mind that already do this, so this would be the easiest of all )

Obviously if you need to ask why I'd want to do this, you probably would never understand, so don't...

 

I completely understand why you want to do this, sound like a bunch of nice add ons for sure. I would ask Jeff the guy who has done this already, I believe he got his work done at Westcoast auto sound.
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/589779/4
I also found this site about carputer stuff, thought it might help you out...
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=36

 

Any other takers?

Seems like I might have to take the dash apart after all and see what fits and what doesn't... sounds scary.

 

Your idea is similar to mine. I too want to move down the screen and replace it with another. I'd want the upper screen to play dvd's, show cd information and things like that nature. Of course i'll probably never get to this project for at least a year or so but just to get some ideas is always a good start.

 

I already have most of the plans worked out for the hardware and the software... my only concern is that there might not be anywhere to secure the info screen once it's moved down or to secure the computer screen in the palce where the info screen is...

I was looking at chrisaust's "take apart your dash" how-to and it was very helpful, but unfortunately it doesn't have good pictures of the behind-the-dash area to see what it looks like -- and obviously I don't want to be the first person to jack up their car like this...

But no pain no gain I suppose... I'll look around some more and see what I can find out...