Acura TL 2004 touchscreen install

**moahdib** · 09-29-2004, 12:51 AM

OK this thread was going on for a while in the acura-tl forum but since im a die hard member of this board, decided to move it here. =)

here it is for reference...
http://www.acura-tl.com/forums/showt...5&page=1&pp=25

I have a non-navi TL which I badly want to put a touchscreen and setup a laptop for my carPC.

Here is how the stock dash looks like.

And here is what i want it to look like when I'm finished.

Now onto the details...
After taking everything appart, I discovered that the OEM LCD is a huge single PCB board with 2 char LCD's. =\

After removing the OEM LCD, I tried to see the fit of the xenarc and it was PERFECT!.

Here it is after some plastic cutting on the plastic bezel....

The aluminum backing for the OEM LCD, fit perfectly to cover and hold the xenarc in place.

Now... the storage compartment is where the OEM LCD is gonna go.

After all that I had to put everything back to where it was which was a breeze...except that now since I have cut the plastic cover out, it is now a removeable window. lol

cover on

cover off

Things to do:

- Extend wires for the xenarc buttons since it doesn't have infrared remote!!! I'll be using some momentary switches etc... and place somewhere else.
- Extend the wires long enough to reach the OEM LCD below the radio
- make a nice bezel to cover the OEM LCD in the storage compartment area. I'll probably use some smoked plexi with clear plexi on top of the LCD screen area.

All in all, I couldn't ever have dreamed that I could keep the car looking so stock. =)

I'll post more pics as the install goes along.

**elah** · 09-29-2004, 01:00 AM

slick slick

**norejr34** · 09-29-2004, 11:44 AM

thats perfect, can't wait to see it finished

**whatacar** · 09-29-2004, 12:13 PM

moahdib, thanks for moving the post to this forum. Also on the connector information from you previous posts. Just to let everyone know, there is a parallel effort on to decode the Acura's communication bus. The idea is that the same CarPC VGA monitor will display the car's HVAC and radio information. This will eliminate the LCD.

So far I have found that the 04' Acura TL uses a NEC bus interface called the IE-Bus. I am in the process of designing a serial adapter to decode the information on the bus. This is the information from the car's radio. The HVAC information will be tapped from the LCD character generator. This is a three wire interface that is quite simple. The radio interface will be more complicated.

I belive older models of Acur'a (and Honda's) use the same bus. They call it GA-NET II. If anyone has any information that will help, please post it.

**mykolJay** · 09-29-2004, 12:36 PM

did you even have to remove the casing (and void the warranty) of the xenarc or did you simply leave it attached and hid it behind the console.

That looks great. My friend has a TL (not sure if its a 04 though) and I'm dying to rip into his dash.

**mykolJay** · 09-29-2004, 12:39 PM

That will look even better once you add a matching purple background color to the Xenarc.

**jimmythecow** · 09-29-2004, 12:48 PM

wow very nice. dont you just love it when things work out just to perfect for ya?

**moahdib** · 09-30-2004, 12:53 AM

did you even have to remove the casing (and void the warranty) of the xenarc or did you simply leave it attached and hid it behind the console.

Xenarc is in the case and perfectly fits behind the console with full view of the screen. The size of the OEM console fits a widescreen 8" LCD.
I bought it used which already had voided warranty. My screen is the 700TSV with albrite upgrade.

Today i bought a piece of smoked plexi, I'm first going to try that instead of going the fiberglassing way which would take more effort and time.

The PC will be my old insipiron 4100 laptop which I have a docking station.
To turn it on i rigged Jeff's auto shutdown to send a pulse when the car is first turned on. Works perfectly!

I love laptops bc you don't have to worry about the PSU. =)

Can't wait to get those connectors from JAE which would save me a TON of time cutting and extending wires...

This car is probably has the BEST fit for any aftermarket 7" widescreen into the OEM space... minimal modification. I believe I am the first one to do this on a non-navi TL. All those navi owners who paid at least $2000 more for their navi system will just have to sit back and cry a bit once I am done.