Finished molding Lilli bezel into Focus dash

**Bootbox** · 10-11-2004, 12:34 PM

I took apart my 7" Lillliput TS this weekend and molded it's bezel into my Focus ZX3's dash, where the radio and storage pocket used to be.

I Started by cutting a hole big enough for the Lilli's bezel then epoxied it into place from behind, on all the seems. I then used Bondo Fiberglass Reinforced filler on the front side. After extensive sanding with 100 grit I got it smooth enough and added regular Bondo to the piece. After multiple rounds of sanding/reg. Bondo were complete, I moved on and used Bondo spot putty/glaze to fill in the small divots and scratch marks. This was also the point where I decided to fill in the area where the Lilliput badge used to be.

Primer came next, revealing more divots and rough spots. At this point I was pretty discouraged. I had 15 hours of work into the piece and the primer coat revealed a ton of imperfections I hadn't seen yet. Some more spot putty and a few rounds of sanding with 800 grit, then 1000 grit and I was good to move on and paint. I finished it in flat black, as you can see.

Tonight I'll be finishing the remote mounting of my faceplate from my Pioneer 4600 and test fitting the Lilliput in the final dash location. I'll need to trim the top of the HVAC controls, they rest right below the screen and will clash with it's case if I don't trim one of them.

**EBFoxbat** · 10-11-2004, 12:39 PM

Nice job! Worth the effort huh?

I'd do that if I could locate a spare dash.... (who am I kidding I havn't even contacted my dealer yet)

**brooksware2000** · 10-11-2004, 12:40 PM

This looks great. Be Sure to post your finished results.

**antimatter** · 10-11-2004, 02:04 PM

hmm, maybe you could post a better picture. It looks to me that you arent quite finished. It looks like you need to work more on the seams and straighten out your lines a litter more. Good work so far though.

**Bootbox** · 10-11-2004, 02:33 PM

Yeah, the line on the right is a bit wavy compared to the one on the left, and it's staying like that too.

I'm perfectly happy with it the way it is to be honest.

I was planning on fixing it at first but I sat in the car and held it in place and you really can't tell, it looks great.

I know you hear this so much on the internet that it starts to lose impact; but it really does look much better in person. It's just so hard to get a good picture of something that's shiny and black with curves in it, the flash plays off the lines oddly. All the parts that look bad in the picture are barely noticable in person.

Maybe I'll get a better picture of it when it's installed in the car, mabye if I can get a little tripod in there so the flash isn't needed.