2003 Tahoe Install

**tonkadawg** · 08-22-2007, 01:34 PM

yeah I'm concerned now that the balsa will warp when I go to lay fiberglass. So I'm a bit torn right now - continue with fiberglass or resin the balsa and put vinyl over it...

**Uraijit** · 08-22-2007, 02:51 PM

I'd say go with the fiberglass. I don't know how much strength the resin alone would give balsa. You could give it a good coat of epoxy resin to give it a bit of strength before you start laying it up. That's probably what I would do. You've got nothing to lose doing it that way. Either the resin will give it enough strength, or it wont. Either way, the vinyl is going to jack it up if the resin doesn't prove to strengthen it. As will the fiberglass...

**tonkadawg** · 08-23-2007, 08:10 AM

yeah, I've been talking with Dad and we decided to wrap in felt and resin. Of course we will brace the hell out of it so it will hold. Once that first layer of resin dries, we'll see where we're at.

Here's the felt:

Ordered resin and other stuff from US Composite yesterday, so hopefully by next week it will be here. In the mean time, I am going to start designing the case for the glovebox.

**Pathos** · 08-23-2007, 08:25 AM

You and your dads woodworking is a lot better than my usual screen
molding fiascos..... keep up the great work!

**tonkadawg** · 08-28-2007, 06:01 PM

got the stuff from US Composite this afternoon, so maybe tomorrow I'll be putting some resin down. Still need to do the bracing but that should be pretty quick and easy.

Ran into a snag with the case though. My ideas of mounting it in the glove box or under the cup holders aren't going to work. The MB, HD and DVD drive just take up too much space. I checked under the seats, but since I have power seats, no room.

Anyone have any suggestions?

**Uraijit** · 08-29-2007, 07:03 AM

I'm mounting mine under the console, without a case. Just going to mount it to a piece of MDF like someone else did in another thread. Mini ATX fits nicely beneath the front part of the console under the aux tape player (where you put your screen).

Then I'm going to make a cover out of plexi glass just incase a drink spills and leaks through the cup holders.

If you must have the case, or if you have the Bose system, I'd probably mount it under the second row seats.

**tonkadawg** · 09-04-2007, 06:32 PM

small update: got the pieces holding the screen cut and installed as well as the screen cover cut:

What you see is everything needed for the TS (TS overlay, screen, and all necessary chips) - I will need to drill a hole in the back to allow the cables to exit, but that's easy.

Unfortunately won't be putting any resin down till later in the month. I have training the next 2 days that will run late. Then on Thursday night I will be driving to Philly so I can hop on a plane to the Dominican Republic on Friday for a week. But when I get back, resin will be going on.

**Uraijit** · 09-05-2007, 01:49 AM

Sweet, maybe I'll actually have my screens by the time you get back to your project

I was hoping to be finished by now, and I can't even friggin start!

So I feel your pain of the "slow-goingness". Maybe your week abroad will give me a chance to start trying to catch up.

Of course, that's assuming that the jackasses at Gooddeals18 pull their heads out of their @sses.

**tonkadawg** · 09-05-2007, 08:24 AM

yeah I was really hoping to have the resin down and maybe even have it sanded, but it just didn't happen. I get back on the 17th, so I should be back to work on this project then. I don't really anticipate the case taking that long so that's really encouraging. Maybe I could have the whole thing finished and ready for final install by Oct?

Uraijit, what are you planning?

**Uraijit** · 09-05-2007, 08:43 AM

Well I'm cautiously optimistic that my screens might actually arrive today... We'll see.

I'm going to eliminate the factory head-unit, and relocate the A/C controls to the CD-holder slot down on the console. Then I'll form up a little fiberglass magic on the dash bezel and place my 10.4 inch touch screen in their place.

I'm going to put a slot-loading dvd drive in place of the aux tape deck.

The PC itself will be mounted under the console (I don't have bose) in a custom plexi-glass case. I'm thinking about ducting off the AC vent into the case to assist in cooling. I don't plan on majorly overclocking things, but it should up the cooling efficency a litte bit for some minor OC action.

You can see all the specs of the hardware I am installing listed under my name on the left.

I don't really have a lot of time to mess with customizing the dash for a few more weeks, so I'll probably just mount the screen on its stand somewhere for now. I hope to have everything up and at least functional (sans DVD drive which I haven't bought yet) by the end of the week; provided I get my screens today.

At any rate I'm getting started on the case, and getting the comp mounted this morning.

I went ahead and ordered two screens so I can do an install in my wife's vehicle next. So in reality, I'm only waiting on 1 screen for this install, but since they were ordered together, that's why I keep saying "screens".

Whew, what a mouthfull.

Anyway, I'm interested to see your results after you give that felt a drink and some sanding. I've never used felt for fiberglassing. Although I can't imagine it being much different from fleece, which makes an awesome base to layer up on for building boxes for woofers, etc. I've never tried sanding it though... That could prove interesting.