Thread: 2004 Mystichrome Cobra Install

Here's some progress pics guys. Sorry I didn't take more pictures, it starts pretty far into it.

Here's the bezel after cutting and mouting of the screen bezel and DVD-RW slot. To get to this point I actually had to cut off the upper recession of the radio bezel and re-angle it to 90 degrees. Before it sloped downward thus shrinking the verticle space in the radio area.



Different angle shot.


Here's some pics after filling in with some duramix, sanding, and a shot of primer to highlight the areas that need more work. Many of these areas are obvious, but some I didn't see.





As you can see, when standing, it appears that the bottom holes for the switches are partially covered. While not phyically blocked, this will give the illusion that they are. Not sure I like that, but I'm too far to stop now, I'll continue and see how it turns out. I'd very much like to have the dvd slot in the bezel and not have to mount the dvd drive remotely, but we'll have to see how it turns out and how it looks in the car.

Sorry about the bad pics, my camera has been fighting me alot lately. Don't know if it's my lack of experience with a DSLR, or maybe this camera has something wrong with it(bought it second hand).

-Kevin

looks good man, and i see you have nutsymptom playing....311 fan?

Originally Posted by paulm287

looks good man, and i see you have nutsymptom playing....311 fan?

Kinda. I was a big fan of music, grassroots, and the self titled album. The later stuff wasn't really my thing. I do like the latest album though, Don't Tread on Me. I recently saw them play with Pepper, not to diss 311, but I was mainly there to see Pepper. Once upon a time I used to go to every 311 concert that came within a reasoable distance. I guess tastes change though.

-Kevin

i saw them this summer in philly....it was a really good show

Small update, keep in mind it's still far from finished in these pics. Did a little more duramix work, some sanding, and a light coat of primer to see where I'm at. It's coming along nicely. You can see there's still some work left, but it's moving along. I'm dreading getting the upper corners smooth, that was the hard part on the last bezel and as hard as the duramix is to sand, i'm not looking forward to it. For reference, i'm using duramix 4040. Now that the major filling is close to finished, I should probably switch to the 4058 E-Z sand finishing paste, it should be easier to sand. I also wish the work time was a little higher, I'm now wishing I had went with 4041 which has a longer work time. Shoulda, woulda, coulda, but I didn't My personal recommendation for anyone that cares, is to go with 4041 as opposed to 4040.

-Kevin

Update, the new bezel is finished and installed as well as my coin holder replacement. This is the first major upgrade/revision to my system. I've also installed a seagate 7200rpm, 100gig laptop hard drive. I must say, I was hoping for a boost in system startup from the 7200rpm, but I can't say that i've seen a noticable difference. The coin holder replacement consists of a dual usb port receptical, a blue led that indicates the system is on, and a red led that will indicate the system is locked and will not turn on with the car. The red led will be tied in with a toggle switch that when activated, prevents the computer from starting when the ignition is on. I will also be installing a bulgin power button in the shifter bezel to activate the computer when the previously mentioned toggle switch is active. Here's some pics. I swear the car does not look that dirty to the naked eye. I was stunned when I first saw the pics, I swear it doesn't look that dirty.

Here's of the shot of the new bezel in place. I'm mostly happy with the way the DVD slot turned out. Needs a little adjusting still.


A shot of the coin holder usb ports.


Another shot of the coin holder usb ports.



I also cleaned up the wiring as best I could, but it's still a mess in there, there's just too little space to work with. I'm seriously contemplating moving the system to the trunk, but I really don't want to run the wiring. I still might do that though when I perform the next major upgrade. I'll need to figure out how i'm going to hide it if I go that route. I don't want to use the spare tire well as I like the piece of mind of having a spare. I'd also have to find a new way to mount the DVD drive as right now it's attached to the motherboard case. It never ends.

-Kevin

Originally Posted by leemik

this has got to be one of the best and cleanest installs on here.. great fiberglass work!!!

Thank for the kind words. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. It did take alot longer to do than I thought it would. Especially with the second bezel. I thought that would go much quicker than the first, but it actually took longer, but that was mainly because I wanted it to be perfect.

-Kevin

Small Update:

I've rewired the startup control for the system and added a power button. I still need to add toggle switch, but once that is added the system will work like this: With the toggle deactivated, the system will startup with the ignition like a normal radio. With the toggle activated, the system will not start with the ignition, but instead must be started with the new power button. The red LED shown in the previous pictures of the USB coin holder will indicate the status of the toggle switch. The power button became essential because of situations where either I accidentally shut the system down or the power supply shut down during a period of quick shut down and restart of the car. Without the power button, the only way to start the computer back up is to shut off the car and start it back up. Regardless, I had always envisioned a Bulgin power button either in the dash or console. I just think they look really cool.

Next I intend to tackle the start-up pop that comes from the amp turning on simultaneously with the computer. I also intend to install a ground loop isolator to get rid of the low pitched buzz. I'll probably start looking into finding a better matching paint for the bezel as well.

The pictures don't reflect the blue hue of the light ring very well, it's closer to the hue of the reflecting light, but not quite that dark/deep.