2002 Acura TL-S

**AcuraTLFan** · 04-09-2007, 05:11 PM

Originally Posted by bangumandoo

awesome. i thought the metra kit doesnt cover the area where your cd changer tray used to be. how did you fill that space?

Your right, it doesn't. If you look at this picture

It is different from the finished piece that it doesn't have the dvd slot and the upper light and right corner are not filled in.

What I did was took left over lexan/plexiglass piece i had from another project, cut out a small polygon shape to fit the upper left and right corner. Used some epoxy to attach to the metrakit and headrest bezel. For the DVD slot, I needed it to be narrow and straight. What I did was I took the plastic HU bezel that came with the metra kit and used the long side of the it to be the slot opening.

Mainly, what you need is just the outline or shape....if you have voids or opening, you can find other ways to fill it in with lexan, epoxy, and bondo

**bangumandoo** · 04-10-2007, 09:48 PM

thanks a lot for your info. im gonna put up my log so you can see truly see someone admire your work. another question... what are the dimensions of where you put the headunit. i measured it today roughly and it doesnt seem like it would fit the one i wanted.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=1#description

did you have to mod that area to fit your HU? what HU model is that. i can probably find the dimensions of it myself online

**WarX** · 04-10-2007, 10:22 PM

great install! one of my old friends had an 02 TL, the only real way of upgrading the audio system in that car is going with a CarPC, trying to use a doubledin Navi unit was a complete nogo, no such dashkit existed and modifying one was going to be a pain, plus he wanted to have an audio shop do it, so add another few hundred to the install since the were goin to rape him for the install prices... looks great! i mentioned a CarPc setup to him a while back but he was uninterested.. woulda looked good too

**AcuraTLFan** · 04-11-2007, 02:28 AM

Thanks guys!

The headunit I have is the Pioneer DEH-P9800BT which should be the same size as DEH-7800MP. Same unit, except the 9800 has bluetooth. The Panasonic HU you want is also a 1 DIN unit. the width and height should be the same, the depth might not.

The piece holding the HU was dremel'ed down and bondo'ed to fit my HU. I shaped/curved the HU area around the faceplate, not the entire unit. What I mean by that is, you can't pull the entire HU out from the front. You can only remove the entire HU after you remove the center console/shift gate piece. The reason why I did this was 1) it looks better 2) If some car thief wants my HU, I'm making him work for it. I had another Pioneer HU that was stolen last Christmas...the thief just yanked the HU out....took him less then 20 sec to break into my car, steal it, and get away.

Dremel'ing the HU area was my first step of the project..it was one of the longest parts. I measured, measured, and measured! Then I committed the project when I Dremel'ed that piece. Make sure the HU has enough depth to fit that area, get an idea of what angle you want to mount the HU..the ODB-2 connecter is back there, so it may limit your angle. The TL's center console is slightly slanted to the driver side, so take that into account before cutting.

If you don't feel comfortable cutting into that piece, you can try to find one on ebay to test or get it here for about ~45-50 http://acuraautomotiveparts.org/acur...s=&view=normal

Feel free to ask me if you have any issues or question. I'm glad to help

**bangumandoo** · 04-11-2007, 08:23 PM

thanks man. if i knew that it would have been that hard from the beginning i probably wouldnt have ordered the 8" screen to copy your setup lol. its ok im gonna give it a shot. hopefully it doesnt sound as hard as you made it. ill put up progress pics when i get all my parts delivered. thanks again for your help. are you on acurazine btw?

**AcuraTLFan** · 04-13-2007, 01:49 AM

I'm on tl.acurazine.com but I haven't been posting on their lately. Used to be very active when my car was new... I go by AcuraTLSFan and AcuraTLFan

**bangumandoo** · 04-23-2007, 08:52 PM

your pics went down. anyway you can repost them? just when i got all my parts and was ready!

**AcuraTLFan** · 04-24-2007, 02:14 AM

I was using www.imagefuse.com...i guess they're down. I'll try to upload the pictures again tommorow

**bangumandoo** · 05-11-2007, 05:21 PM

any specific spray color or spray can? or did you just use a regular black

**AcuraTLFan** · 05-11-2007, 07:45 PM

I tried many different black paint on other projects...but I bought a can from Lowes, it was for crafts, FLAT BLACK...The color comes very close to matching factory color, but it doesn't have the slight silver shine that OEM has. I'll take a picture of the can for you.,,the can was a beige color.