ok as promised (buuuuhhhh buuuummmm bummmmmmmmmm)
PICTURES ^_^
ok this picture is a preliminary build before i figured out that i couldnt use the design due to mounting issues with the OEM mounts... also you can see that trying to go from a curved front bezel to a flat mount for the screen looks "sloppy" and made it pretty difficult
This is how i mounted the controller for the touch screen (note* i hate ribon cables*) This piece of poly allows the circuit board to be mounted and also functions as a means of applying pressure to the screen to keep in place against the front bezel. The checkered pieces are actually foam double sided tape that im using as a "cusion" to keep the board away from the poly which also allows for ventilation.
This is how it looks assembled in the new front bezel design. As you can see i trimmed off the top layer of metal to allow for the OEM INFO button display.
Here is a front shot of the display with the screen mounted. You can see some sanding of the metal to allow for the bondo to stick. *(yes i used bondo- it smells funny and makes you see purdy colors eventually---*drool*)
I had to relocate the power connector because the way that the framework slides into the OEM mounds would not allow the plug to slide past the brackets. I encapsulated the solder points with silicone as to act against shorts and to stabilize the wires and solder points.
This is where i first applied the bondo to the new design. This new design is flat where i used the bondo to make the curved surface. I regretfully got ahead of myself in the picture taking and wished i hadnt. Anyone that has used bondo knows that in most "thick" applications, its bond to metal is somewhat shakey. In thick applications, you can "smack" the back side of whatever with something and the bondo will fly off. To combat this, i soldered curved pieces of metal to act as a type of reinforcement and also to give me a "youve sanded too far" backbone. Thus far the idea works great and the bondo seems to be bonding just fine.
This is after i painstakingly shaped the curves and angles to make it look somewhat "manufactured" instead of fabricated (yay pink HAH) You can see the angles i sanded to give the bezel that "screen" look like something thats bought. The curved angles in the corners were freeking difficult to get even and straight lines and corners are also equally difficult.
First coat of paint:
I got so frustrated with how this would look painted i had to paint it. Since i added the paint, its too late to sand it off so the "final" look is going to have to be done through sanding many layers of paint instead of sanding back down to the bondo and risk altering the angles etc.
This is the newly configured case. Due to the comments earlier about confined space and whatnot, i basicly reversed the build so that the connections are on the right side. This allows more connections and less cable cramping. However, this poor polycarbonate is riddled with holes and marks/scratches etc. When i can afford real tooling and another piece of 1/4" poly, ill be rebuilding this case once again but with proper specs intead of eyeballing everything and then making cuts etc....
This is now what my poor trunk looks like. After discovering the leak in my sunroof, ive found that not only was the back seat tub full of water, the trunk liner was also full of water so i ripped out everything to air out and to also see the structure of the trunk as to where to mount everything. As any owner of a cadillac will know, theyve always had AMPLE amount of trunk space which is very very very nice
Ok one step closer to getting this project up and running. In this picture i did a preliminary fit test to see how what i was doing on the bench actually measured up with how the rest of the center console was designed. NICE AND SMOOTH mounting lines. Its really starting to look OEM at this point
As you can see in these 2 pics, the lines are awesome. The bondo work i did fills the gaps almost better than the stock radio did and the transition from the top INFO panel and the HVAC display is 99% flawless. the only flaw is that due to the height of the screen, the INFO display pushed upward making the angle change ever so slightly so when u run your hand down the face of the center console you can feel the change in the curve angle. WHOOPTIE DAH DOO. it looks nice and i doubt anyones going to be feeling up my car anytime soon
LOL
Few pics of test install, nothing at this point is operational as im still trying to run wires. The monitor wires and the M2-ATX wires are run so as soon as i add a battery to the trunk, i could power on the pc yet since i have no audio (amps, speakers, wires etc) there really is no reason to go through the trouble just to show a working pic ~_~
At this point my nice long weekend is over so now im only going to be able to put a few hours a day in on this and since im at one of the more critical points.... this is going to be the slow stage. Audio selection for speakers, amps etc is by far the most $ demanding. My eldorado project was basicly built using leftovers, this seville project is going to be all new equipment and design.