Audi A4 install - LCD finally customed into dash

brrman · 09-18-2003, 11:01 AM

So after miles and miles of fiberglass and sanding I finally get this thing primed and ready for final painting. Its a Xenarc 7" touchscreen LCD. I have all the other components except the Opus - which I will order this week.

Man I am so stoked to get this thing working!

jasonsp6 · 09-18-2003, 11:53 AM

That custom fiberglass mold looks great! Do you have an pictures of the various stages of construction?
btw... what is the vent under the screen for?
Are you keeping the HVAC controls in your A4?

Can't wait till I have time to do something similar with VW GTI

98explorerxlt · 09-18-2003, 12:01 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by brrman

So after miles and miles of fiberglass and sanding I finally get this thing primed and ready for final painting. Its a Xenarc 7" touchscreen LCD. I have all the other components except the Opus - which I will order this week.

Man I am so stoked to get this thing working!

what grit did you use for sanding
Ive seen someone using 1500 in a post
i used to do some bodywoork and we used 80 180 and 300

also hvac is used to descibe industrial or central air units not car units right

Sh0cker · 09-18-2003, 12:06 PM

Custom setup looks very nice, hopefully my panel in VW VR6 will look as good as yours ;d ...I'm working on my carputer for weeks and still cant finish it.

traitorhound · 09-24-2003, 09:38 AM

that's wild. . .i wish i couldve kept that little border around the lcd when i molded my screen into my protege5

Defiler · 09-24-2003, 10:21 AM

Oh...That's very nice!!!

bosstone74 · 09-24-2003, 10:28 AM

Let me just show you my O face!!!

jakeep · 09-24-2003, 05:59 PM

tres bon... lookin great

Sunglassesron · 09-26-2003, 05:14 AM

Heres My Audi Screen for you too look at

http://www.fsplanes.net/mounted.jpg

Notice how I put the Aircon intake at the top

brrman · 09-30-2003, 10:10 AM

yeah that looks good Sunglasses - is that carbonfiber sticker tape?

the little fan grid (someone asked?) sucks in air from the cabin for the automatic climate control to determine the cabin temp.

98Explorerxlt: HVAC is a common term for the A/C unit in an audi. I used 100/300/400 sandpaper - and then 1000 between my final coats of satin black. The HVAC controls were moved to where the ashtray was.

I'll post some pics of the process later today.

Sunglassesron · 09-30-2003, 04:59 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by brrman

yeah that looks good Sunglasses - is that carbonfiber sticker tape?

the little fan grid (someone asked?) sucks in air from the cabin for the automatic climate control to determine the cabin temp.

98Explorerxlt: HVAC is a common term for the A/C unit in an audi. I used 100/300/400 sandpaper - and then 1000 between my final coats of satin black. The HVAC controls were moved to where the ashtray was.

I'll post some pics of the process later today.

Brrman, How did you change you climate model to fit in ashtray hole?

I have tried but the only way is to remove the housing as the lugs stick out too much,

Did you make a custom housing? my car pc is ready to fit this weekend,

I have dremeled the top of the ashtray compartment out so I can route the wires down there

Ron

btw yeah its carbon fiber tape, was expensive though 25 quid a metre

a pic of it all sorted

traitorhound · 10-01-2003, 02:20 PM

turn me on is a cool song

Euclid · 10-02-2003, 09:26 AM

brrman, GREAT JOB!
That's simply astounding!

Any idea where I can find somebody to make something like that for my car, or is it simple enough to just do myself?

Thanks!

brrman · 10-02-2003, 10:01 AM

Im in the process of writing a tech document. I had never done anything like that before, man, so I think anyone can do it. You just need the courage to cut up your car.

I've attached an image of the final install into my car.

havent had a chance to get pics up yet, but here is an excerpt fro mthe document...

Moving the A/C Controls:
This had to be the most frustrating and difficult aspect of the interior modifications. First I removed the ashtray – it is not hard once the A/C control box is removed. The A/C unit is enclosed in a box, and would not fit in the ash tray area. Hmm. So let’s remove it from the box. Now it consists of a faceplate with a ribbon cable to a circuit board containing the rear connections. Going to be tight, but I think it will go.

Next, build the faceplate that will replace the ashtray and holt the A/C controls. This was insanely difficult for me. I am no master at car modifications or stereo installations so what I did was cut out a square piece of cardboard and shaped it bit by bit as it slowly took on the form that would fit in the ash try position. Finally I got it fairly suitable and then used that as a template for cutting out the ABS plastic version. The plastic version was not perfect so I added bondo to the edges, sanded, etc to fix the defects in the shape.

Don’t forget you have to cut out the rectangle in this plastic piece to accommodate the A/C controls. This is where I lost my cool several times. The cut out is so tight near the bottom corners that there is barely 1/8 an inch left to the faceplate. While putting the finishing touches on the faceplate (ie. sanding) I broke it. After cussing a massive string of expletives (I had worked all evening to get this far) I went to work on a second faceplate. I broke that one too. I nearly exploded. Sat down with a beer and told myself I would do another one tomorrow.

A week later I had the third faceplate done, but I had a slight crack where all the others had broken. I was getting no love from above. It did not matter anyhow. I primed and painted the faceplate and then epoxied the faceplate to the A/C front panel. FINALLY.

Wait – “How does the faceplate stay secure in the ashtray position?” you ask. I used a series of plastic tabs glued on the bottom of the unit so that it would hook into holes I had drilled into the console. Then one more tab on the top (one that was not too tight so that I could remove the unit with a little force). The circuit board containing the plug wiring is simply laid in the back behind the face.

Euclid · 10-02-2003, 10:05 AM

I'll just get interior panels from a junk yard to cut up instead.

That looks so incredibly nice, very good job. Now I just have to figure out how to fabricate the piece.