'03 Audi A4 - macmini install - Page 2

Rocky388 · 01-14-2008, 11:04 PM

Being that I had to fix the bottom edge, I put the whole setup onto the audi headunit (which you can see in the picture right above this post) and redid the plastic weld on both sides and the bottom. I tried to fuse it alittle better, and add more filler plastic to smooth things out a bit.
However, this didn't solve my problem. I decided to take the heat gun and carefully heat up the bottom edge and just push it back in place. This worked out pretty good, and overall I'm happy with the results. I don't want to play with it too much more only because I'm worried the edge of the bezel will start to deform.

Pic 1: I added some JB weld to the back of the very bottom edge for extra stregth. You can sort of see the grayish silver on the bottom.

Pic 2: Shows how much it straighten out by heating it back up and forming it again.

Pic 3: The final product for tonight.

And that's where I'm at. Tomorrow I'm going to take my dremel and roughly sand down the plastic mess I have. When I'm done with that, I'm thinkin about making up an ABS sludge and filling in the back and letting it sit overnight.

After that, I should be in the clear with the structural side of the bezel. Next I'll need to start filling, sanding, filling, sanding, etc until it's nice

Rocky388 · 01-15-2008, 10:43 PM

Today's progress:

Pic 1: I took my dremel with the sanding attachment and cleaned up the mess of plastic I had on there. Then I took the product pictured, and used it as a filler. This stuff dries hard, sands easy, and was nice to work with. Also, it's plyable like plastic and won't crack on you.

Pic 2: I also took this stuff and filled in some of the voids on the back for added strength.

Pic 3: Another shot of the first coat of filler

Pic 4: After the first round of sanding

Rocky388 · 01-15-2008, 10:56 PM

Pic 1: Round 2 of filler.

I'm sure everyone pretty much gets the idea of what's going on here.. I wanted to fill in as much as I can with the epoxy I had so I had a nice solid plastic base, rather than layers of bondo. After a few rounds of filler and sanding I was pretty happy with it. So I mixed up some bondo and put on one skim layer. Pics 2 and 3 are the results after sanding, and a very light coat of primer (which I'm using just to point on the imperfections)

Next I'm going to mix up some more bondo and hit both top corners of the screen and smooth that out a bit..other than that it's pretty much good. After that final coat of bondo I'll start progressivly stepping down the sand paper grit as I sand to smooth it out, until it's ready to be primed and painted.

Sal R. · 01-16-2008, 09:23 AM

deja vu

A bit late, but I would have suggested temporarily putting a thin piece of wood the size of the screen into the screen position that's held in place w/ double-sided tape or similar and securing it all in the DIN cage while the plastic bond worked it's magic.

I know you saw my worklog. Another thing I came across during my fabrication, in addition to what you've already experienced (bottom edge), is that the heat will possibly cause the bezel screen edge to deform and not fit right.

In my case, it bowed out and as a result, the screen would not sit flush w/ the bezel edge.

I did not see that happening and only found out during final re-assembly.

Very nice progress so far.

GL.

Rocky388 · 01-16-2008, 03:28 PM

hahah yup, I had a similar idea after the fact. I have been fitting the screen periodically..also testing the fitment in the din cage and car..so far everything's going smoothly. I think heating it up and reshaping it helped out alot...Though avoiding the situation all together would have been better haha

thanks

Rocky388 · 01-20-2008, 11:44 PM

well here's the most recent update..I just finished the bezel and installed the screen into it.

The next big thing I need to do is actually install the screen in the car..which means getting the LCD controller board installed into the headunit cage. But i need to take apart my headunit for that...and i'll have no radio. So I'm waiting till I have a full day (maybe this saturday) to do it so I have a radio in the meantime. I actually still need to order the USB soundcard also. All the wiring for the carnetix needs to be done also.

I'm also still undecided on what I'm going to do with the LCD buttons. I can stuff em behind the screen in the headunit cage..but I'm not sure if the remote will work...so I was thinking of extending the IR eye to a location that will pick up the signal from the remote. OR I can extend the wiring for the whole circuit board and mount it somewhere in the glovebox........

Postman · 01-21-2008, 08:29 PM

Man, this looks great so far! This is motivating me to actually finish mine rather then just using the laptop and Remote Wonder I've been using.

Machinehead · 01-22-2008, 11:20 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Rocky388

I actually still need to order the USB soundcard also.

I know you were looking for recommendations earlier in the thread. I'm running a similar set up with a Mac Mini. I ended up going with a Turtle Beach Advantage SRM (Same as the TB Roadie). Sound quality isn't the best but it fits the bill for now.

Rocky388 · 01-22-2008, 10:54 PM

thanks

I was gonna order the turtle beach roadie last night but couldn't find it in the mp3car store?? So for now, I'm just gonna hook right into the macs onboard sound until I come up with a permanent solution..

Machinehead · 01-23-2008, 08:34 AM

It doesn't look like the mp3car store carries it anymore. I know Amazon.com carries it, but it's called the Turtle Beach Advantage SRM now.

sonneboz · 02-03-2008, 03:02 PM

Rocky, I have a '04 A4 and have a couple questions. Did you fab that bezel yourself? If not, is it just the lilliput bezel cut down? Second, how are you planning on running the audio? I've come up with using M-Audio's Transit, then sending that via optical to either a processor, or alpine's MDA-D550.

Let me know about that bezel, I'm about to do mine as well

Rocky388 · 02-18-2008, 11:53 PM

I fabricated the bezel myself. The stock audi headunit bezel was chopped up, as was the lilliput housing, and the 2 were plastic welded together.

as for audio...Being that I have the bose sound system, my car has 2 amps..i tapped into the stock harness at the headunit and used the 4 line level inputs and just put rca ends on the wires:
http://www.riocar.org/modules.php?se...view_album.php

however, if you have the non-bose system..I would imagine you would do the same for the one amp, but you would have to buy another amp to take care of the other speakers..and again just connect the rca's to your computer.

Right now I just have the rca's going into the macmini's sound input...I'm pretty happy with the sound. Eventually I might buy an external soundcard though...

I actually need to update this thread...I've had the pics of the completed project for about 3 weeks now hahah. Just been enjoying the system and working out the quirks here and there.

sonneboz · 02-19-2008, 09:43 AM

Excellent, looking closer at the pics I saw where you cut around the radio. Another question for you, why do you have this connected to OBD? On a different forum I was told that the dlr can't scan the car without the radio...not sure about that...but is this why you have it connected?

Rocky388 · 02-24-2008, 09:36 PM

I don't have anything connected to OBD..the only reason why I eventually will is to connect into the car to clear or view any check engine lights, view any data and that sort of thing....

I've taken my car into the dealer to fix an issue I had with the seat memory, and I also got a second key programmed..I'm assuming they would have had to plug into the car to program the key and/or throughout the install of the seat memory unit..and they never reported any problems to me. And again, thats without anything connected to the OBD of the car, or the can-bus wires..

Could you post a link of what you read though? I'd be interested in that...

sonneboz · 06-15-2008, 04:52 PM

Any updates? How has the audio portion turned out?