Well, I got tired of my crappy HU mounting system with the useless pocket. It just didn't look right to me and it squeaked and rattled when I hit hard bumps.

Anyway, with a dremel, some cardboard, a heat gun, a 1/4" thick piece of ABS and a lot of patience I made a replacement.

The screw on top goes into an existing hole in the dash and the lower tabs obviously use existing screws from the AC control panel.

There were no physical changes to the truck and I could put it back to stock in about 3 minutes.

No squeaks or rattles, very rigid and I think it matches the interior plastic pieces quite well.

I am still thinking about making another one with the radio dead centered, but my original idea was to put a Lightning logo over the top of this one.

We'll see I guess. I need to find the logo and see how I feel about it.

 

Looks nice. Ive been thinking of doing the same for awhile because of my crappy Schoshe(sp) kit. I was thinkin a piece of sheetmetal smoothed and painted to match the outside.

Very nice looking

 

Nice Work, B-Man! Very clean looking

I use the pocket for my smokes. I had a '96 Ranger before my 150 and I had a equalizer under the radio.

 

B-Man,

Do you happen to have a scanner or something that you could use to provide a template? Something we could download, tape it to our favorite material and Dremel out?

I too have gotten a little tired of the empty pocket and was thinking about doing something similar (maybe using the extra space to do a remote mount of my V1 radar detector, an alarm LED, and various other knick knacks.

Tony

 

Yeah, a template would be cool.
I just though, I could put my switches for my amps and lights and what not up there and clean it up a lot more.

I have a question about that. Is there a gap between your new mounting plate and the bezel/trim piece that goes around the radio and heater controls?

Thanks

 

Give me a few days and I'll make a template of my rookie design.

I have to travel for work early this week but I'll do it when I get back in town...

There is a gap at the bottom by the AC panel. I cut a strip of the same material and laid it in the gap to make it look flush.

You can see it if you look at the pics. It is sitting on top of the AC Panel in the "naked" pic I posted previously.

 

How thick is the pvc and where did you get it? I am also interested in the template.
Thanks

 

There is a mouting kit for a single din without the pocket. I have one in my expedition. I think I paid a whole 9.95 for it. Dont have the company name handy.

 

pretty damn sweet! Awesome idea!

 

Looks great. I plan on doing something similar so I can have a cleaner look as well as a nice spot to mount a sub voume ****.

 

Here's the faceplate template I promised earlier. It will probably require a little work with a file and / or Dremel for a perfect fit.

I made mine out of 1/4" ABS plastic I found at Skycraft (an "electronic junk shop") in Orlando, FL. I don't know if they ship products, but here's the web site:

http://www.skycraftsurplus.com

The tabs that are held in place by the AC panel screws should be heated and then bent a small amount to account for the angle of the face plate mounting points. A heat gun or a cigarette lighter will do just fine.

The hole at the top lines up with an existing hole in my 2004 Lightning. I would think most others should be the same. I used a 3/4" #10 screw to hold it in tight.

E-mail me (b-man at verizon.net) if you want a copy.

It is in Autocad DWG format...

 

Sweet.

I just picked up some diamond plate from a friend that I am going to try and use. Painted black or possibly chromed.

Thanks

 

used you idea and made one of my own, used steel though cause i thought it matched my head unit better.
Thanks to B-man for the concept.

Used a 6"x9" piece of 22 Gauge steel
<img src="http://hobbes.resnet.tamu.edu/forums/uploads/post-22-1106370947.jpg">

And everything on, left room above to move my light switches to.
<img src="http://hobbes.resnet.tamu.edu/forums/uploads/post-22-1106370964.jpg">

 

used your idea and made one of my own, used steel though cause i thought it matched my head unit better.
Thanks to B-man for the concept.

Used a 6"x9" piece of 22 Gauge steel
<img src="http://hobbes.resnet.tamu.edu/forums/uploads/post-22-1106370947.jpg">

And everything on, left room above to move my light switches to.
<img src="http://hobbes.resnet.tamu.edu/forums/uploads/post-22-1106370964.jpg">

 

used your idea and made one of my own, used steel though cause i thought it matched my head unit better.
Thanks to B-man for the concept.

Used a 6"x9" piece of 22 Gauge steel


And everything on, left room above to move my light switches to.