What did you do to your SC today?
#4758
Lead Lap
iTrader: (8)
Gave my stereo/console area a bit of a face lift and added new wiper blades. The "old" mount is from a pile of parts I bought off a local guy. It was much better than what came with the car, which was the single DIN deck haphazardly pinched between the stock brackets, with the pocket in the "new" mount sort of in place below it.
I initially tried cutting a single piece of metal to shape, but I didn't like the mounting options at that point and eventually decided it worked best to flush mount the stereo and have the detachable face stick out. That way, it fits the factory brackets perfectly and makes the Metra H00-8000 pocket (new Toyota/Lexus pocket appears to be #88-00-8000) cinch up tightly below it and flush with the main body of the stereo.
I had hoped to cover all that flushed background stuff with another trim piece with a uniform look, but it proved more difficult than it was worth to get all the cutouts right, so I just filled the bottom 1" gap with material from a DVD case (against a more solid backing).
The icing on the cake was adding a couple toggle switches at the back of the pocket, salvaged from some old server equipment. One is for the A/T solenoid bypass, while the other is currently unused. Both have quick disconnects in the back. There's just enough room to reach the back of the pocket and operate them. I was pretty pleased with myself, being able to incorporate a pocket and toggle switches, without having to modify any factory panels.
Now that I've written all of that, I'm thinking I should have put it in its own thread... Oh well, hopefully someone will find it useful before it gets buried here.
I initially tried cutting a single piece of metal to shape, but I didn't like the mounting options at that point and eventually decided it worked best to flush mount the stereo and have the detachable face stick out. That way, it fits the factory brackets perfectly and makes the Metra H00-8000 pocket (new Toyota/Lexus pocket appears to be #88-00-8000) cinch up tightly below it and flush with the main body of the stereo.
I had hoped to cover all that flushed background stuff with another trim piece with a uniform look, but it proved more difficult than it was worth to get all the cutouts right, so I just filled the bottom 1" gap with material from a DVD case (against a more solid backing).
The icing on the cake was adding a couple toggle switches at the back of the pocket, salvaged from some old server equipment. One is for the A/T solenoid bypass, while the other is currently unused. Both have quick disconnects in the back. There's just enough room to reach the back of the pocket and operate them. I was pretty pleased with myself, being able to incorporate a pocket and toggle switches, without having to modify any factory panels.
Now that I've written all of that, I'm thinking I should have put it in its own thread... Oh well, hopefully someone will find it useful before it gets buried here.
#4759
Racer
iTrader: (7)
That's different ^^^ but I like how it sits. I consider replacing my stock radio all the time but just wont bite the bullet since it works just fine.. I'm cheap I guess..
I drove it like it was stolen for about 20 miles trying to get to work on time... Turns out my boss was late and decided to not show up until after lunch, figures..
I drove it like it was stolen for about 20 miles trying to get to work on time... Turns out my boss was late and decided to not show up until after lunch, figures..
#4760
Lead Lap
iTrader: (8)
I had actually planned on replacing this stereo with a nicer one, as it seemed difficult to operate and feature limited, plus kinda cheap looking with crazy animated nonsense. But then I took a closer look and figured out the rather cluttered but extensive menu system, and looked it up to discover it was JVC's top of the line unit a few years back, with gold plated front/rear RCA outs, dual sub outs, on-board EQ, plenty of built-in power, MP3 compatibility, etc. No point replacing something of that quality as long as it's still working. Plus, it looks much cheaper than it really is, so it's unlikely to be much of a theft target. That's one of the main selling points of stock stereos, IMO.
#4761
Lead Lap
Said goodbuy to my SC today at the body shop She was creamed by an anorexic woman in a Leaf, whose text was clearly more important than the safety of herself and everybody around her
#4763
Pole Position
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Join Date: May 2014
Location: Orlando, Florida
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The icing on the cake was adding a couple toggle switches at the back of the pocket, salvaged from some old server equipment. One is for the A/T solenoid bypass, while the other is currently unused. Both have quick disconnects in the back. There's just enough room to reach the back of the pocket and operate them. I was pretty pleased with myself, being able to incorporate a pocket and toggle switches, without having to modify any factory panels.
#4768
Pole Position
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I came to the conclusion that Lexus just needs to hire a cup holder designer though. Even in our gx the cup holders are still small and unable to hold a normal size travel coffee mug.
Last edited by BeaksSC; 09-25-14 at 04:28 PM.
#4769
Pole Position
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Hehe threw it together real fast (kind of) as a cup holder alternative. Still working on the flexibility part of it... But depended what it was printed with, I think that if I opened the bottom of the ring, then it would be flexible. Staying up would also be a potential issue. I put a small flat part in the center of the back of the ring part where it comes into contact with the main base plate backing, thinking that if it were rotated it could snap slightly into and out of place. Know what I mean? Tried setting up a full animation of how they would all function and assemble but I quite frankly don't remember how to do that lol. It's been a couple years since I learned it, so I'll look up a tutorial tomorrow and see if I can figure it out. Could easily make a double cup holder by just extending the main bad and duplicating the ring, pins, and holders. The ring size in these renders is 3.5 inches in diameter. Then the ring is .5 inch thick. How thick are travel coffee mugs? And how tall? This gives you 4.5 inches from the base of the main part, which is hollowed to prevent condensation overflow, to the top of the ring. Just a thought haha. I like doing stuff like this when I have time. Learned it a couple years ago in an engineering class but am relearning it bit by bit now. The ring is held in place with a ~3 inch pin that goes through the whole ring end base and then has a .25 inch thread at the end. Then I modeled a matching size octagonal nut to go over that. Don't really know if the thread sizes are supposed to be the same, but they are here lol. Anyways, I'm just rambling now, what do you think?
Btw, this would go like in your center console or something, like the gx and whatever else has that.
I want a 3d printer haha. Just need the decent ones to become more affordable.