I've been considering doing a car pc myself and have brainstormed the install. The climate control was either going below the screen as you have it shown or install it in the center armrest.

The plan was to purchase a broken climate control from ebay or somebody on CL to get a faceplate to mold in. Have you checked with ebay or aliga for a busted climate control? It will facilitate a much cleaner install and you can keep your old climate control face...Just in case.

 

Check this out:
FS: Climate Control

 

yea..i was thinking about getting a climate control from someone on here...but they never came through with it. now i have to dispute a claim with paypal, so i could possibly get my money back. when that happens, i think i may buy another one so when i send in mine to get it re-lcd'd i dont have to drive around in the blistering cold without a heater. i also just took off the face off mine right now and im in the process of molding it in there. that way it will yield a very clean look.

its good to brainstorm what you want, and how you want it to look before you start working. even draw out some ideas, that way like right in the middle of all your work, you're thinking about where to place things and if they'll fit. test them out first, that way there's do real big dilemma and your install can run a bit smoother. and yea..ill probably go with aliga next time for the climate control unit

 

so yea..heres where i was yesterday before i actually cut the face out for the a/c unit face. ill take some pix tonight of where im at again..but just doing some minor touch-ups right now too. ensuring the smooth clean look.

 

ah damn... hahahaha way to call me out!

 

ah damn... hahahaha way to call me out!

listen ur work looks real good from the pics u just posted! its gonna have that extra edge when u mold it in! just make sure that extra weight doesnt make it crack! are you using the abs sludge method?

 

abs sludge method? whats that? i dont think i know what that is

 

i think this link provides a pretty good summary of what it is and what it does...

http://www.fiberglassforums.com/showthread.php?t=2808

oh and i read over and saw u used epoxy (originally i asked about abs sludge because i thought u were only using body filler :duh: )

 

oh okay..yea. i used some of that plastic epoxy to hold those thing in place. at first i used superglue just to get the gist of the hold, then i used the epoxy for the final hold. then bondo for the smooth finishing touch. thanks though! thats a nice concept, and read

 

so heres the pix i took when i cut out the shape of the a/c unit


then here, i took the face off the a/c unit and put it in place. that way the cut around the buttons would be more crisp and be using a harder plastic that wouldnt bend as easily

 

and since the face of the a/c unit was slightly curved..it was harder to make it flat as i wanted. on my new primered one..now theres more slight curves, which i guess kind of match the rest of the console. the console is full of curves which are just slight, and subtle. one thing i learned about this project is that there are very few, if any straight spots on this console. so for me to actually match oem style, i had to also follow those slight curves, and kind of make my own when molding in the screen and a/c unit

 

I am sorry if recommendation/ or link to other 4r in this 4r is not welcomed. please let me know.

I found MP3car.com is a huge 4r for carputer hobby. I can find almost everything to build my first car computer

 

cant wait to see some more updated pics. this is one of the nicer, more flowing, carpc builds ive seen in a while

 

oh yea! im actually a part of that forum as well. i think that would be okay to put on here..because thats a more specific forum to help in that specific field.

thank you! thats very nice to hear. right now im just doing more final touches. it seems that making it look oem is harder than i thought..especially when trying to do the lexus name justice.

to most..i guess others would see it as perfect, but to me..theres just these small imperfections that i can see that stresses me out because i want it PERFECTLY smooth. i think im just about there. i cant quite get the climate control to look the way i wanted to because of all the slight curves on the face with the slight curves of the console itself.

i think tomorrow ill actually get it finally painted and fit everything to make sure it works. then check all the wirings for the speakers and amp, and get them prepped up for the install. so when the big install day comes, which hopefully if everything goes according to plan, should be saturday. i still need to buy the power supply dc-dc regulator, which should be coming in maybe mid-late next week.

 

so heres my most recent pix of where im at now. tomorrow im going to go ahead and paint it black then do the test fitment of the screen and prep the wires for installation