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First things first, I'm a person who likes to have my car look as OEM as possible. I don't like putting things in/on my car that look aftermarket, with the one exception of wheels. With that being said, I decided to tackle the stock ashtray. Since I don't smoke or have any need for the stock ashtray in my IS, I wanted to turn that small compartment into something more usable. After much back and forth, I realized that the small space is perfect for adding an outlet that I can plug my laptop, phone, etc all while keeping it a decent looking coin holder.
It took probably two weeks from start to finish just due to weather, work and laziness. I'll post up as many pictures as I have, but feel free to ask any questions since this has become so useful that I would encourage others to take it on.
First testing different ideas:
After a little while of playing with diffferent scrap radio bezels I found at the junkyard, I found the one I wanted to go ahead with and began attaching the ABS plastic to the stock ashtray frame by simply melting the two pieces of plastic together with a soldering iron.
Result:
After after that was secured, I test fit the outlet plug that I bought off eBay. I bought 5 of them for $8
Example of plugs:
Next I started filling in the negative space with Pro-Flex body filler which has exceptional strength with a flex additive that allows some movement. It doesn't shrink much at all too. I love that stuff.
Test fit the the plug once again
The next couple of steps I didn't take pics of but once the primer was sprayed and sanded nearly a billions times to get a smooth but more importantly a level surface, I masked and sprayed SEM black texture coating for an OEMish feel followed by SEM low luster clear for protection but also aesthetics. Also I cut a small piece of thin charcoal felt to finish the piece.
Side by side to stock ashtray. I think mine looks more OEM
Installed:
More to come including where the power is coming from
Last edited by Nespo2330; Dec 4, 2016 at 12:03 AM.
Power: Obviously after doing this mod, I needed to convert the power. I decided on a power inverter that was small, quiet but most importantly had the power to charge the items I would have in the car. On to the pics
Inverter specs
I placed the new power inverter in the glovebox and modified it sit in the bottom compartment of the factory black shelf
The holes were drilled for the wires coming from the inverter then a rubber grommet was used to make it look OEM. Don't mind the bend of the shelf, that was fixed.
I also placed a small LED switch that I allows me to turn it off/on as needed.
once in place, I left the back of the glove box off for ventilation and made a wall of mesh covered with felt to hide the inverter. So when you open the glove box you see this
Everything works flawlessly and charges as expected. The inverter has never got warm once since it's been installed, since that was my concern. If there are any questions feel free to ask 🙂
Last edited by Nespo2330; Dec 11, 2016 at 02:14 PM.
Guess I'm confused. The stock cigarette lighter is an aux outlet. I'm also a non smoker and that outlet now contains a blank that I had made with the Lexus logo on it. It's an additional aux outlet (the other one is in the console). Any AC adapter plugs into it. All the devices you mentioned will work just fine in the stock configuration in that outlet.
Here is mine, all I did is mold USB port in the place of cigarettes lighter (none smoking person)
Why didn't you just install a small flush USB plug into the socket?... Then you would have 2 ports, it would be removable, only cost like $3, wouldn't damage the OEM parts, and would look better.
My molded stock ashtray
