mandm177

iTrader: (21)

To help out those who want to make the Faux faceplate for their cars, ive decided to do this after i was inspired by GT3's original post:

https://my350z.com/forum/audio-and-video/186060-new-kenwood-ddx-6019-double-din-hu-kna-g510-nav-and-something-extra-installed.html

This is only part 1, as i havent recieved my head unit, or metra faceplate, but that will come in time. This is just the dissection of the stock headunit, which isnt all that hard...

Step 1: Buy yourself a headunit, i got mine off of ebay for $30 shipped.

Step 2: Unscrew four gold bolts on each side:


Step 3: Start somewhere, and with a tiny flathead screwdriver, gently pry the face plate up and over the tabs, youre gonna have to go completely around the headunit to finally pop it off...




Step 4: With the faceplate off, youre going to remove 7 small philips screws. Wherever there is a black circle, thats where a screw was.


Step 5: With all the scews out, gently lift the circuit board up from the faceplate, the **** will take a little bit of tugging, but it will most likely pop off when you pull hard enough...

Step 6: Glue your **** back to the front with some super glue/hot glue, and youre set.


This is as far as i have gotten, and will update when i get the chance. And sorry for the crappy pics, taking these with my camera phone.

xziteme

iTrader: (3)

I'm very interested in this. Post up the pics and details as soon as they are available.

Paul350Z

iTrader: (1)

Very good description!

xziteme

iTrader: (3)

Any updates?

mandm177

iTrader: (21)

nope, head unit comes in on monday, and not sure when the metra face plate comes in...dont worry, i'll update with pics as soon as i can!

leemik

iTrader: (2)

Good Luck.. I tried to do this with my old stock headunit but it just stuck out too much when placed on top of new headunit..You would have to recess the new head unit and there isn't really enough room back there.. plus it would have to somehow go over the metra kit..

or alternatively, you could not put the metra kit on, recess the radio a little and it "may sorta fit"... but that would look kinda ghetto for the sake of security..

--mike

mandm177

iTrader: (21)

well, in GT3's thread, you can see that it is sticking out a bit...but if it sticks out, and it deter's theives, then im all for it...id rather have a stereo looking ghetto than a broken window and no stereo

gt3

iTrader: (10)

Good luck on your project!! Let me know if you need any assistance. I would wait to glue in all the **** and buttons until you test fit the cover. I had to shave down all the buttons and ****. The cover sits flush and does stick out a bit (the depth of the whole cover is approx. 1/4 inch). However, it really is not noticable unless you look at the headunit carefully.

leemik

iTrader: (2)

but if it's not perfect, it's prolly not going to work.. It'll look like someone put a cover over the radio--which to a thief say: he's hiding something so he's got something worth stealing..

EDIT: just saw GT3's thread.. WOW that does look pretty good! closer than i got mine!!!

mandm177

iTrader: (21)

while that is true, its better than a thief looking into your car and saying "theres a screen, im gonna take it"

gt3

iTrader: (10)

+1 With the cover on and having tinted windows, someone with a quick glance into the car would be hard pressed to know that there is a screen hiding behind it. However, if you have custom interior with speaker pods, amp racks, and huge subwoofers, one may look harder. I tried to keep the rest of my interior stocking looking for that reason.

mandm177

iTrader: (21)

Now for Part 2...its not a very long section, but its probably the hardest.

After you have dissected your headunit, and you now have the faceplate in hand, its time for cutting...and sanding...and more of both. This is mainly a trial and error thing, but you have to keep going, and remember, not sanding/cutting enough is good...sanding/cutting TOO much is bad...

What it boils down to is, you have to take as much material out of the inside as possible...this means cutting/sanding all small posts, tabs on the buttons, ledges, supports, etc. There isnt a good way to do it, but i found that if you use a dremel, then you should be fine..but it'll take a while. As far as the edges, i cut and tried to smooth out the edges up until the point, where the face plate has an edge when looking at the front...Not sure how to explain it, but maybe the pics will speak for themselves...






Also, taking GT3's advice, and not gluing in the audio button and the volume **** is a smart thing. Sanding down the trim area around those buttons will give you a bit more space, and hopefully enough to cover your HU.

As for magnets, i went to a local magnet place, and bought 1/4" disc magnets
http://www.magnetsrc.com/neo_NdFeB_m...isc_magnet.htm
that had plenty of holding power to go through the faceplate. To help make these fit better, youre going to have to trim a bit of the corners of the metra faceplate and make it a bit thinner to help it out some, and then secure the magnets with superglue or hot glue. And youre going to have to do the same with the face plate. Sorry, no pics...

Now that the hard part is done, youre going to have to recess the headunit/screen a bit in the dash. Again with gt3's advice, you have to drill new holes into the stock bracket that bolt into the headunit itself. Make sure they're all straight, and about 3/8" behind the original holes. gt3 has pics on a thread somewhere, but dont remember which one.

Youre done after that, all you have to do is, bolt the brackets into the headunit, bolt the brackets/headunit onto the center console WITH the metra faceplate, and make sure everything looks good. You want to make sure that the faceplate is straight with the metra trim, or you'll have to drill holes again...correctly this time.

I'll post pics of my setup after i get everything installed, sorry for the lack of pics, and a big THANKS to gt3 and his ideas!!!!

As always, questions and comments are welcome, and this was HELL doing , but hopefully it'll be worth it.

gt3

iTrader: (10)

Thanks for the detailed writeup!!! The faceplate cover is definitely coming along!!!

gt3

iTrader: (10)

BTW here is the pic showing the new positions of the holes you have to drill...

mandm177

iTrader: (21)

Thank you good sir! and thanks for the pics, i knew they were floating around somewhere.