hello all

managed to get hold of a 7inch widescreen monitor and dvd player in a deal lately, thought it would be a nice little feature for my car so why not take it.



im a bit stuck as to where to put it though, i dont want to simply screw the stand into the top of the dash as that will look a bit pants. i did have the thought of taking out the vents in the centre of the dash, and cutting the dash above that bit away and moulding the screen into the dash, but if i decide to keep the monitor when im selling the car then its going to leave a great big hole in the dash!

soooooo, i've started a little bit of modifying on the centre console, i've cut out the trays and the surrounding part, and im hoping to make a frame for the monitor out of fibreglass, then mold/smooth this into the centre console, to make it look like a professional has done it and not me :lol:

this is how far i am so far, its only the early stages, bit its getting there



all i need is a fibreglass kit, and to learn how to use it :-?

if anyone else has any experience with monitor then please share your information, if anyone has any better idea on where to put the monitor to then please let me know

Adam, the monitor will look sweet there mate, is the viewing angle good though, when you look down can you see the moniter and the picture clearly ? Plug it in and play a dvd on it to check ?

Also, with it being so low would it hurt your neck to watch it looking down so far ? Would the gearstick be in the way ??

Maybe a better option would have been a flip out single din screen ? That way it fits directly to where your stereo is now and the screen would flip out and is normally in a prime position to view, also it flips away for security when parked etc.... The only down side is you would have to put your head unit somewhere else



Just my opinion mate, food for thought maybe ?

cheers for the comments

have checked the angle, whilst having a film on to, angle etc is fine and i wont be watching it whilst driving so dont have to worry about the gear stick being in the way. i've tested to see how it looks from both sides of the car and the angle seems good, will be fine tuned once the housing for it has been made up though.

flip out one would be good BUT, with the shape of my dash the way it is, it would not allow the screen to flip out properly its going to be removable to, security was one of my highest prioritys so im definetly going to be making it removable

Dont forget a FM modulater so you can listen to the audio through your car speaskers rather than the little poxy moniter speakers

Either make it removable or simply make a cover for it so it looks like a cassette storage or ashtray or somit stupid like that ??

i think my headunit has an AUX in and i've been told i wont need a modulator if i get the wire to run from the dvdplayer/monitor to the headunit

p.s the speakers on the monitor are pants <img border="0" alt="[Roll around the floor laffin]" title="" src="graemlins/cwemotions065.gif" />

was going to make it removable, but i do like the sound of the cover

will think about that one

i priced up a fibreglass kit today and it was only £7, been given some good advice from online audio forums to as to was of working with fibreglass.

im looking forward to the end result of this, will hopefully have a professional finish to it and still be able to say i didnt pay someone to do it for me

You are very good like that, you enjoy making your own things to exactly how you want it and it always turns out great

Good luck with this, I would say it's the hardest thing you have done, as far as modding your car is concerned.

Will look fantasic wen finished!

gonna look sweet adam i was thinkin of gettin that monitor N dvd but im gonna hold bk for abit till xmas is out the way, cant wait to c final product

Wow, can't wait to see it finished mate. Good luck with it. Would love to learn how to work with fibreglass, so give us a shout if you want some company or ideas

good luck adam and i wish you the best of luck in your new venture

looks great mate good old fiesta with their center consoles you can do so many things with them.

looking forward to seing it mate.

nice one adam, if your any good with the old fibre glass you might be able to earn some money and start doing jobs for people.

just need a company name.

lookin gud adam. i will look at ur stereo nxt time im out man an tell ya weather u need a modulator dude. need n e help on it man just ask dude.

done a little bit more on this lately, got hold of a fibreglassing kit and a few other little bits.

its the first time i've used fibreglass so was a bit dubious about how it'd turn out. came out well on first attempt though

here's the pics of the progress





hole for the cable


have timmed it away a little bit here so its not perfectly flush, this is because i'll be adding more fibreglass when moulding this casing into the centre console



im very happy with the outcome have a bit of sticky residue left on the screen from the masking tape being on there overnight and then having the fibreglass on so need to get that off. going to start moulding the screen housing into the centre console soon

Looking good Adam, Its going to look sweet when you have finished it

glass cleaner should remove the sticky resedue, or an alcohol wipe

Lookin good bud

Looking realy good mate keep going with it!

fitted thin aluminium mesh to the back of the housing, this will be screwed into the side of the centre console then the screw holes smoothed over with fibreglass

not bad my sun, remember though mines beter.

quite a bit of progress lately

have put down a couple of layers of fibreglass matting and thin aluminium mesh to bridge the gap between the screen housing and the console itself, then it was on with the P38 filler to make a smooth finish

(smoothing hasn't been finished yet!)









with screen in



andy's let me his orbital sander which should hopefully get a better finish than taking forever with sandpaper.

lots more smoothing to still be done, im trying not to rush it as i want it to be perfect when im done

Looking really sweet mate, that's gonna be so smart when it's in!

progress has been a bit slow lately

having a bit of trouble getting it all perfectly smooth, the problem is that i done have much experience with using filler so its not as perfect as i want it.

im thinking of taking it to a bodyshop to give it one last layer and smooth it to perfection. had a quote of £30 to smooth it and finish it all off, and £50 to paint it as well, and it would probably cost me about £20 in paint anyway so im thinking about letting the bodyshop take over the last step as i've done pretty much all i can.

from what i have seen of your work adam that its looking really good matey and you should be proud of yourself for the good achevement that you have done in getting this far.
i wish i had the balls to do what you have done,
looks great keep up the good work

Yeah ad it looking really cool keep up the good work and get them photos up when ya get it back from the body shop.