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Originally Posted by 95KoukiS14
Oh nice...mind telling me how you relocated the HVAC controls? or is that a secret?  |
Actually when I did it I had no plan of action at all, I just HOPED it would fit in some way.
Turns out it did, and pretty easily too! Of course the HVAC piece is a tad wider than the din area, so two things had to be modified....
First the metal brackets that hold the radio and stock DIN slot had to be bent up a little to accomodate both the radio AND the wider HVAC piece, while still allowing it to line up with the factory bolt holes. I just put in a little time bending it with my hands and test fitting until it came out well. the HVAC piece has little plastic wings on it where it bolts in, so I just used a dremel to widen them out a tad, and it bolts in almost stock-like. It's a tight fit getting the new HVAC+radio piece in to the dash, so there were a few edges I had to smooth over, but now I can put it in and remove it without any headache at all. The factory HVAC wires will need to be pulled under the crossbeam which is easy enough, but there isn't a lot of slack in them from the factory which means you'll have to plug them in while the HVAC controls are halfway installed, which is fine for plugging them in but I've bashed a knuckle or two having to pull them out....
The second piece that needs to be modified is the plastic surround, you can see in my picture above what I had to do because, again, the HVAC controls are significantly wider. Again I used my trusty dremel (love that thing) with a sanding bit to widen it a little. If you do this go very slowly and keep holding it in front of you to get an idea of symmetry because this part is what can make the different between a bad looking relocation and a factory looking relocation.
I don't have any worthwhile pictures to show you of the job but I suppose I could take a picture of the HVAC+radio piece, if you want, to give you a better idea of how the metal brackets need to be bent.