Loud & Low 8th Gen Civic UBL #2

[scooter99]

Sub hole!

Next was to cut out the port hole.

Flush trim bit!

squared up!

Now it's time for a little roundover!

How's it fit?

Like a glove!

[scooter99]

Had to address the dual 45* corners. They needed countersunk predrills and then to be glued and screwed!

Glued and Screwed! Drippy mess!

And cleaned that up a little!

So that's really it for now. Remember everything is pretty much only held on by a couple screws. I need to remove the port inner wall and glue and screw it together again. It can stay together permanently. But as I said after trying it, it'll have to be built inside the trunk. I countersunk all the holes so that I could easily get it together but it's looking like I won't even be able to use those holes. I'm thinking at this point that I may have to cut a bunch of 3/4" x 3/4" strips to put on the inside corners. I'll probably round those off to get the square edges off of them, and then use those to glue and screw on from the inside. Then fiberglass over them once it's all together.

[scooter99]

Well here's a little more. These are the spots I'm looking at in placing the face plate.

Spot one, under the HVAC controls under the dash kit. I'd have to do a pod to put under there but that's no big deal. But it brings my eyes down below the dash line and I think I'd have to actually have to drop my head down to look for it. Don't like that.

Then there's this spot, which i'd only have to do a slight pod for but it still pulls my eyes down to search for the face plate. Not sure about this one either.

This was my original thought, just above the rear view mirror. Believe it or not, this is easy to look at cause I'm just glancing at the rear view mirror anyway, and this puts it just above that. However, what I don't like about it, is it seems bulky and like it doesn't belong.

This is another version of that, where I do a pod in front of the light area. This I'm not fond of cause it's closer to in my face than it appears. Not good.

This is my favorite one! I took the light piece out and felt in behind the headliner, and there's nothing under there. So I could move the lights and switches (sunroof and lights) up and then put the faceplate counter sunk into the old light area. This would put it still within eye glance, and very low profile and sleek! I think this is my favorite.

It's all going to depend on the ability of how far I can extend the face plate. If I can get 10 - 12 feet out of it, then it'll be a go! If not, then I'll need to go below the dash.

[scooter99]

Ok here goes nothin!

I tried doing this once before and I wasn't so happy about how it was working out. SO I decided to start over.

So I pulled the head unit yesterday, and then pulled it out of the dash kit and got started!

The way I decided to get this done easier was to use the docking station for the tablet. Last time I tried to do a fiberglass pan, and it just wasn't working out the way I wanted it to. Also last time, I had it positioned more to the right of the dash kit, and really off centered. This isn't perfectly centered but it's about as close as I could get and make it work. Details!

Marked it out to cut.

Cut it out short, so I have room to adjust a little bit for a good fit.

Little more. This is for the angle of it. Trying to have it slant back a little bit but not too much and also not have it be too straight up.

So that was about right where I wanted it. Little bit of trimming here and there for a square fit, but otherwise I'm happy.

[scooter99]

Now it's time to get it attached, temporarily. I'll be using epoxy to make it permanent but for now, I'm using hot glue so that if I have to move something or adjust, I can just cut it out and not have to destroy anything. 1/4" block to space it out on the side.

Sighting down so you can see the point of the docking station is even with the dash. I was very happy about how this worked out.

And the angle.

Now it's time to get the sides filled in, and the back done etc. How do I do that? I use construction paper. Could use cardboard, but I find this is easier to work with. Cardboard can be jaggad sometimes if you're not using the sharpest blades, and cutting this with scissors gives you a perfect sharp point to trace on.

Template time!

Time to take it and make some wood out of it!

Picture is kind of dark, but its working out well.

Hot glued it down.

This was about the time I took the dogs to the dog park last night. It was getting close to dark out, so we took off.

Came back and tried to get a better pic, but it's not the greatest there either. But I think you get the idea!

Tablet in.

[scooter99]

Now that that was done, it was time to brain storm and figure out how to make it look even and good. I decided that the right side was the high point, it's pretty obvious, and that in order for it to look geometric, I'm going to probably be best off trying to duplicate that angle and height on the other side. So how do I do that? Got out the old construction paper again, cut myself a little piece and then drew out another template. Once I did that, I figured that if it was a little high, that would be ok and I'd be able to sand that down. Too short may not look right. So off to the wood I go!

and this is what I ended up with.

Somehow my back shifted so I had to trim out a little more dash. Not a problem.

Then it was time to make it all work. I had to keep the sides close to the tablet itself, so I needed to make sure I went over the edge of the dock. This will leave me a little on the front to retain the angle, and still gives me between 1/16" - 1/8" on either side of the tablet. I don't want it to move around too much, and at the same time, don't want it too tight either. That's what I was after.

Was trying to show you the closeness of the angle, but it's hard to tell there cause it's taken at an angle, but it's damn close!

Tablet in!

[scooter99]

Ok so now that the back, and sides are in. It's time to make the face of it. I knew that with the sides being angled that way, there was no way to get it to match up on the flat tablet surface. SO I decided to go flat with the insides and then I'll round off the sides when it sands out. It'll make more sense later.

So lets make a tempate. Yes that's a penny. That's what I used for my rounded edges.

The tablet will be able to slide out from the top. The face, or border, whatever you wanna call it, will keep it in place while driving etc. That's the idea. Removeable, yet sturdy!

cut it out

And there you have it.

So that's where I stopped last night. I actually took the face frame out, and then epoxied everything else in place. So today, it's nice and strong and sturdy! I decided not to epoxy the face frame in place, cause I think I need to finish off the back plate, and body fill and finish it to the dash piece. Once that's done, I can paint it or put suede in, or whatever I'm going to decide to do with it, and then do the outter frame.

So I think tonight, I'll work on doing all that. I need to fill in the right side hole, and the left side hole from the vent. Then I can body fill it, smooth it, etc. So I'll work on that tonight and see where I get. LIttle bits at a time!

[scooter99]

Ok here goes. Goal tonight was to get it prepped and wrapped and a coat of resin on it! Success!!!

So first I had to rough it up a bit. Pre roughed

Post roughed! Just used some sand paper and sanded the whole thing.

Now it's time to make some holes!

Why do I do this? Well it gives something for the resin to bond to. I think the theory is, that the resin soaks through the material, and then down into the holes. It helps make a stronger bond, if I understand correctly. So a 1/8" drill bit, and some patience, and you get.......................

swish dash kit!!

The carnage!!

Next I sanded it again, just to get some of the left over burrs off.

Time to get her covered! Tools:

Daughters assorted colored butterfly clips

Scissors

Painters tape

Grill cloth or material of your choice

With the tape I tapped off some of the areas I really didn't want to have resin on. In this case I was trying to keep it off of the holes and areas around the HVAC controls. I don't want to have to try and smooth those out and risk a crooked fit. Probably going to happen anyway, but if I can help it I'll prevent it. Second, I wanted to protect the inside of the dock. Specifically the connector. Don't want any resin in there or the project is ruined! So I got everything tapped off I needed to.

Also threw some in behind the big holes. I knew once the grill cloth gets saturated, it seeps through the other side, and I don't want a big mess!

I failed to take pics while I put the clips on, but basically I started at the bottom, clipped the cloth on, and then stretched it over the top. Then clipped on top. Then went one side to the other stretching it till it looked good. Keep in mind, the grill cloth is going to sag sometimes when doing this, so I try not to be too perfect, but close perfect is good.

You can see the inner frame if you look hard enough.

Next I tapped, again, around the areas I didn't want resin on, and then I tapped around the edges so as not to completely ruin the clips. Maybe I can reuse them when I'm done!

Time to make some magic!!!! Resin, cup, stick, brush, hardener, oh and the gloves! THE GLOVES ARE NECESSARY!!! Ok let's do this!

Not a great pic, but first coat is on!

[scooter99]

Here are some pics from last night. Not a whole lot to discuss, I filled in the sides by pouring resin in there (hence the resin cracking issue we discussed) and then applied another coat on the outside as well. Then cut off the excess cloth and cut out the center. It's ready to sand down and body fill the inside and prep for the face piece.

Outside coat one, pre coat two.

Inside pre filling.

Filled the inside, crack on the right side.

Can't really see the left side, it's too small and not enough or good enough light in the garage. The over head light i have is about to go out so it flickers alot. But we're only here for another few weeks so I'm going to see how long I can hold out.

Second outer coat.

Then cut out the center.

Looking down on the connector.

So, it's time to sand and body fill. Then we'll see where we're at next. Not sure how much, if anything, I'll get done tonight, or the next couple days. Stay tuned for more! Gonna get real exciting here soon!

Feel free to check out my build log, in my signature, to comment, make suggestions, or just check out what's going on behind the scenes! Thanks for checking it out! More to come soon!

[scooter99]

Ok guys here we go!

So I had a little bit of time last night after the madness of party decorating and preparing was over. But it was late so I needed something kind of quite to do. And I only had a little bit of time available. So I decided to get the faceplate going in the light fixture.

So I ordered a bunch of parts the other day, cause I have some that I have to replace in the car, and also I needed this light fixture so I could do this without destroying my only one.

So I got the light fixture, the face plate, and the backing out and got started.

Lots that needs to be removed in here. Really I think I only need the frame of this, and the rest can be cut out. I also need the screw holes cause I need mounting points.

Time to gut it!

Got out the old dremel and started removing! Little by little by little

and ended up with this.

BTW, I've asked for a new camera for Christmas. My old one is beat up and crap, and my phone while it takes decent pics, is not high def enough and I can be taking better pics, I know it. So We'll see how that ends up.