erixon
Active Member
- Joined
- July 13, 2009
- Messages
- 78
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Edmonton, AB
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 99 Sport
So I have been unemployed now for a few months after being laid off, and it's really starting to get to me, other than watching TV there isn't much to do with myself. Being unemployed, I don't have a lot of cash. I did have a 2-DIN DVD head unit in my Explorer up until recently, I never used the thing really, the DVD part anyways, so I figured hey...why not sell the thing and get enough money to buy a regular deck and some other things I need. So that's exactly what I did. I ended up buying a Pioneer Premier deck on eBay (will probably be here this week, or early next week). So I am looking at the dash bezel, I dug up my old 1-DIN adapter. I knew it wasn't going to fit in properly, not after shaving some of it down to make room for a 2-DIN setup, but it still fit in the hole fine, and you can always find means to make it stay there. Then I got thinking more, of how stupid that little pocket is on the bracket they give you, it's too small to put anything in, and even if you were able to put something in there, it would just fall out. I got the idea to just basic form the thing as part of the dash, so its all just one piece, and looks somewhat stock.
I already had half the supplies to start making this, and all the time in the world, so I started off by sanding the bezel, and jeez did that take FOREVER. I hand sanded the whole thing, and it seems on the bezel there is like a thick coating over top of the plastic (the flat back stuff the put on stock), and that stuff does NOT like to come off easily. You can leave it on, but there is always a chance it will chip off later and I didn't want that. I sanded everything with 80 grit sandpaper to start, after the bezel was sanded, I sanded down the dash bracket so the surface would bond properly to anything I put on it.
After that I super glued in the 1 DIN dash bracket, and glued a thin piece of plastic over top the hole/pocket. Then I started in with the bondo, trying to make a rough estimate of what I had pictured in my head. Basically at first jsut trying to get it level and square with the bezel. I sanded it, redid any spots that I thought needed to be done, and really tried to make sure the thing was smooth, straight, and symmetrical. After that, I took some spot putty, and filled in all the little pits, and scratches that I could, then sanded the entire bezel with 220 sandpaper when I thought it looked right.
I sprayed primer on after the sanding, once again sanding the primer to weed out any little scratches and things I would come across, you know the drill. Then a couple coats of paint, and I think it turned out well. It took a very very long time, with many more hours then I had originally planned on, but thought I would post some pictures, and show you guys. Sorry that there isn't a ton of pics, I should have taken more in case someone else wanted to do the same thing.
I already had half the supplies to start making this, and all the time in the world, so I started off by sanding the bezel, and jeez did that take FOREVER. I hand sanded the whole thing, and it seems on the bezel there is like a thick coating over top of the plastic (the flat back stuff the put on stock), and that stuff does NOT like to come off easily. You can leave it on, but there is always a chance it will chip off later and I didn't want that. I sanded everything with 80 grit sandpaper to start, after the bezel was sanded, I sanded down the dash bracket so the surface would bond properly to anything I put on it.
After that I super glued in the 1 DIN dash bracket, and glued a thin piece of plastic over top the hole/pocket. Then I started in with the bondo, trying to make a rough estimate of what I had pictured in my head. Basically at first jsut trying to get it level and square with the bezel. I sanded it, redid any spots that I thought needed to be done, and really tried to make sure the thing was smooth, straight, and symmetrical. After that, I took some spot putty, and filled in all the little pits, and scratches that I could, then sanded the entire bezel with 220 sandpaper when I thought it looked right.
I sprayed primer on after the sanding, once again sanding the primer to weed out any little scratches and things I would come across, you know the drill. Then a couple coats of paint, and I think it turned out well. It took a very very long time, with many more hours then I had originally planned on, but thought I would post some pictures, and show you guys. Sorry that there isn't a ton of pics, I should have taken more in case someone else wanted to do the same thing.
