brucec59

No, I didn't throw it in the trash or sell it for $2000.

I fabricated a custom panel to hold the IR remote for the radio head unit, a Garmin GPS and four switches. The switches are the stock spoiler switch, stock sunroof switch, high-speed oil fan override switch and garage door opener switch. The right two use switches I picked up from Parts Heaven, a local dismantler, with mounting rings purchased new from Sunset.



I cut the panel out of a scrap of .090 aluminum I had lying around. I bent the bottom edge for strength, like the original phone assembly (which I don't have a picture of because I threw it in the trash some time ago).



Here we see all of the pieces that will be mounted to the panel. The small rectangular bracket raises the head unit IR remote away from the panel about 3/8" so it has line-of-sight to the head unit. The diamond shaped thing is a GPS mount.



I primed and painted the front of it black.



I made angle brackets out of aluminum, and used the speed nuts from the original phone panel assembly. It took quite a bit of trial and error to get it to fit right.



Here we have all of the parts mounted in the panel. The rubber grommet in the big hole is for the GPS antenna cable. The antenna is mounted in a corner of the dash; the cable plugs into the GPS's flip-up antenna.



And, here's how it all looks from the driver's vantage point.



The only inelegant thing is the GPS power cable. The connector is too big to feed through a reasonably sized hole, so I ran it out the gap below the panel then up to the GPS unit. I considered putting a small notch in the right edge of the panel near the GPS unit, but I thought that might actually look worse.

Arena993

Very nice job. I am jealous. This is the only thing my car needs and is missing. Great idea.

Mike

David 23

You could drill a large enough hole for the connector to pass through behind the GPS unit where it won't be seen, then put a tiny slot at the bottom of the hole for the cable to pass through under the bottom edge of the GPS. You would only see a very small amount of cable. Just a thought.

993inNC

Got to say, we certainly have some talented people on this board. If we all lived in the same place and the world was perfect, we could all start one hell of a repair/fab shop we could feed our hobby via those that can't do and all have immaculate well maintained cars

gonzilla

Whoa!!! I'm very impressed Bruce. Great job and BIG improvement!!!

cabrio993

Awesome Job!!

I would cover the front part with black vinyl like it is around the gages instead of the black paint, and paint the GPS plastic black. But that's just aesthetics...

DocTock993

Nice fabrication work.
As other's above have said - it's amazing what level of ingenuity is around here.

AOW162435

Awesome work! I've hardwired the last two Garmin GPS units that I've used in my 4Runner (C330 & 755). The 330 just had power & ground in the cig adaptor cable, so it was easy to cut and tie in to power behind the dash. The 755 had something like ten wires in the cable (found that out after cutting it...) so i found a company called Gilson that sells hardwire-specific cables for a variety of GPS models.


Andreas

shu

Where do you get a "Bat Console"?

Arena993

Next to the hen's teeth on aisle 9.

Mike

brucec59

It came with the car. It was an optional cell phone.

I thought about covering it in vinyl instead of painting. I might do that some day. Painting was far easier!

I couldn't hard wire it because I take it with me when I travel and use it in rental cars.

Thanks for the comments!

David in LA

Great work I have one that I've been saving for a project!

BTW, do you recall which switches these were? or if you happen to have the part numbers? Did you modify them to remove the original markings?

Basal Skull

Neat!
Is the GPS reception okay in that location?

brucec59

I just found swithes that operated the way I wanted. The garage door switch is momentary up or down; I couldn't find one that was up only. The fan switch is on-off. They had no markings. They were either already worn off or never had any.

That's why I have the remote antenna. It is mounted on the right corner of the dash, and has a long cable that I routed to the consoe area. It plugs into the side of the flip-up antenna. You can see the gold colored connector in the first pic.

Porsche917K

FYI I am about to have a complete bat phone console for sale shortly if anyone is interested in doing a similar mod for their car. PM me if interested.