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This is a project I’ve been slowly working on over the last few weeks and as it’s almost complete, I thought I’d post a few pictures using Imageshack..
In brief, I wanted to have a monitor in my car for use with my DVD, TV and eventually Sat Nav, but I always felt my options where limited in my Mk3 Astra.
The cost of those motorised all-in-one units are still a bit out of my budget, and I didn’t like the idea of dash mounting, as it would be on full view all the time. This got me thinking, would it be possible to fit a monitor inside my ashtray? If it could be done, this would be perfect as it’s out of site when not in use, and just one button press away for when I want to use it. The ashtray in this car gave a nice opening motion as if it was on a motor, so I set to work measuring up and checking out what’s possible. It turned out that the screen would have to unfold once the ashtray was open, I had an idea to use a motor to do this, something like a servo, but at this stage I wasn’t too worried about it.
I did some research on the net to get some screen measurements, and eventually narrowed it down to this one:
http://thebassbin.co.uk/shop/product...ts_id/878.html
This one would fit perfectly and looked good quality. I was initially tempted to buy this one new, but as luck would have it, I got 2 off ebay for £100!
So first thing to do was to take out the gear stick and handbrake surround. Once this was out I could work on cutting away all the bits of the ashtray that would get in the way. This turned out to be pretty much everything bar the hinged flap. As I mentioned earlier, the ashtray opened with a nice action (like a slow release on a stiff cog) and I wanted to keep this motion. The problem was that I needed the flap to open wider than it used to, so this meant cutting off the point where it locked to. This resulted in the flap opening slowly at first, but then when the cog ran out of teeth to grip to, it would just drop down quickly and this looked terrible. So to get round this I went to the scrap yard and bought another gear stick surround & ashtray, then set to work on extending the cog runner teeth:
I basically just bolted a new section to the original at the correct distance the flap would need to open, so now I get that nice smooth motion all the way.
The next step was to come up with some way for the monitor to hinge one the ashtray flap was open. This couldn’t have worked out better when I spotted a nail clipping kit from Next.. So I bought it and took all the foam shaped stuff out and flattened it with a hammer and a vice:
I then marked out all the measurements and bought some tin snips to cut it out with.
I used 3 bolts to secure it in:
I then attached the monitor using screws into the original mounting plate holes on the back of the monitor.
So now the screen was hinged and I was ready to set to work to find a solution for it to fold out using a motor. This proved to be impossible due to the lack of space when the screen was folded down and the ashtray flap closed, so I came up with a mechanical way to do it. Using left over metal strips form the Next nail care box I made a sort of pivoting hinge action. Using spring washers and bolts I tightened them up but not too tight so I could pull up the monitor and push it down again.
This worked fine when out of the car, but when I did a test fit it turned out to be a bit clumsy, and would have meant touching the screen to fold it back down (I hate finger marks on a screen!)
So I decided to add a sort of grip handle which extended from around the back. Again using left over strips of metal.
This worked okay, but I was not 100% happy with it. It got me thinking how much better it would be if the screen didn’t need to fold down at all, then at the touch of the ashtray release button the screen would magically appear..
It would be great if I could do this so I set about removing the centre console and see how much room was behind there. It was going to be tight but I was determined to do it!
The main problem was a the big thick wiring loom, which as you can see would foul the monitor when it was folded away:
This turned out to be pretty easy to move out the way, I just used cable ties. Lots of cable ties!
So now with that out the way, I could clearly see what needed to be cut away from the dash:
The metal bar going across was riveted on so I drilled out the rivets and temporarily removed it. This allowed me clear access to cut out the bottom section:
I then refitted the metal bar using bolts as this was needed for the centre console facia to screw on to.
After test fitting, the monitor would now fold away perfectly with no obstacles in its way.
I used some rubber sheeting as a protection for the screen when it was folded away. There was nothing too near, but its better to be safe than sorry:
I attached it using cable ties.
I could now do away with whole pivoting scenario now and didn’t need to worry about motors or actuators anymore, thank god.
I used a strip of some nice metal out of the back support on a hiking backpack:
Then sprayed it all black:
Ready to go in:
I then ran all the cables, and hid the input box behind the glove compartment.
And that’s it! Job done:
I also took the opportunity to wire in some footwell lights into the driver and passenger side:
These are great at night when you drop something by your feet..
Let me know what you guys think, and if you would have done anything different.
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