tbblizzard

Well, after successfully finishing my Ignited switch panel felt like I could do a little more to my center console. Hacked away at my ashtray/cigg lighter and fitted a piece of lexan in it and bondo'd it smooth. I removed the actual adapter for the cigg lighter and got a Y adapter so I have two adapters hidden. Running the cord for my phone charger under the carpet and out the side of the ebrake area. The other adapter is for powering the radar detector.
Cruise Control Unit: Audiovox Electronic Cruise Control (2"x1.125")

Radar Detector: Whistler DE-3400 Remote (2.75"x0.75")

The radar detector gots red display so it should match my ignited switches well. :D

Anyways, I just finished drafting the piece and took a quick pic of it with my camera phone. The cruise controls on the left and the radar detector is on the right.
It's not completely bondo'd smooth yet, I want to get the slots cut out before I start filling in the rest, otherwise I'm just wasting valuable bondo
Going to get the radar detector first then the cruise control unit. The cruise control unit will be easy to mold in since it has a removable face. The radar detector I'm more worried about molding it in. The front is plastic display, I can't really bondo it in unless I make a bezel for it. That will be interesting to do

Here's the panel so far... just drafted. Used the method that got_xA told me with hot glue... these panels have a slight bend to them, used the hot glue on the lexan while pushing on it to create the same slight bend in it. Came out pretty nice... lines up perfectly with my ignited panel. Think after I get this done i'll mold them into one panel.



Could use some tips if anyones got them on making a bezel or molding the radar detector in there... would really appreciate it.

got_xA

now that i've seen what type of radar detector your going to use, scratch the first suggestion that I gave u anyway below is how I would do it....not the right or wrong way to do it..just my way

wrap the radar detector w/ duct tape 3-4x ( should give u extra 1mm-2mm space )
now spray some cookin oil or lay butter ( whichever u prefer ) on the duct tape (makes it easier to remove the detector from the mold later )
now wrap it w/ cotton ( whatever u can find to soak up the resin ) as far as however much of the detector's face u want shown and make sure to get rid of any folds or bumps on the wrap
now lay some resin on it ( just resin ) and let it dry
when dry pop the detector out and u should have a basic mold of it
now glass the outside of the mold just to make it a bit stronger, a layer or two whould be fine
now make your cut on the panel to fit your radar detector's mold in
get rid of the seams using bondo
when done u should be able to just slide your detector in and out of the mold..

This is how I would do it so I won't scratch the casing or the display panel of the radar detector

BTW as far as powering it I would drill a hole on the back of the mold and hardwire it instead of having some extra wires coming out of your panel..

Nice find on the cruise control, hopefully I can find a pdf file on the wiring connections or something....'coz cruise control's on my list


PEACE

tbblizzard

wow... you got the answers for all my problems.. lol. thanks for the help. that info will definately come in handy when the time comes. It's getting a little too expensive the more i move on, but i'm sure it'll be worth it when i'm done. i'm happy as can be that i actually did the switch panel. didn't think i could do it at first, the was so ready to throw that piece away so many times. it's alot easier now though, had the piece all hacked and redone in the lexan and bondo'd within 2 hours. most of the time went to preparing and drying the bondo.

that cruise control is nice and small... i was looking at that a while back before i saw the actual scion cruise control. thought about it and was going to go with the scion cc, but then i measured up the radar detector to this panel and it would've looked bare wihtout something else on the panel. audiovox cc fitted nicely onto the panel. hopefully it will all look good. should be easy to mold everything now with the technique you described.

good thing about both these items is they're not too expensive.
audiovox cc: 120.00 --vs-- scion cc: 250.00
whistler 3400: 130.00-160.00

not a bad price at all for a remote system.

i'll post again when i get the radar detector, probably gonna be the end of this month.... hmm, or i could do without the goldline springs for a month... kinda wanna get this thing moving... i think i'ma just cancel my order on the goldlines and wait on em.

thanks for your help.. i never caught your name either, been helping me all this time and don't even know your name... well, thanks got_xA

tbblizzard

got a question on this part of the process... when you say wrap it in cotton you mean wrap everything EXCEPT for the face of the unit which I want showing thought the panel... correct?

also, on the resin part... how much resin do you put on this when you do this, i was under the impression that you use a brush to get the resin on the item. but, doing it with a brush will not get a thick enough layer to work with without breaking. do i just pour the resin onto the cotton and let it soak up as much as it can?

by making this mold of the entire casing of the detector do you think it will be strong enough to hold the detector without anything else after molding it in? this idea never even came to my mind vaguely (sp)... i was getting weird ___ thoughts of making a bracket for it then epoxy nuts to the back of the panel and then bolts through the bracket and all this whack stuff... would've made that panel way like 5lbs by the time i would be done with it. this is a really really good method.

i always put a gunk of bondo behind the panels after they're molded in from the front and then sand it down at an angle so it doesn't look funky but is still strong from the back. with bondo behind the panel holding the mold of the detector to it and the bondo molding the front of the mold flush, is this strong enough?

thanks again. :D

chillenn310

whoa.. thats pretty dope. At first I thought you were talking about an xb instead of an xa. Did you buy the cruise control setup with your car? can't wait to see it when its all done.. goodluck

DenZinz

[img] wrap the radar detector w/ duct tape 3-4x ( should give u extra 1mm-2mm space ) [/img]

Try the blue 3M masking tape. It's a low talc adhesive so it wont leave any residue on your components.

tbblizzard

thanks... nah.. it's aftermarket, you can get it at jcwhitney.com, it goes for $119.99 then you gotta buy the vacuum canister which is recommended for 4 cylinder cars which is an additional $11.99... all together it's gonna be roughly $140-150 with shipping and what not. I like it better than having to drill a hole in my steering column. plus it's compact and it can be molded in and i needed something else on that panel besides a radar detector. gonna be ordering the radar detector next friday. :D

tbblizzard

awesome.. thanks, keep the suggestions coming could use any help/suggestions you guys have.
i'm just wondering on this... how do i get the mold off? do i just make the cotton wrap go about 2 inches farther past the rear of the unit so i got something to grip? then just cut it off after?

DenZinz

Get on scion chat right now if you can...

What is that material your trim bezel made out of? Does that piece fit perfectly in the cut out?

tbblizzard

wheres that at?

DenZinz

or scion evolution chat. let me know. i have some questions.

got_xA

sorry forgot to add some notes to my first post :?

u can use aluminum foil as a barrier between the radar detector and the duct tape so there's no direct contact
to hold the radar detector in place when slipped in the mold u can use velcro or double sided tape for a more permanent approach
u're right just brush a small amount of resin to the cloth..just enough to cover the entire area and then add 1-2 layers of fiberglass on top of it ( w/ the detector out )
and yes wrap everything except the part u want showing
to hold the mold in your panel I would put a layer of fiberglass just around the seams behind the panel..this way when u have something sturdy to catch the body filler when u start filling the gaps


PEACE

tbblizzard

thanks again... perfect... i'll post when i get it molded. now that you mentioned the velcro part, i think that after i get the mold made i'll cut a slit in the bottom of the mold just so i can easily get the rd out if i need to and i can fit the velcro across the slit... velcro's great idea.. should get rid of any noise from movement if there is any. thanks again... always got the answers to my problems.. heh :D

tbblizzard

just ordered my cruise control unit and the vacuum canister, should be to me on thursday... i'll post pics when i get it molded into the panel. :D

George

Y'know, you'd be better off with a fully electric cruise, not a vacuum-actuated unit. The Rosta Globalcruise unit that the southeast Scion distributor sells is a great unit and they get $207 for it, which includes all bracketry for the Scion and a very detailed set of installation instructions. You can make your own custom cruise control switches for this unit if you like.

George

tbblizzard

it's an electronic unit but it said that a vacuum canister is recommended for 4 cylinder vehicles... so should i use it or not?

thanks for the info too :D

tbblizzard

anyone know of any local shops in the OC area that will install this cruise control for me? i'm just doing the molding in, i don't have enough courage to try to wire it myself since my car isn't listed in the reference manual so it'd all be by guess. rather let someone else that's a professional do it.

it's a nice unit, small box but has a ton of stuff in it, thing weighs like 20 lbs with all the connectors and hardware.

George

All cruise controls are electronc, but some use the electronic signal to open valves to a vacuum actuator that opens the throttle. Others use electricity to accompish this function.

The disadvantage to using vacuum on a small engine is that the vacuum drops when the throttle is open wide. This causes the cruise control to work irregularly when climbing hills. The vacuum canister is a "band-aid" solution to help this problem, but you'd be better off with a fully electric unit.

Mighty hard to beat the unit being sold by the Southeast Toyota dealers. The west coast distributor really missed the boat on this one!

BTW, with that unit, you can fashion any sort of control panel you want. All you need is three N/O switches. See the Rostra website for wiring info.

George

tbblizzard

wow, thanks for the tips george, kinda sucks i already got it though.. oh well, guess i'm going to press on with it.

you know of any shops that will install it?

George

You could always send it back!

The other great thing about the Southeast distributor's kit is the installation manual, and the fact that all parts are pre-made to fit existing holes on the Scion. If you can figure out which end of a screwdriver to hold, you can probably install this kit yourself!

George