The INFO PANEL, do you actully use it all that much? (a double din idea)

Well right now in my car i have a motorized 7 inch screen that is bolted in the cubby with the door still attached(if newbies just check the theads i have started) and the 1din unit sits directly on the trip computer/clock /infopanel.

well the reason i started this thread is that once again im interested in possibly going to another newer headunit (this would be my 3rd headunit in this car(as well as 3rd with a motorized screen) and even though i dont need it i so dramatically want to have navigation in my car. wel for the person that isnt a complete DIY-er as well as not being an employee of a company such as the wise and godly HVAC killers HIGHLINE...i was considering that one person can theoretically put a double din into the cubby hole....but not have to "completely" relocate their trip computer. my idea is as follows since i assume i only use the trip computer maybe every week, in most cases i only look at it when the gas gauge is blinking becuase the info panel alos blinks showing "40 till empty".

Therefore for the simple electric guru(which i believe i have acheived) one could possibly just extend the info panel wiring to another location. The necessity of extending the wiring for the info panel is becuase if he info panel is not hooked up you immediatly get a CEL(check engine light). So this leads me to the point of where of whre could the cost effective person that i am put/ what i could do with the info panel.

If one could extend the wires addequatly then there are pretty much only three locations allowing this to happen:

1. wire it up...extend it into the asktray and then mock up some plastic mounting solution for it to stay put thus saving probably 80% of the cost required to get the rallitek info relocation bracket.

2. wire it up...extending it to under the arm rest, where it would there if a necessaty arises to check some specific info such as MPG effiecieny or trip time or miles till empty.

3. wire it up...extending it to the glove box....itll be safe from damage. Wiring from stock location into cubby is fairly easy with their being a hole between those two points as well as being easily accessible by the passenger which is usually the only time i care about such information

4. one could theoreticaly mount the info relocation in the sliding cup holder between driver and passenger..you could make some kind of mount to mount it in the front cup holder/middle of cup holder, naturally it would have to be put in sideways thus making it unreadable to the passenger (or the driver if you really want to be EXTRA-unique.) The wiring harness then extended under the shifter trip and through the cup holder bottom.

Positive notes: if one is so worried about the time every headunit i have used has the clock up there on the screen...it comes down to if you need the trip time/and fuel effeciency. Otherwise one can figure out how many miles he has until empty by simply driving the car unil it hits E(yellow flashing light will come on) and then looking at the trip coputer to see that you have either 40 or 30 miles left till empy (which is only an approximation, and this even furthers my case).

 

If one could extend the wires addequatly then there are pretty much only three locations allowing this to happen:

1. wire it up...extend it into the asktray and then mock up some plastic mounting solution for it to stay put thus saving probably 80% of the cost required to get the rallitek info relocation bracket.

 

 

I have a double din where the cubby used to be, well i used to have a double din touch screen, now I have two individual dins in the cubby hole instead. A flip out monitor and head unit. I bought the rallitek relocation bracket and used that to relocate the trip coputer. The bracket it self doesn't fit perfect because its meant for RHD but you can make it work. I did with no dremmel, just double sided sticky tape. The relocation bracket also comes with an extension cord but since the cord is meant for the japanese version of the lgt, it is missing a wire. If you hook up the extension cord your airbag light will come on and possibly not function for the passenger. What i did was manually put wire extensions for the plug to move it down. Let me know if you want any pics or have any questions, I could probably help you out...

I have a double din where the cubby used to be, well i used to have a double din touch screen, now I have two individual dins in the cubby hole instead. A flip out monitor and head unit. I bought the rallitek relocation bracket and used that to relocate the trip coputer. The bracket it self doesn't fit perfect because its meant for RHD but you can make it work. I did with no dremmel, just double sided sticky tape. The relocation bracket also comes with an extension cord but since the cord is meant for the japanese version of the lgt, it is missing a wire. If you hook up the extension cord your airbag light will come on and possibly not function for the passenger. What i did was manually put wire extensions for the plug to move it down. Let me know if you want any pics or have any questions, I could probably help you out...

hey tommy

first off excellent avatar. boondock saints rule cant wait for number 2.

next its funny that you replied a while back, about 5 or 6 months ago i think i actully PMed you asking you for a pic becuase i just wanted to see how your double - 1DIN idea looked, and i believe you emailed them to be. But in any cases i saw what yours looked like and appreciate thee information regarding the bracket. If you want you can post the pictures it might help newbies or be useful later on in this tread, but as far as me i saw the pic you took a while back. but if you have new pics definitly post the pictures.

I'll take some pics and post them for you today, I must have totally forgot about your pm, I need to clean house on my pm box. I can just pop off my trim around the shifter and show you pics of the wire extension along with my sticky tape job. I'll get them up in a bit.

sounds good to me. im sure it would be helpful for all of us in that case.

am i right though, in your opinion, that if one was to just extend the wiring of the info panel to somewhere such as the armrest, glovebox..etc..that it would not yield any check engine lights?

I just took a slew of pictures of my car audio setup. In regards to your questions, a check engine light shouldn't have anything to do with the trip computer at all IMO. The airbag light however will and is a major concern. As long as you do good wiring (good wire connectors, test each connection, then tape around the connection) you have nothing to worry about, you could relocate it to the back seat with a long enough wire extension if you wanted, but I have gotten several compliments on how clean it looks in the ashtray, not to mention I'm not a car smoker so that served no purpose for me.

Ps. I'm getting a new windshield at the beginning of next month, mine is as bombed out and depleted as afghanistan. I bought AK's dash piece to go around my decks, I'm going to fit it for my setup( resize din holes for my decks) and refinish the piece. It will look a lot cleaner, its just so hard to find the time.

how much of the surrounding of the Cubby hole did you have to "trim"?

did you touch it up anyway with something like emoxy?

and most importantly ive PMed like every single member on here at this point just to get their directions as to how they mounted the 1din or 2din unit inside that hole....becuase what i did was take my L-shaped brackets that came with the unit, and banged the hell out of them with a mallet so that they were flat...then these four L shaped brackets were each connected to the four corners of the unit like instructed by the manufacter, and the holes that were once facing upward above the 1din unit were now located about an inch above the holes that attach the unit to the brackets.

how much of the surrounding of the Cubby hole did you have to "trim"? I had to dremmel a lot, spent a half day fitting. I just measured the plastic bars that divide the vents from the cubby. My left bar is 5mm wide, right bar is 4mm wide.

did you touch it up anyway with something like emoxy? I was planning on but got a great deal from AKGT on her custom made dash piece. I will doctor it up and have a very clean looking trim piece. Mine isn't bad now, but its not clean either.

 

and most importantly ive PMed like every single member on here at this point just to get their directions as to how they mounted the 1din or 2din unit inside that hole....becuase what i did was take my L-shaped brackets that came with the unit, and banged the hell out of them with a mallet so that they were flat...then these four L shaped brackets were each connected to the four corners of the unit like instructed by the manufacter, and the holes that were once facing upward above the 1din unit were now located about an inch above the holes that attach the unit to the brackets.

As for the brackets to hold the decks that also took a lot of time, I should take pics, explaing won't do it justice. There are two holes one on each side looking right at you when you get the cubby out of the way. They are not tapped, but I used self-tapping screws and used those locations as my base to hold the decks. IIRC I used two brackets, one so it would connect the two decks and one to connect the decks to the mounting hole. When I put in AK's dash piece I will take pics and measurements....

maybe you kept somehow resetting ur ECU with the AP?

No. Bone stock.

fweasel are you saying if yu unplug/remove your info panel it will not show a CEL and blinking Cruise?

I'm not 100% positive, but I don't recall any issues. The AVO bracket hadn't been delivered to me when I took the car to my installer. I drove it for at least a week before I installed the info panel and the bezel after the install was completed. Also, keep in mind I drive an 06 which is different from the info panel in the 05. Not sure what year your car is, nor the differences in the 07-08 panels.

I just took a slew of pictures of my car audio setup. In regards to your questions, a check engine light shouldn't have anything to do with the trip computer at all IMO. The airbag light however will and is a major concern. As long as you do good wiring (good wire connectors, test each connection, then tape around the connection) you have nothing to worry about, you could relocate it to the back seat with a long enough wire extension if you wanted, but I have gotten several compliments on how clean it looks in the ashtray, not to mention I'm not a car smoker so that served no purpose for me.

 

Ps. I'm getting a new windshield at the beginning of next month, mine is as bombed out and depleted as afghanistan. I bought AK's dash piece to go around my decks, I'm going to fit it for my setup( resize din holes for my decks) and refinish the piece. It will look a lot cleaner, its just so hard to find the time.

now I see why you picked up that piece from me. I couldn't believe someone actually wanted it and could use it for anything.

now I see why you picked up that piece from me. I couldn't believe someone actually wanted it and could use it for anything.

Trust me it will serve me better than my current dash piece, it has been through the war. I think I will just paint it flat black again. I Will probably put a leather strip over where the 'on' indicator light was, should look good. Thanks again, it was a steal of a price.