Anyone here with a Camaro that has customized the mounting plate of their stereo Head Unit? I've read about many here who didn't like installing the single DIN stereos because it "stuck out" to much..

So who here has decided .. screw it "I'll make my own".. I'm in the works, and hopfully will have a progress picture soon.. I had thought about going with a "Factory Deck".. Then thought of the Pioneer 1.5 DIN.. But decided to try and make the one I have fit better.. Because I do like the Clarion deck I do have. So If you have made a custom Stereo Head Unit mounting plate.. lets see it..

 

You mean like this?



I moved it back another 1/4" after I took these pictures. This plate was EXTREMELY easy to make. I used a piece of 1/2" plywood and screwed it BEHIND the factory mounting tabs. Then I just installed the cage into the plywood. I made a trim ring from ABS plastic and just hot glued it to the stock trim plate. To move it back another 1/4" I simply installed washers between the factory mounting tabs and the plywood.

Here's the plate itself with the old radio:




What it looked like with the old radio and the old plexi trim plate:


And it fit flush enough to mount my factory radio plate over:


In the Camaro, you'll need to remove the metal piece in the dash that sits behind the factory radio. Then you'll have all the room in the world. In a firebird, it's a bit more complicated. To flush a deck in my Firebird I had to attach the cage directly to the housing with plumber's strapping, although with a little work you can use the same mounting method I pictured above.

 

mine is 90% the same as Jim's (same exact deck, looks nearly identical) but i took the easier way out. i had made a custom mount like he had, but i eventually bought the kit by scosche especially for 3rd gens (can be found on www.sounddomain.com). its not quite as perfect as jim's (which is where i got my idea from), but it is very nice for anyone who is not as skilled as he is (i messed up on the plastic face, thats all )

 

i did the exact same thing... only instead of plywood, i used clear plexi glass.... i painted both the front and the back side of the plexi, so if the front does get scratched, it doesnt look too bad....


so far though, it hasnt scratched looks NICE and when i have the faceplate off its all completely flat and even black..... if it wasnt for the gold contacts that the faceplate connects to, you would have to look hard to tell i have a stereo.

 

btw, after doing all that i descovered you can BUY ONE almost exactly like what you need..


just look for one ment for a GM truck... they're large and flat... they dont make it stick out at all...

 

I've got one of those kits in my apartment somewhere. They are nice kits, especially for what they cost. They don't quite give that custom appearance that I was aiming for, but you get 90% of it for about 10% of the work. If I wind up keeping my GTA I'll use that kit for it.

 

With making it flush.. how did you all get around the heater ducts for the console? The way I have mine setup so far is the deck sits near the top of the opening, with the 1/2 din space under it. Even at this I found the back of the deck was hitting those ducts.. Anyone know if they can be removed from the console? I figured if I could just take em out, and plug the hole to stop the air .. it' would probably fit fine.. I never really feel any air coming from those little side vents anyway..

 

i donno abotu on your car, but thats where alot of the heat comes out on mine in the winter time..... in the mornings i like to put my hands infront of thoes vents to warm up


i just had to take out the crossbrace.... my old pioneer unit was just SLIGHTLY too long to fit that way, but my current sony (ugh) one just bearly fits...


so it mostly depends on the model you have and its exact length.

i wouldnt try to block thoes vents though....

 

Umm.. ok.. well I'll have a look at the ducts and see if they can modified a little to accomidate the deck.. The deck is a Clarion BD316, from the mounting surface to the back on the drivers side is about 6 3/4 inches (the wire harness is on that side.. ).. so making this fit is going to be a challange..

 

i ended up trimming the bottom ducts to fit the deck in (barely fit). but very happy with the outcome and can now (when the face is removed) put my dummy face over the setup so it still looks the stock delco

 

Well I have decided to pull out the whole console and take a good look at the situation.. I think I can do something to make it all work. I'll post pictures of what I come up with.. When I figure something out.

 

I don't remember what I did about the vents. On the firebird I had to cut them out of the way, but I don't remember screwing with them in the Camaro, although I do vaguely remember gluing caps over the feed tubes for them. My car isn't a cold weather car anyway, but even when I do drive it on cold days, there's plenty of heat coming from everywhere else.

 

Jim nice job. In a firebird this is a difficult task. When I bought mine it had a stupid looking din adapter that sticks out a little. I decided to fab up a whole new upperconsole out of some carbon fiber I had laying around since my console was shot too. Lets just say I gave up long ago, too many complicated edges to glass. Such as the heater ducts. You lose even more room to 3 sets of preouts. Argh! Oh well I still like the firebird interior better anyway.