Mounting faceplate separate from headunit

It has been done before by a guy I know named David Wood. His MX-6 made it to two publications, the one of interest is Auto Sound and Security, February or March issue of 2000 (I think). He installed the face of a Panasonic digital processor in the rear-view mirror housing of the car. The brain was under the passenger seat. The housing was fabricated to fit the face using a minimal amount of ¼ inch MDF and some polyester filling (Bondo).

To my knowledge, from what I remember when he built this, he did NOT have an extension cable and had to physically solder the connections. This of course, is very possible and will work so as long as you are careful when soldering and make sure only one wire for each spot (no solder spilling over to the next).

I have done something as tedious as this: I had a friend with a 1994 Clarion entry level unit and the cd mechanism went bad. The 1994 cd mechansim was soldered to the circuit board. The 1995 one that I replaced had a "plug" or rather described as a "clamp" that held the ribbon cable in place. I had to solder that cable to the circuit board of the 1994 unit.

You may want to look for electronic shops in your area. We have one here in Monroe, LA that does tech work like make new DIN cables or modify cables and stuff like that. You could find one and ask them to make a cable in the length you need and have the number of wires you would need. That would simplify the process some. You may also can get them to do the soldering if you aren’t skilled enough. They perhaps can even go as far as fabricating a plug to work with this.

Good luck and post your results. Show some pictures along the way! I want to see this.

Hey thanks for the responds, I had heard of the guy that put the faceplate inside the mirror, I have heard of a few actually, thanks for the specifics, I am going to do some searches and see if I can find that install.

Guess ill see what I can find locally, and if not, maybe ill just take the chance, and try to solder

You may end up having to buy another gun but you should be able to go to the nearest Radio Shack and find a precision soldering iron. As for low voltage and amperage problems by extending the cable, I don’t think that will be an issue. Dave extended his a good 6 or 7 feet in that car (I remember the nights he spent doing it). I wish I had the issue with him in it… The only one I have is his latest in the Feb 03. issue of Car Audio and Electronics.

3 feet should be know problem. I have seen it done on a BMW before… a crew in California relocated the car’s computer display that gave info like mpg, and miles to empty, temperature, etc. to the center console/armrest of the car (from the dash where it was originally).

With the right iron, you should be able to solder this with no problem. If you don’t live far from Monroe, LA, come by!!

thanks for the offer, if I was in LA I would.. I am in Canada unfortunately :)

I decided to go through some old soldering bits, and i found a nice thin needle tip, and it fits in my new variable temp wand... so I am going to pick up some wire, and solder this today, I have a battery and everything inside so that I can bench test it. I will borrow a digital and post pics tonight. I might even get started on the enclosure today

Thanks for the advice.

Instead of soldering to the connectors, unsolder the connector from the board and place your wires in the holes on the PCB where the connector was, and then do the same in the faceplate (those are actually surface mount, but same concept). This way you can restore it to original if you ever decide to. I've done several similar projects and this is the most solid and least destructive. Just be sure you get each wire to the proper terminal!!

Also if you want a good, cheap iron get a Weller WP35 they run about $35-45. Use an ST6 tip. about $6