How-To: Install Too-Large Headrest LCDs

I bought a pair of 6.5" screens too big for my headrests and finally got around to getting them installed. Hope this technique helps some of you with a similar problem.

Remove your headrests and the covers. Construct a balsawood frame for your headrest shrounds. I used 1/4" x 3/4" strips of balsa cut and glued 2 layers thick to allow for a radius beyond the edges of the shroud. Use medium CA, and stagger the corners for strength. I tapered the bottom edge to make space for the seam in the upholstery:

Trace your frame on the back of the headrest, and cut away foam down to the tubing, and until the headrest fits just even at the bottom. Remove some additional foam in the center for airspace and wire space. Add a piece of 3/16" hobby plywood just wider than the tubes wedged and glued underneath to later screw your shroud into. Drill a hole into each tube to fish your wires through:

Sand some nice radiuses on your frame, and glue it in square. I used hot melt to glue everything in the headrest:

Align the bottom of your frame with the bottom of the headrest. Note the amount of foam that needs to be added in the top corners. I stuffed these after upholstering. I also added a shim of balsa to the bottom of each frame between the frame and the tubes for added stiffness:

Pull the upholstery back over your headrest. Then cut out the hole undersize, glue down the edges, then final trim the upholstery flush. Stuff the open areas in the top corners with ripped up little pieces of foam pushed in on the end of a small phillips.

Now reinstall your shroud, cut, fish, and splice your wires, drill your mounting pilot holes, and install it with the two center screwholes and some panhead wood screws. Plug in the screens, and they snap in place.