Blending a Kit With a Factory Bezel

[sqcomp]

Here's the start of the "pictorial" on how to blend a kit with the factory bezel. This will take me several days. Some of you have noticed that I started test fitting over the last several days. One of the things you'll notice that I'm doing, or not doing, is using a cage. There's just no need to in my case.

The first steps are the test fitment and the actual fusing of the kit and the OEM 2 DIN bezel. The next step is a concoction I'm working up that will reduce my need for Rage and glazing putty before we go to paint. Of course the last step before install is paint (like I just mentioned).

Without further adue:

We're starting the assembly of the kit. Notice that I put gasketing foam on the inside of the vertical supports. This actually snugs the kit in with the source without scratching the copper chassis:



Looking at the source and the fit into the kit a little closer:





It was my reasoning that the kit's pocket looks tacky and is very near useless to me...so I've chosen to place some ABS plastic in the opening to seal it off; this is a test fit in this picture:



Before I get to sealing the pocket off, I need to bond the kit with the OEM dash piece. I tacked the two pieces together with hot glue first. I then used a butane hot knife to accomplish the melting of the plastics together.









And on with the hot knife, yes I did the with all four corners:



Now I essentially have a one piece kit now. Onto the blending of the front side:

Sanding all around the area to be filled of course:



I also filled the pocket with home audio pyramidal foam to take up space and reduce resonance:



Filling the gaps:









This is what I've used to fill the small gaps. It's basically thick superglue, it sands fairly easily:



Here's the ABS piece I'm plugging the storage hole with:





...And bonded in. I used some glue accelerant to speed up the drying time (this is why it looks white around the glue area):



^I also should mention that the kit has a bend to it. The ABS piece was, of course, straight. All one needs is a heat gun and you can bend the plastic to whatever angle you need.

Now, with these next pictures, notice the holes on each side of that ABS piece? I've plugged them using small slivers of the ABS. I used the hot knife to coax them in the spot as well as to blend them in as well as I could:









The piece is sanded with 180 and 220 grit paper. Here's another test fit of the source:



Notice on the side of the kit? I've marked the proper position for the screws to be mounted for the faceplate to lower properly. I did power it up (ground, power, and remote) just to confirm faceplate movement:





^This is as close into the kit as I can go without stopping the faceplate's movement.

On Monday I will return to the shop to experament with a little theory. I'm going to try to use as little Rage and glazing putty as possible. Instead I want to use the plastic from the kit as much as possible. You know how the mounting kits come with extra plastic parts most of the time? Well, my theory is that I can "melt" plastic shavings in with a little MEK and make a "plastic slurry" to use to blend the pocket area in a bit more as well as the small lines left over from the glue that I didn't catch. It is my belief that I would much rather use the same plastic to bond with rather than body filler. So, stick around for that. I will also do the final glazing on Monday. It should be out for paint on Monday night...