Does anybody make any kind of plastic housing or molding so that you can mount a standard dash stereo on the ceiling, as you would with a LCD screen?

 

about the only thing I can think of doing is buying a universal stereo mount like they sell for boats and campers. Would be a bitch to do though, you have any idea how many wires you would have to extend and run up there?

 

Actually it would be for a standard DIN size mount DVD player/TV Tuner module, so it wouldn't be TOO bad. I would have liked to mount the head unit right above the rear view mirror. I would think somebody has some kind of mount. They use them on conversion vans and camper vans sometimes, but it's usually custom-molded stuff.

 

So custom mold it then :-) MDF, resin, fiber glass, some fleece and some common sense and your well on your way. It's not that difficult to do and if you do screw up your work .. fleece is cheap and so is MDF :-) Roof is relatively flat there, should not be too difficult to make a fiber glass housing for it. Run your wiring up under the head liner and down an pillar to where you need it! Voila, done. May wanna pick up some suade or fabric to upholster with it in too ..

 

Common Sense - I have plenty of.

The rest of that stuff, I have NO Idea what I'm doing. If I knew how to mold my own Fiber Glass things, I would be dangerous!

I have seen my friend do it, and it was a mess, most likely because he didn't know how to do it the right way.

4 more weeks, and I have my own heated garage. I keep telling myself this. Then I can do whatever i want.

 

Just make sure you got that garage door open or ventilate the garage well when doing this crap or you'll end up feeling pretty ****ty real quick LOL!
One note though, most resins I've used needs 60" degrees or it takes an eternity to set, if at all. You can use additional harderner to compensate for temperature but don't use too much or you'll end up like me with a brush fiberglassed to the mixing bowl Also, if you use dark fleece it's much easier to see what areas need more resin. Dark blues and dark greens work the best in my opinion. You won't see it when you're done anyways.

It's not difficult at all ..

Frame it using MDF, you can get by with 1/2 stuff on this.
Wrap it using fleece to get your desired shape.
Slober on resin to get the fleece saturated.
Let sid and harden until completely dry
Start laying fiber glass and resin 1-2 layers at a time. I prefer doing it on the inside, the surface tends to be somewhat smoother.
Build up about 5 layers of glass/resin and let dry completely.
Go back and sand the outside and start filling in imperfections with plastic filler.
If you get the surface smooth enough you can either paint or wrap it in Vinyl or suade. Alternatively you can glue some headliner foam to your mold and then wrap it. That will hide any imperfections in the underlaying structure. Note, if you don't and the surface has bumps they will stand out like sore thumbs once wrapped in vinyl or suade.

It ain't more difficult than this. There are some good resources out there showing step by steps on this stuff. I can post the links I have when I get home if you want to give it a shot.

 

Mike, send me the specs on the headunit when you get it and I'll make you one.

 

That would be awsome. I'm either going to get one of those units, or the flat behind-the-dash deals. I'm not sure if the combo dvd/tuner units are as good as the dedicated tuners they sell that you can install anywhere. I'm assuming they probably aren't. Here are some examples of the combo units:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...RK%3AMEWA%3AIT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-S...ayphotohosting

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/IN-DA...QQcmdZViewItem

I really doubt the reception on these kind of units would be very good, but I'm not sure. Also, how would you attach a housing to the ceiling? I've never done it but I'm assuming you have to drill through the roof supports or something.

 

Here's another one also:

http://www.audio-warehouse.com/web/m...80T/detail.asp

You get the idea!

 

the combo units are as good as the dedicated units, just bigger. Any top brand will have good reception. Try to stay away from companies like pyle,jenson,audiovox. Audiobahn is a good quality mid priced unit that you will have great results from. Let me see if my distributor account is still active, I can prolly get you stuff cheaper than retail...I used to sell/install this stuff.