Tablet dash install

[Wil Badger]

I have been thinking about this for some time and when I saw the price had dropped on the old Nexus 7 tablets I knew it was time to get started on the project. I had looked at the specs and realized it would fit in the radio/middle vent area with out a problem. I started looking around to see what others have done installing tablets and ran across a thread in which somebody had placed the exact same tablet into a GC and it looked good.



mp3car.com- Jeep Grand Cherokee in dash Nexus install

I plan on doing things a bit differently to make the ease of getting it in and out easier and to make sure it can never come out during wheeling. Since I will also want it removable instead of it snapping in flush to the dash mine will be sitting on top in a horse shoe shaped ring around the tablet. On the 4th side will be a spring loaded retainer to keep it from moving around or sliding out while wheeling. The other thing I plan on doing differently is having a radio behind the tablet so I still have some thing to play music if I ever forget to bring the tablet or what ever. I have already got the radio recessed into the dash enough to allow the tablet to be flush if I wanted, but again I don't want it snapping in I want it to slide it from the gauge cluster side.

First was to run to the junkyard and snag an extra dash panel. Started by heating up the plastic spot welds from the back with a heat gun to remove the middle vents




Masked off the dash panel



Then I started looking in the local classifieds and found a 8gig model with a broken screen for 35 bucks. I have a 32 gig version but really didn't want to risk covering it all up with fiberglass.....lol. So that got all masked up and ready for getting plastered with fiberglass





Found some cables that I wanted to use. Most people are putting the tablet out to a powered USB hub with USB DAC to get the sound out along with an extenal hard drive,etc,etc. Since I plan on just patching into a radio that is controllable with Android or iPhone I just needed the USB cable for power. I can push audio via bluetooth which will be used most times. How ever when watching movies the audio is just a bit out of sync since it has to pass through the bluetooth. If you use a direct patch cord you don't get the problem. I was thinking of getting a working dock system and hacking to work but in the end it would take up more space then i would like and the extra work just isn't worth it.





Well that's it for now till next weekend when I have more time and possibly a warm garage to do it in.

[OverkillZJ]

That's awesome... And to think in 2004, when I showed up with an old Gateway laptop mounted on a Jottodesk connected to Autotap.. that was state of the art 10 years ago! Now I want another ZJ to do this in!

[Wil Badger]

I have been looking around some more and things will change slightly. It will be getting an OTG cable so I can mount a hard drive and also have a USB in the dash for such things like flash drives, controller, etc. The tablet will also be used in conjunction with a bluetooth OBDII adapter and an Android app called Torque. I have been using it for a while with my phone for checking codes and checking certain things you don't get from stupid dash gauges. You can also use it to have digital gauges on the tablet.

So now I'm on the wait for a couple more things before I can truly begin.

[Wil Badger]

Well I thought about it some more and decided to make a few changes. It will be getting flush mounted but still be removable with a spring loaded release. I will be adding a OTG cable that i found that adds two powered USB ports. So one will be getting placed in the face of the dashboard to allow use of things like flash drives,web/dashcam, controller, etc. The second will be staying hidden in the dash with a DAC plugged into it for audio out of the USB when bluetooth isn't in use. This way I will not have to have the audio jack in the mount just the USB port. If I ever decide to I can also put a USB hub on the second one for adding a hard drive or more webcams for rockcams. I found one latch that I liked but in the long run decided to just make my own catch/release.

So I spent some time molding in the recess for it.

[Wil Badger]

I got a little more done this weekend. Grabbed some glass and resin and got started on making the pod.







Popped the tablet out . Still have a bit of clean up, sanding, making the latch

[Wil Badger]

Rough cut the part to just clean it up and make it easier to handle. Now I'm have a decision as to how I want to blend it to the dash itself. I would like to bring the left side out and make it truly flat to help all the passengers see it better. With it panning to the drivers seat it makes it a bit odd to view from the other seats( at least to me), it just looks a bit crooked . So I made a quick mock up out of cardboard to make it truly flat to the dash and see how bad it would be to glass in that way.



(tablet I bought for mock with cracked screen)


So here are the pics of the dash with a quick mock up piece of cardboard






Without it you can see the pan to the left

[Wil Badger]

Some more cutting and fitting tonight. I think I will be going truly flat if it doesn't work out cut it out and get another dash piece and do it the other way.

Flush on the right side


From the left with it eliminating the pan to the driver




With the tablet put in

[Ken L]

That's some good work! Interested to see how this ends up.

[zjrog]

I just an iOttie iPad holder, sticks to the dash quite well. Though, it does bounce a bit on rough streets... But I completely forgot about the MP3Car site! Awesome stuff. Like what you're doing though!

[cwm]

I realy like this idea but i would never want to give up my ac vents.
Does anyone make a good tablet the size of a double din? i think that would work as i have seen double dins in WJs

[Wil Badger]

The Nexus is the size of a double din. The factory radio is a Din and a half or just under. As for the vents there are 3 more of them in the dash along with foot vents and defroster vents....I actually don;t like the heater or the AC to directly blow on me so it's not a big deal to me.

[Wil Badger]

Did a little bit more to the glass. Rough cut the window out. The radio will be moved down a bit from what is seen.









Still need to make the release/catch , a little bit of reglass work to take care of some air bubbles, then it's time to glass it into the dash panel. So maybe this weekend I can get closer to making all that happen.

[Wil Badger]

Another little update for the weekend. Took an old cage from another radio to use as a mold for an inside return towards the radio. The whole thing will still need a final coat of resin/glass in some spots then it will be ready to get glassed into the dash panel. It's getting closer I'm hoping tomorrow I can get some more done.

[Wil Badger]

Worked on the release/latch today. Took me a bit to work out how I wanted to make it but once I made up my mind I was off and running. Grabbed a piece of brake line, cut some glass to shape, then started playing......

[Wil Badger]

Well working on it again this weekend. Figured out what to use for springs to keep tension on the latch. Started sanding it getting it ready to get glassed to the dash. Then it's a bit of bondo just to clean up some pin holes and rough areas. Then primer and paint.







And another little video clip showing the latch

[Wil Badger]

Almost there....some touch up stuff, a little bondo, some work on the lever(to make it easier to use), then some paint....

[Wil Badger]

It's the weekend again.........

Got it sanded down down to 220 and slapped a thick guide coat on it for the next bit of sanding. Figured I go down to 400, hit it with a skim coat of bondo just to fill any little air bubble pockets and other imperfections. Sand it one last time then give it some real paint.



The release/catch still has a bit of work left on it. I need to glass in the area I made as a thumb press to help push down on the release as well as some general clean up

[OverkillZJ]

Slick

[Allen94ZJ]

Very trick bud!

[Wil Badger]

Today I gave up looking and buying OTG cables that wouldn't do what I needed them to do. Either one would work as an OTG cable or another would work at charging in OTG mode but OTG wouldn't activate. Went and bought a powered USB hub(Belkin 4 port). I then grabbed some USB cables I had around. I spliced a male mini USB B to another male micro USB B as well as jumping pins 4 and 5 to make it an OTG cable. So now I have one cable that is OTG from the phone to the hub. The cable will allow charging as well as OTG now. The hub needed a power cord made so I splice the barrel end onto a USB end. This will be getting plugged into a cigarette lighter power adapter that will be hard wired behind the dash. So now the hub will be powered which in turns charges the tablet and keeps the peripherals from draining the battery on the tablet.



Also did some more sanding and filling as well as sanding and have a single coat of matte black on the dash panel as of right now.

[Wil Badger]

Well I'm done....Could it be done better sure....I'm just tired of sanding and trying to get it just right. It's going in a trail rig / DD so it doesn't have to be perfect, the rest of the Jeep isn't.....lol



I'm going to try and grab some better pictures if I have time tomorrow during day light hours

[pitbull78133]

still very impressive! Great job

[Wil Badger]

Last picture...tablet in place


Thanks guys for all the comments..it's been a fun learning experience if I ever need to do it again I know what things to do differently.

[Ken L]

Looks really good! Thanks for the detail in the write up.

[Brad S]

Cool, nice job!