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So first some back story. I bought this 68K mile 88 C1500 longbed last year and she has NEVER had anything really done to it other than maintenance. I'm planning on cleaning it up, fixing cab corners (it's an 88, I'm amazed they aren't worse) and making a clean ride out of it. Something that everything looks stock-ish. This is where my dilemma starts. Usually I just go buy a dash kit and toss a decent deck in and call it good. As we all know on these trucks (88-94) the dash kit pushes the face of the deck out like an underbite on an english bulldog and doesn't look stock, not to mention the deck itself even if it was more flush would still look way out of place in a stock-ish interior.
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I've been plotting and planning. I've went through everything from building a "carputer" with a small touch screen in the factory radio location to moving the a/c controls down (deleting the blank switch panel below) and putting a tablet in the dash and the associated electronics to divide and amp the output.
While taking through various ideas I was reminded of an old custom audio installer trick of mounting the body of a cd player in one spot and running a ribbon cable from it to the face plate mounted elsewhere. This still leaves the problem of having the deck in an easily accessible location (I've got some bad badness in my bad lower back so it's gotta be driver seat accessible without becoming a contortionist. At this point I'm thinking a console on the hump or hanging from the ceiling. But we go back to it looking out of place. As well as a floor console would have to be stubby so there is room for my lovely short legged wife to slide the seat up in the event she needs to drive the truck.
Enter the XO Vision XD107 Digital Media Reciever priced at a WHOPPING $20. I'll let you look up specs but the basics are it plays USB, SD cards, Aux and has a radio and Bluetooth. It is decidedly shorter than a standard CD player as it does not have a CD drive in it. I don't know for certain but I believe it is short enough to sit in the center dash without having to have the bulge that the aftermarket panel uses to clear the ductwork. The face panel from volume knob to the back is 1" then a ribbon cable connects it to the back panel that has various wiring.
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Okay so now we have something that can go from being only 4" deep (back of face trim ring to back of the unit). Now we, we?, I have more options on where it can go. So if I don't want to see it's new definitively not 1988 face all the time but I need to be able to reach it easily I'm kinda left with only one option I feel is valid.
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Now I'm sure some have just did this.
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Cutting out a notch for a DIN and mounted a stereo down there and ditched the tray and door but remember I want to have the clean factory it's not there option of closing the door. Easy peazy right? Nope. The factory in all it's wisdom decided that even though the door itself is wide enough (1/16th clearance on each side) they would do some oddball stuff where the hinge itself is super narrow in comparison.
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That ain't gonna fit der... derp. At least not like that... Remember mention of the ribbon cable?
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Yeah that ribbon cable. So the face is 1" knob to backside. The plan of action now is to mount just the face in the ashtray location. Run the ribbon cable(that I might have to buy a new longer version of) back to the under dash mounted back panel of the stereo. But there is a problem or 4 that I know of so far.
1: The available space between the top plate of the hinge/mount and the top of the ashtray pocket (minus ashtray of course) is a little of nothing. So the face will have to be recessed into the ashtray pocket about this much.
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2: Those hinges.
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They will need a notch cut so that when the face pivots inward (towards the firewall) the sides don't get in the way. This is the rough idea of said cut. I will cut way too small and trim it to spec as I go.
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3: My knob is protruding proudly above the surface. When the door is closed it appears it will be against the inside top of the hinge assembly so another hole will be needed...
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4: After all these cuts this thing might be pretty flimsy. It attaches with 4 screws and I believe the locations of said attachment points will add a lot of rigidity but I like Mad Max so I've braced it before cutting it. Pardon the self tapping screws, they will be switched for rivets as soon as I find my riveting tool...
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Yes, yes I probably should have went ahead and pulled the lighter port out before bracing up the back and closing off the access to it but I'm stupid like that sometimes.
The work will continue another day and as long as I don't forget I'll update with more pictures. The goal is to have the face facing-ish my face when the door is open. So it will be angled up slightly vs laying perpidicular on the ashtray door which would put it pointing at the seat. Feel free to leave suggestions if you think I've lost my everloving mind or if you like where I'm going or if you have advice.
