I had done this before with my '03 EVO VIII, but when I traded it for the MR, I just put away the Alpine HU and kept the stock unit. The biggest reason I did not upgrade the HU was because I don't like to tempt thieves to break into my car. Anyway, I was partcipating in a discussion in the forum about upgrading the sound in the EVO and I actually offered my Alpine HU for sale at a ridiculous low price... I was talking later with a friend and he talked me into buying an iPod with video & 60 gig drive .... I figured why not just install the Alpine and use it to play the iPod through it... I went to a shop and they installed it for $40 bucks and ordered a connector to use the iPod through the CD changer input of the Alpine. I'm also going to upgrade the front speakers and add an alarm. In the mean time, I did what I came up with before, but with some improvements.

I created a "stealth cover" to hide the HU after detaching the face plate. I lost the one I did before, plus it had a problem. It just fit inside the bezel but just rested in there and it would fall off when the car was running . I tried using velcro between the HU and the stealth cover, but there was no room for it when the face plate went in.... I tried jamming little bits of stuff to keep it in place but that did not works out so well either...

Anyway, I found the plastic I used before and Friday after work, I fashioned the cover plate and while looking around I noticed that the HU was made out of sheet metal where the faceplate fit... This is good, I figure if it's steel, a magnet will work fine to secure it. I measured the depth of the sheet metal and found some lexan of the right thickness. Using double stick tape, I secured the lexan spacer to the plastic cover and used a piece of that magnetic plastic with adhesive backing to mountn my magnet to the cover plate. I tried it and voila! It works just great! I took the "lancer" badge I removed from the trunk and stuck it on the cover for looks and to provide a "handle" to remove it. I tried the use the "evolution" badge but it overlapped the edges of the cover plate and would not have looked as good. Anyway, here are some pictures of the arrangement.



The faceplate is in the HU, the stealth cover is by the gear shifter....



Here is a view of the HU without the face plate. Notice the sheet metal tray where the faceplate fits. The stealth cover is laying face down so you can see the lexan spacer and the plastic magnet sheet.



This is how it fits into the opening......



Presto! stealth cover in place! You cannot tell there is a HU in there unless you really look for it. The magnet keeps it securely fastened so it does not vibrate off, yet it relatively easy to pull away gripping the edges of the Lancer badge with your fingers....

Now, all I have to do is wait for my iPod adapter and new speakers. I think it's going to work out great! Now I will not even need to have CDs laying around in the car! Practically my entire collection of music is my my iPod and I still have room to spare for lots more music!

 

Great idea!!!!

 

That is awesome, i am very impressed, im gonna have to try that myself. Well done.

 

Thanks guys, It's relatively easy. You can buy that plastic practically anywhere. I found it a HiFi buys and Best Buys or Circuit city. Try to find a table saw to cut it as it makes much better (straighter) cuts than a band saw or a scroll saw. You can sneak up on the right size by cutting just a tad oversize and shaving slight cuts of the plastic until it fits

 

AWESOME WORK/IDEA! I work at CC roadshop and am gonna have to show this to my guys. 1 Billion points for deh uber originality.

 

very nice indeed...I also work at cc in the roadshop, I have done several things to heko conceal the interior mods as well...

 

uuummm, magnets might be bad for HDs

 

I really love it. Just constructive criticism here but I would be a little weary of a magnet so close to the head unit. Again, just a concern, not attacking your idea or anything

 

Yeah the magnet concerned me.. On my unit I made a cover with spring clips that fit the opening and didn't much more than friction.. I have a Dension head unit which has a hard disk drive in the unit, so the magnet was a no-no..

 

why not just replace the magnet with velcrow?

 

i'm gonna have to agree w/ the other guy, you get a billion points for cleverness on that one but using the magnet would worry me a bit

doubled sided tape or velcro would be a great replacement tho

 

The magnet should be fine. its not a really strong magnet from what i can see. You would need a fairly strong magnet to damage anything in the HU.

 

thats great work.. def keep thiefs away and enjoy some relaxtion without worrying..

 

sneaky sneaky...pretty clever

 

I have to admit to all you guys who express concern about the magnet that I did not even consider the possibility of damage... I was so excited with the idea that I did not consider anything else but the fit and function.

However, now that I've though a little bit about it, I think it's perfectly safe. The HU itself if full of electric motors. Those are all magnetic devices and probably have as strong a histeresys as the little plastic maget. Oh yeah, don't forget that laptops and other devices like radios, boom boxes and things like that are basically HUs and they are in very close proximity to very strong magnets in the speakers....

I think I'll take a chance on it and keep an eye on the HU.... Still, thanks for the input. It's valuable and welcome