I'm thinking of installing the single din touch screen head unit from JVC with a trunk mounted navigation unit. Does anyone know of anyone who makes wood carved face plates for the 2000 XJ8?

JVC KD-AVX77 El Kameleon DVD/CD/USB Receiver is the unit model.

 

I carved the face place, but I have discovered that I am not good at painting wood.
This was way harder than I expected, but I'm almost there. I need to get a smooth coat of paint onto the face plate, install sat radio, and just slide the head unit back in. If anyone is tying this at home, be prepared to buy hundreds or feet in speaker wire, cables, etc. I decided to buy the JVC.

 

i was thinking if you could find a junked XJ and get the wood for the passenger air bag...that piece could be cut to fit an aftermarket stereo...you'd have to know what you are doing but i think it would work and look pretty sweet...

 

I have been trying to make a face plate. The wood parts on old jags are very thin and usually have a metal plate on the back. I carved a piece of wood into a face place several times, broke it and re-carved it. I finally got one that is in good shape but now I'm having paint trouble. I went with the JVC touch screen radio head. I have everything wired and working. I even got the iPhone 3Gs to work for phone and bluetooth streaming. Status photos are below.


This was my last attempt after failing many times.





I got real close with this one, but failed with the paint. Then I damaged the sides. It's very delicate work to get the plate to be flush with the screen.



Test fit... Not great, but better than a rag.


The best part is that I finally got everything in the trunk done and everything in the dash wired. The last things I have to do are the surface mounted speakers and that **** face plate.



I did not want this on top of the car so I put it in the brake light. Works great. The reception is the same as it was on top of the car.



All I need to do now is learn how to paint wood, it did not look right varnished by the way, and finish some carbon fiber/bondo enclosures for the surface mount subs. The system already sounds incredible without the sealed enclosures, but I want more .

 

Has anyone every tried running a band pass sub with a bass tube to that hole in the corner of the truck so that the bass comes though the rear dash strait from the sub box without rattling the the trunk? I made a sealed enclosure that fits into the back dash, but it's only an 8" sub and a 6x9 beside it. It looks like I have a hat box and a bucket in the back window, but it sounds great.

 

Your best bet... Don't try to paint it.

Get it to where you want it. Smooth it out with bondo etc, - you can even mold your wood piece to the original frame (so it all looks like one piece) then wrap it with flat black vinyl.

That's what we used to do at the shop when we would make custom wood faceplates for cars.

George

 

Hanabal, look in the interior threads and read the one titled "XJ8 Aftermarket Installation" The person who started that thread did a wonderful job on a XJ8. Maybe you could contact him for help. He says he would make a face plate for anyone interested.

 

That plate that guy has looks an awful lot like a rag.
I need some plastic molding skills...

I put one together as best as I could.
It's not pretty, but it works for now. I'll try again later.
I posted the results at the end of that guy thread.
Hopefully someone has a proven process for matching the plastic and the shape right.

Thanks.

 

I replied in your other thread also, but here's another entry. You're shape and size looks great. It seems you just need to take some extra time and do alot of finish sanding to get the edges and corners just right. The flat vinyl is a great idea when you don't have enough time to do the sanding and paintwork. In your car, I'd consider leather wrapping also to match your bezel surround.

Also, forgot to plug the excellent choice in stereo...I have the previous model, but would love to have the custom wallpaper (jaguar image is nice BTW) and the wired microphone that mine does not have.

 

I put that microphone into that thing on the driver's side under the boot button. I'm not sure what it's called, but I was able to put the screw that holds it in place though the microphone base so that the mic sticks out of it and points up. It's almost unnoticable and way better than putting it on the visor.

I have also found that the iPhone voice commands work for phone and music. If I set the head unit to Bluetooth, hold the iphone button down, and say play songs by Van Halen, It streams the music strait to the head unit. I have a second wired iPod in the arm rest, but it does not have the voice command capability. The head unit would be perfect if it had voice command and navigation control.

For now, I just use voice command and navigation from the iPhone Tom Tom though the bluetooth connection. I can also stream pandora though it, but the head does not control it like the alpine head can.

 

Another Trick... And this probably works best.

What we used to do at the shop when the owner was willing...

Sacrifice the original head unit. (You can get a replacement on ebay to cannibalize)Take it apart and get just the faceplate off of it. Now you will have holes for buttons etc... BUT you will have a perfect fit outer frame and shape. Measure and cut the din cage into where you want it. THEN use some wood to support the din cage from behind, and some thinner plywood to close the button holes from the back, Then close the holes with bondo and sand smooth.

For paint to look good you have to sand so there are no imperfections at 600 grit. You can use a high build primer for the final finishes, and wet sand.

SEM makes a texture spray but I think you're better off with just a satin or flat black paint.

Take care,

George

 

Wow! I did everything so that it is reversible just in case I messed up too badly. I feel like I have to have some kind of ceremony before I "sacrifice the original head" and upset the Jaguar spirits. I already had a few near heart attacks while doing all the stuff I already did.

Could I just use some kind of paint on molding material to get the internal shape of the mount and then somehow fill that in? Does such a molding material exist?

This is some scary stuff man....

 

Making a mold etc is way too much work unless you want to get into the Jag dash kit business....

And these stereos are cheap and plentiful, buy another if you do not wish to upset the Jaguar gods...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/98-99...fAudioQ5fVideo

You will probably have to sand down the nubs between the buttons, and the circle around the volume control, but like I said, it's the best way to go as far as building a base....

George