Let me know what you think...
10-24-2005, 06:35 PM
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Let me know what you think...(pics fixed) Well, I finally got around to installing my head unit this weekend...it is the first of many pieces to go into the car (as money allows...). The unit is a Kenwood Excelon XXV-01D 25th Anniversary....thingamabob 
I had Mark from HUmount.com/maptech make me a custom faceplate/mount. There are several neat things about it.
First, he used "correct" Camaro font. There isn't a little tab going from the centers of A's and O's down to the rest of the sheet...he milled out the center pieces and epoxied them onto the lexan. I believe that this is the first time that he has tried this for a customer
We used both clear and red lexan for the lit portion of the mount.
It came with a white led strip.
Custom lettering/slp logo/etc...fun stuff!
(See pic 1 below)
I was looking at pictures of other people's installs using these mounts. In every case, when backlit, there was a glow between the edge of the mount and the HU. That is because the majority of the mount is made with translucent plastic. As such, I took mine apart and painted all potentially exposed faces white (to preserve the color...I was afraid that if I painted a black base coat, the lettering would take on a gray cast). After a few coats of white, I painted the outside black. This way you wont see a silly white stripe around the hu.
Notice that the ONLY light you see is coming out of the lettering/hu and/or reflected off of the plastic bezel. Also...ignore the retarded standby wallpaper that is up...once I figure out how to configure this thing, it will look more "clean"
(See pic 2 below)
The last thing that I did was take the metal faceplate and fillpaint the edge stripe, SLP, and the numbers with red paint to make them stand out. I think that it looks great But...I might go back and repaint those areas with a matte red rather than gloss. I apologize for the quality of the pic...it was very dark when I got done last night and it was a little awkward holding a flashlight and keeping a camera steady at the same time 
The other thing that I was thinking about doing was painting the stripe white...but I chickened out when I thought about how many coats it would take to fill paint that to the point where it would look good.
(See pic 3 below)
I wanted to say a big public thank you to Mark from humount for working on this for me. I know that he destroyed a few faceplates before he got it "right". I appreciate the work!
This is the first audio mod that I have done to a car. It is also the first appearance mod...not counting blackened headlights and a gauge pod in my buick prior to shelling a piston or three... Anyway...its been fun Let me know what you think of it.
EDIT: I can't get my cardomain links to work right...so I am going to attach the pics here instead. Sorry about that!
I had Mark from HUmount.com/maptech make me a custom faceplate/mount. There are several neat things about it.
First, he used "correct" Camaro font. There isn't a little tab going from the centers of A's and O's down to the rest of the sheet...he milled out the center pieces and epoxied them onto the lexan. I believe that this is the first time that he has tried this for a customer
We used both clear and red lexan for the lit portion of the mount.
It came with a white led strip.
Custom lettering/slp logo/etc...fun stuff!
(See pic 1 below)
I was looking at pictures of other people's installs using these mounts. In every case, when backlit, there was a glow between the edge of the mount and the HU. That is because the majority of the mount is made with translucent plastic. As such, I took mine apart and painted all potentially exposed faces white (to preserve the color...I was afraid that if I painted a black base coat, the lettering would take on a gray cast). After a few coats of white, I painted the outside black. This way you wont see a silly white stripe around the hu.
Notice that the ONLY light you see is coming out of the lettering/hu and/or reflected off of the plastic bezel. Also...ignore the retarded standby wallpaper that is up...once I figure out how to configure this thing, it will look more "clean"
(See pic 2 below)
The last thing that I did was take the metal faceplate and fillpaint the edge stripe, SLP, and the numbers with red paint to make them stand out. I think that it looks great
But...I might go back and repaint those areas with a matte red rather than gloss. I apologize for the quality of the pic...it was very dark when I got done last night and it was a little awkward holding a flashlight and keeping a camera steady at the same time The other thing that I was thinking about doing was painting the stripe white...but I chickened out when I thought about how many coats it would take to fill paint that to the point where it would look good.(See pic 3 below)
I wanted to say a big public thank you to Mark from humount for working on this for me. I know that he destroyed a few faceplates before he got it "right". I appreciate the work!
This is the first audio mod that I have done to a car. It is also the first appearance mod...not counting blackened headlights and a gauge pod in my buick prior to shelling a piston or three... Anyway...its been fun
Let me know what you think of it.EDIT: I can't get my cardomain links to work right...so I am going to attach the pics here instead. Sorry about that!
Last edited by umrjmac; 10-24-2005 at 09:55 PM.
something didn't work right I see pretty white boxes with red X's in them 
10-28-2005, 09:09 PM
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Sweet! ! !
By the way, for those intersted in this, the website is at
http://maptechenterprises.netfirms.c...alog/index.php
Took me a bit to find it. The humount.com/ thing above, didn't work well.
Starts around $40+ for these. . .pretty nice deal! ! !
Duff
By the way, for those intersted in this, the website is at
http://maptechenterprises.netfirms.c...alog/index.php
Took me a bit to find it. The humount.com/ thing above, didn't work well.
Starts around $40+ for these. . .pretty nice deal! ! !
Duff
Last edited by Duffster; 10-30-2005 at 12:00 AM.
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11-01-2005, 07:18 PM
#12
Staging Lane
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Sorry I missed the new replies to this critter. 
Thank you for the feedback, I appreciate it.
To answer your 98 boxer's question, when I soldered up the wiring harness adapter for the HU, I soldered the black wire from the light bar to the ground wire, and then I soldered the red wire to the "dimmer" line. Basically, now it is lit up whenever the headlights are on and off otherwise.
Thank you for the feedback, I appreciate it.
To answer your 98 boxer's question, when I soldered up the wiring harness adapter for the HU, I soldered the black wire from the light bar to the ground wire, and then I soldered the red wire to the "dimmer" line. Basically, now it is lit up whenever the headlights are on and off otherwise.
11-01-2005, 07:29 PM
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that looks VERY nice man. 
could you take a look at my thread in this section and see if you think that headunit will work with this mounting bracket, since you have first hand experience with the bracket.
i hope it will work, i'm just scared the face plate may be too big, and also because it moves and what not
could you take a look at my thread in this section and see if you think that headunit will work with this mounting bracket, since you have first hand experience with the bracket.
i hope it will work, i'm just scared the face plate may be too big, and also because it moves and what not
11-01-2005, 08:57 PM
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My HU has a motorized faceplate as well, so I do not think that is a concern.
That JVC is a single DIN unit, so it should work with that mounting kit.
With that kit, you have to remove the rubber/plastic piece that surrounds the face of it (just snaps in), but I think this is typical...even if you used a normal mount kit, you would need to do that. Really, if you have any questions about it, I would use the form at http://www.humount.com/ to ask the question. In my case, Mark emailed me back within 24 hours and we went to town designing the thing.
That JVC is a single DIN unit, so it should work with that mounting kit.
With that kit, you have to remove the rubber/plastic piece that surrounds the face of it (just snaps in), but I think this is typical...even if you used a normal mount kit, you would need to do that. Really, if you have any questions about it, I would use the form at http://www.humount.com/ to ask the question. In my case, Mark emailed me back within 24 hours and we went to town designing the thing.
11-01-2005, 09:28 PM
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Originally Posted by umrjmac
My HU has a motorized faceplate as well, so I do not think that is a concern.
That JVC is a single DIN unit, so it should work with that mounting kit.
With that kit, you have to remove the rubber/plastic piece that surrounds the face of it (just snaps in), but I think this is typical...even if you used a normal mount kit, you would need to do that. Really, if you have any questions about it, I would use the form at http://www.humount.com/ to ask the question. In my case, Mark emailed me back within 24 hours and we went to town designing the thing.
That JVC is a single DIN unit, so it should work with that mounting kit.
With that kit, you have to remove the rubber/plastic piece that surrounds the face of it (just snaps in), but I think this is typical...even if you used a normal mount kit, you would need to do that. Really, if you have any questions about it, I would use the form at http://www.humount.com/ to ask the question. In my case, Mark emailed me back within 24 hours and we went to town designing the thing.
yea, i had already written him thru the site..just waiting on his response
11-01-2005, 09:40 PM
#16
Staging Lane
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Check out this link...I think that is the same unit
http://maptechenterprises.netfirms.c...album=13&pos=0
http://maptechenterprises.netfirms.c...album=13&pos=0
11-01-2005, 09:43 PM
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Originally Posted by umrjmac
Check out this link...I think that is the same unit
http://maptechenterprises.netfirms.c...album=13&pos=0
http://maptechenterprises.netfirms.c...album=13&pos=0
dude, you're awesome. THANK YOU
i tried finding some customer's pics, but i think i was just on the hunmount.com site.
