It starts with the centre dash, as always.
<img>Image Coming Soon.jpg</img>
The basic idea is to be able to mount a phone in a removable (Or non-removable) manner into the flap that drops down over the storage box between the two centre air vents, allowing you to still use the storage box behind for sunglasses etc. Into the trim piece on either side of the stereo head unit assembly
For what I'm thinking, there's two ways for this to work. I could either have the phone clip in to the front so the phone sits against the front of the fascia, or have the mount submerged so the screen of the phone is flush with the surface of the fascia, and I'm leaning towards the latter, as a purely aesthetic decision - also that would be the most complicated possible option (A worst-case scenario)
For mounting it in (For either case), the micro USB/pain-in-the-neck proprietary port would have to hinge (in a similar way to the buttons) out. There would be some sort of clip on the far side of the phone to hold it in place securely.
Materials I'd be using for the build if it gets to that stage:
- Stainless steel rods for moving/hinge parts; no thicker than 1mm diameter should be enough
- 3D Printer Plastic
- Wiring to suit device and use case
Wish List of (hardware) Features by mount type:
- Removable Phone Car Kit: for when your Phone doubles as a daily driver
- 3.5mm stereo audio out (To Aux-In) w/ microphone support?
- USB charging or to connect to Grom USB or aftermarket HU
- Reversion to stock without much hassle
- Fixed Kit: for when the device to be mounted is supposed to stay in the vehicle
- 3.5mm Stereo Audio out (To Aux-In) w/ microphone support?
- USB charging or to connect to Grom USB or aftermarket HU
- Front-mounted USB In - Use USB Flash drives and a file manager to transfer media to/from devices supporting USB OTG (Mostly just Android do this at this point)
- Reversion to stock without much hassle
Modifications required to the dash assembly:
The existing fascia will have to be removed and replaced with the new fascia plate, cabling will need to be run in to the back of the dash, and from there to different parts of the car as required to make everything work.
If you guys have any suggestions to add to this, feel free to post them up here, I'll check in every now and then with some progress. I've mocked up a basic surround for the iPhone 6 (My current Daily Driver phone), which I can easily expand upon to suit the space available in front of the flap.