# AVIC-Z110 in a New Beetle



## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

This is a car I've been working on this weekend. It's for a customer who had an AVIC-F500BT integrated with his factory system by us (after another shop couldn't get it to work). He didn't really like it much, had some minor issues with reception problems for the GPS antenna and stuff.

He's previously had an AVIC-Z1 and Z2, so the 500 just wasn't getting it done for him. So, he decided to move up to the new Z series...only it doesn't fit in the dash...yet. 

Also, apparently whoever worked on it before we redid the 500BT install, didn't know how to take a New Beetle apart, because the plastic inner piece of the dash bezel had been hot glued back together, and I found a few other tabs where parts of the dash screwed in that had been "fixed," too.

Now, It's not done yet, but it's close and I should have it in the car on Monday...but here's what's up:

Here's what I started with:










Notice the switches for the rear defrost and the 4ways below the heater controls. To get the head unit in there the way I was planning, it was not feasible for them to remain down there...you'd hit your hand on them when you put the car in park. so they are getting relocated to either side of the head unit.



















The customer had been quoted $1400 to redo the dash and install the Z110 by 2 different shops. Honestly, not *that* unreasonable considering the amount of work it's been. The guy that was covering my shop while we were busy a couple of weeks ago quoted this guy $500 to do it!

We aren't painting it to match the car or anything (what I'd *like* to do) we're just rolling with SEM Texture Coat and Satin black paint.
Just like the customer wants...

I'll post more in depth pics once I get the thing done...

Jay


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## King Nothing (Oct 10, 2005)

Nice work. It looks like you took 2 dash bezels and grafted them together??


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

Actually, I cut the original in half horizontally just above the bottom of the radio opening and plastic welded in a whole bunch of hand cut and fitted ABS.

Jay


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## 2fnloud (Sep 30, 2007)

Jay,

That looks incredible! can you post up some side photos, I am curious to see how the bottom part now wider integrates to the dash.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

2fnloud said:


> Jay,
> 
> That looks incredible! can you post up some side photos, I am curious to see how the bottom part now wider integrates to the dash.












That's from the side, early on in the build.

I'll get some more once it's done. It fits very nicely.
The dash bezel screws in to factory mounting spots.

Jay


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## Brian_smith06 (Jan 31, 2008)

this is inspirational for me to install a double din in my car now 


great work


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

It's the wave of the future 
Actually, a double din in a '04 cavalier doesn't require much work. some cutting of plastic behind the radio, maybe a little filing of the radio opening if it's motorized face, and a dash kit.

Jay


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## BettaJetta (Aug 24, 2009)

Very nice work! I like this idea.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

The only other one I found pics of online where someone put a double din in a new Beetle they went up and modded the top of the dash, where I went downward and left the top of the dash alone. They also molded in Audi TT vents up top, and they looked like they were angles up toward the sunroof.
Actually, the whole thing reminded me of a frog with a square mouth croaking.
The advantage I see of doing it my way was that I don't have to redo any of the vent structure besides all the other work I had to do. It also looks ALOT more factory and attracts much LESS attention from the wrong element.

Here's the other one:










Jay


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## Brian_smith06 (Jan 31, 2008)

JayinMI said:


> It's the wave of the future
> Actually, a double din in a '04 cavalier doesn't require much work. some cutting of plastic behind the radio, maybe a little filing of the radio opening if it's motorized face, and a dash kit.
> 
> Jay


oh really? expect this in the future then 


and again great work, i cant wait to see this finished


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

2fnloud said:


> Jay,
> 
> That looks incredible! can you post up some side photos, I am curious to see how the bottom part now wider integrates to the dash.


Like this:










and this:












Jay


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

OK...I had it in the car....and then it had to come back out....and then I broke it. 

I had a brain fart and went off the bill and used a 40VW10 *non-amplified* VW antenna adapter...which means No AM...so I had to pull it back out. I had the radio leaning on a piece of carpet while I switched it for the correct 40VW54 *amplified* VW antenna adapter, it shifted, one of the lower corners caught on the heater controls and broke the bottom mount.

I fixed it, then re sanded the whole thing to fix a few spots I wasn't happy with and repainted it.

Here's some random build pics:

Started here:










Cut here:










Attached trim ring:










Added supports to hold it's shape:










Made templates for my filler pieces:


















Cut them out of ABS:










(They kind of look like Boston Terriers, don't they?  )

Bonded together:










...


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

Cut out the spots for the buttons from the original piece:










and bonded them in place:










(and some misc filler ABS to finish her off)

Then some body work:










Added a "bump" to blend into the piece to the left of the bezel:










Here she is nearly done:










In the car (before the repaint)



















Should have it back in tomorrow after the paint is dry and I attach everything back up.

Oh, I cut and relocated the mount for the heater controls to fit the new bezel. I basically cut off the mounting piece and use 2 pieces of ABS (1 on each side) screwed together to put it where I wanted.

Jay


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## eskateboarding7 (Mar 18, 2009)

My God that looks incredible! 100% factory finish IMO. What did you use to bond the plastic pieces together?


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

ABS dust (made by sanding an ABS sheet w/ 80 grit on my DA) and 2sec fast set CA glue. Fill the small gaps with the dust, and add a little of the glue, and it melts everything together. I learned this trick a while ago, and it works well.
Alot of people use Duramix 4040 and suck, but it's pricey, plus requires a special guy and tips...this is much less expensive 

Jay


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## averyrm (Sep 19, 2009)

Nice fab work! How do you like the AVIC Z series?


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

Haven't gotten to play with it much, but my Salesman has one in his car. It's REALLY fast...compared to the X910 and stuff...It has some cool features and the user interface is sweet. If I were interested in replacing my F90, it'd be with one of these.

Jay


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## scarabY2k (Jun 8, 2013)

Stellar work!
I'm gonna do this. Thanks for such a great writeup.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

No problem. That was one of my favorite projects I've done, because I've only ever found pics of one other double din in a new Beetle, and his was done differently and very flashy. I liked this because it looks pretty stock.

Sorry I didn't get any pics of how I mounted the HU in there. Can't remember if I mounted it to plastic inner dash support ISO style or if I made brackets. It was a long time ago. lol

Here's some other pics I found I took during the install:







In the last pic you can see that I used some ABS and screwed it in strategically to lower the heater controls.

Hope this helps. Didn't get any pics of the radio mounting, but I think I used back braces in the ISO holes mounted to the 2 screw holes on either side of the radio, and then a couple more lower screwed in to plastic to hold it in place. It was solid.

Jay


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## scarabY2k (Jun 8, 2013)

Thanks for the additional pics Jay. 
So, how did you determine how low to mount the A/C controls? 

Oh, and where did you pick up your ABS plastic? I wanna make sure I'm getting good quality materials. 

Lastly (for now-lol), can you recall the exact name of the ABS glue you used.

you've set the pattern Jay...I wanna follow it verbatim. 

Was this your new beetle or did you do this job for someone else? Can't get over how sweet it turned out.

If there's space remaining underneath, I'm gonna utilize the old switch pod, I'm thinking about using some lighted rocker switches for some LED lighting I've got planned.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

scarabY2k said:


> Thanks for the additional pics Jay.
> So, how did you determine how low to mount the A/C controls?



To be honest, I kind of winged it and got lucky. I moved everything pretty much 2" straight down. I attached the abs to the support structure that was still attached to the car, and then basically carefully measured and mounted it to the pieces of ABS I used. It wasn't hard. 





scarabY2k said:


> Oh, and where did you pick up your ABS plastic? I wanna make sure I'm getting good quality materials.


We had it at work. I believe it came from American Terminal and Supply, which has recently gone out of business, as I understand it. We now get ours from someplace else, but it's the same stuff. Installbay maybe? It comes from our main warehouse and they do the ordering. So I'm not 100% sure. It was 1/8" if that helps.




scarabY2k said:


> Lastly (for now-lol), can you recall the exact name of the ABS glue you used.


It's a common CA glue from hobby shops. I forget the brand name, because the company that makes it labels it for it's customers, so ours has our shop brand on it. I just looked it up, and it appears to be InstaCure. I used the purple (gap filling) to tack things in place and blue (thin) with ABS dust to bond things together.



scarabY2k said:


> Was this your new beetle or did you do this job for someone else? Can't get over how sweet it turned out.
> 
> If there's space remaining underneath, I'm gonna utilize the old switch pod, I'm thinking about using some lighted rocker switches for some LED lighting I've got planned.


Thanks. It was for a customer who had originally had another shop install his AVIC-F500BT and he didn't like it. He has since moved to Las Vegas.

I relocated the buttons to the side of the radio because when I initially left them on the bottom of the piece, I would hit them with my fist when shifting in to park.

Jay


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

By the way, you don't need a lot of the blue CA glue to get the reaction going. It will start to smoke and YOU DO NOT WANT TO BREATHE THOSE FUMES. It's like nerve gas. No joke. It physically made my sinuses hurt.

Jay


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## scarabY2k (Jun 8, 2013)

LOL...winging it sometimes is the most technical savvy way to go

Pardon my ignorance, but what is "CA", glue-wise?


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## scarabY2k (Jun 8, 2013)

JayinMI said:


> By the way, you don't need a lot of the blue CA glue to get the reaction going. It will start to smoke and YOU DO NOT WANT TO BREATHE THOSE FUMES. It's like nerve gas. No joke. It physically made my sinuses hurt.
> 
> Jay


Thanks for the heads up on the fumes. I need to save every brain cell that I can


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

scarabY2k said:


> LOL...winging it sometimes is the most technical savvy way to go
> 
> Pardon my ignorance, but what is "CA", glue-wise?


It's Cyanoacrylate. Basically, it's Super Glue.
The gap filling purple stuff is a little thicker and takes about 15 seconds to set up, the blue thin stuff is the consistency of water...for about 2 seconds.

You typically use an accelerator to get the gap-filling stuff to "kick" faster. You don't want to use it when using ABS dust and CA glue to bond parts.

Jay


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