Alberick

Just to give you a follow-up about my idea to put a Japanese double DIN unit in my MY99 Euro Impreza.
All I can say is : IT works!! You just need the contour from an US/Jap/Aussie Impreza that fits perfectly in the Euro centre console.
The 3 buttons for headlamp height, washer and bright button can be moved near the mirror control/fog lamp buttons.

The only problem is that my old european JVC head unti doesn't fit anymore as the size is larger (184*55) than the usual 178*100 double din or 178*50 single din units. And the silver alloy or steel plate that holds the heater controls can slightly be seen, but this is just a minor problem and can be fixed easily by either painting it black or adding some plastic to the contour.

If somebody is interested, I can post pictures, although I don't have the Jap double DIN unit yet....

Hos

iTrader: (1)

can you post some pics please?

chiark

Post pics, yes! I'll link to this from ICE, too, when you do.

This is an excellent solution for getting something like empeg and another head unit in the dash!

Nick.

Alberick

Ok guys,

pics will follow sometime this weekend.....

Ramon

Alberick

Oh,

here are the pics....

As you can see I made the cables longer and relocated the 2 headlamp controls near the mirror adjustment button. The buttons fit perfectly in the 2 free slots there, the Bright button had to go as it's totally uselmess (I'm thinking to put in in the "For Sale" section, maybe an unfortunate jap-spec owner desperatley wants one....)


The close up of the heater controls, you can see that in an European model the heater controls are more "inwards", therefore the metal surrouding plate is visible, I was thinking of removing it and spray it black, but I had the whole dash in pieces....no way to remove that metal plate, if somebody knows, thanks for letting me know.

The whole center trim, as you can see there's enough space now for a double DIN unit, notably the Panasonic CQ-VX7700D that I would like to put....unfortunately I made myself some scratches on some places which I have to remove now....so be careful when you work on your dash and always use towels to protect it....

If anybody has further questions, let me know

Hos

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for putting pics up. Doesn't look like i wanted it to but still looks good.

How could you do away with the bright button! shocking!! Don't you know its a "hidden" switch for turning the underwater capabilities on.

Alberick

Hos,

How did you want it to look then? Do you know of any other custom dashboards that I'm not aware of? IF so, please let me know or post pics.

Well, except from the heater controls it looks like a japanese, aussie or US interior now.

chiark

That looks *very* smart!

I see what you mean now about moving the switches - the sizes of the blanks are the same as the switches? That's excellent.

...but where will you keep your coins

Where did you get the surround from? I have a Cunning Plan involving hacking an LCD panel into the car...

Alberick

Chiark,

Yup, the size of the blanks is *exactly* the size of the switches. No enlarging needed, they just go in as if they were destined to be there..... same goes for the blanks near the foglamp switches (if you don't have an I/C spray there already). As for my coins I prefer keeping them in my wallet...I hate metallic rattle sounds in my car..there's already enough rattling of other stuff...you know what I mean.

You can order these parts from www.1stsubaruparts.com. If you think about doing it, there are just some problems, like I said before, the heater controls are somehow too much in the inside and be careful when you remove the ashtray, there's some special trick on the opening/closing mechanism as I can't fit it back correctly.

Anyway, good luck,
Ramon

chiark

Cheers Ramon, at least I know it's *possible*! I'll keep my eyes peeled for one closer to home...