Monsoon Headunit Vinyl

[ndprunner22]

I have been thinking of this for a while and desided i wanted to paint my hu to match my silver radio trim
I weighed my options and desided to vinyl for the sake of masking
I think it turning out really ood but i need to put some more time into cleaing it up this took me 2 and half hours so i needed a break
pretty much i heated up a strip of vinyl really hot and stretched it across the hu
IT IS NOT FINSIHED AT THIS TIME THO!
How-to is coming if ppl like it

[KeyserSosa2000]

I really like it. I have a black deck that I'm putting into my car when I get home and it's got a white/silver display that would look killer with that vinyl. Lookin' forward to the how to.

[shadesofnight]

Not a big fan, but I applaud you for trying to come up with something new, and if you like it, then 'keep on rock-in' in the freee woooooooorld'.

[papiogagt]

if done right, it would look very cool.. i just don't know if it's possible to make vinyl do some of the things that would need to be done to make that look perfect.

[ndprunner22]

I got a metallic silver paint pen today and i decided to get all the little details...
I think it made it look a lot better and i plan on doing a little more to touch it up
I cant wait to see it with the new Silver HVAC

P.S Papio did u get my pm/email?

[bigbenSC]

Why don't you just paint the headunit it self? The face can be taken off, it requires some work though.

[airee85]

Wow, that looks really nice! Congrats on a very original idea. If I ever get a newer GA with that head unit and I make my dash silver, I would pay you to do that :-D

[papiogagt]

that's looking better!

btw - yes i did get the email, i will try here soon to reply to it. have to make a decision.

[ndprunner22]

Why don't you just paint the headunit it self? The face can be taken off, it requires some work though.

I would like to know exactly how because i took the whoel hu a part before i began...
the black faceplate pulls off along with the buttons and screen
what actually pulls out is the circuit board for the buttons and lcd so i decided not to u cant pull the circuitboard out anyways because there is 7 small wires soldered to the back

this is my findings...

either way i will be getting the how-to together this weekend hopefully

P.S Papio I Pmed u again

have you tried make the holes for the buttons smaller, then tucking in the extra vinyl with a exacto knife? maybe that would look cleaner if you could tuck in the excess instead of cutting it? worth a try at least..i think it would look better.

[blake]

that looks pretty badass...makes it seem like its almost molded into the thing itself

[DrFabulous]

I like it. For the time it took, tho, I *personally* would have taped and painted. But I do like the covering of the actual HU.

[02andahalfgt]

Originally Posted by wbkm85

that looks pretty badass...makes it seem like its almost molded into the thing itself

It's different, very original. Nice work.

[bigbenSC]

Originally Posted by ndprunner22

I would like to know exactly how because i took the whoel hu a part before i began...
the black faceplate pulls off along with the buttons and screen
what actually pulls out is the circuit board for the buttons and lcd so i decided not to u cant pull the circuitboard out anyways because there is 7 small wires soldered to the back

this is my findings...

either way i will be getting the how-to together this weekend hopefully

P.S Papio I Pmed u again

I took apart a 2004 Grand Prix HU, which is basically the samedesign as the 2001-2005 Grand Ams. There were small screws that attach the circuit board to the headunit. I unscrewed these and the face came off You have to be very careful of the small wires connecting the lcd to the board. I believe there were some other small wires connecting a smaller board for the buttons the the main board. I'm sorry, but I didn't take pics or anything when I did this. It can be done, just be careful!

[ndprunner22]

i pulled 2 of the screws out on the circuitboard and it appeared that the buttons are arranged so that they are being held in by the back of that circuitboard.
have u got the circuitboard completely off? because if u have i would like to see a pic if possible. thanks for the help i may be doing some more adjusting... if there is anyway to get that faceplate i would like the help thanks

[Braves299]

I think it's a cool idea!

[Crisco]

Originally Posted by shadesofnight

I applaud you for trying to come up with something new

At least you did something about it instead of just talking about it

[bigbenSC]

Originally Posted by ndprunner22

i pulled 2 of the screws out on the circuitboard and it appeared that the buttons are arranged so that they are being held in by the back of that circuitboard.
have u got the circuitboard completely off? because if u have i would like to see a pic if possible. thanks for the help i may be doing some more adjusting... if there is anyway to get that faceplate i would like the help thanks

Sorry, I haven't read this post in a while, I don't have any pics, but it will come off, I don't remember it being all that difficult to do. Maybe they have changed the mounting of the buttons between the time your HU was made and the GP one I took apart. Keep trying, the faceplate was separate from the rest of the HU when it was built, so it is possible to pull 'em apart.

[ndprunner22]

u took apart a gp one
thats totally different...

[bigbenSC]

Not really, they are the same design, look at a 2001+ GA and then look at a 2004 + GP without navigation or the in dash cd changer. Same thing, also look at the vibe, montana, sunfire, and bonneville. All have the same basic radio.