Hit the trim pieces with a bit of satin black plastic texture paint:
Here's the mounting surface prepared for the final trim piece. I wanted to flush-mount everything as much as possible w/ the horseshoe, so I left the thick snap-bezel trim in place (arrow) around the kenwood as a 'mounting surface, because it provided the spacing I needed to space the final trim forward and up flush with the dash horseshoe.
Slap on some white medium-thick 3m double-sticky stuff and were' just about ready to wrap things up.
Ok, back to finishing up the mount for the 'stealth' cover.
I used a thin piece of abs and heat-bent it to 90 degrees, then double-stick taped it to the back of the Metra.
The thin plastic "L" slides in to the thin gap beween the top of the DVD screen and my bezel trim, and since it is plastic it will not scratch anything. once I am satisfied that I have the "L" stuck in the right spot on the blank I will final-glue it with some 2-part black epoxy.
Kenwood NAV/DVD, custom bezel and AC control mod- finished!
And with the 'stealth' cover applied:
I'm pleased with how it turned out, this was definitely a fun project. Spent this evening cruising up to Malibu and then to Santa Monica bumpin the music vids
NOTE: the easiest and cleanest way to cut ABS plastic is as follows:
1. mark measurement points on the front side of your work with the tip of a heavy duty utility razor knife. if you cut from the back side, you will have frayed edges on the front of your work.
2. use a metal ruler and lightly draw the line between your measurement marks on the front side of your work. re-trace the line several times against the ruler to make the initial cut channel.
3. firmly go over the cut line several times with the razor knife with increasing pressure until you are cut about 3/4 through the ABS.
4. outer-edge cuts, you can bend and snap off the pieces leaving a clean front cut line, and probably will not need to sand anything. -Or, if you have the patience continue scoring until you cut all the way through.
5. inside-opening cuts you will need to score until you cut all the way through, and make your scores from corner of each line toward center so as not the end up with 'crows feet' marks on the face at each corner junction. If you have a very steady hand you can use a good jigsaw and very fine-cut blade.
This method takes patience but yields the cleanest cut results. Of course, this assumes you do not have access to a stand-up scrolling band saw.
