Stick mp3 player to base cubby shell?
 

Hello people, I am looking for a temporary fix till I invest in a sound system for my base model. I want to stick or (something) my iPod touch to the left side of the interior cubby shell or whatever its called, and hook it to the AUX with a small 3.5mm cable. So if I open the cubicle, the mp3 player would tilt up with the shell opening up.

I'm having a hard time just keeping the mp3 player loose on the center console by the gearbox.

Any suggestions? Are there some velcro iPod pouches or so that I can stick to the cubicle or something? Links to pics or websites appreciated.

Admin: If this should go in the interior mod part of the forum feel free to move. I wasn't sure.

Audio/Video would probably be the best place.

There's obviously not going to be anything specific to the Z for what you're doing here.

What I do with my iPhone is put it in the cup holder, but that does occasionally bug me with the cord running by my shifter.

Here's some I found on Apple's page...

Sena Premium Stand Case for iPod touch (2nd. Gen.) - Apple Store (U.S.)

Incase Clip Case for iPod touch (2nd Gen.) - Apple Store (U.S.)

Incase Leather Sleeve with Lanyard for iPod touch (2nd Gen.) - Apple Store (U.S.)

Incase Clip Case for iPod touch (2nd Gen.) - Apple Store (U.S.) looks like the best. Ideally, I want the screen to be visible so I can change tracks etc. Maybe something like those GPS thingies that hook on to the windshield.. aah that'd get too far to reach though!

http://www.the370z.com/exterior-inte...er-review.html

http://www.the370z.com/exterior-inte...s-proclip.html

http://www.the370z.com/audio-video/1...ris-mount.html

RAM makes a cradle for the various generation iPods... YOu could mount it to the inner tray with 2 screws or maybe Velco. It wouldn't tilt up though..
YOu can get these cradles at : Garmin GPS, RAM Mounts, Tomtom GPS, Lowrance GPS - GPS City Search "iPod". Ignore all the other stuff in this pic..That's a mount I make for Audi TT's

http://images108.fotki.com/v618/phot...MG_0933-vi.jpg

I think the proclip is cool, but I like to keep any mounts out of view when I'm not in the car. I've seen too many cars get busted into because thieves see a mount, they assume an ipod or gps unit is in the car and go for the smash and grab.

That incase clip could be good, is that clip large enough to clip onto the kneepad? Or would it fall off?

Perfect... thanks I think thats plenty of options right there in all those links!

To give you some ideas for mounting accessories in the cubby, here's what I did for my GPS:

I formed a block of florist's foam to take up the space in the back of the 370's cubby, strung the power cord out the back, and cut and painted a piece of foam core board as trim. The florist foam is snug fit to the cubby cavity and the GPS attaches to the foam with velcro. This allows me to switch the GPS between cars. I tapped the passenger 12VDC socket with a 12VDC extension from which I cut the plug end. The GPS power cord is plugged and taped to the extension socket (so that it can't back out). The extension and GPS power cord is then crammed up under the dash.

huh, that's pretty cool, charlie. nice job. :D

actually i was thinking about doing something like that too on mine. ive yet to use nav enough to justify buying one though. hahaha. (i use my blackberry).

that's pretty nice charlie. i've got a base model and i'd really like satnav (the gps on my sidekick 3g doesn't cut it), so looks like i'll be on the hunt for a garmin unit soon. the whole stealth factor of having the nav in the cubby pretty much sells me on it. even though the visibility isnt as good as say on the windshield, i think it'll be liveable. thanks for the idea!

I think the visability from the cubby vice the winshield is better. There is less glare and background light. I mounted mine in the cubby and works great. I bought the Garmin Nuvi 780 from Amazon last fall and love it. It's a discontinued model so the price has been slashed. List price is $699 but it's only $169. Awesome unit and using a SD memory card I stored about 60 music cd's on it that I play through my stereo via the accessory jack.

CharlieFoxtro you are a genius. You should make this into a kit and sell it on-line. I would be the first to buy one. I am serious. I am using a TomTom XXL540S which has a slightly bigger screen (5 inches as oppsed to the Nuvi 4.3). Do you think you are willing to make one for me and mail it. I will pay you for your time, materials, and shipping expenses. Let me know.
THX

+1, great install

No way! :) Because of the irregular dimensions of the cubbyhole, it was a PITA to shape the florist's foam. Lots of trial and error. You can do it with just a sharp bread or frozen food knife. It's actually pretty amateurish. I first tried using foam rubber but that wound up an unmitigated disaster. The florist's foam is also pretty messy; lots of foam dust to clean up. Spray painting it after you've shaped it ends the dust problem. While doing it, I though it would be great if someone, with a little more skill and manual dexterity than I have, would make a mold of the cubbyhole and sell cubby inserts and masks for different electronic toys. I'd buy one (or two)!

USNA94;

How did you mount yours?

And you're right. Mounting in the cubby does make for less glare. I switch the GPS to my VW Golf. I can't come up with a better idea on that car than an Arkon vent mount and there is almost always glare across the GPS unit's screen.

Got my two ProClip parts today. Paid $73 or so in all. Overly priced piece of plastic woth $20.. LOL... but yeah it fits my purpose just perfectly. :)

Charlie, here is the link to where I described how I mounted mine. Bit simpler than yours but think yours looks nicer. I need to make that frame like you have. Also, I didn't run my cables through the dash but out the front corner.
Overall, it's proven to be very stable and has never fallen out or moved around on me yet takes about 5 seconds to remove.

http://www.the370z.com/exterior-inte...tml#post330461

pouch for iPhone touch
 

If you need a velcro iPhod pouch for your mp3 player, you can buy it online. But you want to stick the mp3 to cubicle, i suggest you to buy a iPhone holder which can be place on glass or any desks. :iagree:

USNA94;

Thanks. That's sort of what I initially tried. I used cushion foam and tried to shape it to fit the cubby and cut a frame into it to hold the GPS unit. It didn't work out too well. Trying to cut intricate shapes into foam with an electric carving knife was just a bit too difficult!

I don't remember exactly how I got the power cable to the back of the cubby. I removed some of the console trim but I'm not sure whether it was really necessary to do so. I drilled the hole in the back of the cubby and then used what I had on hand, a venetian blind adjustment rod (a wooden dowel would do), pushed it through the hole until it poked out past the trim forward on the transmission hump, attached a string to it and pulled the string back to the hole in the cubby. Then I attached the power cord to the string at the transmission hump and pulled it through. I would have gone to the fuse panel for power but I didn't have a mini fuse tap on hand. I did have wire taps, so I tapped power and ground from the wires for the passenger 12VDC socket.

Didn't think about that. sounds good! I think i'm going to pick up a basic Garmin (255w perhaps, or something along those lines) with the text-to-speech (which i find necessary) and hardwire it somehow. I thought about going double-din Kenwood but honestly i don't really need the fuss of having a screen out for others to see when i am parked (thats why i like the cubbyhole). Too many worries already driving a Z, don't need another one =)

The Garmin 780 has text to speach. Also has the FM receiver to get weather, traffic, and gas prices. Works with my phone's bluetooth for hands free. Can't beat the discount price on Amazon either.
If you are going to use it to play music from the SD card through the accessories jack, recommend you buy the Belkin filtered cable to avoid RF squeal.

The 780 looks like a pretty good deal. How is the bluetooth hands free call quality with the GPS in the cubbyhole?

I have never had any complaints from those i'm speaking with but I do feel like I have to speak up a bit but maybe thats just me. From my end, listening to others speak it works great because long as I have the stereo source switched to "AUX" the call comes in through the stereo speakers and I can adjust the volume. It also sync'd with my Palm Pre's contact list with no issues.

Hey Foxtrot how did you manage to drill a clean hole in the cubby? Also, how easy or difficult was it to maneuver the rod/cable through the hole down the backside of the center console? I like what you've done and I'm trying to duplicate it but I'm a bit reluctant to start the project and never be able to finish it as cleanly as I want to.
Any tips are greatly appreciated.
THX

ZSPEED;

I just drilled a hole in the lower right corner of the cubby with the largest drill bit I have (1/2-inch) using a hand-operated drill. I probably then reamed the hole to clean it up and enlarge it a bit. See my post from 3/29/10 above for my description of how I fished the GPS power cord into the cubby. Sticking a long thin rod (I used a plastic venitian blind adjustment rod, but a wooden dowel or something similar would do). Just poke it through the drilled hole down and forward toward the transmission hump while gently pulling the trim above the transmission hump away from the carpet so that your fish rod can get out between the carpet and trim. I removed some of the trim around the the console when I was trying to figure how I was going to get the power cord up to the cubby (and make sure that I wouldn't be drilling into anything behind it), but I don't think you'll find it necessary to remove anything. Needless to say, just exercise caution when drilling to make sure you don't push the drill-bit in any further than you need to (especially if you are going to use a power drill)!

I think you'll find that drilling the hole and fishing the power cord up to the cubby is really pretty easy. The thing I found most frustrating was shaping the foam for a good fit. Note that you'll need to cut a channel for the power cord and space for the plug where it plugs into the back of the GPS unit (or wherever it plugs into your GPS). My GPS unit's speaker is at back side of the unit and I carved an air space in the foam there. I initially left a gap in the foam-core board trim around the unit for sound but found that it wasn't really necessary. Sound level and clarity is just fine with the foam-core covering the speaker airspace.

Hey, you might even come up with something better than florist's foam for mounting a GPS unit in the cubby. See USNA94's post from 3/26/10 above for what he did. If I remember correctly, months ago I saw a post where someone had constructed a bracket or brackets in metal for mounting a GPS or something similar. I didn't go that way because it meant several drill holes in the cubby and I don't have the tools, materials or skill to work metal like that. Once you figure out how you want to mount your GPS, fishing the power cord up to the cubby is the easy part. If you're afraid you won't be able to finish it cleanly, don't be. You'll do it in stages. Make the mount first. When you're happy with it, drill and fish. After you've got the power cord to the cubby, get the 12 VDC extension cord and tap either at the fuse box or at the passenger's accessory outlet like I did. I too am leery about getting in over my head or modifying the car so that it's no longer exactly like it came from the factory. In this case, I figure the worst I did was drill a hole in the back of the cubby and I could always throw a rubber plug into it. I chose florist's foam because I wouldn't be doing anything that couldn't be undone. It took me a couple of tries to get it shaped, but succeed or fail, the only clean-up is done with a vacuum cleaner. :)

Charlie, thanks man!

Future advice Charlie, use smaller drill bits to start out so there is not as much clean up to do to the hole. Or use a dremel.

Drilling the hole wasn't all that messy. It's the !@#$% florist's foam that created all the mess! Until I got a coat of spray paint on it, it produced tons of crunchy little bits of foam dust. :)

Proclip ordered (bad edit) lol

So my proclip $73 investment has been doing great, just that apple ipod touch 4th generation is out and its dimensions are a little lesser than the 3rd generation . .. . anyone given this a thought, or is it still gonna fit in anyway?

I've had my Proclip in my Z for a few months now and I love it. I bought the adjustable holder since they were still working on a phone specific mount for my phone (Epic 4g). It will fit a 3G or 4G iPhone just fine. I got a deal through a guy from the androidforums and got my base and mount for $68 shipped with the adjustable tilt/swivel mount.