pistacio

iTrader: (1)

I’ve been away from the community for a while, my first house, wife, and first born have been taking all my time.

Finally made some time to do something I’ve been long wanting to do, just thought I’d share this project, although I’m not the first to do it.

What turned me off from installing a tablet in the dash a couple of years ago was the fact that the factory nav had the heat controls built in. I finally did some more thorough research and stumbled upon an eBay listing for a non-nav climate control, with the two knobs. I noticed the plugs in the back were exactly the same as the nav version (without fan control) so I dropped the $20 on the used non-nav climate control.

back of Nav heat control panel:



Non-nav climate control:



After tearing into the dash, I plugged it in and everything worked as it should. Fan speed, Temp, Vent control, everything! So now I decided to relocate my headunit, install the non-nav climate control, and get the tablet in the factory nav location. Here’s a before pic:



I needed just a bit more space for the climate control so I dremeled the steel chassis in one corner:





Quick fitment check:



Up next, mounting. Used an existing hole on the left with a tube sleeve (cut a bic pen body to the right length) behind the climate control, made a hole on the right for an “L” bracket:

behind left side



right side





I decided the easiest way to tie in the climate control and make a headunit mount was to buy a metra double-din kit and modify it (dont have any pics of the cuts i made):



(climate control mounts circled)



Next, I tackled removing the ugly black knobs in favor of a knurled machined knob, which took some modification by opening up the holes in the climate control:











Now I turned to the tablet mounting. I lined the nav opening with sticky backed-foam (leftover from a home A/C unit, lol). Trimmed off the excess(no pic of trimming):



I bent up some brackets for the tablet to sit against using the nav unit mounting points, the dash bezel holds the tablet up against these when snapped in:



drilled a hole on the right for the usb cable, bought a right angle adapter for the 3.5mm jack for audio:





Made a faceplate (I’m a machinist, it comes in handy):



The rest was just assembling things in the right order to complete the job, which was a pain. I’m extremely happy with the end result though:





Looks OEM, which was the goal I was shooting for.

Project cost:
Non-nav climate control $20

Nexus 7 2013 $95 (used-eBay)- bought it with a pattern lock, wiped it, unlocked the bootloader, used Fastboot to enable power on when powered, flashed Elemental X kernel, and CleanROM. Using Tasker App for power off when ignition off. I ran the usb cable to the OBD opening and left it near the power port for easy plug in and access to a laptop if I need to flash anything later on.

Knobs $3.50

Audio adapter $6

Krylon satin rubbed bronze metallic for the faceplate $4. scuffed with scotchbrite to dull it a little more to match the dash.

Usb cable- free (from another device)

double din kit $13

Total- $141.50
Less than the cost of a factory Acura Nav update disc with a ton more features!

dwmead86

This is pretty awesome. I've seen someone put a tablet of some kind in the nav screen location before. I think they kept their stock hvac controls? im not sure. Either way, nicely done! I wouldnt mind doing this.

dwmead86

Found it. This person did the exact opposite as you. He had a non nav tl, got the dash trim and climate controls from a nav model, and did the same thing. https://acurazine.com/forums/perform...et-mod-857257/

pistacio

iTrader: (1)

I saw that thread also, but the main difference is that I was able to keep fan speed and vent control by using a non-nav climate control box. His setup doesn't allow any control over the vents (I hate heat blasting in my face, lol) and limited control over fan speed, he has to play with the temperature. Still a good job though, much simpler.

dwmead86

Yeah, I read that after i posted the link :-/. I spent the rest of the day day dreaming about what would be required to code a custom app to restore those controls. lol

pistacio

iTrader: (1)

That was my thought a few years ago, but then I decided to just look at the plugs in the back of the A/C unit to see if they matched, and they did. $20 for the used climate control wasn't a big deal if it didn't work.

coopcoop30

I have had a similar idea using a 7" touch screen from eBay and a rasberrypi. This is excited great and it looks awesome man.

QuickTL07

Wow very cool, I had windows 8 tablet in my car 11.6" but I had an Audi before i got my 07 TL which was this Monday ! I'm not big in to tuning cars, but I love car audio and defiantly i will post a blog up here once i start on it.

QuickTL07

I didn't build this, but I'm thinking about it, the only question is, I have Navi, and i plan on taking that out, I'm also planing on buying oem radio to have extra connectors or AC and heat stuff, I plan on integrating a Windows 8 Tablet in my 07 TL

2008 Acura TL SQ Audio/ Tablet build( Ground Zero , Mosconi, Arc Audio - Car Audio | DiyMobileAudio.com | Car Stereo Forum

tlacurawhite

Very Interesting work.

jerzyboi2

My project is getting there

jerzyboi2

Screen on


Screen off