When I got to the part of the plugins page where it wanted to upload the files via ftp via localhost I thought nothing of it.

When I put the password in, something went wrong… I got a 500 internal misconfiguration error. I thought maybe it was just sending too many commands and I just needed to wait a few mins and refresh.. oh no..

the ftp  decided to change the permission on a folder I dont know which one, but it causes all php files on all of my domains to go down.  I ended up having to use a previous backup to restore the files and then use a current backup to push the new data.  It was crazy.

Moral of the story, backup before you do ANYTHING, no matter how small. (even when I say that, I didnt backup before doing the automatic wordpress updates..they usually do pretty good.)

Heres what the trunk looks like:

Its carpeted its nice.. but I couldnt use it without cutting into it.. so why not build something new?

I was originally looking at woodgrain, I have seen alot of people doing this.

It looks nice, but then I wanted to match the rest of the car, and I am not a big fan of the wood trim dash kits for this car.

I got to looking around for alternatives and I thought, whats tougher than diamondplate?

I headed to the store and couldnt find the size that I wanted..Eventually I found some at farm and home, of all places that would have been my last guess. Who would have known that diamondplate is so damn expensive! 2 sheets of 24″x46″ ran me 160 dollars. There was no room for mistakes here.

I also had to buy blades for my skill saw…which 2 of the 3 broke on the diamondplate.. I guess its expensive because its strong haha.

I had to buy hinges (shiney ones!) and self tapping screws for the cool look.

I started by taking the original carpet and creating a template on my 2 pieces of MDF board I got at menards.

I cut the mdf…easiest stuff to cut in the world.

I then transfered the pattern of the MDF onto the diamondplate, then cut it out with a jigsaw….holy crap was this time consuming…plus you couldnt make a mistake or the piece was scrap so this step took the longest.

I then started to add the MDF to the diamondplate. I used glue on the bottom of the plate and then around the edges I took socket style self tapping screws and screwed into the MDF for a more urban look and extra strength.

I then shoved it into the car and added the hinges and handles and this is the end result:

So I have a new car.. it has a nice stereo, but I wanted better. I found out that you could get a nav dash for around $200. For one, this is way expensive for a small peice of plastic..and the double din requires you to have to use not one but two adapters to get a double DIN to fit. This in my opinion was alot of border and alot of money. So like the DIY guy I was, I decided to mod the existing one.

Keep in mind, this isn’t fully done.. its a rough fit, and will be molded better once all the car audio parts arrive. I am missing an adapter still so the dash cant go on.

For starters, heres the dash I have:

Notice the knobs are sticking out on the radio? Yea.. that doesnt help in the ease of mod department.

I ordered the metra dash kit used to install in the navigation bezel to work from.

I took out the tray, cut the middle piece out with a dremel (per the metra instructions) and then cut the top and bottom part of the bezel off. This left me with this:

I cut right to the adapter part that bolts into the car. This will make it more flimsy but it should still hold up well inside the car. Notice how the screws are in the plate.. this isnt how its supposed to mount but it angles it up a bit to allow for better placement in the dash. I also plan on enforcing this better from the back inside the dash. (L brackets to rest on.)

I then had to dremel the dash to the appropriate size. I trimmed the left and right sides so the metra would just fit in snugly. The bottom I had to sand down even onto the heater panel. This was cutting it very very close.

Notice the top of the heater lost a bit of the plastic that holds it in. Its alright since its screwed on.

I then fit the radio in place to test fit:

It doesnt look the best. So at this point I needed a bezel. Since the dash is chrome, I went to the hardware store and picked up some chrome strips for cars. I found this will look pretty good.

Thin chrome for the top and bottom:

Thick chrome for the sides:

For those interested in how deep the dash is, its about the same as a standard DVD: