so i got myself a Z4 last month and decided i needed to intergrate my ipod/iphone into the car, ive seen examples of people putting the cables inbetween the seats or having the ipod connector in the glove box which seemed quite a fuss if u do lots of short journeys. so after some searching around i came across the spec dock which would do the job pefectly but at $150 i couldnt bring myself to spend that on a piece of plastic with a cable so...
i decided to use the excisting ciggerette tray and modify it to hold my iphone
1: after searching my house for some sutable plastic i decided to use the back of an old DVD case to make the base, its stiff enough to do the job and fits in quite well with the plastic dash board. couldnt think of a way of making a mould so decided to start with a rough shape and shave it down till i got a tight fit. i did however draw around my shape and will try at somepoint to get a scale picture of the cut-out if anyone is interested. i used my dremmel to shave and sand down the edge but it can be cut with a sharp knife.
after playing around for a bit i decided to create a lip on the back of the cigetette tray to hold the cut out in place, to do this i just cut a strip of leftover DVD case and glued it in line with the front edge.
so now to hold and connect the ipod... on ebay i ordered a
UNIVERSAL DOCK ADAPTOR and a,
DOCK STATION EXTEND CABLE (it had the squeeze clips on the connector but my iphone seemed to pull of easily so i didnt have to remove the prongs) *EDIT (MAKE SURE YOU GET ONE WITH AUDIO AND CHARGING SUPPORT. THE REALLY CHEAP ONES ONLY CHARGE)
these parts ended up costing me like £ 6 with delivery
i prepared the dock adaptor by cutting off all the spare plastic clips to leave just the ipod cup ( decided to cut more off after this picture was taken
i next took the cut out made earlier and marked a hole in the centre to take the adaptor and started cutting wih a sharp knife then dremmel, again i just got the rough shape and shaved the edges until it fitted. then with some apoxy i glued it in place (got some run over as im glue friendly, was able to chip most of it off once it dried)
with the dock made i connected the ipod to the extention cable with the dock inbetween and used a mixture of glue and left over plastic to glue the extention cable to the base of the dock. im guessing there is a better way to do this but it seemed to work
while that was drying i cut a hole in the bottom of the ashtray for the cable to slide through, had to make the cut far enough forward as to not create any tention when put together. then with a few pieces of double sided sticky tape connected the dock to the cigerette tray and attached it to my car
it isnt anything too fancy but does the job while looking neat and tidy, the phone does sit quite high and does touch the base of the dash board. if i was to try again i would proberly move the cradle as far forward (towards the gear stick) so to get a bit more of an angle when the iphone is connected. although if you have an ipod nano or shuffle this wont be a problem.
ive drove on some rough roads and it doesnt rattle against the dash board so im happy
EDIT: BTW i use this with a DICE silverline kit si i can charge and access it through the radio
i decided to use the excisting ciggerette tray and modify it to hold my iphone
1: after searching my house for some sutable plastic i decided to use the back of an old DVD case to make the base, its stiff enough to do the job and fits in quite well with the plastic dash board. couldnt think of a way of making a mould so decided to start with a rough shape and shave it down till i got a tight fit. i did however draw around my shape and will try at somepoint to get a scale picture of the cut-out if anyone is interested. i used my dremmel to shave and sand down the edge but it can be cut with a sharp knife.
after playing around for a bit i decided to create a lip on the back of the cigetette tray to hold the cut out in place, to do this i just cut a strip of leftover DVD case and glued it in line with the front edge.
so now to hold and connect the ipod... on ebay i ordered a
UNIVERSAL DOCK ADAPTOR and a,
DOCK STATION EXTEND CABLE (it had the squeeze clips on the connector but my iphone seemed to pull of easily so i didnt have to remove the prongs) *EDIT (MAKE SURE YOU GET ONE WITH AUDIO AND CHARGING SUPPORT. THE REALLY CHEAP ONES ONLY CHARGE)
these parts ended up costing me like £ 6 with delivery
i prepared the dock adaptor by cutting off all the spare plastic clips to leave just the ipod cup ( decided to cut more off after this picture was taken
i next took the cut out made earlier and marked a hole in the centre to take the adaptor and started cutting wih a sharp knife then dremmel, again i just got the rough shape and shaved the edges until it fitted. then with some apoxy i glued it in place (got some run over as im glue friendly, was able to chip most of it off once it dried)
with the dock made i connected the ipod to the extention cable with the dock inbetween and used a mixture of glue and left over plastic to glue the extention cable to the base of the dock. im guessing there is a better way to do this but it seemed to work
while that was drying i cut a hole in the bottom of the ashtray for the cable to slide through, had to make the cut far enough forward as to not create any tention when put together. then with a few pieces of double sided sticky tape connected the dock to the cigerette tray and attached it to my car
it isnt anything too fancy but does the job while looking neat and tidy, the phone does sit quite high and does touch the base of the dash board. if i was to try again i would proberly move the cradle as far forward (towards the gear stick) so to get a bit more of an angle when the iphone is connected. although if you have an ipod nano or shuffle this wont be a problem.
ive drove on some rough roads and it doesnt rattle against the dash board so im happy
EDIT: BTW i use this with a DICE silverline kit si i can charge and access it through the radio
