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STiPad

J

jr4284

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 7, 2009
12
0
I've got a 2006 Subaru WRX STi, and I've finally got my production parts in to mount my iPad in it...

No no, this isn't the Scosche one everyone's seen. I don't like the way it looks. So I set out to revamp my bezel to accommodate an iPad. Here are the results:

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Streaming radio for all of my local stations and non-local stations. Pandora. Great GPS integration. I link with my OBD-II port using a Kiwi Wifi and get digital gauges as well.

Control of it is easy and safe - I use gestures and voice control to do everything... very little is actually "look and touch" if you don't want it to be.

The tabs are remarkably strong... the FEA I did shows they'll take about 80 lbs to break off. Considering the weight of the iPad and positioning of the tabs, it'd take a 38G acceleration to snap 'em. There's also foam on the back sides of the tabs and in the "i" emblem that helps distribute that force.

The Apple iPad dock is sitting in a tray. You can bring in power and take out audio through the 30 pin, or just grab audio out through the headphone jack on the dock. Nice low profile way of doing things.

Paint match is soooo close. Hard to tell it's not stock, really.

I'm psyched the way this thing came out.
 
Great to meet another Impreza owner on the forum; I've got a 2004 WRX. I love mine, it's quiet and comfortable when you just want to get somewhere but it is also fast and handles brilliantly when I want a bit of fun. Plus there is always the grumble from the exhaust to listen to.

The mount looks like it came out really well; almost like it's always been there. Did you have to re-route the air vents? On my year the centre air vents are directly above the stereo. Are you having any problems with reflections? What about audio? Do you still have an amplifier mounted somewhere?
 
blackNBUK said:
Great to meet another Impreza owner on the forum; I've got a 2004 WRX. I love mine, it's quiet and comfortable when you just want to get somewhere but it is also fast and handles brilliantly when I want a bit of fun. Plus there is always the grumble from the exhaust to listen to.

The mount looks like it came out really well; almost like it's always been there. Did you have to re-route the air vents? On my year the centre air vents are directly above the stereo. Are you having any problems with reflections? What about audio? Do you still have an amplifier mounted somewhere?
Click to expand...

Thanks! I opted not to re-route the center air vents. I can make something to do it, but it wasn't a big deal to me. There's still some airflow through the modified vents I put in there, but obviously not as much. The air vents are the same on the '06 -- mounted above the bezel/radio area. I replaced both pieces with this one piece.

As far as reflections go, I really don't have any issues with them. From the driver's viewpoint, the reflection looks into the passenger seat. Not an issue, but if it was, you can always put on the anti-glare cover on the iPad :)().

The audio runs to a volume control knob (Absolute RSW250) first, then to the amp. When you're docked, you lose iPad volume control. Makes sense... sends the strongest signal out to the receiver where you have another volume control built in (typically). You can see where I mounted it here:
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The amp is under the passenger seat.
 
That's a clean way to mount an ipad.I have an '04 STi and I was wondering how the digital gauges look through the pad.I was thinking about trying one of the apps for some tuning work.
 
Thats pretty cool, I like it. Wonder if any car manufacturers will make an in dash mount for iPad. I've seen a lot of concepts that use iPhones in the armrest but nothing in production yet.
 
justflie said:
Are you planning on making one for the 2008+ models? Looks pretty sweet. Nice pictures.
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Thanks! Injection molding = $$$, so I do want to get to the GR model subarus, but I can only do that once this starts selling.

cdubz said:
That's a clean way to mount an ipad.I have an '04 STi and I was wondering how the digital gauges look through the pad.I was thinking about trying one of the apps for some tuning work.
Click to expand...

The gauges look great actually. I use Rev and can't give it enough praise. The OBD-II info is transmitted wirelessly using a Kiwi Wifi. I haven't used DashCommand a lot, but some people swear by that instead of rev.

lozpop said:
Hey, don't use it while your driving! ;)
Except for Maps.
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Pffff. Maps. Navigon baby! I'm jailbroken and added in voice control and assigned gestures to commands. My eyes never leave the road and I can change songs, albums, search google, tweet, update facebook, shuffle songs, etc. Safety is #1 in my book and it was in my mind while doing this.

talkingfuture said:
Thats pretty cool, I like it. Wonder if any car manufacturers will make an in dash mount for iPad. I've seen a lot of concepts that use iPhones in the armrest but nothing in production yet.
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Probably pretty unlikely as they are always concerned with liability and potential litigation.

Silverbird0000 said:
That's awesome! I'd love to do it in my 05 RX-8! So do you remove the iPad everytime you leave the car? I'd be afraid it would get stolen.
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Yep, just throw it in my glovebox. 5 seconds.
 
When i saw this thread title i thought it was going to be about how you caught a sexually transmitted infection from your ipad.
 
2002cbr600f4i said:
Cool... But your resale value just tanked...
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First off, I doubt he cares. And second, you do realize that if he did want to sell it, he could just get a replacement dash piece. Doesn't sound like you have dealt with modding cars before :rolleyes:
 
At first I thought this thread would be about an Atari ST emulator for the iPad. Which would have been cool. Then I thought it must be about catching a nasty rash off one. I was not expecting high quality automotive modifications.
 
airtron said:
Nice work. Looks great.
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Thanks!

Jasonbot said:
Is anyone else excited about the fact that the OP did Finite Element Analysis to check if the tabs were strong enough?
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Haha, yeah... I had requested a variety of ABS/PC blend spec sheets from my molder. I picked out a few that had the thermal characteristics of the rest of my car, then plugged their properties into the solver and went to town. Last thing I wanted was for someone to gun it and end up with a face full of iPad.

2002cbr600f4i said:
Cool... But your resale value just tanked...
Click to expand...

This is 100% reversible. I still have all my old pieces. 0 cutting needed, that's the beauty of this.

But STi's generally don't resell well. They are rally cars. I have 75,000 miles of 18.5 PSI engine beating. People looking to buy my car likely couldn't care less about the AV system. (True story, they used to sell STi's without a radio)
 
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