DIY Console Box, Speaker Raiser Boxes & ICE Installation in M800

[charithao]

Recently I changed lots of things in my 15 year old car to return her to the former glory. One thing I did was to replace the dash board, console box and the stereo. The original console box which came with the car didn't have enough space to fit a stereo so the old head unit was mounted in the dash board. But I needed to change this with the new dash board so I bought a new console box (I didn't find the OEM console box instead I only found an aftermarket one which had looks that didn't impress me). So I thought of building a console box myself (My little brother did lots of work for it). Along with it we built two speaker boxes to be mounted on the parcel tray to raise and angle the speakers.

The material chosen was Medium Density Fiber Board (MDF). It took lots of cutting, drilling, gluing, sanding and painting. The primer used here is NC Primer Red (Which is used in auto bodies) and the paint used is Egg shell finish black enamel paint. Following are some pictures of the work.

Console box before painting.


Test installation before painting


Finished console box


Speaker raiser box before painting


Finished speaker raiser box


This is the head unit I used


This is the speakers used in rare. Front speakers not installed yet.

 

[samsag12]

Re: DIY console box, speaker raiser boxes and ICE installation in M800

Great work, the results are unbelievable the fit n finish is so perfect that its even better than OEMs.
Hats off to you & your brother for this DIY.

 

[Shantanu.lko]

Re: DIY console box, speaker raiser boxes and ICE installation in M800

Great work,
Very nice finishing. Inspired from your DIY I'll soon do something like this for my car.

 

[ss80]

Re: DIY console box, speaker raiser boxes and ICE installation in M800

Fantastic finishing, looks much much better than the OEM units!
Please post some photos of the cutting etc, it will give me some ideas for my future DIY's

 

[charithao]

Re: DIY console box, speaker raiser boxes and ICE installation in M800

Great work,
Very nice finishing. Inspired from your DIY I'll soon do something like this for my car.

Thank you. And I am willing to share my experience if you ever need it in your work

Fantastic finishing, looks much much better than the OEM units!
Please post some photos of the cutting etc, it will give me some ideas for my future DIY's

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the cutting and putting the pieces together because I forgot to photograph those steps. We used a jigsaw to cut the shapes. And parts are glued together using a general purpose adhesive know as Chemifix. And we also used wire nails to fix them together. If you ever need the measurements for it for you future work I will be glad to share them with you.

Great work, the results are unbelievable the fit n finish is so perfect that its even better than OEMs.
Hats off to you & your brother for this DIY.

Thank you.

 

[Varun560061]

Hi charithao, very neatly done. BTW how have you mounted the wooden block of the HU ? Did you also make the wooden plank for the rear ?

 

[RPM2500]

Awesome work @charitao ! so many dash panels can be made like this especially for the old cars

Kudos to you pls upload WIP pics

 

[ss80]

Yes yes, I will certainly PM you when I start off with that DIY.

 

[charithao]

Hi charithao, very neatly done. BTW how have you mounted the wooden block of the HU ? Did you also make the wooden plank for the rear ?

I hope you are referring to the entire console box. In that case it's mounted to the cover around the gear leaver from the bottom and to the air conditioner blower unit from the top. Rare of the console box is open.
Below is rare view of the console box that I missed in the first post.

Awesome work @charitao ! so many dash panels can be made like this especially for the old cars

Kudos to you pls upload WIP pics

Thank you very much. Actually the work is finished now. I have uploaded all the photos I have with me. Unfortunately I forgot to take the photos of the making of the console box and the speaker boxes.

Yes yes, I will certainly PM you when I start off with that DIY.

Sure.

 

[dharmesh]

That is one of the best DIY I have ever seen. Very nice work man. Console box looks just perfect.

 

[sethumurugan]

Wow. Best Finish as every one mentioned. is this kind of wood is available everywhere? even here in chennai? Can you post the pic of the jigsaw you used. when i checked on net all i could not come to a conclusion.

 

[Varun560061]

Hi charithao,

OT :
I can see rear defogger in your car, is it OEM or After market ?
Can you also post a pic of it and the dash with these switches.

 

[charithao]

That is one of the best DIY I have ever seen. Very nice work man. Console box looks just perfect.

Thank you very much.

Wow. Best Finish as every one mentioned. is this kind of wood is available everywhere? even here in chennai? Can you post the pic of the jigsaw you used. when i checked on net all i could not come to a conclusion.

Actually MDF is artificial wood made by compressing a mixture of wood pulp and adhesive. It should be available in every country. Please check with your local hardware or timber shop.

Here's a picture of the jigsaw I used.

Hi charithao,

OT :
I can see rear defogger in your car, is it OEM or After market ?
Can you also post a pic of it and the dash with these switches.

It's an OEM. It was one of the options when we first bought the car. Below is the dash switch for the defogger.


I'll post a picture of the defogger tomorrow. Since it's dark now it's hard to take a clear picture of it .

 

[Varun560061]

Wow, you are lucky man. In India we don't get these features by default. Does it have rear wiper too ?

BTW whats the rating of the alternator (amps) ? Do start a ownership review. I am waiting for it.

 

[charithao]

Wow, you are lucky man. In India we don't get these features by default. Does it have rear wiper too ?

BTW whats the rating of the alternator (amps) ? Do start a ownership review. I am waiting for it.

Nope it doesn't have rare viper. By the time it was purchased the rare viper option is not taken. And the alternator is 40 amps and so far the car is happy with it. And sure I'll start a ownership thread soon.