I just wanted to have it custom, have use of my bottom cubby, and not have two radios.

Stephen: Service cables arent produced for the part of the IVA-W505 that I wanted to extend, so I went with a direct mount instead; a bit trickier, but it works all the same.

I didnt go for the VehicleHub pro for the same reason most others don't go for it; the interface.

You lose two features: A single disk changer, and the navi-port access.
The navi-port access is great if you use a blackbird.

I am looking into the viability of accessing these two ports from above the HU, as it is mounted in there facing up (the changer/blackbird port) at a 90 degree angle to what it should be. Realistically, if you lift the top panel (with the air vents), the HU is right there. I wouldn't mind taking my setup a little further and adding a hinged mechanism and clean face to this.

"Right" way may be oversimplifying things; there will be no 'right' way for an upper dash mount unless someone redesigned an alternate PCB and dash panel for this vehicle. It is simply a near-completely working, upper-dash HU mount.

And even if someone designed an alternate PCB, there isn't enough room in this dash to mount an alpine, and certainly not a deeper pioneer. (My setup is actually mounted vertically.)

and nobody needs to know the warranty is voided

@Tim
Yeah, DVD mech is gone ; but you could theoretically install an AI Net'd DVD changer somewhere for cheap, and have a better system altogether.

@Sworkhard
Parts List:
Heated garage full of tools
SEM Black interior paint
Evercoat Fibertech
Fiberglass shaping utensils
Lots of sandpaper
Alpine IVA-W505
Electric Tape
Crimp Caps
Wiring Harness for IVA-W505
Clear indoor silicon


DUAL CLIMATE HU... havent even attempted it or looked into a single climate HU. (I have an LX)

The actual HU install requires no special parts, it rests vertically on top of the lower cubby, and the ribbon cable attaching the HU to the faceplate is ran through a hole dremeled into the A/C PCB (I just ripped the LCD off and then dremeled through the pins where the LCD was connected. Unwise; but I knew that it wouldn't likely affect air conditioning function.)

The major downside with this is that you can no longer read your AC details. I know the navi dash has an upper cluster that shows you current AC status, I thought about looking into that.

Overall it isn't that big of a deal, I can "feel" for what mode it is in. I rarely change modes anyway.

The lack of a DVD player is not too much of an inconvenience for me; I don't use optical media anymore anyway. You could quite easily attach a changer or a harddrive (what I do) to the HU as it is very flexible.

it is custom; its mine. I am not done with it yet.