Ideas for an Accessory Mounting Bracket for Cel Phone, Ipod, etc?

84porsche9113.2 · 12-20-2007, 11:08 AM

I wanted to mount an ipod cradle in my car. Basically it would be no different than mounting a cel phone holder. The holder would attach with screws going horizontally into a vertically positioned mounting surface.

I'm attaching a picture of the Kuda accessory mount. However, on their website, they only make mounts for the 993 and up, and not earlier 911's. I'm intersted in devising a way to make a similar mount for the 84-89 911.

I thought one simple way might be just to take an "L" shaped piece of sheet metal and bolt it to the underside of the dash. In other words, the "L" would be turned upside down so the shorter lip could fasten to the dash and the longer side could be used as a vertical mounting surface for the cradle The only problem I see with this approach is that the lip of the underside of the dash is a curved surface covered in leather and I don't really want to drill into this. Further back from the lip there are just a lot of wires and no flat mounting surface that I can see. The bottom of the ashtray is flat, but I don't want to mount it to the ashtray either...

I suppose I could also screw a fabricated piece horizontally into the center console thing (similar to the Kuda one in the picture), but the side of the console plastic and mine is so old even the screws on there new seem to be falling out. I think I'd have to screw into metal for it to be solid, so I think this idea is also out....

Has anyone devised anything like this? Just looking for ideas. Basically if you look at the picture I'm just looking to devise a way to fabricate and or mount a flat vertical surface to the car, so that I could mount the cradle to it, like the cel phone holder is shown in the picture, in an 84-89 911.....

Thanks in advance!

Oh Haha · 12-20-2007, 11:45 AM

3M makes excellent double-sided tape. I have my Blackberry clip mounted on my HHR dash this way. I can see my emails and phone calls right at eye level. Yes, I DO try to pull over to talk or type. The surface needs to be clean and somewhat flat for this to work, though.

Trotskyite · 12-20-2007, 12:06 PM

I removed the stereo and put in a "Porsche Storage Tray" P/N 996-552-253-01-01C. Looks great, works great, and saves a couple pounds. It was a complementary upgrade to SSI's and a 2 in 2 out M&K. I couldn't hear a thing anyway.

dshepp806 · dshepp806's Garage

On my 89, the PO had originally mounted his cell phone (?/back in the late 80's, I guess) by having screwed something in to the right side of the console. It was, of course, gone when I bought her a year ago,..leaving only the unsightly remaining screw holes! You've prompted an idea as to how to (functionally) cover up those holes!!! Maybe a metal plate should be attached to the inside of the console: something to anchor the bracket to)

I just couldn't do ANY drilling up towards the dash area,...nope,..nada.

Best,

84porsche9113.2 · 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dshepp806

On my 89, the PO had originally mounted his cell phone (?/back in the late 80's, I guess) by having screwed something in to the right side of the console. It was, of course, gone when I bought her a year ago,..leaving only the unsightly remaining screw holes! You've prompted an idea as to how to (functionally) cover up those holes!!! Maybe a metal plate should be attached to the inside of the console: something to anchor the bracket to)

I just couldn't do ANY drilling up towards the dash area,...nope,..nada.

Best,

i suppose in your case the simplest thing to do would be to install another cel phone mount (if you use a cel phone) just to cover up the holes...

i actually did find a unversal ipod holder on ebay which has 3 mounting options - double stick tape, dummy cigarette lighter insertion mount, and a/c vent mount.

i'm not sure how durable these are, the a/c one sounds the best to me. there's not a lot of space on my dash for double sided tape, though i suppose i wouldn't mind taping something to the console, but in that case it would be facing sideways and not toward the driver.

if the mounting options of this mount are not any good then i'll have to figure my own way to make a more sturdy mount.

if i remember correctly the underside lip is just that - sorta like a lip. i was thinking if one could fabricate some kind of c-clip shaped piece of metal on one end, that would clip to that lip via spring pressure, and then come out and down under the dash (in an upside-down L) with a vertical surface under the dash to mount to on the other end, that it would be an ideal mounting surface.

84porsche9113.2 · 12-20-2007, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dshepp806

On my 89, the PO had originally mounted his cell phone (?/back in the late 80's, I guess) by having screwed something in to the right side of the console. It was, of course, gone when I bought her a year ago,..leaving only the unsightly remaining screw holes! You've prompted an idea as to how to (functionally) cover up those holes!!! Maybe a metal plate should be attached to the inside of the console: something to anchor the bracket to)

I just couldn't do ANY drilling up towards the dash area,...nope,..nada.

Best,

what about the vinyl repair kits? the ones where you melt the plastic and use a piece of leather or vinyl grained material to make it look like the surrounding areas? I would think if you could get enough of the material and fill the screw holes, you might be able to patch the holes. Or maybe fill most of the depth of the holes with some kind of filler like bondo even or hard glue, then just patch the top surface with the repair kit. At first I was thinking caulking but a vinyl repair kit might be able to somewhat match the grain of the plastic on the console. i've seen these repair kits at auto repair stores before...

burgio911 · 12-20-2007, 01:25 PM

I don't even know if this would work in our 911's (never actually thought about it), but it was a quick solution for my land rover. I also didn't want to drill holes in anything

teenerted1 · 12-20-2007, 01:33 PM

use something like this for my ipod

http://www.cellphoneshop.net/unbecl.html

put the u-shapped mount on any flat surface....comes with double sided tape
and the button shapped thing on the back of the ipod
simple cheap solution. also works for a belt clip too wen walking.

you could allways try velcro too...just find a shade that matches your interior and use the fuzzy/loop side on the dash and the hook side on the device...

dshepp806 · dshepp806's Garage

84porsche9113.2: good point.

Thanks!

Best,

dshepp806 · dshepp806's Garage

Not gonna mess with doublesided tape nor velcro (particularly over an AC vent)...

84porsche9113.2 · 12-20-2007, 03:43 PM

found a potential solution for about $10 at kmart.

this cel phone holder has spring loaded arms (the bottom arms open and cloce and hold the item via spring tension). i'm hoping to find someplace open and solid to bolt this to so it won't move as if you operate the spring arms with one hand it has to be solidly mounted.

also the arms are a bit too narrow for the dock connector so i have to modify it a bit to grind a little of the plastic material away.

hopefully i can find somewhere convenient to mount this thing. it comes with 2 mounting options - 1 is an a/c vent thing and 2 is the bracket you see in the picture. the a/c vent mount doesn't appear to be very sturdy... being that i plan to use this mount with only one hand (by kind of tilting the ipod in and pushing the arms out with the ipod), the mounting has to be very sturdy and i don't think the tape is strong enough. i am hoping maybe i can find somewhere to bolt it to the floorboard... somewhere betwen the seats would be ideal, but i'm not sure if there is any where there where this could be mounted or if the cord is long enough to reach...

the only other thing is i wish this was all black and not two tone silver and black. also don't particularly care for the bell logo...(would be nice to have a porsche badge there instead).

84porsche9113.2 · 11:24 PM

I just used the adhesive mounting tape/bracket option (3M by the way), and it seems to be holding well. of course cleaned it well 1st.

the cord was longer than i thought and the easiest place (only place too, i think) was between the seats on the climate control thing. i used an air grinder to grind away some of the plastic and make more space for the connector and it worked well..

so the problem is solved. anyway, just wanted to say thanks for all the replies... here's a few pics of the finished install.

btw, a couple months back, I also installed that kenwood powered sub from the previous thread everyone was talking about that fits under their seat, too. my sound system is pretty minimal, running only on deck power, but that thing helps a lot! (music now seems like it has a lot more depth to it than with just the factory location speakers). although i used to run amps and subs and all that before, i recently decided I didn't want to weigh down the car so much anymore with all that equipment...