2nd Try: 924/944 custom screen/audio setup. This time it actually does what I want

[irish44j]

I think I posted my original try at this here, but this is my update....

As a former music store manager and non-millenial, I have something like 20,000 songs on my computer hard drive (combination of iTunes stuff and hundreds of ripped CDs). While I stream music as well, I like to have "my" music on-hand in digital files for when I'm out in the middle of nowhere with no signal, or don't want to use my phone as a wifi hotspot.

So, my solution was to replace my '88 Porsche 924's center speaker with a magnetic mount for a tablet. The car has a fairly modern Kenwood stereo with aux and USB inputs already, but don't want to get a fold-up screen deck since that would block half the dash controls. Since the opening is only about 8" wide, I had to find a tablet that is pretty small compared to most these days. And since I'm cheap, not dropping hundreds on an iPad or something. Originally I tried an old Kindle Fire that I got for almost nothing, but without bluetooth or GPS, and a very small memory capacity (and no slot for SD card), it just didn't have the capability to do what I wanted....

So enter the Huawei T3. We use an older version of this in the rally car to run our trip computers/rally computers and GPS. The T3 has GPS, bluetooth, and while not quite as fast or smooth in its operation as high-end tablets - I woudln't want to use it as my "everyday" tablet for doing stuff on constantly - it's plenty good for my application here. The T3 is under $100 online (I got mine for about $60 on Amazon). It has 8GB of internal memory, but more importantly (unlike the Kindle Fire) has a microSD port. And it's just over 7" wide, so perfect for my application, with buttons on the "long" edge so they'll be accessible the way I want to mount it. So ordered that up along with a 64GB microSD*memory card. In addition, it obviously can run Google Maps and whatever else I want to run on it using my phone as a hotspot.



Since Apple sucks and won't put out an iTunes for Android, I downloaded the Pi Music app, which I have to say, is awesome. A billion times better than iTunes and it seamlessly imported the 20,000 songs (correctly filed and with full artwork) that I copied from my laptop onto the card. Added the metal mounting plate to the back, and ran hidden power and AUX out wires, and voila.....

In addition, I can run a digital speedometer/odometer with it, since it's GPS-enabled. My speedo works, but it has always been out of calibration (reads high even though I have larger-than-stock tires, go figure). My stock odometer works sometimes, and sometimes it doesn't. So I don't trust it at all, and want a data-logging odometer for my longer road trips for sure.

I know there are other more tech-y ways to do this, especially using all-inclusive setups with dedicated A/V in-dash decks, or using a larger phone - but I don't want to use my phone for this, I want something cheap I can just leave in the car and not worry about (much). So, here's the final product, aside from a bit of cosmetic trim work I plan to do to clean up the install..,.with under $100 invested total.

[GHEN]

That's pretty cool, nice job!

GHEN

[bumflick]

Nice install! How is the sound quality?

[irish44j]

Originally Posted by bumflick

Nice install! How is the sound quality?

I mean, it's good. Aside from the fact that I still have stock-size speakers in the car (4x6 or whatever). I'm used to running music off an iPod anyhow via USB or aux port, so this sounds as good as that did at least.