Now that the rear section of the car was completed it was time to jump inside. One of the major attractions of any car is the dash. We wanted this area to be a feature of this install. We started off by stripping the old dash down to bare bones. We used the stock outline to mould off so we could use the stock mounting points. The first item that we tackled was moving the gauge cluster. Most people remove stock gauges and replace them with aftermarket. We wanted to try something a little different so we kept the stock gauge cluster but moved it to the center of the car. In order to do that it required several wires to be extended from the driver side to the center of the car. We then added 2 7.2” IN-7288 Innovatek TV’s to each side of the cluster. Using ¼” wooden dowels we set the shrouds in the exact place / angle that we wanted. The next item to add to the dash was a laptop tray. To keep the install consistent, Frank built a replica of the plasma tray (much smaller) that would fit the dimensions of the Compaq Presario 2100 laptop with wireless internet, keyboard and mouse. We used 12” sliders to ensure we would get the clearance needed. We mounted the tray below the 2 7.2” IN-7288 TV’s on the passenger side of the car. We wanted to add 4 after market Auto Meter (pro comp ultra lite) gauges to the dash. We mounted them right about the laptop tray angled towards the driver. We added oil, water, air fuel and volt. The last item that was added was a Kenwood KDC-C467 Cd Changer. We installed this right below the laptop tray. One all the items were mounted it was time to be stretched. We used fleece to stretch the unique shape of the dash that was desired. Several layers of fiberglass were used to ensure the dash was strong and that it wouldn’t warp. It was then bondoed, sanded, primed and painted.
To put the icing on the cake we decided to get a custom steering wheel made. Going with the batman theme we got the Batman logo CNC’ed from 1 ¼” aluminum with a .187 radius on the front and back edges. We then cut out a pocket in the center to the exact size / shape as the Sony PSP handheld unit. This way you can take it out and play with it or put it back in the wheel and drive away. This item is certainly one of the focal points of the install.
The side pillars that run off the dash are also quite unique. Most people chose these locations to put gauges. Not us.. We sourced out 2.5” PM-25NP Pustom TV’s that were used to create the custom pillars in the car. 3 TV’s were added to each pillar. Mounting the TV’s and getting the exact angles correct and symmetrical between the drivers and passengers side was very difficult. We attached thin wire to the outer shrouds of the TVs. This wire allowed us to move the three tv’s around until we got the exact locations. Once the locations were set we glued in wooden supports that would be used to hold the locations while we stretched the pillars and got them ready to be glassed.
The front overhead was another area of the car that was screaming for customization. Flowing from the pillars we thought it would be a great idea to follow with the theme and use the 2.5” 2.5” PM-25NP Pustom TV’s. We first started out by making a fiberglass mould from the roof of the car. From here we used a similar technique from the pillars to mount 4 2.5” TV’s on each side of the car. In the middle of the overhead we installed an Innovatek IN-705DX 7” motorized flip down screen. Due to us not being able to see out of the rear window this screen was attached to the night vision camera in the bumper and doubled as a rear view mirror. Above it we installed the XM Radio XM Commander XM-RVR-FM-001. Seeing the dash, pillars and overhead all together is truly a spectacular view. Without the center consol there is 19 TV’s between these 4 panels.
Modifications were made to the center consol which butts up to the dash. We customized the consol to house a 13” Sharp Aquos LC13B6US TV. We also moved all the heating and air conditioning controls from the dash to this consol. This involved extending several different wires and a few vacuum houses. We also used the arm rest area to build a custom panel out of ½” MDF that would house all the system switches. Most importantly we fabricated a place for the Kenwood Touch Screen KVTM700 deck. The deck motorized out of the center consol for ease of viewing. To help tune the system we added an Audiobahn AEQ-7 4 band equalizer right above the heating and air conditioning controls. The last thing that was added to the rear of the center consol was a Merconnet Personal Fridge. This fridge can be accessed from the rear seats. It holds 6 cans of pop which comes in handy when at outdoor shows!
To obtain the cleanest look possible we added two 7” Innovatek IN-727 pre-fab headrests to the front seats which matched the existing tan leather perfectly.
DOORS:
The last two areas to be fabricated were the front and rear doors. The doors had to be equally as impressive as the rest of the car. We wanted to make the front doors as interesting as possible. To do this we added 2 7” Innovatek IN-7288 screens to each door. We also added 2 Kicker KS 65 co-ax 6.5” speakers and 1 Kicker 525 5 ¼ co-ax speak to each door. We wanted to make sure that the front end of the car was clear yet screamed. With 6 tweeters and 6 mid base drivers you better bring a set of ear plugs. The stock window and lock buttons were used but relocated to a different area on the door panel. To accent the panel we custom moulded 4 GE Plexi tubes in each door and lit them up with blue LED engines. Once all this was set we then fleeced, glassed, bondoed, sanded, primed and painted the panels.
The rear doors were laid out in a similar fashion. Each door got 2 7” Innovatek IN-7288 screens. We also added 1 Kicker KS 65 co-ax 6.5” speakers and 1 Kicker 525 5 ¼ co-ax speak to each door. We carried the GE Plexi from the front doors to the rear by adding 4 strips on each door lit up with blue LED engines. Due to the door handles being shaved on the outside of the car we thought it would be cleaner to get rid of the handles on the inside of the car. So without handles how do the doors open? Once again we wanted to do something different. We decided we were going to motorize the rear doors on the car. We fabricated our own hinge system and integrated a door popper and linear actuator that would motorize the door open and close. We attached the actuator to a 2 Channel wireless remote so all movements could be done remotely away from the car.
Although 90% of the interior panels had been re-moulded out of fiberglass there were still a couple that had not been touched. We decided to use a blue suede material to wrap these panels. Some of these panels included the roof liner, sun roof slider, rear quarter panels, seat belt trim, etc. The blue suede provided excellent contract against the blue painted panels.
