Put the cheap first gen a/v kit to good use...

[skalogre]

As the options for integrating the Zune in most cars are next to none, I decided to work out a way to stick it in my '00 Celica using the cheap docks. Worked out rather well, actually! If anyone is curious I have more a little more detail over on my stkal.vox.com Vox profile (as I cannot yet post images over here).

Now, if there were some way to force the backlight to stay on while the Zune is in the dock, that would have been great. But it still works pretty well
Unfortunately, the Invisibleshield makes it a little hard to see the top of the screen when the light comes in from the back.

[skalogre]

Ok, so now I can post an image (I need to clean my dashboard):

[teamgood]

so what'd you do? just stick the dock there? or is it connected with the line-in to your stereo as well? hook it up with the car power adapter and then you'll be set and the light will stay on.

[skalogre]

Originally Posted by teamgood

so what'd you do? just stick the dock there? or is it connected with the line-in to your stereo as well? hook it up with the car power adapter and then you'll be set and the light will stay on.

I soldered an extra socket to a three-way socket I had and attached to it (behind the centre console) a car charger. A cable connected to the dock's output jack goes to a converter Aux-In box connected to the head unit's CD changer port.

All I have to do is turn the car on, stick the Zune in there and hit play on the little remote

[kshew97]

I have an 01' Celica and was heading down the same path as you took when I stumbled on your pictures. I already ordered the PIE aux kit and have been looking for a cheap A/V Pack. Thanks for the cool idea on the mounting location ! I am wondering though about the Scion headunit. Is there any advantage to using it over the stock unit beside the obvious cosmetic qualities?

[skalogre]

Originally Posted by kshew97

I have an 01' Celica and was heading down the same path as you took when I stumbled on your pictures. I already ordered the PIE aux kit and have been looking for a cheap A/V Pack. Thanks for the cool idea on the mounting location ! I am wondering though about the Scion headunit. Is there any advantage to using it over the stock unit beside the obvious cosmetic qualities?

The sound seems better than the stock unit Toyota gave us. Now, sticking the Scion unit in was not my idea (the people over at www.newcelica.org are the ones I should thank for that) but it is inexpensive with better sound - and can be modified very easily to display "CELICA" on startup instead of "SCION"
For the Celica GT (like in my case) it is plug and play - you just need the brackets already on the stock headunit. If you have the GT-S with the JBL premium stereo, you need to do some rewiring but does not seem too complex; there are some threads on it over there.