Ok, the one thing that really bugs me is that flimsy plastic radio cover you have to open & close every time you go somewhere. As hard as you have to press on it to get it open tells me it's only a matter of time before it will break.

There is plenty of room above the radio and around the vents, it wouldn't be that hard to get a electric actuator/piston/motor and build a mount so the door can smoothly swing. And then wire up a switch so you can manual open & close it, but also have it open and close when you turn on the ignition.

So... who wants to be the first person to make this mod work :shock:

Another thing I am looking into is getting a radio cover door made out of real aluminum and also real aluminum trim pieces to replace the silver painted pieces running down the center console. If I can't get the motor setup working, I can at least have a more durable aluminum door :lol:

Why not just leave it open all the time?

I think that motorizing the plastic might be overkill, buuuut if you were going to get aluminum trim and an aluminum cover, it would probably not only work better but look really cool. I'd be totally into that.

Why not just leave it open all the time?

Why not just let the thieves see your LCD screen...

I leave mine open pretty much all the time......either way if thieves are gunna break in there gunna open it. it just entices them to want to look under if its closed. Thats just me.

The average thief wont break into a car unless they see something worth breaking into the car for… a thief going shopping wouldn't give it another thought unless you had other stuff inside the car that would give him a reason to take a closer look.

on another note, i'd LOVE to see a real aluminum/brushed aluminum kit to replace the silver plastic pieces... :)

the silver interior plastic is really the cheapest thing on the car...i'm pretty anal about the interior..no eating etc..and the silver is already starting to scuff off in a few spots along the waterfall...just when i think i've found a sweet spot that will open the cover on the first try..that spot goes dead..so i end up clicking it three or four times to get it open...at this rate the silver on the door will be gone within the year..hopefully some companies will come out with some kits...the Volvo S40 has an even better dash waterfall and you can opt for aluminum,wood,or translucent..maybe something like that would be cool.

Why not just leave it open all the time?

Why not just let the thieves see your LCD screen...

who in the hell wants to steal a stock scion deck? haha wtf..

Why not just leave it open all the time?

Why not just let the thieves see your LCD screen...

who in the hell wants to steal a stock scion deck? haha wtf..


who ever said his deck was stock?
maybe he's got a double-din stereo w/ 7" monitor in there or something...

My Rx-8 was awesome..the GPS was on top of the dash you just touch a knob and it pops up......that was perfect...no pushing or tapping

"There is plenty of room above the radio and around the vents, it wouldn't be that hard to get a electric actuator/piston/motor and build a mount so the door can smoothly swing. And then wire up a switch so you can manual open & close it, but also have it open and close when you turn on the ignition."

And you don't think a thief will see that and say "hmm, I wonder what's under there". I'd say that's even OVER overkill. How bout you just give me the money you'd spend on that setup?

"There is plenty of room above the radio and around the vents, it wouldn't be that hard to get a electric actuator/piston/motor and build a mount so the door can smoothly swing. And then wire up a switch so you can manual open & close it, but also have it open and close when you turn on the ignition."

And you don't think a thief will see that and say "hmm, I wonder what's under there". I'd say that's even OVER overkill. How bout you just give me the money you'd spend on that setup?

Why not just leave it open all the time?

Why not just let the thieves see your LCD screen...

who in the hell wants to steal a stock scion deck? haha wtf..

Hey man, when you're on crack, you'll try to sell anything to feed the habit. know what i mean? some people don't know/care that it's a stock deck.

I would love to see a more durable waterfall kit... however an aluminum one would suck as it would get scratched up pretty fast, even though it'd look really nice for the first.. week. maybe some company will make a black one with silver trim? yummy :P

correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't an aluminum door put a lot of undue heat in that compartment while parked???

i think the radio cover is flimsy..but hey u can't expect everything. I'm just happy that there's a cover in the first place. Even the expensive newer Navigator have the same push open plastic cover for the radio ...

IMO ... aluminum cover will be nice..but an overkill...not to mention the heat it will contain and even harm the radio in the long run.

I don't have ne trouble opening my cover...i just tap it and it opens smoothly. maybe u guys need to break it in...

The same person who wants to steal scion stock rims... :wink:

Why not just leave it open all the time?

Why not just let the thieves see your LCD screen...

who in the hell wants to steal a stock scion deck? haha wtf..

Instead of a motorized door, how about just a solenoid controlled latch. The spring loaded opener and damper seem to work fine. Tapping on the damn door is what's going to break it. The solenoid might be an easier mod than a motor.

I've had the dash apart and looked at the latching gizmo, it's covered in what looks like white litium grease. I wonder if going to something a little less viscous (like petrolium jelly) would make it toggle easier.

Ok, the one thing that really bugs me is that flimsy plastic radio cover you have to open & close every time you go somewhere. As hard as you have to press on it to get it open tells me it's only a matter of time before it will break.

There is plenty of room above the radio and around the vents, it wouldn't be that hard to get a electric actuator/piston/motor and build a mount so the door can smoothly swing. And then wire up a switch so you can manual open & close it, but also have it open and close when you turn on the ignition.

So... who wants to be the first person to make this mod work :shock:

Another thing I am looking into is getting a radio cover door made out of real aluminum and also real aluminum trim pieces to replace the silver painted pieces running down the center console. If I can't get the motor setup working, I can at least have a more durable aluminum door :lol:

What an incredible waste of money that would be.

While you're at it, why not install a pneumatic piston to engage and disengage the hand brake for you... after all, it's so much work to pull it up and down...

For the amount of money that would cost, you could get a highflow cat or a nice start on a complete exhaust system... why would you want a motorized door over your radio?

Ok, the one thing that really bugs me is that flimsy plastic radio cover you have to open & close every time you go somewhere. As hard as you have to press on it to get it open tells me it's only a matter of time before it will break.

There is plenty of room above the radio and around the vents, it wouldn't be that hard to get a electric actuator/piston/motor and build a mount so the door can smoothly swing. And then wire up a switch so you can manual open & close it, but also have it open and close when you turn on the ignition.

So... who wants to be the first person to make this mod work :shock:

Another thing I am looking into is getting a radio cover door made out of real aluminum and also real aluminum trim pieces to replace the silver painted pieces running down the center console. If I can't get the motor setup working, I can at least have a more durable aluminum door :lol:

What an incredible waste of money that would be.

While you're at it, why not install a pneumatic piston to engage and disengage the hand brake for you... after all, it's so much work to pull it up and down...

For the amount of money that would cost, you could get a highflow cat or a nice start on a complete exhaust system... why would you want a motorized door over your radio?

actually... small motors like those dont cost much at all. hardly a nice start on even just a fart can, much less a full performance exhaust system. let him do what he wants to do with his car.
god forbid a person should be unique on this board. lol

I'd think all you would need was to get a 2-way motor, cut a cam and an arm and that would be about it. The worst part would be securing the motor and trial + error.

For the amount of money that would cost, you could get a highflow cat or a nice start on a complete exhaust system... why would you want a motorized door over your radio?

No actually you couldn't I could probably do this for less than $100, probably less than $50.

The only probalems would be my unfamiliarity with the tC's wiring. I imagine I'd need to step down the volatges for the small dc motors. and the fact I don't have a tC.

Hey I built a little gizmo that drops the toilet seat back down after you flush. Cost $25 in parts and about 4 hours on a slow weekend. My girlfreind was amused until I modded it to play the "Imperial March" when you sat on the seat.

That got annoying real fast.

What an incredible waste of money that would be.

While you're at it, why not install a pneumatic piston to engage and disengage the hand brake for you... after all, it's so much work to pull it up and down...

For the amount of money that would cost, you could get a highflow cat or a nice start on a complete exhaust system... why would you want a motorized door over your radio?

Because I can, who the hell are you to tell me how to spend my money on my car?

Why don't you just tell everybody out there modding their car that they shouldn't enjoy it, because somebody else thinks they are wasting money.

Fortunately unlike you, I can afford to do more than one thing on my car and not have to limit myself.

For the amount of money that would cost, you could get a highflow cat or a nice start on a complete exhaust system... why would you want a motorized door over your radio?

No actually you couldn't I could probably do this for less than $100, probably less than $50.

The only probalems would be my unfamiliarity with the tC's wiring. I imagine I'd need to step down the volatges for the small dc motors. and the fact I don't have a tC.

Hey I built a little gizmo that drops the toilet seat back down after you flush. Cost $25 in parts and about 4 hours on a slow weekend. My girlfreind was amused until I modded it to play the "Imperial March" when you sat on the seat.

That got annoying real fast.

wow...u're an inventor? u should patent it and sell the automated toilet seat. u never know. it might become the next big thing for household toilets since the auto flusher.

wow...u're an inventor? u should patent it and sell the automated toilet seat. u never know. it might become the next big thing for household toilets since the auto flusher.

I wish.

Its not really an invetion. The parts are easily available. anyone could slap it togther.

I put a contact switch on flush handle. pushing the handle down pushes the switch together. its connected to a breadboard with a chip that does a 5 second delay. The chip triggers a little motor plunger thing thats mounted on the tank with duct tape. When you put the toilet seat up it rests on the small plunger, when the plunger is triggered it gives the seat a little punch that causes it to fall down. The whole thing is powered by one of thos big 12V flashlight batteries.

I suppose I could try selling if, people by all kinds of crazy stuff. The hardest part would be making it into a neat little package.

The Imperial march thing was mostly parts left over from one of my projects at work. A pressure sensor and curciut board with built in speaker that can play polyphonic tones (like ina cellphone.)

i used to have brushed aluminum trim in my gti - the real kind, not just the "real brushed aluminum (stick on) trim". had it well over a year and no noticeable scratches. so to those that say they scratch easily - well, i dont really have anything mean to say, just saying that it's plenty durable.

that is one of the only things i was disappointed with in the scion - we drove an xA as a loaner until the tC came in, and i was surprised/disappointed to see the silver plastic on the door panels flaking off to reveal the white plastic underneath. :(

hey GrungeFactory dude i totally agree with you, i thought the same thing, i wanna buy a gps system and replace it with the stereo, and it woul dhave been much better to have the cover connected to the ignition, you turn it on it opens up and turn it off it comes down, i saw it on a website but i do not remember the link right now and i am still looking for it, that someone did that actually and was selling it about 20 30 bucks. hope i can find that website and share it with you guys

i did not read every post in this thread.. but there is a kit already to motorize the radio door... tcover.net works great.. it is a non distructive kit... meaning you can remove it and put it back to stock.. the newer versions have a few neat features for show... i have had mine on now for almost 6 months with no problem..

^^they're charging an extra 25 for the "every ten seconds" feature :eyebrow:

It was overpriced to begin with

Wow... this was resurected from the dead.... There are many TCover posts and everyone who has them, loves them... and for the price, and quality of construction... it's a great buy...

For more info... please search.