Supplies needed:
1)Aftermarket Radio mounting kit w/ pocket underneath
2)jb weld or something similar, designed for plastics.
3)Body filler, and hardener
4)Spreaders for body filler
5)Dremel w/ drum sander and cut-off wheel bits.
6)razor blades
7)Assorted sand paper from 40-400(at least) grit (I actually started at 80 & ended at 400)
8)spoons for mixing body filer up (I just find this easier, than using my spreaders
9)Masking tape
10)Extra piece of abs plastic

I honestly hate those stupid little pockets underneath aftermaket mounts, so I decided to get rid of it and make a nice smooth kit. It was just to small a pocket to actually do anything with it, once finished with this though it makes a nice switch mounting place (just use a little less body filler than I did, if you do this).

How to:
First start off by cutting the back of the pocket off. I did it this way because I wanted a little strength and support for the head unit. (I scored it in the pics to show How I did it.)

The cut pieces seperated. I am ocd so even if I can't see it, I take off the burs with a drum sander.

Second mask off the front of the pocket with masking tape, I did 3 alternating layers. i.e. side to side, top to bottom, and side to side.

Another shot of what I did when I masked it off.

Once masked good, take a razor blade and cut around the perimiter of the inside of the pocket. Then take the tape pattern you just cut out and put it on the extra abs plastic sheet you have. This will give you a pattern to follow for cutting the filler piece out.

After cutting out the masking tape pattern and putting the pattern on the abs sheet plastic.

The pattern should have gave you a good starting point, but its not perfect. You will have to trim down the abs more than likely to fit.
This is where the jb weld comes in, I used it on the back and squeezed it in the cracks to hold it in nice and tight. Don't worry about it if the jb weld seeps through it is sandable.
It should fit something like this, it will be tight, but that is the point.

Now comes the fun part, yes that is right. BODY FILLING. Make sure when you open te body filler canister to mix it up really good. Sometimes there will be a liquid substance standing on the top of the body filler, make sure that is mixed in good and gone. If you have never worked with or spread body filler before, do not mix up a lot. I work really fast with it so I don't waste much, if at all.

Mix it up good before you start.

Spread it on nice and even, if it starts clumping while spreading or gets harder to spread it on, stop! This means it is hardening up and it is just going to be harder for you to sand and/or create more body filling than necessary.

Okay, so it is hard enough to sand now. Some say it okay to sand with your fingertips, I say no; ALWAYS. Sand with you palm area, or a sand block/ piece of wood, especially on flat pieces.

Never sand like this.

I sand like this or with a sanding block.

Keep on sanding progressively going up. If you get air bubbles try sanding them out on the next grit up, if they don't come out its time for more body filler. sorry.

Crappy pic, but it should look all nice and smooth, and be ready for paint and or whatever you may want to do with it.

No write up on how to paint it from me, yet. But I will eventually do a write up on painting.

Note: Use the least amount of body filler possible, if you are going to be drilling through this panel. Even small drill bits will crack the body filler, even if you are careful, but sometimes you get lucky.

-Steven-

If you would like to make a comment or rate this write-up, please do so here.