I'll be including this in a new build thread soon, but pretty excited about how a couple of things came together. Awhile back I bought a Pioneer head unit with DVD, rear camera, etc. but the 2 flip down monitors in the back of my van weren't compatible, plus no room for them now that the CCV pop top is done. We aren't big on watching TV, but we do watch a movie while camping on occasion and wanted the kids to be able to watch while travelling. Since the pop top install left a nice flat section of wall above the front seats, I came up with this
It's pointed way down towards the seats in this photo, but doesn't interfere with my head at all surprisingly. It's just a little behind my headrest so unless I catch the corner of it while climbing back in from the driver's seat, I don't think it's a hazard to me. I didn't mount it in the middle because it hangs down low even with this mount, the highest I could find, and that would make it harder to use the space above the front seats. I have my seat leaned way back in the pics so even though it looks like it's right above my head, it's actually well behind and above.
Also, the most frustrating thing to me about my year van is the crap square map lights it came with. I'm going to replace the bulbs with LEDs if I can ever find that size, but they are generally lousy in my opinion. Some of our rigs at work have red LEDs for seeing around the cab at night, so I was pretty stoked when I found this in the Defender catalog
I need lots more light inside and didn't want to go with a red or white only, so this was perfect. Also, it's just the right size to cover the ugly spot and hole where the old flip down TV monitor was. The only problem, it only comes in white. After much deliberation in the paint aisle at Lowe's, I decided to try some of this new fangled plastic paint. I used Valspar plastic primer and gray paint and was pretty impressed at the match
Now I have a red LED for night driving and a white LED for camping, and they REALLY light up the area between the front seats. Pretty impossible to take a pic of them at night though but here are a couple more shots of the finished product.
I'm way impressed with how painting this plastic housing worked out. It's just a little more glossy than the OEM gray trim, but I can certainly live with it.
Also, while I was up there, I moved my switches for ceiling and outside lights and up/down for the top, added a power point, and since I couldn't fit a proper receptacle, I mounted a power strip style extension cord hidden behind the TV.
Sportsmobile (AKA Money Pit)
Linear Mode
