a_bartle

I know what you mean about getting the faceplate connected. On my Pontiac Torrent, I could not get it to stay "snapped" into place (headliner material too thick I guess) so I ended up getting a couple really small screws. Not what I wanted, but it worked... and you really have to press the buttons hard to get it to work, so I bet it would have been better if I put those extensions in as well...



Not sure what the Land Rover one will be like, but I see a couple screws holding the transmitter to the faceplate, so I'm hoping I can just use longer screws?


[QUOTE=amarv12;787295]Happy to help. The extension pieces are made from an aluminum [round] rod that I had laying around; basically I just cut 3 small pieces off and used them in between the rubber part of the buttons and the switches inside the housing.... there is a little "well" in the housing that they slide into and stay inside of. The length of those cylinders depends on how much material you are stuffing between the housing and the faceplate, I had to fine tune it... if the cylinders were too long, the buttons stay pressed all the time, too short and i wouldn't be able to press the switches. I will have to try and take some pictures on a spare module later, that would be much more clear than a wall of text. In my case, the thickness of the black panel was such that the faceplate could no longer snap into the housing.... with the setup i created, it doesn't snap into the black panel either (the press fit studs on the faceplate break apart after just a few uses anyway, so probably not worth the hassle to go that route) that's why the both the housing and the faceplate are siliconed to the black panel.

Oldblue

Thanks, I found a light grey one on EBay for $20.00, apparently from a Chevy Traverse, it looks just like your Lincoln module.

amarv12

Ah, very nice man, still looks good with the screws, imo. I did one in the headliner of my GTO, I had to basically cut away all the foam backing on the headliner in the little oval region where the homelink faceplate was, and pretty much all that remained between the housing and the faceplate was the fabric. Thankfully in that case I was able to get it to snap together pretty good.

Here is another alternative that i did on my VUE, completely eliminates the faceplate:

Retrofitted Seat, Shifter, and Other Mods - SaturnFans.com Forums

Great, let me know if you have any other questions. I used Krylon Fusion paint to paint the faceplate on my GTO, worked well and has been holding up great.

solman98

I just replaced the rear view mirror with an auto dimming/homelink mirror. It works great and looks factory. That same mirror has been transplanted to my new car since the HHR went to heaven.

Oldblue

Got a product or part number for the mirror?

amarv12

Still looks good with the screws, imo, good work. I did one just like that in my GTO, i ended up cutting out the foam backing on the headliner where the oval faceplate was, so basically there was just a thin layer of fabric between the housing and faceplate; worked out well.

Here is a picture of one of the extra "extension" pieces i cut sitting on top of one of the rubber buttons:



In the above picture the faceplate is snapped in place, but when you try to sandwich something thicker between the housing and the faceplate, the rubber doesn't make it out of those "wells," so the aluminum rods perfectly fill that gap.

Cool, they're easy to paint; I used Krylon Fusion paint and it turned out great.


...As an alternative, here is how I mounted a homelink in my old VUE:



Sculped the panel out with my dremel and used a torch to flame polish the edges of the plastic. Just another alternative if the panel thickness is right.

a_bartle

That looks really, really nice... very "factory" appearance. You did an amazing job, even getting those "oval" button holes matched up so well, wow is about all I can say!

amarv12

Thanks, appreciate it.

I used the original faceplate as a template for cutting those holes, helped a lot.

a_bartle

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The homelink I purchased (originally for a Land Rover) isn't working out like I thought it would. I have the "other style" homelink like you put in your HHR, but I have the wrong color cover. After seeing how you installed it in your VUE, I'm wondering why I couldn't do that as well (and not use the homelink cover) by using a dremel and making 3 oval holes in the panel itself. Is there any reason you can think of that it wouldn't work? Is there a reason you didn't go that route, especially since you've already did it that way once???

amarv12

It might work fine, just measure the thickness of the buttons verses the thickness of the panel. If the buttons are not long enough to press the switch without bottoming out (doubt it) it won't work. If they are too long and look awkward, you may have to add a spacer/filler to the back of the trim panel. You would probably want to cut another hole for the led (if it has one, some may not). I think the faceplates look kind of nice actually, it just didn't work great on my VUE, so I went without.