3rd Gen Camaro 1.5 Din to Double Din conversion

[Chris from Washington]

Parts List

• SEM Texture Paint 39853
• Bondo
• Air Sander
• Epoxy
• SEM Color Coat Landau Black 15013
• Dremel
• Dremel Cutting Discs
• Universal Double Din Bezel
• Spare Factory Bezel
• Masking Tape
• Hot Glue Gun
• Primer paint

To convert your 1.5 Din to a double din is not very hard to do, but it does take some patience and a lot of trial and error and test fitting.
The goal of this project is to modify the factory bezel so that the universal bezel fits inside the opening. Once completed, it should look like it came from the factory.

Test Fitting the Double Din
This tutorial is meant to help you modify the factory bezel. There is some modifications needed to the opening itself, but most of these steps will be trial and error and depends on the unit you're installing. Here are a few tips from my installation.

Once the 1.5 din stereo has been removed, you can slide the double din into the hole, but I noticed it was a very tight fit. You can do it this way if you want, but you will have to trim the bottom of your factory bezel all the way off since the stereo will be sitting directly on the plate. I didn’t want to do this, so what you can do is loosen the HVAC control, and lift it just a little and tighten. This will give you a little wiggle room, but in my case I wanted a little more adjustment space. So what I did was trim the bottom part of the metal bracket that supports the HVAC control. Doing this gave me enough room to move the stereo if needed.

Take your time and get the stereo where you want it. I found that I was having trouble with the back of the unit rubbing against the air vent on the passenger side. I eventually decided to trim the vent and use duct tape to seal it back up. This allowed the stereo to recess into the hole more, giving it a more flush look in the bezel.

Trimming the Factory Bezel

1. First make an edge to trim along using the masking tape. I lined the tape up with the indent line already in the bezel.
2. Using the dremmel, slowly trim along the tape line. When finish it should look like this
   
3. Now we are going to want to do the same with the top part of the hole. Again place tape to use as a guide, and then trim this piece out..
   
4. When finished it should look like this
   

Trimming the Universal Bezel

1. Trimming the universal piece is similar to the factory.
2. Place the tape to form an edge to use as a guide, along the top. You’ll want to make the top as thin as possible without breaking the bezel.
   
3. Now cut the bottom piece completely off
   

[Chris from Washington]

Test fitting both

Now it’s time to test fit the factory and universal bezel together. The universal bezel should fit right inside the hole you cut. If it does not, you need to trim more off the factory bezel or off the top of the universal bezel. It should look like this



Grafting both together

Once both piece fit together nicely, take the glue gun and on the back side put a small amount of glue, just enough to hold them together.

NOTE: Be sure to get both pieces as even as possible. Otherwise it will cause more work later when working with the bondo.
Once you are satisfied with how both fit together, it’s time to mix up the epoxy. Once it’s ready, take the epoxy and on the back of the bezel, apply in the cracks where both pieces meet. Let dry.
Now take more epoxy and very carefully try and drip it into the seems. This will strength both pieces and prevent cracking later.

Bondo

Once everything has dried, take your air sander and very carefully sand away any excess epoxy that may have built up on the front of the bezel. Be careful not to dig into the bezel itself.

Now mix up your bondo, and apply a very thin layer over the seems. Your goal is to make the seem disappear.
Once dry, sand again and feather out any rough/high spots.



Double Check

Before applying the texture paint, take the primer and apply to the bezel. What we are doing here is looking for any bondo seems, or other imperfections from our sanding. If you see anything, sand some more. Otherwise these will show through the texture.


Texture

Now it’s time to use the SEM Texture paint.
Mask off everything that you don’t want to have a texture, I did the edges of and HVAC portion of the bezel.
Shake the texture paint well, and apply a thin coat over the bezel. Let dry, and compare to the factory texture.
PROTIP: Always start spraying away from your bezel, this paint has a tendency to splatter at the start of the spray, and you’ll have to let dry and sand it off if this happens.

[Chris from Washington]

Painting

Now it’s time to finish this project up!
Remove all the masking tape, and double check to make sure everything looks good.
Shake the SEM color coat and apply a light coat to the bezel. Let dry for about 15 minutes, and apply another coat.
Apply a 3rd coat if needed.


Done!

You're now ready to install the bezel into the car!
I tried to capture everything in this tutorial, but I'm sure I left something out. If you have any questions, please ask.

Enjoy!