I am installing a 7 inch lilliput touch screen vga monitor into my head unit area. I need to figure out where to relocate my head unit to. I was thinking about putting my head unit where the Air condition controls are. I havent looked at the back of the ac control yet but i was reading on rangerpowersports and people say that is has vacum lines attached to it. I wanted to put the ac controls on my over head console but I do not know how to go about doing that with the vacum lines. I also was thinking about putting it where the airbag on off switch is but I can not find a replacement one and do not want to take it totally out. I could put the head unit in my overhead console but I currently have stock sound with an upgraded head unit and do not plan on sticking with the stock speakers and do not want to run all the amp and speaker lines over once I get the amp. Has anyone relocated either the head unit or the ac control or even the airbag switch.

 

I'm not entirely sure what changes there are in 2004's. You have two basic problems with relocating the HVAC overhead:

1. You need some fairly heavy wiring for the fan controls, and quite a few wires will have to be extended up the A-pillar, considering all the wires that go to the panel.

2. You will have to extend the vacuum lines, but you could do that easily enough. But again, it will be quite a bundle to run up the a-pillar and over the headliner.

Ford has done two different styles of temperature control, even on "manual" HVAC controls like yours. One uses a mechanical cable-type linkage, and the other is electrical. The cable one is probably more trouble than it's worth.

If you make some kind of custom console for under the dash as some have done, you'd have all kinds of options I would think.

 

What about the airbag switch? Have you ever taken that off? I repair electronics for a living so I have an unlimited supply of wires. I think i am going to pull off the air bag switch this weekend and check out whats its made out of so maybe I can get a replacement one and fiberglass my head unit into it.

 

By far the easiest solution would probably to mount the head unit in the glove compartment.

 

has anyone built their air controls in a wierd location? not going to extremes or anything. just somewhere different that can be done in a weekend and not neccesarily put the truck out of commission(not driveable for the time). if its not too much trouble i wouldnt mind moving mine and putting my cb where the controls set now. i may have to look at that now.

and the list grows as i find more things that need to be done or i would like to have done.

 

It's entirely do-able, and even more so if you do the EATC mod (though there are more wires). The advantage of the EATC is that you almost never need to adjust it, so if it's out of the way, and out of reach, it's not really a problem.